LAMB OF GOD

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” — John 1:29 (ESV)

“The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).   After Adam and Eve sinned, death came.  However, instead of immediately crushing the two sinners, God covered them.  He killed an animal instead of killing Adam and Eve, and covered their nakedness with the skin of the sacrifice.

Think about that for a minute.  It didn’t look like the pictures you’ve seen in the children’s illustrated Bibles.  It wasn’t neat and clean.  They were clothed with the bloody skin of a dead animal.  The skin would have been covered in blood.  When God killed the animal in their place, He covered them with the blood of the sacrifice.  

The only way to approach God since then has been through sacrifice.  Throughout the Old Testament,  the blood of sacrificed animals was presented, representing the fact that God requires the death penalty for sin. The Book of Hebrews makes clear that by the sacrifice of Christ, all of those Old Testament sacrifices have been made obsolete.  

“For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified” -- Hebrews 10:14 (ESV)  

As soon as John the Baptist saw Jesus arrive at the Jordan River, he exclaimed, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).  Now there was not just a lamb—now there was the Lamb — the final sacrifice, the One who would not just cover the sins of the people, but One who would take the sins away.  Even though we are the ones who sinned, Jesus stepped in and took the consequences for our sins.  John told the people to “Behold the Lamb” then, and you can still behold Him now, though the eyes of your heart.  Look to the Lamb.