The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
This is the very first public declaration of Jesus Christ, and what a declaration it is! Our job as Christians is, like John, to point the world to the Lamb of God.
Lamb of God is a phrase which only occurs only twice in the Bible: here and in John 1:36. The Greek word for lamb is here amnos, which itself only occurs 4 times in the N.T.; the 2 previously mentioned verses and Acts 8:32 and 1 Peter 1:19. Altogether “lamb” is found 33 times in the N.T. (arnion being the other occurrence, found only in Revelation) and 74 times in the Old Testament. There are several possibilities for what the Lamb of God may be referring, but none of them fully explain the expression.
John 1:36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
Acts 8:32 The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
1 Peter 1:19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
- disposition = a lamb was gentle, meek, mild, innocent, and pure. Jesus was all of these but much, much more.
- sacrifice There are many sacrifices in the Old Testament which used lambs.
- the Passover lamb = although Jesus is our Passover lamb, this is not necessarily what the Lamb of God is referring to since
- the Passover lamb was not necessarily a lamb (Ex 12:5 and also the word translated as lamb (seh) means “one of a flock andis elsewhere translated as sheep or cattle) and
- the victim of the Passover was called the “Passover” (pascha) and not lamb at the time of Jesus.
Exodus 12:5 The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.
- the lamb of the daily sacrifices = Exodus 29:38-39 but there is nothing to indicate that the daily sacrifices were ever referred to as being God’s Lamb.
Exodus 29:38-39 “This is what you are to offer on the altar regularly each day: two lambs a year old. Offer one in the morning and the other at twilight. - the scapegoat = which took away sins but was not a lamb. (Lev 16:10)
Leviticus 16:10 But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD to be used for making atonement by sending it into the desert as a scapegoat. - a guilt offering = which was sometimes a lamb (for a leper or Nazarite) but usually something else (a ram). Lev 14:12, 5:15
Leviticus 14:12 “Then the priest is to take one of the male lambs and offer it as a guilt offering, along with the log of oil; he shall wave them before the LORD as a wave offering.
Leviticus 5:15 “When a person commits a violation and sins unintentionally in regard to any of the LORD’s holy things, he is to bring to the LORD as a penalty a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value in silver, according to the sanctuary shekel. It is a guilt offering.
- the Passover lamb = although Jesus is our Passover lamb, this is not necessarily what the Lamb of God is referring to since
- the lamb God would provide for Abraham’s sacrifice = (Gen 22:7-8) but the word translated here as lamb is “seh” which means one of a flock and can refer to sheep or goats or anything else that flocks and that which God provided was actually a ram (Gen 22:13).
Genesis 22:7-8 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
Genesis 22:13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. - the Messiah as a lamb foretold by the prophets who would by his suffering and sacrifice redeem his people (Isa 53:6-12, Jer 11:19).
Isaiah 53:6-7 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
Jeremiah 11:19 I had been like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter; I did not realise that they had plotted against me, saying, “Let us destroy the tree and its fruit; let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more.”
All of these explanations seem applicable in one sense or another, but not exclusively so. The sense of a lamb taking away sin is applicable to each. The point we are to see is that Jesus is the perfect fulfillment of all of these sacrifices.
“of God” may either mean provided by God or belonging to God.
The Lamb takes away “the sin of the world.” Note the usage of the singular of sin. This is speaking of the totality of man’s sin, not individual acts (such as in 1 John 1:9). There is a universal need for the sacrifice of animals among various civilizations. There has always been a sense that things are wrong between a higher Power and man. Even today, in our prideful civilized society, every person has a consciousness within themselves, however hidden, however dormant, that we are wrong with God and need something to make us right. Sin is the problem. It cannot be cured with politics or money, or humanitarian aid. We need conscious forgiveness for all the wrongs we have committed and deliverance from the power of sin. Anything else is like trying to stop a train with a feather or cure cancer with a Band-Aid. We need forgiveness, cleansing, and deliverance and that only comes through the substitutionary death of the Lamb of God.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
“takes away” shows that the Lamb of God doesn’t just “take” the sin of the world — He takes it “away”. We are fully and completely rid of sin and its power. How does this happen? When you, like the ignorant world John was showing, “looks” upon the Lamb in such a way as to understand that His death was for you and then accept Him as your substitute. How foolish it is to not accept something of great worth that has already been paid for. It would be like rejecting free Superbowl tickets on the 50 yard line. The Lamb of God has already paid the price of dying for us and all we must do is accept it.