Only One Sacrifice to Deliver Us from Sin

Behold the Lamb

by D.G. Miles McKee
 

 John1:36… “Behold the Lamb.”
One day as the prophet John the Baptist walked by the banks of the river Jordan, he stopped, pointed to the Lord Jesus and boldly declared Him to be the Lamb of God. 
 
What was in John's mind that day when he avowed Jesus to be the Lamb? Perhaps, He was thinking of the Passover. 
Remember the story of the Passover?  It’s the history of how the blood of slain lambs protected the Israelites on the night they left Egypt (Exodus 12:13).  On that night the Angel of Death visited the streets of Egypt and slew all the firstborn of the nation.  The Israelites, however, had, under instructions from God, smeared their doorposts with the blood of lambs, and the death angel, on seeing the blood, passed over their houses.  Yes indeed, lamb’s blood delivered them from death.  The lambs on the Passover night pointed towards the Lord Jesus the One whose shed blood would save and deliver people from every race.   John was saying that this Lamb, the Lord Jesus, is the one true sacrifice who can fully deliver both Jew and Gentile from doom and destruction.
 
Also, John the Baptist was the son of a priest. He would have known all the rituals of the Temple and its sacrifices. He would have known that every morning and every evening a lamb was sacrificed in the Temple for the sins of the people (Exodus 29:38-42).  John had the revelation that the Lord Jesus was the only sacrifice which could entirely deliver us from sin.  The thing is, Jesus was and is not just another lamb.  He was and is The Lamb who takes away the sins of both Jews and Gentiles, … the sins of the whole world.
 
Listen to John as he instructs us to, “Behold the Lamb of God!” What a wonderful thing to call Him …’ the Lamb of God.’  The title “Lamb” haunted the writer of Revelation so much that he used it twenty-nine times in his book. Indeed, ‘The Lamb” is one of the most precious titles of the Lord Christ.

“Behold the Lamb,”  what a rule of life for us. 
“Behold the Lamb,” means we are to admire Him.
“Behold the Lamb,” means “See the Wonder in Him!
“Behold the Lamb,” means “Think about Him.”
"Behold the Lamb,” means “Study Him.”
“Behold the Lamb,” means, “Look Him up and down.”
“Behold the Lamb,” means “Know all that you can about him.”
“Behold the Lamb,” means, “Hold Him up for inspection.”
“Behold the Lamb,” means we may look and see God’s provision.
“Behold the Lamb,” means look and see God Himself has provided the Lamb for His people’s sins. 
“Behold the Lamb,” He is God manifest in the flesh.
“Behold the Lamb,”  means sing to Him.
“Behold the Lamb,”  means talk to Him.
“Behold the Lamb,” Even in heaven, we will not cease to wonder at this glorious Lamb of God.
 
What a marvel the Lamb is.  On beholding Him, Spurgeon said, “He is God; do you understand that He stood in the sinner’s stead? He is man; do you know how near akin He is to you, how sympathetic He is, a brother born for your adversity?” The person of Christ is a great marvel; how God and man can be in one person, it is impossible for us to tell. We believe what we cannot comprehend, and we rejoice in what we cannot understand. He whom God has provided to be your Saviour is both God and man; He can lay His hand upon both parties, He can touch your humanity in its weakness, and touch the Godhead in its all-sufficiency.

And that’s the Gospel Truth!