On the morrow he sees Jesus coming to him, and says, Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
John the Baptist sees Jesus coming toward him and names Him the Lamb of God. Everything in the verse turns on three things: whose Lamb this is, what "takes away" means, and why it says sin and not sins.
Where does this name come from?
There is very little doubt that there is a quiet reference to Genesis 22. Abraham was on his way to Mount Moriah to offer up Isaac, obeying God's command. Isaac said, "Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" And Abraham said, "God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering." And this is the point here. The Lamb of God is the Lamb of God's own providing, and now to deal once and for ever with the question of sin.
The stress falls on who supplies the sacrifice:
God has provided a lamb, a victim for sin — a lamb for our need, but it is God's Lamb for Himself. We do not have to find a lamb; God has found it and set it before us. We do not bring a lamb to God; He brings His to us. What grace!
A lamb was no strange image to John's hearers.
There was no image more familiar to a Jew's mind than that of the lamb. It was the daily sacrifice of Israel, morning and evening. Besides, the Passover lamb was the pledge of the basic peace of the year. It was first set up at the very time the sons of Israel left the house of bondage. We can understand, then, what thoughts and feelings must have crowded into the hearts of those who were looking for a Saviour. His forerunner had just pointed them to Jesus in this way.
Commentators press hard on one added letter, because adding it changes the gospel.
The first error consists in the simple addition of a letter, making it "sins" instead of sin... The question of a letter may seem small. But if Christ as the Lamb of God took away the sins of the world, universal salvation apart from faith would be the necessary consequence. That teaching undermines the foundations of Christianity. So we must insist on this: the verse speaks of the sin of the world, not the sins.
The distinction rests on two sides of the cross — Christ as propitiation, and Christ as Substitute:
Where Jesus is spoken of as the propitiation, there it is for the world. The blood is on the mercy seat, and so mercy and forgiveness are proclaimed to all. But where Jesus is spoken of as the Substitute, actually bearing and taking away sins, it is always limited to believers.
The verse holds together something already done and something still ahead.
This brings before us two parts of Christ's work. First, as the Lamb of God He dealt with sin as a sacrifice, being made sin at the cross. Second, He will take the principle of sin out of the world in a day to come.
The full sight of it belongs to the end:
Only the new heavens and new earth will see the final fulfilment. Then indeed it will be clear how truly Jesus was "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." For then, and not till then, sin will have disappeared completely, along with all its active consequences.
Between the cross and that day stands the message sent out everywhere.
The testimony looks onward to the effects of the death of Christ as a whole, but these were not to appear all at once. The first result was to be the gospel, the message of forgiveness of sins to every believer. Now the blood of the Lamb stands before God, and not the sin of the world alone. So God could meet the world in grace, not in judgment.
One writer tells how someone asked Martin Luther whose sins he believed were forgiven:
In a moment Luther saw the personal application implied in the question. The light broke into his soul. He replied, "I believe in this forgiveness of my sins." So if the Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world, He may well take away my sins.
- Provided — the Lamb is God's own, not ours; Isaac's question, "where is the lamb?", is answered here.
- Offered — one sacrifice at the cross, where He was made sin.
- Sin, not sins — adding one letter would teach salvation for everyone apart from faith; the verse speaks of sin as a principle, not of each person's guilt.
- Worldwide — because the blood is before God, He can now meet the world in grace and send out forgiveness to every believer.
- Beheld — every trace of sin goes only in the new heavens and new earth. Your own look of faith at Him need not wait.
He it is of whom I said, A man comes after me who takes a place before me, because he *was* before me;
John the Baptist has just pointed to Jesus as the Lamb of God. Now he explains why this Man is greater than he is. His words sound like a riddle: someone arrives later, yet stands first, and existed before the man announcing Him.
The verse holds three things at once: time, rank and being.
Then John witnesses to the greatness of the One Who, as the Lamb of God, will do this work. He says, "This is He of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who ranks before me, because He was before me.'" In time, Christ came after John. In position, He stands far above John, because He existed in eternity before John.
John was born before Jesus was. That fact settles what the last phrase must mean.
The words "because He was before me" could only be used of a Divine Person. In fact John the Baptist was a few months older than the Lord in human birth. So it is clear that when he said the Lord was before him, he meant His Deity. In short, Jesus was Jehovah.
He did not say "a spirit" or "an angel." He pointed to a Man — and said that this Man existed before him.
John the Baptist (who came on earth six months before Jesus) said again, "A MAN comes after me," but One who, in honour and dignity, "ranks before me," because, in His eternal existence, "He was before me." We can understand and rejoice in what is said about His exalted place. But who can explain how a "MAN" — the Word become flesh — who came "after" John was also "before" him? Yet we know this is a fact God has revealed.
John says this right after calling Jesus the Lamb. A sacrifice that size needs a Person of that size.
His divine glory was essential to make the work He undertook effective. He must really be before John, however much John came before Him in history. "I myself did not know Him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that He might be revealed to Israel." There you have John's part. All he could do was baptize with water.
John says the same thing three times in one chapter. He is not defending his own standing. He is defending Christ's place above every servant God has sent.
The Baptist says that Jesus was truly before him, though He came after him. He repeats it as if guarding it jealously (vv. 15, 27, 30)… In this the Holy Spirit, who spoke through John, honours Jesus as the great Subject of all God's eternal purposes, God's own great appointed One, to whom all other appointed things pointed. So, though He came after them, He was before them… For it was the Son alone whom God had set up from everlasting, the great first Object of all His purposes. Every prophet and every appointed thing was only His servant, to bear witness to Him.
Earlier in the chapter John made the same point to the religious leaders, but left its reason out.
It is interesting and instructive to note that to the Pharisees John says nothing (verse 27) about Christ's eternal existence before him. Yet that is the ground of Christ taking first place over him, though He was born after him. Compare verses 15, 30.
This bold public cry is worth setting beside what John said later, in prison.
No one could have given a bolder witness than John the Baptist on the day at Bethabara. In front of the whole crowd he cries, "This is He of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who ranks before me, because He was before me.'" But when John finds himself inside the prison walls, when the crowds have gone, when the witnessing time is over and the waiting time has come, then under the stress of this new trial he cries, "Are You the one who is to come?"
- After me — in plain history, Jesus began His public work later than John, and John never denies it.
- Before me — in rank He takes first place. John speaks for every prophet and every appointed thing God gave. All of them are servants pointing to the Son.
- Was before me — the cause of that rank is eternity. John was the older of the two by months, so the claim can only be a claim of deity.
- A Man — the One who existed before John is the Word become flesh; commentators state it as revealed fact rather than explain it.
- Therefore the Lamb — this glory is not decoration. It is what makes the work He came to do effective. John could only baptize with water.
and I knew him not; but that he might be manifested to Israel, therefore have I come baptising with water.
John was asked why he was baptizing, and his whole answer comes down to one purpose: to bring Someone else into public view. Yet twice in a few verses he says he did not know Jesus. How can a man announce someone he does not recognise? And what did the water have to do with it?
His confession is not that Jesus was a stranger to him. One writer weighs the exact sense of the words:
"Knew Him not." Some cite Matthew 3:14 as contradicting this. But the comparison seems to show that the Greek here can hardly mean John knew nothing of our Lord at all, which in itself is very unlikely — though we must allow that they grew up in different parts of the land. John did not know Him as Messiah before this.
Only God could fill that gap. Even John the Baptist, the greatest born of women, had nothing of his own to say about who Jesus was:
When Jesus was here, though truly Man, visible to mortal eyes, faith alone could really grasp who He was. Without some communication from God, no human heart was ready to receive Him. That communication came either direct or in the written Word, which they had, so they were responsible. Even John the Baptist had twice to say, "I did not know Him." He was the greatest born of women, filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb, and the same is said of no other man.
John's lack of any earlier knowledge of Jesus did not weaken his witness. It made it weigh more.
Because the Baptist had not known Jesus before, his testimony was all the more solemn and clearly from God. Whatever inward conviction he had as the Lord came for baptism, it did not stop the outward sign. Nor did it stop the witness he bears to His Person and His work, as he had borne before it.
John also shows where his knowledge did not come from:
John is careful to show that his knowledge of the glory of the Person of the Christ lay completely outside the flesh. He did not get it from any natural knowledge of the Lord, or from being connected with Him by family ties.
John's baptism was never an end in itself.
There you have John's part. All he could do was to baptise with water. That was a kind of token or sign to Israel that the Christ was about to be revealed.
The water also said something about the people who went into it:
This was the basis of John's baptizing. It put Jews in the place of death, owning their total ruin under law. That was the only proper moral preparation, since the Lord of glory was present.
John explains his own work, and none of it was meant to gather people around himself:
He answers the question of the Pharisees, "Why do you baptize?" He was closing up the old order by baptism, to reveal Christ to Israel as the great Centre of the new order of blessing. He was not there to reveal himself. He hid himself so that Christ "might be revealed".
The word does not mean that Israel would believe:
Its true force is that what existed but was hidden has come into view. Faith of course gains by it, and in some cases it becomes a testimony to others. But the revealing is complete whatever its effects. This is true even where the verse names the people to whom the revealing was made, as John 1:31 makes certain. For our Lord was revealed to Israel; yet they, His own, did not receive Him. God brought Him to light for the very people that refused Him.
There is a lesson in the herald's own blindness for anyone who now speaks of Christ to others:
He adds also that he had been blind as to His glory, as the world itself was. Divine love and power alone brought us out of the state we were in. Being aware of that will make us rely on the same grace for others, and on nothing else but grace.
- Unknown. Christ stood among His own people, and no one knew Him. John's "I did not know him" means he had not known Him as Messiah, not that they had never met.
- Revealed. No one could identify Him by natural means, not even the greatest born of women. It took a word from God, received by faith.
- Water. John's baptism was a token to Israel that the Christ was about to appear. It put those who accepted it in the place of death, owning the nation's ruin.
- Hidden. John closed the old order and stepped out of sight, so that Christ, not the herald, would be the centre of everything new.
- Refused. God brought His Son into full view for the very people who turned Him away. The revealing was complete whether they believed or not.
And John bore witness, saying, I beheld the Spirit descending as a dove from heaven, and it abode upon him.
John the Baptist tells what he saw: the Spirit coming down from heaven like a dove and settling on Jesus. Two questions follow. Why a dove? And why does the weight fall on the Spirit staying rather than on His coming down?
A record of an event is one thing. A witness who saw it is another.
It is not merely the record of the event, but the witness of John concerning it: he tells us what he saw. Here also are added the words "it remained on Him." In the Son of God there was a dwelling place for the Spirit of God. One upon whom He could rest with deepest pleasure, and remain for the carrying out of all God's will.
The dove's form matched the One the Spirit came upon.
Ravens might have been used in God's wisdom to feed the starving prophet in another dark day; but that was not the appearance of the Spirit descending from heaven to remain on Jesus. The dove alone could be the proper form, a picture of the spotless purity of Him on whom He came. Yet He did come upon Him as man. Jesus was man without sin — as truly man as any other, yet how different from all before or after! He was the second Man in bright contrast with the first.
The picture goes back to Noah, who sent a dove out over a flooded world.
Noah then sent out a dove. There was nothing to attract it: "the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot." It shows the condition of the world before Christ came. When He was here, the holy dove could remain upon Him. But before that, there was no man on whom the Holy Spirit could rest. He came upon certain men and gave them power for service. But there were none on whom He could rest.
The Spirit coming on a man was not new. Staying was. Earlier figures received the Spirit and then lost Him.
Notice that word, "it remained on Him." In former days the Spirit had come "upon" men, but often He had left them. Moses partly lost it. Balaam lost it. Saul lost it. And David feared to lose it. But here is the only sinless Man, outside of Eden, that the world or God has seen. He received the Spirit, and "it remained on Him." The Spirit remaining is the Father's testimony to His delight and joy in that perfect Man. There and then, by this act, He owns Him as His Son.
Jesus was sealed with the Spirit on ground no one else could stand on. His death opened that ground to us.
He was sealed as Son of man, and as Son of man on earth before redemption. That needed no shedding of blood, because He knew no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth. He was absolutely sinless. He could have the Holy Spirit remaining on Him apart from blood, because He was the Holy One — the Saviour. He needed no work, no blood, no redemption. Yet He died, shedding His blood and accomplishing redemption. Why? So that we might be sealed. We had no natural right to be brought near. The Holy Spirit could never have made His home in us. Now we may have that same Holy Spirit who dwelt in Him remaining in us.
The descent was God's sign to John, and John read it rightly.
The Spirit's descent, and His remaining on Jesus, was God's sign to John the Baptist about who Jesus was. Through it John saw the Son of God in His glory and bore witness to Him. The One on whom the Spirit came and remained was to baptize with the Holy Spirit. From this John saw the divine glory of Jesus. Who else but a divine Person could be the resting place of the Holy Spirit? Who but a divine Person could baptize with the Holy Spirit?
Some have claimed that the one who came down on Jesus was "the Christ." The verse names Him.
John 1:32 contradicts the theory that the Being who descended on Jesus was "the Christ," and declares that it was the "Spirit."
- Rest — one word carries the verse. The Spirit did not just come; He stayed. At last there was a Man He could rest on.
- No rest before — like Noah's dove over the flood, the Spirit found no place to settle. He came on men for a task, but on none to stay.
- Rest's form — the dove matched the Person: purity meeting purity, the second Man in contrast to the first.
- Rest without blood — He was sealed before redemption, because He was sinless. Everyone else is sealed only through His shed blood.
- Rest passed on — He needed no redemption, yet He died, so that the same Spirit who remained on Him might remain in us.
And I knew him not; but he who sent me to baptise with water, *he* said to me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and abiding on him, he it is who baptises with [the] Holy Spirit.
John the Baptist explains how he came to know who Jesus was: not by family ties or his own judgment, but by a sign God told him to watch for. That sign — the Spirit coming down and staying — marked out the one Person who could baptize with the Holy Spirit.
The two families were closely linked, which makes John's repeated denial striking. Commentators see God cutting off every natural way of knowing.
We may note the great care taken that John the Baptist should not have known Jesus beforehand. Luke 1 shows a remarkable link between the mothers of the two babies. That makes the Baptist's repeated statement, "I knew him not," all the more startling. God is setting out a knowledge that is infinitely above nature. It comes from His own teaching and the direct testimony of the Holy Spirit.
What John denies is not that he had ever met Jesus, but that his witness rested on anything he had worked out himself.
He does not deny that he had met Jesus before. But he does deny that his declaration came from conclusions he himself had drawn, or from any estimate of His Person he himself had formed. It rested on a revelation from heaven that he himself had received.
The weight of the sign falls on the word "remaining."
Notice that word: the Spirit "remained on him." In earlier days the Spirit came on men, but often He left them. Moses partly lost Him. Balaam lost Him. Saul lost Him. David feared to lose Him. But here is the only sinless Man, outside Eden, that the world or God has seen. He received the Spirit, and the Spirit "remained on him." That abiding Spirit is the Father's testimony to His delight and joy in that perfect Man. By that very act the Father owns Him as His Son.
John baptized with water. He never claimed the other baptism for himself.
But if the Spirit stayed on Him as man, this is He that baptizes with the Holy Spirit. None could so baptize but God. It would be blasphemy to say otherwise. It is the fullest prerogative of a divine Person to act in this way. So John the Baptist disclaimed it altogether. In every Gospel he points to Jesus alone as the Baptizer with the Holy Spirit, while he himself had come baptizing with water. It is the mighty work of Jesus from heaven, as He was the Lamb of God on the cross.
John announced a baptism that was still far off.
While giving this bright testimony to Jesus, the Baptist could not know all that lay before Jesus before He would baptize men with His Spirit. The Lord would not do this on earth. He would do it from His place of exaltation at the Father's right hand, after He had finished the great work of redemption on the cross.
Jesus used the same contrast after His resurrection, and that settles what this baptism is and is not.
It is evident that our Lord is applying these words when He says to the disciples after His resurrection, "John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now" (Acts 1:5). Here is the same contrast of water with Spirit, yet the same term, "baptism," applied to each. On the day of Pentecost, when these words were fulfilled, the Spirit did not connect Himself with water. It is certain, too, that these disciples were born again before Pentecost, so this baptism was not their new birth. The baptism of the Spirit is not what makes men new-born. It is what makes those already new-born members of the body of Christ.
Verse 32 shows Jesus receiving; verse 33 shows Him giving.
That is, in John 1:32 you have the personal seal of the Holy Spirit given to Christ. "God the Father has set His seal on Him." The Holy Spirit came and stayed on Him. But a most blessed truth is brought out in the next verse. The same blessed Person, who was Himself sealed in this way, was also to baptize others with the Holy Spirit. There you have the two great divisions of our Lord's work. First, the Lamb bearing away the sin of the world, the crowning work of Christ on earth. Then His great heavenly work, founded on what He did on earth.
- Sign. God gave John one mark to watch for: the Spirit coming down and staying. His witness rested on God's word, not his own judgment.
- Stays. Earlier men received the Spirit and lost Him. On Jesus the Spirit stayed — the Father's own testimony to His delight in that perfect Man.
- Sender. Only God can baptize with the Holy Spirit. John claimed water and disclaimed the rest, pointing to Jesus alone as the Baptizer.
- Sequence. The gift waited for the cross. Jesus pours it out from the Father's right hand. It is not water baptism, and it is not the new birth.
- Son. He receives the Spirit, then gives Him — the Lamb's work on earth, then His work from heaven. The Father owns Him as His Son.
And I have seen and borne witness that this is the Son of God.
John's last word about Jesus here is not a guess. It is a report of something he saw. Two questions follow. What did he see, and how did it lead him to call Jesus the Son of God?
John had to be told before he could speak. Twice he admitted that he did not know Jesus on his own.
Even John the Baptist was the greatest born of women. He was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb, and the same is said of no other man. Yet twice he had to declare, "I myself did not know Him" (John 1:31, 33). By himself he could not define anything about His Person apart from the revelation made to him... The testimony he heard carried what John saw deep down into his soul. It made it a matter of faith, and so of power in his heart, so that he "bore witness."
John baptised many people. The Spirit came down on one man only.
There was one, but only one, of all who came to John, on whom the Holy Spirit could find a resting-place. All the others confessed their sins as John baptised them. They had all failed, and so were sinners in themselves. He alone was holy, for He was conceived of the Holy Spirit. On Him the Spirit descended, and remained. And John saw that, though probably no one else witnessed it.
John does not stop at the descent of the Spirit. God told him that this same man would baptise with the Holy Spirit. That points to one conclusion about who He is.
John's conclusion, stated in verse 34, is of much importance... The Holy Spirit is a Person in the Godhead. And here is a Man who has this Divine Person at His disposal, to pour Him out as a baptism. Who can this Man be? No one less than the Son of God, another Person in the Godhead. So we are at once brought to the point which is the main aim of this Gospel (see 20:31). The Son was here in Manhood; that is why such a thing could be.
John has already called Jesus the Lamb of God. The two titles cover two different works, and both reach beyond Israel.
As the Lamb of God He accomplishes redemption. But that is not all. As the Son of God He gives the Holy Spirit, so that He may lead the redeemed into the blessedness of their place as sons. John bears witness that the One who gives the Holy Spirit is the Son of God. Who but a divine Person could give a divine Person? These titles given to the Lord by John go far beyond what Christ is in relation to Israel.
Something audible stood behind the confession, not only something visible.
When the angel Gabriel announced the birth, he told the virgin that her child would be called the Son of God. So He is Son of God by incarnation. But He is Son of God as well by eternal generation... And how did John the Baptist learn that He was the Son of God? For revelation alone teaches that. Had he not heard the Father's voice addressing His Son, when He was baptised in the Jordan? "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased." That heavenly message was addressed to the Son, but surely John heard it. So John could declare with certainty that He would baptise with the Holy Spirit, learning that by special revelation. And with the same certainty he could proclaim the Sonship, hearing it in the Father's words to His Son.
The sign that opened John's mouth also reaches those who believe.
This was the sign given to John the Baptist that opened his mouth to bear witness that Jesus was the Son of God... The descent of the Spirit on Jesus is the clear, heavenly testimony showing who Jesus was in His Person, as Son of God. John saw and bore witness that He was the Son of God Himself in this world. This is very precious for us to think about. With us it is no question of our persons, but of sovereign grace. He has ascended into glory and has baptised us with the Holy Spirit. And He, the eternal Son, first received this same testimony Himself as Man down here.
- Sign — God gave John one mark in advance: the Spirit descending and remaining. Only one man in all the crowds could be its resting-place, because He alone was holy.
- Sight — the witness rests on what John saw. But he could not read its meaning without the revelation given to him.
- Sonship — the One who can pour out a divine Person must Himself be a divine Person. The gift proves the Giver.
- Sum — the two titles belong together. As the Lamb He accomplishes redemption. As the Son He gives the Spirit, so the redeemed enter their place as sons.
- So that — John's confession is the very point of the whole Gospel: that Jesus is the Son of God.
Again, on the morrow, there stood John and two of his disciples.
Only two men are with John when Jesus walks past. What John says next costs him both of them — and commentators call that loss the best work his ministry ever did.
This is the third and last day of John's recorded witness. On this day he drops every other subject and speaks of one thing only.
On the first day of his ministry John, the greatest born of women, retires into the background in the presence of Jesus. On the second day he witnesses to the glory of Christ's Person and the greatness of His work. On this, the last day of his ministry, he says nothing about the work of Christ or the gift of Christ. He speaks only of the Person of Christ... For what John says of Jesus on this day is the result of looking upon Jesus. It was not the result of reading about Him in the prophets, or hearing about Him from others, but of looking upon Him.
The verse says John "was standing." One writer takes that posture as a man held still by what he sees. He then traces what it did to the two men beside him.
"John stood" — fixed, riveted, gazing at the most glorious Object that had ever held the gaze of men and angels — the Object of the Father's delight and of heaven's worship, "the Lamb of God." Notice the effect. "The two disciples heard Him speak and they followed Jesus." They felt there must be something uniquely attractive about One who could hold their master's heart like that.
John's whole message was five words. One writer weighs those words against the sacrifices his Jewish hearers knew from the law.
The preacher's eyes were on Jesus, "looking upon Jesus," not looking upon the crowd... Yes, God's Lamb; until now man had brought his lamb. Five words. Without this, tons of theology books are worthless. What words for Jewish ears, who had learned from the law that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins... The two heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. How simple, yet this is the power of God.
The two men did not simply add Jesus to their loyalties. They left the teacher they had been standing with.
John the Baptist's eye caught Jesus as He walked. The sight fills him, and he speaks as if he cannot help it: "Behold the Lamb of God!" The Spirit of God carries these precious words home to the hearts of two of His disciples. It suddenly dawns on them what Christ was. At once it attaches them to Him, and so breaks them off from everything else — even from their religious teacher, often the hardest link to break. "And they followed Jesus!"
The two men moved from one teacher to another. One writer marks the difference: Jesus did not refuse the place they gave Him.
Here we do not have John's public ministry, which had not produced this effect. We have his own heart going out at the sight of the Lamb of God. "And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus." And then Christ — and to me this is most important — Christ accepts being a centre. He says to them, "What are you seeking?"... Christ becomes a centre.
Another writer asks what makes words like John's land on other people, and counts the loss of his two disciples as his mission fulfilled.
It is not the fullest or clearest statement of the truth that has the most effect on others. Nothing has such power as a heart expressing its joy and delight in an object that is worthy... John was the servant of God's purpose, so his mission was carried out best when his disciples followed Jesus.
By this day John's own work was finished. One writer says his words were not aimed at the two men at all — and that is where their power lay.
In verse 35 John is like a man who had stepped back from his ministry, and was simply enjoying what it had all led to — the Lamb of God made known. We hear him speak out the hidden satisfaction of his soul: "Behold the Lamb of God!" He does not seem to have said these words to his disciples. But they heard him, lost in holy, happy thought about Jesus, and they follow Jesus. And, dear friends, this is what gets the same honour now. Our power to draw others after the Lord rests mainly on our own joy and communion with Him.
- Look. John's words that day came from looking at Jesus. Not from books about Him, and not from reports of others — and not about His work, but about His Person.
- Overflow. He was not preaching at anyone; the two overheard a heart's satisfaction, and that is what carried.
- Behold. Five words did what volumes could not: God's Lamb offered, where before man had brought his lamb.
- Detach. The words tied them to Christ. That one tie broke every other one — even the hold of the teacher they trusted.
- Centre. Jesus accepted the place they gave Him. John's mission succeeded at the very moment his own followers left him for Christ.
And, looking at Jesus as he walked, he says, Behold the Lamb of God.
John the Baptist stands with two of his followers, and Jesus walks past. He says five words about Him, and the two men leave their teacher to follow Jesus.
This day's testimony did not come from study or from what others had reported. One writer traces it to the simple act described in the verse itself:
On the first day of his ministry John, the greatest of those born of women, steps into the background in the presence of Jesus. On the second day he testifies to the glory of Christ's Person and the greatness of His work. On this, the last day of his ministry, he says nothing about the work of Christ or the gift of Christ. He speaks only of the Person of Christ. He says, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" This was perhaps not so much a witness to others as the worship of a heart taken up with the beauty of Christ. What John says of Jesus on this day comes from looking at Jesus. It did not come from reading about Him in the prophets, or from hearing about Him from others, but from looking at Him.
John had used this same title earlier, of Christ offering Himself for the sin of the world. Here the words stand alone, and one writer marks the difference:
In the earlier passage it was Christ as the sacrifice — the meek and gentle victim — offering Himself for the sin of the world. Here it is the display of what He is in Himself that stirs the wondering admiration of His forerunner. As he looks at Jesus walking by, his heart fills with adoring praise, and he says, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" Behold Himself: the beauty of His ways, the perfection of His walk, the unfolding of a divine-human life. That life was in itself a full and perfect moral picture of God to man.
The whole sermon is five words long. One writer weighs those words, and whose Lamb they name:
What a living text! The preacher's eyes were on Jesus. He was looking at Jesus, not looking at the crowd. What he looked at was his text. His subject was the living Person of Jesus, and Jesus as the Lamb of God! And he said, Behold Him — "Behold, the Lamb of God!" Yes, God's Lamb. Until now man had brought his lamb. Five words. Without this, tons of volumes of theology are worthless.
Why did such a short word move anyone? One writer draws a rule from it:
It is not the fullest or clearest statement of the truth that acts most on others. Nothing has such power as a heart telling out its joy and delight in an object that is worthy. So it was now. The greatest of those born of women acknowledges the Saviour with simple, genuine honour, and John's own disciples, who heard him speak, follow Jesus. "He must increase, but I must decrease." And so it ought to be. Not John, but Jesus, is the centre: a man, yet God, for no one else could be the centre without taking from the glory of God.
What made them go? Another writer points to the Spirit of God, and to the tie that had to break:
The Spirit of God carries these precious words home to the hearts of two of John's disciples. It bursts in upon them what Christ was. At once this pulls them away from everything else — even from their religious teacher, often the hardest tie to break — by binding them to Him. "And they followed Jesus!"
One writer applies this to us in the rush of ordinary life:
It would be good for us if, in the hurry and rush of life, we too stood still for a while and made time to look at Jesus as He walked. Then we would drink into our souls the grace and excellence of Jesus — the gentleness and kindness, the loveliness and meekness, the holiness and love that marked every step of His life through this dark world of sin and sorrow. Then, with full hearts, we would call the attention of others to the loveliness of the One Who is altogether lovely.
- Look — the words came from watching Jesus walk, not from reading or hearsay.
- Adore — with nothing said of His work or His gift, this is a heart taken up with the Person alone.
- Speak — five words did what the fullest statement may not do, because a heart's delight tells more than explanation.
- Follow — those words pulled two men from their teacher and bound them to Christ.
- Centre — John decreases on purpose; not the servant but Jesus holds the place no one else could hold.