Jesus: The Lamb of God // John 1:29

John 1:29 (NLT) | The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

The context for today’s verse is early in the Gospel of John when John the Baptist (different John from the one who wrote the Gospel) saw Jesus coming and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” Lambs were commonly used during Jewish worship as an offering to God serving different purposed…

• As a sin offering to atone for unintentional sins or the ritual impurities performed by all.
• As a voluntary offering to demonstrate complete surrender, devotion, or repentance to God.
• As an offering of thanksgiving, fulfillment of a vow, or to celebrate God.
• As an annual Passover sacrifice commemorating God’s delivery of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.
• As a daily sacrifice to maintain the covenantal relationship between God and the people.
• As another annual ritual on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) to atone for the intentional and unintentional sins of all the people.

We see the rhythm here of daily, weekly, and annual sacrifices of a lamb to God for sin and celebration alike. So, when we see John the Baptist connect Jesus as the Lamb of God, he is referring to Jesus’ role as the once-and-for-all sacrifice that covers our sin. This is why we do not have animal sacrifices in the Christian movement any longer, because our sins are covered and forgiven by what Jesus did on the cross.

I encourage you to look back through that list and note the different ways a relationship with Jesus makes you at-one with God (the actual meaning of our English word, atonement). He gave His life to be our very own daily, weekly, and annual connection to God the Father in all ways and all times. Commemorate His sacrifice. Celebrate His provision. Connect the presence in your life as a call and cause for thanksgiving.