The Lamb of God Who Took Away the Sins of the World
We have looked at one of the most important titles related to Jesus, that being “Son of Man.” There is another title that is extremely important to us as well. This is “Lamb of God.”
In John 1:29, John the Baptist is preaching about the coming Messiah. He has been questioned about if he is the chosen one, and makes it clear that he is not the Messiah, the Christ.
The apostle John tells us that the next day Jesus appears before John. Now, it is likely that John and Jesus knew each other prior to this moment. After all, the mother of John, Elizabeth, was the cousin of Mary, the mother of Jesus (Luke 1:36). While it does not explicitly tell us that Jesus and John came across one another prior to this, the fact that Mary visited Elizabeth when her cousin was pregnant tells us that these two were probably quite close to one another. Therefore, it is an educated guess that John and Jesus at least knew each other prior to this moment.
That has no direct bearing on the story but, if they did know each other prior to this, it is likely that John had long known that Jesus was coming to the world to be the sacrifice for the sins of all of mankind. When he sees Jesus approaching him, he declares what he already knew to be true. This was not an instant revelation but was something he could very well have been aware of for years.
The Passover Lamb
Most Christians have heard the term Passover. It is the most sacred of celebrations within Judaism, but has its place within Christianity as well. To understand this more fully, we must go to the story that is told in Exodus 12.
Moses had been called by God to go to Egypt and demand that the Pharaoh release the Israelite people so that they could go and worship Yahweh. Originally, God did not ask Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. He simply asked Pharaoh to allow the people to worship Him. When the Egyptian leader refused to do so, God brought a series of plagues upon Egypt. The last of these was the slaying of the firstborn son throughout Egypt.
The Israelites would have fallen under this plague as well. However, God instructed Moses to tell the people that they were to slaughter a lamb and place the blood on the two doorposts and the lintel of their house (Exodus 12:7). God tells them that when He sees the blood on their door frame He will “pass over” their home, thus, their firstborn would be saved.
The Israelite people were to remember this day and commemorate it on the 14th day of the first month each year. This became the Passover feast. Jesus died at the Passover, becoming the ultimate commemoration for Passover. In this way, those who had the “Blood of the Lamb” on them would be saved.
If one reads further, there is an interesting metaphor that is used to describe the putting of blood on the doorposts and lintels of the home. It is in Exodus 13:16, where God explains that this would be “like a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead that the Lord brought us out of Egypt with his mighty hand.” The placing of blood on the doorposts is like putting this mark on your hands. The placing of blood on the lintels would be like placing it on your forehead.
This is a very interesting description, because it is used in Revelation extensively to describe those who have received the “mark of the Beast.” For example, Revelation 14:9-10 explains that those who have worshiped the beast, by receiving an image “mark on their forehead or on their hand” will drink from the wine of God’s fury.
One of the things that Satan dies is to create a false manifestation of things of God that are in direct opposition to what God does. While the Bible does not specifically speak on what the “mark of the beast” is, it is clear that it would be counterfeit to the salvation work of Jesus. This could mean it is a form of sacrifice. It could be false messiahs. Whatever the mark may be, you can be sure it will be something that will lead to a complete worshiping and following of the Babylonian system.
I am off track here for a moment, and will return to this discussion sometime later on. However, what I want you to see is that the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross was not just about Passover. God is passing over those who have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, removing them from the penalty of death.
However, John tells us that Jesus is the “Lamb of God.” He is the One who will take away the sins of the world. This leads us to the other part of the Law that is specifically fulfilled by Jesus’ death.
In Leviticus 14, God is instructing the priests on how they are to slaughter a lamb that is brought to them as a sin or guilt offering. Leviticus 14:13 explains that the sacrifice of this lamb was to pay for the sins that a person had committed.
Jesus became the “Lamb of God” to fulfill two roles of the Law. First, he was to pay for the sins, to become the ultimate guilt and sin offering. The sin offering, described in Leviticus 4:1-12, was related to one who intentionally sins against the commandments of God. In this case, an animal, such as a bull, ox, or lamb, was to be brought to the sanctuary where it was to be sacrificed.
An interesting aspect of this law was that the fat was to be removed and offered as a fellowship offering (Leviticus 4:10). This was not just about bringing a sacrifice to pay for the sins that one had willfully committed, but to reestablish the relationship between God and the individual. It was to restore friendship.
This is one of the great parts about the Gospel. Remember, Jesus told us that He came to give us life, and to give us life more abundantly. He did not just come to die on the cross for us so that our sins would be forgiven. Instead, He came and died on the cross so that we would have fellowship with God because sin would no longer be a barrier between us and the Father. Our good news is that we are friends of God and no longer enemies (Romans 5:10).
The guilt offering (Leviticus 5:14-19) was brought for those who had sinned unintentionally. This was a sacrifice offered for those who had not intended to do wrong, but had done so anyway.
A great example of this is when Jesus talked about committing adultery (Matthew 5:27-30). He explained that one does not commit adultery simply by having relations with someone else’s wife or husband. Instead, He explained that adultery is when one is lusting in their heart after someone who is married to another person. According to the Law, lusting is not a direct example of adultery. However, it is coveting that of another. In this way, it would be breaking one of God’s commandments.
However, realistically, most of us cannot control our lusts. Thoughts will jump into our heads that we may cast aside, but that does not mean that we did not entertain that thought for at least a moment or two. In this way, we would be responsible for the unintentional sin. The guilt offering would be required. Fortunately, Jesus fulfilled this aspect of the Law as well, cleansing us of the debt of all sins committed, both intentionally and unintentionally.
Taking Away ALL the Sins of the World
Jesus was the ultimate Lamb of God. He fulfilled all the aspects that the Law required in terms of both the Passover and the sin and guilt offerings.
I do want you to pay attention to an important part of what John says when he sees Jesus. He declares that Jesus is the Lamb who “takes away the sins of the world.”
The Greek word that is translated as take away is αἰρω, which means remove, put away, carry away, loose, or lift up. When John declares that Jesus takes away the sins of the world, he did not say this was the sins of those who believed in Jesus. He said the sins of the world, all the sins of the world were taken away by the sacrifice of the one, true Lamb of God.
You are going to find as these teachings continue, that we will continually come back to the point of how Jesus removed the sins of all of mankind. This is not a sacrifice simply for those who call upon the name of Jesus. Truthfully, all will call upon the name of Jesus at some point (Philippians 2:9-11), but it is important to understand that Jesus paid the cost for the sins of everyone so that there would be no barrier between us and God. All the sins were removed by His sacrifice.
To this point, we have seen three aspects of the Law that Jesus has fulfilled. The first was that He came as the legal near kinsman, given the right to pay our debt so that we could be freed from the slavery of sin. The second was that He bound Himself to the law, making Himself responsible for the sins of all of mankind. The third part was that His sacrifice on the cross satisfied the demands of Passover as well as that of the sin and guilt offerings. In doing so, He brought the greatest news of all, that we have fellowship with God permanently.
By Robert Pannier