The Lamb of God

John 20:31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

In our study through the life of Christ, we arrive today at an important revelation about Jesus made by John the Baptist. If you will remember, a few weeks ago we studied how Jesus went to John to be baptized. When Jesus came up out of the water, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in a visible form and the voice of God the Father was heard saying, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased."

So we see the Trinity in action there: The visible presence of the Holy Spirit and the voice of God the Father acknowledging Jesus as the Son. Immediately after this event, we saw last session that Jesus was led into the Judean wilderness to be tempted of the devil. There, Jesus fasted for 40 days, eating nothing. At the end of forty days, Satan came and tempted Jesus, and something happened that had never happened before: a being possessing human nature was able to withstand Satan's attacks. This was not just any simple human however, it was God in the flesh.

Before we move into the very important revelation that John the Baptist makes about Jesus today, we are going to travel waaaay back in time. In fact, we are going to go to the beginning of time, because, even though this is the first time that we are going to look at the Gospel according to the apostle John (not to be confused with John the Baptist, who is not an author of any of the books or letters in the Bible), John the Apostle starts his book by going back to the beginning of creation as a means to introduce Jesus as the Son of God, equal with and together with God, God in the flesh.

So go with me back to the beginning of Genesis. Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Reading the rest of chapter 1, we see God speaking things into existence. "Let there be light, let the waters be gathered, let the earth bring forth grass and plants." We see the creation of all the animal types, and then you get to verse 26 where God says, Let US make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness. This is not a typo or a mistranslation. The words and the conjugations of the verbs there are plural. So the question is, to whom was God talking? Well, we see that in verse 2 that the Spirit of God, that is the Holy Spirit, was present at creation. But the book of John also tells us that Jesus was present at the time of creation, not as a created being, but as the agent of creation itself.

John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God [not more, not less than, but equal and the same]. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

We have a word here that is used as a representation of Jesus Christ. The word is "Word." This is a title that John uses for Jesus. As we progress through John's prologue of his book, it becomes abundantly clear that he is speaking of Jesus.

John 1:4-5 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

John records Jesus saying that He, Jesus, is the light of the world in chapter 8 and 9.

But now, John the Apostle starts to talk about John the Baptist. Hopefully this will serve as a little review for you.

John 1:6-8 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John [the Baptist]. 7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

Here we see a little more clearly who John the Apostle is talking about when he refers to the Word of God. The Word was the light of men; John the Baptist came bore witness of that Light; and a few weeks ago we studied that the ministry of John the Baptist was indeed to prepare the way for Jesus as the Messiah. We will continue to see that today as well.

John 1:9-10 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

V.14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

So here we see that the Word of God was made flesh and dwelled among men. This is what we studied about at the beginning of this series, the birth of Jesus Christ. And John goes on to be a little more specific now.

V.15-18 John [the Baptist] bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me [John the Baptist was about 6 months older than Jesus, yet he acknowledges that Jesus' existence did not start at his conception, but that Jesus is the eternal Son of God]. 16 And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ [John now identifies the Word, the Light, as Jesus Christ]. 18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

[And by this statement, John now sets Jesus up, not as an ordinary man, but one with the very nature of God Himself, being the only begotten Son of God.

Why is Jesus called the only begotten Son of God? Because in His birth, we once again the actions of the Trinity: God the Father send His message to Mary stating that she will have a son; Mary, at that time, is still a virgin. She has not had sexual relations with man, but Jesus is born of Mary through the work of the Holy Spirit of God which allowed her to conceive, still being a virgin. And so, Jesus was born of Mary, begotten of God the Father.

But as John reveals, that was not the start of Jesus' existence, but simply the time where He became flesh.

And this is John's point of writing the Gospel of John. It serves to introduce his audience, to which we now belong, to Jesus, not as King of the Jews (like Matthew does), not like the Suffering Savior and Messiah (like Mark does), and not like a Savior for all humanity (like Luke does), but as the divine, pre-existent Son of God.

John 20:31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

When John speaks of belief, he is not talking about a concept but an action, and when John mentions in this verse, as he does in many other passages, life in Jesus, he is speaking of spiritual life rather than physical life. So the goal of John's recording the various miracles and sayings of Jesus is so that people will look at all this and believe that Jesus is more than a man, He is divine. That He is the Son of God and that in that belief they would accept the eternal life that only comes through Jesus' name.

To that end, John starts to record Jesus' ministry after Jesus' temptation and begins with the ministry of John the Baptist.

John 1:19-27 And this is the record of John, when the Jews [normally, when John uses the word "Jews," he is speaking of the ruling classes in Judea] sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? 20 And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. 21 And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. 22 Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? 23 He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias. 24 And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. 25 And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet? 26 John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not; 27 He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose.

So John the Baptist is found and questioned concerning his teachings and his practices. Remember, John was teaching with authority, calling people to repent with the same kind of authoritative power that Elijah had. So this sparked some questions among the Jews who studied the prophetic writings of the Old Testament. The questions they ask John can basically be summed up like this:

- Who are you?

- Who do you say you are?

- Why do you baptize?

WHO ARE YOU?

Not the Christ

The implication of this question, and judging by the way that John the Baptist responds to it, the actual question was "Are you the Christ? Are you the Messiah?" So John the Baptist very emphatically denies this. In verse 20 we find a repetition that indicates John's firmness in his denial of being the Christ.

Not Elijah

The next question is, "Are you Elijah (Elias)?" Malachi, as we studied in our introduction to this series, declared that someone in the power of Elijah would precede the Messiah. The Jews took this to mean that Elijah would come back literally. Now, as we will find out later, Elijah does return, but the only ones to witness this are Jesus, Peter, James, and John. But here, even though John is the one that comes back in the power of Elijah to fulfill the prophecy of Malachi, he denies being Elijah.

Not "That Prophet"

In Deuteronomy 18:15, God tells the Israelites that He would send a Prophet that the children of Israel should listen to. Over the centuries, the Jews had interpreted this to be a prophet similar to Elijah that would precede the coming of the Messiah. Moses, however, was doing more than promise the whole line of prophets that the Lord would send; he was also announcing the coming of the Prophet, the Lord Jesus Christ. At least that’s the way Peter explained it in Acts

3:22–26.

John the Baptist, in denying that he is "that prophet," is then again denying that he is the Messiah.

So the next question that he is asked is

WHO DO YOU SAY YOU ARE?

Instead of saying anything about his origin or his personality, John the Baptist shows the purpose of his ministry by responding with what his message is. Almost as if to say, "My personality is nothing, my message is everything." John the Baptist was there to prepare the hearts and minds of the Jews to receive their Messiah.

WHY DO YOU BAPTIZE?

So the next question is asked, "Why do you baptize?" Remember, the questions are being asked at the behest of the Pharisees which were very concerned with rituals and ceremonies. "If you aren't the Christ, Elijah, the Prophet we have been expecting," in other words, "If you are no one particularly important, why are you introducing a new ordinance? Why are you baptizing?"

John the Baptist doesn't answer the question directly, but instead he points out, referencing Jesus, that there is one among them who is so great, he is not even worthy of being a servant. Rabbis in that time had their disciples, John the Baptist had disciples. The tradition from the Talmud said that "Every office a servant would do for his master, a scholar (student, or disciple) should perform for his teacher, except loosing his sandal." See, loosening someone else's sandals leather straps or latchets was something that was particularly servile. It was one of the lowest things a servant would do for his master, loose the sandal and wash his feet.

John the Baptist felt that even that service was too high an honor to perform for Jesus.

WHO IS JESUS?

John 1:29 The next day John [the Baptist] seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

Through the next few verses (v.30-34), John recounts the event of Jesus' baptism. He points out that he witnessed the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus and was a witness to the proclamation that Jesus is the Son of God. Having witnessed this, John was confident to answer the question that went unasked by the Pharisees: Who is Jesus? As an answer to that question, John declares boldly that Jesus is the Lamb of God and later, in verse 34 the Son of God.

The declaration of Jesus as the Lamb of God that would take away the sin of the world was something new for those present. The Jews were very familiar with sacrificial lambs. Twice a day, lambs were sacrificed in the temple in the morning and evening sacrifices, when a leper was found to be clean, three lambs were sacrificed, a lamb was sacrificed by every family to celebrate the Passover feast, and lambs were commonly sacrificed as sin-offerings. Isaiah prophesies of the Messiah depict Him as a lamb.

But two things were strange to the Jews that were gathered around John the Baptist that day: 1) they had never thought of the sacrifice of a person for sin, and 2) sacrificial lambs simply covered the sin of the people, it did not take it away.

But by this declaration, John the Baptist is introducing Jesus as the Messiah, whose death would come, just as Isaiah and other prophets had declared, and that by His death, forgiveness and cleansing of sin would be accessible to mankind.

And this is our question today. Who is Jesus to you? If you go around and ask different people this question, you will get a variety of answers.

- A fairy tale

- A good person

- A prophet

- A revolutionary/anarchist

- A Jewish teacher with radical ideals

- A carpenter's son

But the Bible tells us that Jesus is the Lamb of God, the Son of God who takes away the sin of the world. There are people that say that Jesus never claimed to be God, and yet the book of John alone records at least 7 instances in which Jesus claimed to be equal with God. For salvation to be experienced, Jesus must be recognized as the only begotten Son of God, divinely equal with the Father and to recognize that He came and died a sacrificial death on a cross to save the world from sin.

Romans 10:9 tells us That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Invitation: Who is Jesus?

Can you say this morning, "He is my Savior! I know without a doubt that Jesus has washed away my sins, not because I am good, not because I go to church or do good things, but because there was a day when I realized that I could not do anything about my sin. On that day I believed with my heart that Jesus is God, that He died on the cross for my sin, and that He rose again like the Bible says He did, and believing that I asked Jesus to be my savior as I recognized nothing and no one else could possibly save me.

Is that you this morning? Who can say with an uplifted hand, "I know Jesus as my savior!"

Maybe you are here this morning and you do not know Jesus as your savior. Maybe you recognize that He is THE savior, but you have never personally invited him to be YOUR savior. Today, you can know Him in this way and experience the forgiveness of sins that only He can give.

Is there anyone that would say, "I would like to know Jesus this way today. I am not saved, but I would like to know more about how to be saved."

My next question is for those that are saved. The question is, "Who is Jesus to you?" If you are saved, He is your savior, but the Bible says he is the name above all names, the Lord of Lords, and the King of Kings. My question for you this morning is, "Is Jesus sitting on the throne of your life?"

If you were to imagine your heart as a throne room, who is sitting on that throne? Who is calling the shots in your life? Does your life reflect that Jesus is calling the shots in your life?

Or are you the one that is calling the shots? Is Jesus in your heart, but not on that throne? Have you made Him subject to you, to your likes, to your comfort, to your ideologies?

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1. What significance do you see in the Trinity being manifested during Jesus' baptism?

2. In the sermon, it's mentioned that John the Baptist denied being the Christ, Elijah, or "that Prophet." How do you think these denials highlight John's understanding of his role in preparing the way for Jesus?

3. John the Baptist's role was to prepare the way for Jesus. In what ways can we, as believers today, continue that role of preparing the hearts of others to encounter Jesus?

4. Why do you think John the Apostle chose to start his Gospel by going back to the beginning of creation? How does this introduction establish Jesus' identity as the divine Son of God?

5. The sermon mentions that belief in Jesus isn't just a concept but an action. How do you think belief in Jesus leads to transformative actions in our lives?

6. The denial of John the Baptist being the Messiah, Elijah, or "that Prophet" reveals his humility and clear sense of identity. How can we learn from John's humility in our own lives and faith journeys?