The Lamb of God

A couple of days ago, I attended a men's meeting at our church. We had a great atmosphere there and the discussion was awesome! During the discussion, we talked about John the Baptist prophesying about the purpose of the Messiah. We read the account where John proclaimed "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world."

When I read that, I saw something in that scripture that I hadn't seen before. Behold the Lamb OF GOD! Now we know that in the Tanakh (old testament), a lamb had to be sacrificed in order to take away the sins of the people. This lamb had to be a lamb without without blemish. This lamb was a type and shadow of the Spotless Lamb, Jesus the Messiah. John the Baptist's phrase the Lamb OF GOD was powerful to the Jewish listeners. Why? Because John said that there was a lamb coming that was FROM GOD. It was no longer man's lamb that would take away the sins of the people. This Lamb originated from God Himself!

You can also find a hint to Jesus being the lamb OF GOD in the story of Abraham and Isaac. When Abraham was tested, Isaac asked his father an interesting question. "Father...behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" And Abraham's answer was a prophetic one. "My son, God will provide HIMSELF a lamb for a burnt offering." This was a snapshot of the future. Jesus is the Lamb that God provided for Himself! And because this Lamb came from God, He is an eternal sacrifice...that is to say that His blood has cleansed us of past and present sins. And if we sin in the future, power of the blood still applies! That's awesome to me! Behold the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world!!