John 1:29b Study (finally!)

“Behold! the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

First of all, it is important to know the context.  This is John the Baptist speaking when he first sees Jesus.  He knew it was the Messiah because God told him that he would see a spirit descend on the man who would save the world.  John knew that he was not worthy enough to touch Jesus’ sandals, but he baptized Jesus when Jesus came to him to be baptized.  So, that is some information about the speaker and stuff.

John calls Jesus the “Lamb of God.”  Lambs were a common sacrifice, they were gentle and pure, just as Jesus’ was when He was sacrificed for our sins.  One thing that is interesting to me is that God sent Jesus for this purpose, as Isaiah 53:10-11 says.  One of the most memorable sacrifices in the old testament is Abraham’s in Genesis 22.  God commands him to sacrifice his son, so he takes his son to the mountain.  When asked where the lamb is, Abraham says “the Lord will provide.”  As Abraham raises the knife to kill his son, God stops him, then sends a lamb through the bushes to be sacrificed instead.  God provided the lamb for Abraham, just as he provided the lamb to be sacrificed for the world.

The hardest part of this verse for me was “the world.”  Jesus is supposed to take away the sins of the world, if we listen to this verse.  It is also in 2 Corinthians 5:18-19, 1 John 2:2, and even John 3:16, as well as many other verses.  In Psalm 50:12 God says that the world is His.  So, does Jesus in fact save the world?  Does everyone go to heaven by Christ’s blood.  Of course not.

Many other verses say that God sent Jesus to save what was lost.  Luke 19:10, for example.  Matthew 1:21 says that God’s people are saved from sin.  I think the best reference is in Ezekial 34:11-16, though.  Here, sheep are used to represent humans, and God says that He will save those who are weak and who have gone astray, and not the “sleek and strong,” because He is just.  Of course, to us, this doesn’t sound fair.  But, God knows everything, and He is a just God, and what He does is right, whether we think so or not.  We are sinful humans, poisoned by the ideas of the world, we cannot completely understand why He saves anyone to begin with.

I really like this verse, and I apologize for taking so long to do the bible study, again.. It was a crazy… 2 1/2 weeks?  I’ll try to have the next one up by next Saturday, June 10.

Here it is:  Matthew 11:28  “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”