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.
The Lamb God provided for Himself
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!
An image every listener already knew
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.
"Sin," not "sins"
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.
A finished work with an unfinished result
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.
What it means for the world now
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.
From "the world" to "me"
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.
Summary
- 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.