Believe and Live

Baptisms and the Lamb

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

Today is sanctity of human life Sunday is today. We celebrate and remind ourselves of the importance of life.

John presents evidence as to the identity of Jesus. All of the messages he had given were brought to fruition on that day.

I think joy of John that day. I also think of the sadness in his heart as to what was to come. Salvation will come, but at a great price.

John identifies Jesus as the lamb.

John has previously spoken only of the greatness and imminence of the Messiah; now he identifies Him as a particular individual. He does so by means of a solemn and mysterious pronouncement, “Behold the Lamb of God.” There is disagreement as to the exact significance of the term “Lamb” (Greek amnos) which John intends. Several possibilities exist: (1) The apocalyptic lamb who will judge the world and destroy evil. Such an interpretation would fit in well with aspects of John’s message (Mt. 3:7–12). Such a lamb is referred to in the Revelation (e.g. 6:16, 17; 14:10; 17:14); however, the word translated “lamb” there is different (Greek arnion rather than amnos). (2) The pascal lamb of the Passover. (3) The lamb of Is. 53 where the Suffering Servant is referred to as “a lamb [brought] to the slaughter.” (4) As the substitutionary lamb that God was to provide for Abraham (Gen. 22:8). Morris (147, 148) seems to have the correct view when he says that none of these views totally explains John’s usage: “He is making a general allusion to sacrifice. The lamb figure may well be intended to be composite, evoking memories of several, perhaps all [of these ideas].” The article “the” before lamb may have the same force as with “the Prophet.” If so, it would indicate that “the lamb” was a specialized term then in use among the Jews and would be understood by them as referring to a specific apocalyptic figure.

"Our greatest problem is that we lack conformity to the image of Jesus Christ."

- Paul Washer

Jesus as the lamb, the sacrifice for our hope, is the place we must all start in our walk after regeneration.

We as the church need to quit with the thought that it all depends on us. It is in conforming to Christ that we find peace.

John identifies Jesus as his superior.

“This is the one I have been talking about.” There is some debate as to exactly which of his own past statements John means. The best explanation seems to be that John has said many times that one is coming after him who is greater than he and who was actually prior to him in point of time. The teaching is stated in its fullest summary form here and in the prologue (1:15). In 1:27 and in the synoptics (e.g. Mt. 3:11), the reference is only to “the one coming after” with nothing said about the fact that He was prior in point of time. This should be understood as a synecdoche, a figure of speech in which a part is taken for the whole. As to the possibility that John comprehended Christ’s pre-existence, see 1:15.

John the Baptizer admitting that Jesus was superior was not enough. Even demons believe this. John’s faithfulness to his calling is what we should see and imitate In our own lives.

John identifies Jesus as the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.

John states that he, himself, actually “saw” (Greek theaomai) with the physical eyes the (Holy) Spirit descend and remain upon Jesus. This sentence is thought by the Evangelist to prove incontrovertibly that Jesus is the Messiah.

The tense of the verb “remained” (Greek aorist meno) may very well have both a constative and an ingressive quality. In the constative sense it calls attention to the fact that “the Spirit came to the prophets only from time to time, but with Jesus it remains unchangeably” (Westcott I:44). In the ingressive sense it emphasizes that the Spirit first came upon Jesus at this time and remained upon Him for the rest of His ministry (Morris).

Jesus did not come as an ordinary prophet. The constancy of the Holy Spirit and the Father thoughout the earthly ministry of Jesus proves his status as MessIah.

Jesus was not just another baptism unto the following of John. Jesus’ baptism is a shouted call to humanity. Repent and be saved for the Kingdom of God is at hand.

It is for the father, by the son, and through the Holy Spirit where we see the Gospel proclaimed. In our daily lives we must be sensitive to the work of the Holy Spirit in our new identities for the glory of The Father.

John 10:30–42 ESV

I and the Father are one.” The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.” Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken— do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands. He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained. And many came to him. And they said, “John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.” And many believed in him there.

Psalm 3 ESV

A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son. O Lord, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me; many are saying of my soul, “There is no salvation for him in God.” Selah But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around. Arise, O Lord! Save me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked. Salvation belongs to the Lord; your blessing be on your people! Selah

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