Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. John 1:29
Lambs were a very important part in Jewish religious life. Every year they celebrated the Passover, where they remembered how God delivered them from their cruel slavery in Egypt. The night before their rescue, God commanded them to take a lamb and slaughter it. The blood of the lamb was to be painted on the doorposts and lintels of their houses, and the meat was to be roasted and eaten that night. God promised that the angel of death who would strike the firstborn son of every person living in Egypt that night, would not touch any who were in the house where the blood had been applied. Each family sacrificed their own lamb, applied the blood and were saved. This became a yearly celebration for every Jewish family.
What a picture John the Baptist was painting in the minds of his hearers when he declared that Jesus was the Lamb of God. Jesus was the Lamb who would be sacrificed at the Passover celebration 3 years later. He was not just a lamb for the family of Abraham or the nation of Israel, but the Lamb who would take away the sins of the whole world.
Does that mean that sin was eradicated from the world when Jesus died? We know from experience that this is not the case. Does it mean that everyone will now go to heaven because Jesus bore all our sins. Scripture tells us this is not the case. So, what does this verse mean?
As mentioned, a few days ago, Jesus came to bring a new religious understanding. The Jewish people thought that because they were the children of Abraham and had been given the Law of Moses, they were the people of God and would be accepted by God as righteous through keeping rituals. But rituals can never change a person’s heart and attitudes. I visited a Jewish synagogue recently and the elder who showed me the scrolls and explained the religious rituals to me told me that you don’t have to believe that its true, you just have to do it, because that’s what it means to be a Jew. He wasn’t sure if God was real, but as he was raised a Jew, he practised the Jewish religion. He was a very intelligent man, a retired solicitor, but for him, his religion did not require belief, just ritual.
This was the case of so many of the Jews of Jesus day. They went through all the rituals, but had little interest in knowing God or His ways. The nation that was to bring God’s blessing to the whole earth were not interested in having a relationship with the God who created them. So, Jesus came. He came not just for the Jews, but for the whole world. He came to say to every man, woman and child that they could become the Children of God by believing that He was God, and that His death was the only sacrifice that could take away all sin. His death was sufficient for everyone, both then and now. But not everyone accepted it. It was His own people, the Jews, who rejected Him and cried out for His crucifixion.
Jesus came to take away the sin of the world. He came to make any who would believe in Him the children of God. His sacrifice is big enough for everyone, but not everyone will accept it.