Chapter # 1 Paragraph # 5 Study # 1
February 26, 2023
Broadlands, Louisiana
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Thesis: The foundation of John's message is the identification of Jesus as "The Lamb of The God".
Introduction: In our studies thus far, we have seen that Author-John has been focused upon Witness-John's message as the voice of
Isaiah 40:3 in the light of
1:6-7. Since Witness-John has been revealed to us as one whose "witness" sets the stage for "faith" in The Word of God, it is only reasonable that Author-John would take his readers through the pertinent details of the "witness of John". This trek through the details of John's witness begins in
1:15 with the claim that
The Word is "He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has become before me because He was of greater status than I". John's use of "was" is tied to the same verb that is used in
1:1 and refers to His existence before John as The Infinite One. Thus, the
first element of the "witness" is that Jesus Christ is
The Infinite God Who created everything that has been created. Author-John then picks up this "witness" in
1:19 which records the identity of John as "the voice of Isaiah" whose message is summarized in
Isaiah 40:3. That summary is Witness-John's summons to "make straight the way of the Lord"; a summons that would not have been needed if "the way of the Lord" had not been so twisted out of shape that people could not recognize it as the Lord's "way". The essence of this summons is John's call for "forgiveness from God" to be rooted in "repentance". From that, in
1:26-27, the reason for the baptism of John is clarified: it is God's way of forcing His people to decide whether, or not, they were going to heed John's message to bring down the mountains and lift up the valleys as metaphors for pride and despair.
This morning we are going to move further into "the witness of John" as it is given in 1:29-34.
- I. Behold, The Lamb of The God Who Takes Ownership Of The Sin Of The World.
- A. The setting: John is seeing Jesus coming to him.
- 1. Author-John's deliberate use of the present tense in "historical narrative" [seeing, coming, saying] to create a visual image of the events as though they are taking place is for emphasis.
- 2. "On the next day" is Author-John's way of making sure we do not lose the backward link: Jesus' embrace of the message of John, "If you will repent, God will forgive you".
- B. The "issues".
- 1. Author-John's use of the name, "Jesus", for the second time.
- a. The first time, in 1:17, the issue is the contrast between the crushing weight of "the law" and the freedom of grace through "Jesus Christ".
- b. The "name" (Jesus) means "Yahweh makes a broad place" (2 Samuel 22:20/Psalm 18:19) and refers to His work to provide a comfortable place for His people to enjoy.
- 1) Translation vs. transliteration.
- 2) Transliteration from Hebrew [Joshua] to Greek [Iesous] to English.
- 3) Translation illustrated by Joshua's military submission of the land of promise: driving a wedge to force "space" for Israel's possession of the land.
- c. Hislop's, The Two Babylons, page 52.
- 2. Behold The Lamb of The God.
- a. The reference to "the Lamb" in regard to "the sin of the world" makes it apparent that the imagery is that of the sacrifice of an unblemished lamb to make "forgiveness" possible.
- 1) This identifies the pressures that create "compression" as "sins" out of "the sin".
- 2) This also identifies the way that these pressures are relieved: a "forgiveness" that removes the wrath of God toward "sins".
- b. At this point, the issue is this: how does "repentance" bring about "forgiveness from God"?
- 1) The issues of repentance (humility and dependence) are declared to yield the outcome of "forgiveness from God".
- 2) But, there is no explanation as to how God is free to "forgive" (Romans 3:26) because "forgiveness" would normally lead to "injustice".
- 3) Beholding the Lamb of the God is John's way of explaining: God is free to be gracious because "Justice" has been satisfied by the death of an "equivalent" to the sinner.
- 4) But, how is it that the death of a lamb can exempt a sinner from the wrath of God?
- 5) Only when the "lamb" becomes a "man" Who is qualified to represent "the world of men".
