United Church of God
Sermon Transcript March 31, 2007
There can be nothing, I believe, more timely for us as we approach the Passover than to do what John the Baptist told the people to do back in his time; and that was to "Behold the Lamb of God." You'll find that in John 1:29.
John 1:29 - Behold! The Lamb of God...
That word "behold" could use a little explanation. The Greek authorities tell us that it's an imperative, and it often is used to express surprise and wonderment and an exclamation. Almost like a, "Wow! Did you see that! Wow! That's really something! Behold! Wow! The Lamb of God!" and it's used as an interjection. You know, you think of it as having a couple of exclamation marks behind it. In fact, in my New King James version, it has exactly that. "Behold! The Lamb of God! Focus on the Lamb of God. Concentrate your attention on the Lamb of God," is what he is saying. "Examine the Lamb of God. Think about that. Scrutinize the Lamb of God." That's in John 1:29. It goes on to say:
John 1:29 - Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
Now, that is an utterly breathtaking accomplishment, when you think about how much sin there is and has been in the world, that this Lamb of God can take it all away, ultimately. What a breathtaking achievement.
Now, about a day later, John the Baptist said the same thing in 1:35. We see that:
John 1:35-36 - Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples. And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said again, "Wow! Think about what you are looking at! Behold the Lamb of God!"
Approaching the Passover, I think we would each, individually and as a group, do well to consider, to ponder, to meditate on, to think about—and I'm sure we have been—but to "behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." The Passover at its most fundamental level is about the Lamb of God. It is about what the Lamb of God did. It is surely true, as we have heard already, it is, admittedly, very important as we approach the Passover to do it in a reverential attitude, a humble attitude, a foot-washing attitude, because we have beheld the man or woman in the mirror. We have looked at, we have beheld, we have examined that person. We have examined ourselves, and that's all quite true and appropriate; but let us not make the mistake of beholding only ourselves, our sins, our repentance, our struggle with sin, our humility, if that's what we had, and fail to fix our eyes and attention, as John said, on the real focus of the Passover—the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, being sacrificed, this Lamb of God, by the Father. And then the Lamb of God willingly submitting and yielding to that supreme act of sacrifice in order to take away the sin of the world—my sin, your sin, the sin of all the world. So in the sermon, let's together today, behold the Lamb of God.
Now there is a wealth of disclosure about the Lamb of God in the book of John, the gospel of John, perhaps more so than in any other book of the Bible, so that's where we're going to spend most of our time today, beholding the Lamb of God. And we'll, again, we'll start with the very first verse in John 1.
John 1:1 - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
This Word became flesh, it tells us later, and was the Lamb of God. So He not only was with God, He was God; and the only teaching that makes any sense of those two statements is the teaching that the Church of God has been endowed with, the teaching that God is a family. I have a daughter named Tara . It could be said, "Tara is Kirkpatrick and Tara is with Kirkpatrick," when she's with me. God is a family, and the Word was God and was a member of that family. And the Word was with God, the head of that family. Only by understanding that God is a family does this first verse of John 1 make any sense, and we've been blessed with that unique understanding.
So He not only was with God, the Father, but was God, every bit as much God as Tara is a Kirkpatrick and Tom is a Kirkpatrick. There is no diminished sense. It's all the same family.
Verses 2-3 - He was in the beginning with God [God the Father] . All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. Who is the Lamb of God, as we behold this Lamb of God? This Lamb of God is God, is divine, is a member—an eternal, uncreated member—of the God family, is the creator. And it says in verse 4, In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The only hope that any man, any mortal, created individual has of eternal life is to connect with this Lamb of God, because it was in Him that there is life and the light of men. And then, in verse 5 , it says, And the light shines in the darkness... and for almost all of man's history, man has been cut off and in spiritual darkness from close communion with God, as a general statement... and the darkness did not comprehend it. He made us. We owe our existence to Him, this Lamb of God. He is our Creator.
Verses 6-7 - There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe.
Now some of the first disclosure we have of this Lamb of God is that to be connected with Him in a correct biblical way that pleases God, there must be an element of something called belief as part of that connection; and we'll see a lot more of that. We not only must behold the Lamb of God, we must come to believe in the Lamb of God, the work of the Lamb of God, not only what has been done but what continues to be done and will be done by the Lamb of God.
We see in verse 7 ...well, in verses 6-7 , a reflection of a constant theme throughout the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation, that God on very rare occasion has spoken directly to mankind. Now, Adam and Eve, until they were thrust out of the garden, had a direct communication, but that only lasted, apparently, a very brief period of time. Ever since then, there has generally been a state of being cut off from God. Yet, God does not completely eliminate communication with His human creation, so from time to time, God sends another human being as His instrument of communication to mankind in general, or at least to a subset of mankind in general.
Men have been sent from God with a message from God to their fellow men, and it says this man came for a witness, knowing full well...and, again, this is a theme from Genesis to Revelation...it's fully understood...you take a look at the entirety of the plan of God, it's fully understood and expected that usually, when a man is sent from God with a message, that individual will be ignored, will usually be ridiculed, will usually be disbelieved; but God keeps sending them anyway.
We see in the example of the Old Testament prophets, oftentimes God would say, "I'm sending you with a message. They're probably, most of them, not going to listen to you. They're not going to accept you, but go anyway." And here we see the same thing. This man came for a witness; and, by and large, his witness was not believed. This was John the Baptist, verse 7, to bear witness of the light, the Lamb of God, that all through him might believe, ultimately . Verse 8 , He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. So, somebody sent from God isn't invested with a personal message. It isn't anything...it isn't about the messenger. It's about the message that is given to that messenger. Again, a consistent theme throughout all the Bible.
Verse 9 - That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world - ultimately, if their eyes are opened to see that light; but most of the world has been blinded, as it says in verse 10 , He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, so this Lamb of God, we've already seen, is God and is the Creator. The world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
Mankind, in general, is in the condition of knowing a lot of things, but of not knowing the Creator, it's Creator. Man is in the condition of knowing a lot, but not knowing the one who made everything else that man can know. It's quite a remarkable thing when you first understand the plan of God, that He has purposed it this way; and that in the early stages—that is, the first six thousand years of the plan—very few really know their Creator.
Let's hold our place here. We're going to come right back. But there's an interesting statement from the apostle Paul in I Corinthians 1 . Again, I can remember when it first became clear to me from the teachings of the church what we just read, that mankind in general is in the condition of not knowing it's Creator, who is, for our purposes today, the Lamb of God. Over in I Corinthians 1, Paul is addressing a Greek audience. The Greeks are known, even to this day, for the wisdom of their philosophers, the human wisdom of their philosophers. And it's true, Plato and Socrates and Aristotle and others were able to reason in many realms in a way that has set the pattern for reasoning and, even in some sense, ethics and government ever since, in the human realm. But it was not reasoning based on the word of God, the revealed plan of God, and so Paul is contrasting the wisdom of the Greeks at its finest, the wisdom of mankind, with the wisdom of God, the plan of God, and he says, beginning in I Corinthians 1:18
I Cor. 1:18 - For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing... the Lamb of God was slain and put on a cross and died a horrible criminal's death. Well, what kind of way is that for the Creator of mankind to be dealt with by mankind with the cooperation, in fact, with the design of the Creator, for God to allow His creation to kill Him. That seems crazy to the human mind. It's foolishness to the human mind.... but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise..."
You know, it says that at its best state, man is altogether vanity. The highest form of human wisdom is foolishness and is subject to destruction by the superior wisdom of God and His plan.
Verses 19-20 - "...And bring to nothing the understanding..." you could almost see in quotes, "understanding" in quotes "... of the prudent." Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Well, cut off from God, they're in philosophy and history and ethics books, held up as the paragon of human reason. But in God's viewpoint, where are they? Well, they're basically nothing. Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
Then we come to verse 21 . For since, in the wisdom of God... now this is this superior form of wisdom, as high as the heavens are above the earth... in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom... through human reasoning... did not know God...
It says back in John 1 where we just were, He was in the world. Who was He? The Lamb of God. Who was He? He's God. He's the Creator of everything. He was in the world and the world didn't know Him. Through human wisdom, you can't know God; and it was according to God's wisdom that through human wisdom you could not find God.
Verse 21 (continuing) ... it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe, because they have accepted a superior form of wisdom, God's wisdom.
So back to John 1 . The Lamb of God was right among His creation, and the creation didn't even know Him, didn't acknowledge Him, didn't accept Him.
John 1:11-12 - He came to His own, verse 11, and yet His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to the few, to the firstfruits, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name...
Now again, there are more occurrences of the words translated into the English language, "believe" or "believed" or "believeth" or "believing," there are more occurrences of this belief concept in the book of John than in any other gospel account. This word "belief" comes from a Greek word that the root meaning of it, the underlying reading is, "to be persuaded." To be persuaded. In simplest forms, in simplest terms, it simply means a person who maybe previously was infatuated with human reason and human wisdom, when they connect with this Lamb of God in a process of God's calling, they are persuaded of superior wisdom of God and His plan. They sort of hooked their wagon to this other star; and at that point, human argumentation has ceased, demands for explanations have ended. We can make requests of God, but to demand understanding, sometimes the things of God must be accepted because we are just persuaded of His goodness and we believe Him.
Why did the Woodberry's perish in that direct hit? I could not tell you. These are God's people, members of God's church. Probably members of the family are asking that right now. You talk about a pre-Passover trial. Well, at times you just have to believe that God knows what He's doing and that He has a superior wisdom that we have to accept. We have to be persuaded of His goodness and quit demanding that we have full understanding at the human level of everything that happens. At the cosmic level, we say, "God, you're it. I hook my wagon to Your star. I'm with You. I want what You want." That is this concept of belief, and it says, back in John 1:
Verses 12-14 - ...as many as...believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh or of human wisdom... but of God. Reading on, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
So as we observe and behold the Lamb of God, we come across the notions very quickly of grace and truth.
Verse 15 - John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.'"
And yet, John, in things that human eyes can see, was born, was begotten three months before Jesus of Nazareth. But he says "He was before me," pointing back to the fact that He was God. He had pre-existed for all eternity.
Verse 16 - And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.
Other translations say one benefit, one blessing from God, right on the heals of the other. Just grace after grace, mercy after mercy, blessing after blessing, benefit after benefit. There doesn't seem to be any end of it.
Now it says in verse 17 a very significant thing. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
He brings grace and truth, and there is a connection somehow to law. I want to take just a minute to elaborate on that point because this verse, having to do with the Lamb of God and His work, is often misunderstood and is used in sort of an anti-law approach.
I'll interject at this point how excited I am about this covenants booklet that Mr. Welty was announcing, reading Mr. Kilough's letter. This is a wonderful, wonderful development and it has taken a long time to get us to this point; but having also had a chance to read it, I will just tell you I think it is the finest treatise on this whole subject, which was the genesis, in some ways of looking at it, of the existence of the United Church of God, because it was a crisis over the doctrine of law and grace and, especially, of holy time that caused the United Church of God to come into being in the first place. And now after whatever it is, twelve years, there is finally a comprehensive, detailed, coming-at-it-from-all-angles, 360-degree approach to this doctrine; and I believe that it will be a great blessing for the church and also for those who read the literature of the church to have this now at our disposal.
The law was given through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. The law has a two-fold purpose. In this sense, Moses and Jesus are not contrasted so much as they're two sides of the same coin. God used Moses to deliver His revelation, the law, in written form - at least in codified form - on Mount Sinai . God used Jesus to give His revelation of the ultimate effect of that law being submitted to in the heart and minds of men, through Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. Again, these are not in contrast so much as they are complementary. The law of God really has a two-fold purpose. If you want to hold your place there or if you don't want to, I'll just read Romans 10:4 for you. I think this ties in here. It says:
Rom. 10:4 - For Christ is the end, or the end result, better translated, or the goal...see, Christ is the end or the end result or the goal of the law for righteousness to everyone who , again, believes.
The law has one purpose, to show us the perfection of God's character; and it just writes it down in do's and don'ts; but anybody who perfectly did all the things that are enjoined by the law and perfectly refrained from doing all the things that are prohibited by the law would have the character of God. So it is a description in writing, in words, of the mind and character of God; and so, it describes. Christ in the flesh was the perfection of somebody who did all the things the law said to do and didn't do any of the things the law prohibited, ever! That's one purpose of the law, to show us the clean and the holy and the sacred, and to show love for the Father and to show that there is structure in the ways of God. There is family; there is structure in family. There is honor to others. There is structure in society. There is even structure in commerce. There's property, private property; and respect for the rights of others and their property is enjoined in the law. So that one purpose of the law, the end of which Christ is, shows the mind of God, the character of God, the actions of God.
The second thing the law does...in summary, that first thing directs us to Christ. Here's the law. At the end of this road called Law Avenue , at the very end, the perfection of that, destination: Christ, the character of Christ.
The other thing that the law does is show us how much...it makes us run to Christ. It makes us try to get to Christ because we know we need His mercy, because the law convicts that we have failed to be perfect as God is perfect. The law says don't do things, and in our weakness, we do those things. And then we say, "Now what are we going to do?" Because the law says now you have to die. So the law and our awareness of the second purpose of the law, to show us that we're sinners, to show us that we have fallen short of that perfection, that we need somebody to pay the death penalty for us, that sends us to Christ as well, as the only one, the Lamb of God, whose blood can cover our sins. So the law shows both us and Christ in two respects. It shows us Christ and His perfection, and it sends us going to Him, asking Him to save us from death and to bring grace and truth, mercy and truth. He was the living personification of the law.
Now, John 1:18 says: No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. The Lamb of God makes known the Father, but as we'll continue to see, only at this time to a few; but for the few, they are able to know the Father through the work of the Lamb of God.
Now let's skip over to about verse 29 . The next day after all of those things were said:
Verses 29-30 - The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God ...," and we read this, "Behold! The Lamb of God, think about Him, meditate on Him, examine Him, scrutinize Him, think about His work, think about your relationship to Him, who takes away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.'"
Now verse 31 is a little bit startling when you first read it. "I did not know Him..." What do you mean? I thought you were second cousins. I thought Mary and Elizabeth were cousins. I thought the pregnant Elizabeth and the pregnant Mary were together. How could John say, "I didn't know him"? Well, he knew his second cousin, or whatever it was, Jesus of Nazareth; but until now, apparently, he wasn't completely convinced that He was the Lamb of God, that He was the Messiah; but now he gains the spiritual perception that indeed Jesus of Nazareth is not just a man; He is the Lamb of God. So he says, "I didn't know Him, but that He should be revealed..." Apparently God had told somehow to John, in a manner not revealed to us, that somehow in his ministry he was going to baptize the Lamb of God, the Messiah. "... therefore I came baptizing with water." And John bore witness, saying, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven..." So he was allowed to see a vision and that convinced John that this was the man who was not just a man, who was the Lamb of God. And this dove in this vision and this ability to see it, as John was given, "...remained upon Him." Again he says, "I did not know Him, I wasn't absolutely convinced yet what His full mission was until now... but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, "Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. This is the Lamb of God. '" Verse 34 - "And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God."
So we've seen already that the Lamb of God is the Creator, and now we see that He is the Son of God, for God is a family; and by taking away the sin of the world, He makes possible the growth of that family, as part of the plan or the will of God, this God who is Maker, who is Son, who accomplishes His work through the power of the Holy Spirit. So it says the Lamb of God also baptizes with the Holy Spirit, and His work is accomplished through the power of the Holy Spirit, which is invisible to our eyes. That was a one-time event, where the Spirit appeared like a dove. That was for the purpose of showing John the Baptist that this was the Messiah and that he would give testimony to that effect.
Now let's skip over to verse 40 , a little bit later.
Verses 40-42 - One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, "You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas" (which is translated, a Stone).
This Lamb of God we see has the authority, accompanied by the power, to change things. As we behold the Lamb of God, we see this aspect. He changes things. Here He changes the man's name from Simon to Cephas. He changes things, and He changes far more than peoples' names. He changes the people. That is part of the work of the Lamb of God. Over in verse...or the next chapter, in chapter 2 , we see Him changing water into wine. So as we behold the Lamb of God, we see He's in the business of changing things: changing names; changing substances; but, far more important, changing people and changing them like the little red Honda, from within, under the hood, not just externally, but the internal, the heart. Once a person comes into a relationship with this Lamb of God, it is the will of the Father that that person himself, or herself, not just their name...not just the fluid in the cup, it used to be water and now it's wine...but they themselves are changed. Again, we'll hold our place there, but II Corinthians 5 , gives voice to the same thought. Not only does the Lamb of God change peoples' names or change water to wine, He changes the person. That's the primary focus of His work.
II Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in this Lamb of God, is in Christ, and it's a relationship based on belief ...if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation... something has been changed ; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become, or are becoming, new.
So it's a process of change when an individual in a believing relationship comes into contact with the Lamb of God.
Verse 43 back in John 1 . It says:
John 1:43 - The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee , and He found Philip and said to him, "Follow Me."
Another aspect of the work of the Lamb of God as we behold Him is, He doesn't apologize for making demands on those He created and died for. He says follow Him. "Stop what you're doing and follow Me instead." And He doesn't do it apologetically. He just says, "Do it, if you're going to be in a relationship with Me."
OK, now, over in chapter 2 as we behold the Lamb of God in the book of John, let's look at another aspect here. John 2, we'll pick it up in verse 13 .
John 2:13-15 - Now the Passover of the Jews... the Jews were the only ones on earth keeping it at that time... the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. As we behold the Lamb of God, what do we see Him doing here? And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the moneychangers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables.
Of all the creatures on earth, what is the one that comes to mind when you think of harmless to other creatures? Don't you think of a little lamb? I mean, a lamb is the essence of vulnerability. You don't think of aggression when you think of a lamb. You think of tigers or lions and rhinoceros charges when you think of aggression. A lamb, you think of backing away, getting away, bleating in the presence of anything that's scary. But this Lamb of God has another aspect, and that is, He can get consumed in zeal for His Father's house. That's what He says here. I mean, turning over, making a mess out of things, taking a scourge or a whip and probably raising His voice and running out the livestock and turning over tables and telling them to get out—and I'm sure they ran, the money changers. This is an aspect, as we behold the Lamb of God, maybe, we're not prepared for at first glance.
Verses 16-17 - And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away! Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!" Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal or jealousy for Your house has eaten Me up, has consumed Me.. ."
There is a consuming desire to see the house of God, the things of God, properly respected and cleansed; and that's what the Lamb of God does as we behold Him here.
John 2:18 - So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?"
Of course, then Jesus spoke in a way that they couldn't figure out what He was saying because it wasn't His time yet. He has the authority to condemn sin, to reprimand sinners, and to advance the cause of God and His house in this world.
All right, over in chapter 3 ...so far we have seen as we observe or behold the Lamb of God that He's God; that He's the Creator, He's the maker; He's the Son of God; He's the ruler over nature...it's nothing for Him to turn water into wine, it's nothing for Him to change water into wine or a man's voice; He's all of those things. He's the Lamb of God, made to bleed and die and suffer and to be consumed for the benefit of others - and why, fundamentally? Because of love.
Chapter 3:14-16 - Jesus said in His discussion here with Nicodemus, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up..." Jesus knew perfectly well exactly what that meant... "that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." And then comes probably the most quoted verse in all the Bible, "For God so loved..." - the well spring of all of this is the love of God - "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
He loves us. The Father loves us. They love their human creation; and to take away the sins of the world. They offered up the supreme sacrifice. So as we approach the Passover, which commemorates what the Lamb of God did, it should fill us, really, with awe at the extent of that love.
Verse 18 - We come back to this fundamental concept of belief. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
And if you look at verse 36 , it says almost the same thing. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life, at least in earnest ; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.
I would put it this way - the Lamb of God is the decision point. Call it a Y in the road. He is the decision point, this Lamb of God that we behold, for each and every person at sometime, ultimately, regarding everlasting life. Ultimately, for everyone, He cannot be ignored. He came and He was among His own and His own knew Him not - they ignored Him - but that's a temporary phenomenon. He's the decision point regarding eternal life; and at some point, every creature must behold the Lamb of God. He cannot be ignored but must be beheld by everyone.
Chapter 4, now these are the claims, as has often been said, either of a madman or of a God. There's no in between, the claims that He makes regarding Himself. In chapter 4 we see sort of the climax of this discussion that He has with this Samaritan woman. In Joh. 4:24 , Jesus says:
John 4:24-26 - "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When He comes, He will tell us all things." And Jesus, in one of the few times where He didn't speak ambiguously about who He was...because, generally, when He was in dialogue or in debate, you might say, with His critics, He spoke in parables or He spoke in such a way that there could be multiple ways to understand Him. He was throwing them off until it was His hour; but in this case, He unambiguously, in response to her comment about the coming Messiah, he said, "I who speak to you am He. I'm the Messiah. I'm the Anointed One. I'm the Christ."
Those are all synonyms - Messiah, Christ, Anointed One. The concept is, one is taken from among many and set apart for a special purpose. He's anointed for a special purpose. He is the one anointed or set apart as special by the Father. He was set apart, this Lamb of God, by the Father from before the creation of man, to be killed, to die, to shed His blood, to take our sins on Himself. It says in Revelation 13:8 , that one of the things He was anointed to do, it says:
Rev. 13:8 - All who dwell on the earth will worship him, [ultimately] , whose names have not been written [at this time] in the Book of Life of what? the Lamb, the Lamb of God, who was slain from the foundation of the world. So He was set apart by the Father for the purpose of dying in order to take away the sin of the world. He is the Anointed One.
Now Andrew excitedly told his brother, "We've found the Messiah. We've found the Anointed One." Let's go back to chapter 1 and pick up on that. We looked at it briefly, I think.
John 1:40-41 - One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. Very excitedly he runs to his brother, Simon and says to him, "We have found the [Anointed One, the Christ, the One set apart] ."
Well, let's think about, as we behold the Lamb of God, what all He was anointed to do. How was He the Christ? How was He the Messiah? Most of the Jews who read with very imperfect understanding the prophecies of the Old Testament knew that there was a Messiah who was set apart, anointed to be the ruler of the world. He was their champion that would help them or cause the yoke of gentile domination to be thrown off of them, God's special people. That's the concept they had of who this Anointed One was going to be when He came; and they were looking for Him at this time. They had been able to cobble together the prophecies to the degree that they were looking for Him, thought the time might be right; and, yes, He was anointed to be a conquering King...but He was anointed to do more than that.
John 1:29, we've already read it, but again, He was anointed to take away the sins of the world, as the Lamb of God, through His death, through His sacrifice. Before the foundation of the world He was anointed and set apart for that function. In John 1:49 , as He is talking with Nathaniel:
John 1:49 - Nathanael answered and said to Him, "Rabbi, You are the Son of God!" He was anointed to be the Son of God, and He was anointed to be "...the King of Israel !" And ultimately He will fulfill all of those roles: Son of God, Lamb of God, King of Israel; but in His first coming, He was to be the sacrifice to take away the sin of the world.
OK, now back to chapter 4 , further insights as we behold the Lamb of God, 4:31 . It says:
John 4:31-34 - In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." They could see He was hungry and for all intents and purposes, for all they knew, He had not eaten and they wanted to encourage Him to do so. But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know." Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?"Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work."
He is motivated, the Lamb of God, He is motivated not by His own will, but by the Father's will. The Father's work, which He has been given to do, motivates, sustains, and gives strength to Him. Doing it, that is, the Father's will, energizes the Lamb of God. It sustains and feeds Him, as we focus on Him. It also says in chapter 5:19 something very similar.
John 5:19 - Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself..." As we behold the Lamb of God, we see an utter sense of not being self-sufficient, of being utterly dependent upon the Father. He says, "I can't do anything by Myself, but what [the Lamb of God] sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. "
And in John 5:30:
John 5:30 - "I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge... I find out what the Father wants and then that's what I do, and that's the meat that sustains Me and gives Me strength, and you can't even see it. It's not like physical food." [continuing verse 30] "...and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me."
Now what weakens us is the extent to which we seek our own will in trying to do God's work. That's what weakens us. Jesus said, "I get strength from seeking His will." And as we behold the Lamb of God, we should see that the same applies to us.
Now, over in chapter 6 . This is a related point. Verse 27 of chapter 6. Jesus said:
John 6:27-29 - "Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him." Then they said to Him, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?" Now don't we talk a lot about doing the work of God? The church is called to do the work of God. What is it that makes doing the work of God possible, by Jesus' own testimony? Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."
How do you accomplish the work of God? You trust the Lamb of God to make it possible by working through you. How do we do the work of God? We trust the Lamb of God to make it possible by working through us. We don't seek our own will. You don't, I don't. To the degree that we don't seek our own will, but the will of the Father, it's possible to do the work of God. To the extent we seek our own, it isn't...from the one who should know - that is, the Lamb of God.
But what about this food, the food which endures to everlasting life? And about those things He said about doing the work of God? What's the work of God? He said you have to believe in Him whom He sent. You have to trust the Lamb of God living in you, in us, to do that work. That's the only way it can be accomplished.
Verses 30-32 - Therefore they said to Him, "What sign will You perform then..." It says the Jews seek a sign and the Greeks seek wisdom. "What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You?" Is believing Christ a function of what we see with our eyes? Miracles? No. In fact, it says signs are for unbelievers. No, it says, "What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? Could you do something as great as what happened to our forefathers when they were fed for forty years on a daily basis by miraculous food from the heavens, manna? Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, "He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly," in answer to their question, "Most assuredly I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven..." Who did? He did! Because He was the Rock that went with them in those days, " but My Father now gives you the true bread from heaven."
"Where? Where is it? I don't see any stuff on the ground." He was the one talking to them. The true bread from heaven.
Verses 33-37 - "For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." Then they said to Him, "Lord, give us this bread always." And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. I am that which if you ingest and it is in you will make it possible for you to do the work of God and will give you strength, spiritually. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst." He uses pretty strong words. "But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe." It hadn't been given to them to believe. It wasn't their time. "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me...," it was a few peoples' time, "...A few will come to Me in belief, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out." That's the firstfruits.
Now we skip down to verse 47 , continuing to scrutinize the Lamb of God.
John 6:47-58 - "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead." That wasn't something that if you eat it would guarantee you'd live forever. That just sustained physical life, and it was a miracle. But He is that which will sustain eternal life, make it possible. "This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven." And those of us baptized members who come here tomorrow, when we take that little piece of unleavened bread, when we put it in our mouths and ingest it, these are the thoughts that we're to have. I'm sure these will be read again, these words. The true living bread of life, that's what that pictures - the ingesting of the Lamb of God and His Spirit and His way, changing us from within, under the hood. "This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh..." Behold the Lamb of God who came to be sacrificed. "... which I shall give for the life of the world." The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves...
What a typical and sad commentary on the human condition. He came to His own and His own knew Him not. He was the light of the world, and yet the world was in darkness. Here He is saying the words that, to those of us in this room, have incredibly weighty meaning; and yet, to those who were in darkness, who have the scales on their eyes, these profound words were cause for another argument and quarreling among themselves. So they started fighting among themselves , verse 52, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?" A total incomprehension of the mission of the Lamb of God. Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you." Again, either the words of a madman, or of a God; and they concluded He was a madman. "Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him." In a relationship of belief, where we have become convinced that He is the Son of God . "As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven - not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.""
Now, in verses 60-65 , it says, Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand what this man is saying ?" When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples, or at least some of them, murmured about this... I mean, there were far more disciples than just the twelve who became apostles, and they were murmuring about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you? Does this scandalize you? What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?" And so, yes, some were scandalized. "It is the Spirit who quickens..." We're talking about spiritual realities, Jesus is saying. "I use physical language, but we're talking about spiritual realities that the firstfruits can understand. It's the Spirit that quickens ; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you who do not believe." Even some of those in that crowd, in that group, did not believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me except it is given unto him of My Father." Not in a believing heart, not with the gift of spiritual comprehension.
John 7 , as we behold more about this Lamb of God.
John 7:37 - On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink."
In verses 38-39 He comes back again and again and again to this important principle. "He who believes in Me, that I am God, that I am the Son of God, that I am the Lamb of God, that I am Creator, that I am the one who changes from within, that I am the one who dies to take away the sin of the world, if you believe all of that... He that believes on Me as the Scripture says, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." But this spoke He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
The same writer, John, was inspired in one of his epistles to say something very similar, in I John 4:12. Know and believe. You know, some people stare at the Lamb of God, but they don't behold Him.
I John 4:12-16 - "No man has seen God at any time. Not the Father. If we love one another, God dwells in us..." We're going to take a little bit of that common loaf of bread or piece of bread...it was all one, one piece of bread, and a man will break it up into little pieces, and then each of us will take a little piece of it. And the imagery is that then we will still be one. We will be one, as each of us have a little bit of that same unified spirit. There's one Spirit, not multiple. There's one Son of God, Lamb of God, not multiple; and if He's in all of the body, every member of the body, it's one body. I mean, it's just so rich in symbolism. " No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells in us, and His love is perfected in us. And hereby know we that we dwell in Him and He in us because He has given us of His Spirit." And the Lamb of God is then living in the members of the body of Christ through that Spirit. "And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world." He was Messiah-ed, He was Christ-ed, He was set apart, anointed for that purpose. "Whoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him, and he is in God. And we have known..." Some people might know about or stare at, but they don't behold properly. It says, "We have known and believed the love that God has to us. God is love, and he that dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him."
Back to John 14. These words are as fresh as they are old; they're as dramatic as they are well known to us. John 14:1 :John 14:1-6 - "Let not your heart be troubled..." You know, at different times as members of the body of Christ, we find that we do have troubled hearts; but He says don't let your heart be troubled. "You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions... I'm preparing a Kingdom, preparing a house, preparing a job for the stones of the spiritual temple. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." And, again, as He's speaking these sayings, the disciples at their level of understanding didn't get it; but it was recorded, and over time, with the Spirit of God, the sheep who hear Christ's voice can get it. They didn't get it at that point, not the full extent of it. "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know." Thomas said to Him, "Lord, basically I haven't got any idea what You just said. Lord..." As he tried to state it back, he showed that he didn't comprehend it. "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."
Now, Jesus, this Lamb of God, is unchangeable. He changes not. And when He said He is going away to a place by a certain way, He's not merely talking about geography. In fact, that's fundamentally not, primarily not what He is talking about. He is not talking about geography or road map reading. If we have seen Him, if we have beheld the Lamb of God in John and Matthew and Mark and Luke, if we have beheld Him and seen the way He lived, then we would know that is still the way He's living in the lives of the firstfruits. If we have seen Him and beheld Him live a certain way then, on the earth, we can be certain He's living the same way, doing the same things in heaven, with the Father; and we also know that He's living the same way in those who are Christians. Jesus said, "I am the way. I am the way to the Father." Jesus is the way to the Father. Probably the most, one of the two or three most quoted verses in all of, let's say the ministry of Mr. Armstrong, John 6:44 : " No man can come to Me except the Father who sent Me draws him," and that is through Christ. The Father calls people to Himself, but He calls them through the Son; and He is, in that sense, the way. The only way to the Father is through the Son.
And then we come to chapter 17 , and we can behold the Lamb of God praying, confiding in the Father, expressing what are certainly some of the most important insights into their plan and their workings, the real plan, the superior wisdom, of the way things really work.
John 17:1-3 - Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: "Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You... I don't live for My own glory ..." He said many times, "I live for the glory of the Father ...as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him." And now we have seen in His testimony several times that that's not very many initially, but, ultimately, all must behold the Lamb of God . "And this is eternal life, that they may know You," and that's only possible through Christ.
Verses 6-9 - "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word." Perfectly? No. With perfect understanding? Of course not. We've seen that, but they were on their way; and they were going to form the nucleus of the church and the leadership of the church. "Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. For I have given to them the words which You have given Me," and that was His way of having strength, to seek the will of the Father, to pass on the words of the Father. "... and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours."
Verses 20-23 - "I do not pray for these alone," however many there were left. Apparently about 120 as we see in the book of Acts, and certainly led by the twelve who became the apostles, but "I don't pray for this small group alone , but also for those who will believe in Me through their word." How do you and I know anything about the Lamb of God? Well, Matthew and Luke and John and Peter, maybe working with Mark, wrote down the words and they're in the Bible. We read them and it teaches us about the Lamb of God...those who would believe through their word, that they preached and that they wrote down, "...that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us..." That's the two thousand-year-old challenge for the people of God, one which we sometimes come closer to and allow ourselves to come closer to than others; but that's always the goal, that there could be unity in the spiritual realm, that they "may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me" because there's one Spirit, "that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me."
Matthew 26 , as we just about wrap this up, Matthew 26, let's behold the Lamb of God, explaining the reality—not the shadow, not the type—but the reality of the Passover lamb, which He was.
Matt. 26:26-28 - And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is My body." The body of the Lamb of God . Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." And, of course, He's giving full understanding to the typology of the little innocent, you might say, lambs that were killed on the Passover, with the reality in Isaiah 53. As I said, it is, of course, important to examine ourselves; but it is equally, if not more, important to examine and behold that which this is about, the Lamb of God.
Isa. 53:1-6 - Who has believed our report? Well, the Greeks couldn't. It was an offense. It was foolishness, that God would come down and suffer and die at the hands of His own creation, and they didn't even realize who they were putting to death. The gods of Mount Olympus didn't act like that. And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant... Again, the most tender, gentle animal that comes to mind is a little lamb. Not an aggressive part of it. And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. There was nothing about Him physically that set Him apart, but He was the Lamb of God. And He allowed Himself to be despised and rejected by men, including us when we are not following Him, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. What kind of a god would put Himself through that kind of a wringer? Well, the Lamb of God would, the real God would. According to a spiritual wisdom that is far above man's wisdom . And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs because of His love and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. Some people went by and they saw those three crosses and they saw the suffering going on and they thought, "Well, what did He do? Well, He must have really been a criminal. He's with two other criminals. He must have done something awful." But He was wounded for our transgressions, for mine, for yours. He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray from the true Lamb of God . We have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
So let us behold the Lamb of God and believe. Tomorrow night let's take the Passover, focusing on the Lamb of God in a worthy manner.