Thought for the Day - Leon Morris Reading “And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!” John 1:36 Twice John the Baptist is recorded as having spoken of Jesus as “the Lamb of God” (John 1:29, 36), and on the first occasion he added, “which taketh away the sin of the world!” “The Lamb of God” is a way of referring to Jesus which has made a powerful appeal to Christian devotion through the centuries. The petition, “O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us,” occurs in many liturgies, while those who prefer extempore prayer often find the words “Lamb of God” come easily to their lips…. Perhaps the commonest suggestion is that the Passover is in mind…. The Passover imagery is highly appropriate as an illustration of the work of Christ. It reminds us of the lambs and the kids that were slain in Egypt those centuries before, and which were the means of diverting destruction from the households where the sacrifice was made and the blood placed on the doorposts. The great deliverance lingered in the minds of the people, and throughout the Old Testament there are references to it. In some sense it was the Exodus and the events associated with it which transformed the slave rabble into the very people of God. All these things are important for an understanding of Christ’s work for us. His sacrifice of Himself delivers men from being slaves to sin to being the people of God. The figure has force.
Posted on: Sat, 26 Oct 2013 01:19:49 +0000
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