The Lamb of God

 These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:28,29)

At the time that Jesus lived his shortened life in Judea, the Jewish understanding of the Messiah was that he would conquer the gentile kingdoms of the world and establish his reign of a Hebrew kingdom in which the Jewish people would take their place as the rightful chosen people of God and in which peace would rule. With this understanding they saw the Messiah as a military leader, a king who would put all the empires that had oppressed them for over five centuries under his sovereignty, a progeny of David who had also conquered the enemies of Israel. Even his own disciples held this concept which is why, when he tried to tell them he would be handed over to the Jewish and Roman authorities who would torture and kill him they were confused and rejected what he said. Peter even tried to rebuke him for saying this. So tied to this idea of the conquering hero were they that when Jesus was finally arrested by the high priest, they all fled from him in dismay, something Jesus himself predicted when, after the last Passover supper they accompanied Jesus to the Mount of Olives: And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ (Mark 14:27)

However, there were many allusions to the true nature and calling of the Messiah, first in the example of the command of God for Abraham to sacrifice his only son—even though at the last minute the command was rescinded--to the Passover sacrifice in Egypt, to the Mosaic law of sin sacrifices, to the many Messianic prophesies in both Psalms and by various prophets. Perhaps the most direct reference to this calling is found in the prophesy of Isaiah in the entire 53rd chapter. Too long for this post to quote the entire chapter (though I encourage you to read it for yourself) here is a particularly poignant excerpt: 

But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. (Isaiah 53:5-7)

        The final prophetic statement, this time not an allusion or simile but rather a plain declaration, came from John the Baptist as he sees Jesus approaching: Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 

        There will certainly come a time when Jesus will be a conquering King and establish his rule on earth, when he will put all enemies under his feet, but first he had to act as the ultimate sacrifice to pay the redeeming price for our rebellion and provide a path of reconciliation for fallen humanity with God, to remove the barrier—of our sin and fallen nature—that separated us from God. With John the Baptist’s declaration, that plan, first alluded to in the test of Abraham’s faith with his willingness to sacrifice Isaac, reiterated in the sacrifice of the Passover lamb, then the establishment of blood sacrifice in the Mosaic Law, and predicted many times in the Psalms and prophets, was finally made clear in the person of Jesus.