DEVOTIONAL
How glorious it is for the child of God to meditate upon a passage such as this, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” Who can plumb the depths of its meaning? Indeed, there is not one who is born of flesh who can truly grasp or comprehend the breadth or length or height or depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses all comprehension. For Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God Who came into this world to be a living sacrifice for all who would come to Him in faith and repentance. He came not to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. Though He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave them the right to become children of God; even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
John the Baptist was a man who anticipated the coming of the Son of God. Isaiah foretold of his birth saying, “A voice is calling out, “Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. Let every valley be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley.” For this purpose, He was born that he would be the forerunner who would prepare the hearts of the people for the coming of the Son of God.
John labored in the wilderness like a mighty warrior confronting the religious leaders in their hypocrisy and commanding all people to repent from their sins crying aloud, “The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore, every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” Day after day he preached vigorously down by the river then suddenly one day, when the fullness of the time came, Jesus appeared and John cried, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” What a moment that must have been for John. For though he preached the message of repentance to all people, he himself knew that he had fallen short of the glory of God and needed a Savior to save him from his own sins.
Reader may the grace of God give you the strength to examine your own life. May the Holy Spirit cause you to look into your deepest thoughts where your inner most affections lie. May He grieve your spirit until you truly search to see whether or not you truly have an intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. The Scriptures tell us at all who are in Christ are a slave to righteousness and a slave to God. Therefore, my friends, through your union with Christ you will bear fruit to holiness leading to a sanctified life and this is not an option. It is then and only then that you can cry from your heart, “Behold, the Lamb of God who has taken away my sin.”