Key Verse: "The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."
- John 1:29 KJV
During the time of the Lord's temptation, John was preaching in the wilderness. Many supposed he was the promised Savior; for though he did no miracle, (John 10:41,) he was evidently a very wonderful prophet. There were in Jerusalem seventy chief men, who met together to consult about public matters, and who were called the council, or the Sanhedrin. These Jews were proud and unbelieving. They sent a company of priests and Levites to ask John who he was, probably supposing that he would readily answer people who filled holy offices, especially as he himself was a priest. But he did not wish men to honor him, and he plainly told these priests he was not the Christ. Then they wanted to know whether he was Elijah; for Malachi the prophet had declared that Elijah would come before Christ came, (4:5, 6.) But though John had come in the spirit and power of Elijah, he was not Elijah himself. The priests then asked him whether he was that prophet. What prophet did they mean? They meant to ask whether John was any one of the old prophets risen from the dead. He declared that he was not, and then told them who he was—A voice crying in the wilderness. But these priests were not satisfied with the answer—they wanted to know why he baptized, as if he were some great person, and had great authority. As they were of the sect of the Pharisees—those formal self-righteous people—they must have been much offended with John for having once called them a generation of vipers. John took this occasion to praise the Lord Jesus, and to speak of his greatness. He even told them that he stood among them, though they knew him not.
The next day John was able to point out the unknown Savior to the people who surrounded him; but we are not told whether these priests were still near or not. How remarkable is the name by which he called his Lord! "The Lamb of God." Why did he give him this name? Was it because he was meek and gentle? Not chiefly for that reason; but because he was to be sacrificed for the sins of men. A lamb was offered up at the temple every morning and evening; its blood could not take away sin; but there was a Lamb whose blood could take away the sins of the world!
Consider how immense the sum of the sins of the world must be! The sins that one of us commits in one day are very numerous. If all our proud thoughts could be known, and all our rebellious feelings against God could be exposed, how vast would be the amount! But consider what millions of millions of men have lived on this earth; what treachery, what blasphemy, what murders, what idolatry, have defiled it in every place, at every moment. Yet all these multiplied crimes Jesus can take away; so great is the power of his blood. O that all the world would come to the Lamb of God, that they might all be cleansed from their innumerable transgressions.
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