Why Does John Call Jesus A "Lamb"?
John 1:29-34
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.”
Each Israelite family sacrificed a lamb during the Passover holiday, as a way of formally remembering the way the Lord rescued the Hebrews from Egypt. During the Exodus, the Lord commanded each family to take the blood from the sacrifice and mark the doorway into their houses so the terrible tenth plague—the death of the firstborn—would “pass over” each house that was marked with the blood of the lamb.
By calling Jesus “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” John the Baptist is saying that Jesus is the true sacrifice who will once and for all take away sin.
We’ll have to wait nineteen chapters in John’s Gospel to see this idea finally pay off in the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross.
QUESTION FOR THE DAY
How was the death of Jesus on the cross like that of a Passover lamb?
P.S. Note the language of “witness” in today’s passage. John the author wants us to understand that John the Baptist was a trustworthy witness to Jesus.
