John 1: 29-34….The Introduction!

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

I include here a passage from Matthew’s gospel to give weight to what the Baptist is recorded as saying in John’s gospel. Matt3: 13-17 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. …… And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Comment: We, in our ignorance of the Old Testament fail to tie in the multiple facets of truth which are tied together in Jesus coming. Sin – the Fall having ruined the divine-human relationship; the promised Messiah to bring restoration and establish the Kingdom; the concept of a ‘Lamb’s blood’ being at the heart of the previous rescue from slavery in Egypt. But when John called out ‘Behold the Lamb of God’ it would have reverberated in every Jewish mind. John the writer tells of John, the Baptist’s previous awakening experience as recorded in Matthew.

Prayer: May the truth of it all, seize my mind, soul, heart, even living, O Lord!