John saw Jesus coming toward him the next day and said, “Look! This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29)
“Look! This is the Lamb of God …” Now that’s quite a statement. I don’t think Gentiles (that’s anyone who’s not a Jew) fully appreciate this. John the Baptist said this to a group of Jewish religious leaders. These people were responsible for overseeing the various sacrifices in the Temple. Every year the High Priest would take a spotless lamb, sacrifice it and sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat to cover the sins of the people for that year. John the Baptist just told these people that Jesus was this sacrifice, not only for the Jews, but also for the whole world! There is no question that he used the exact, Holy Spirit inspired words that would catch the priests’ attention.
Most of us are fairly good people. We obey the law; try not to make other people mad, etc. So we should be okay when it comes time to meet out Maker, right? Well, our Maker (author of the Bible) says that everyone has sinned and that the penalty for sin is death. Period. This is where John the Baptist’s statement becomes real important for us non-Jews. He said that Jesus was the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the whole world. That includes you and me! And the really wonderful part is that God knew that there was nothing that we could do to earn this, so He just gives it to us. Now it’s up to us to accept it.
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