A Lamb and a Dove (John 1:29-34)
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Jeremy: [00:00:00] Do you ever see something and it takes your brain a second to figure out what you're looking at? Like this image of this car parked in the snow. When you see this, you see the footsteps and you also wonder where did the car go or how did the car get there in the first place? It's one of those you just stare at and you can't quite figure out what you're looking at or this photo.
If you had to guess what code to put in, what would you try first? Now, as a side note, I think it would be diabolical if they actually went and intentionally rubbed out those different numbers so that it looked this way when the code was something totally different. Or this picture, this guy is literally trying to capture all of the essence of what it means to be a rebel.
And the longer you stare at that photo, the more you realize what he's doing. So sometimes it takes us a moment as we're looking at something to really put in perspective what we're [00:01:00] looking at. Now, today we're going to see a moment when John the Baptist, we've already seen in John chapter one, as John the Baptist is trying to figure out who Jesus really is.
And John's going to give us his own insight of what clicked for him. This is John chapter one. We're going to begin reading in verse 29. The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him. And he said, look, the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Now, I don't know what John was doing. As he said this, I imagined him like reclining feet up, just enjoying it.
And he just sees Jesus and his disciples are all around him, hanging on every word he's saying, listening to his teaching. And he's like, Hey, you see that guy, that's the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Now, if you've been in church for a while, maybe that phrase, the lamb of God is a familiar phrase to [00:02:00] you in connection with Jesus.
But what we have to understand is that the original audience would have heard this as a connection to the Passover. A Jewish event that really marked the identity of the ancient Jews, especially as we read the book of Exodus and, and throughout the old Testament, but a celebration that Jews practice to this day.
Passover was a moment when God said, look, Here's a way for you to be saved from what I'm about to do to this region, in particular to Egypt, because they were slaves to the Egyptians and God had a final moment to cause the Egyptians to release them. In Exodus 12, three, we learn this. It says, announce to the whole community of Israel that on the 10th day of this month, each family must choose a lamb or a young goat for a sacrifice, one animal for each household.
Jeremy: So this began the idea, you got to pick a lamb [00:03:00] to be your Passover lamb for seven says they are to take some of the blood and smear it on the sides. And on top of the door frames of the houses where they eat the animal. So not only are you going to kill this animal and eat it, but you're going to take the blood and you're going to smear the blood over your house.
Verse 13, the blood on your doorposts will serve as a sign marking the houses where you are staying. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. This plague of death will not touch you when I strike the land of Egypt. So this idea of Passover and the connection here is, is this is a way that the ancient Jews were saved and were delivered ultimately out of slavery.
But there's a huge difference here and it's one that's easy to miss at first glance and likely many of the original audience probably missed it as well. But the Passover event was for a specific group of [00:04:00] people. It was for the Jews, which meant it was not for the Egyptians. It was not for anyone else in that area.
It was particularly for the Jews. But notice what John is saying, that John says that Jesus as a lamb will take away the sin of the entire world. Now we have a total difference See, the Passover lamb was just for Israel. But John says, no, no, no. This version of the Passover lamb, this is for the entire world.
Now, no doubt there would have been Jews at that time that would not have liked to hear that. No, no, no. Passover is for us. This is a uniquely Jewish thing. And here John is saying, no, no, no. This is the Passover lamb. This is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. There might have been many people there who didn't like it.
News alert. There are many Christians today who do not [00:05:00] like this idea. In fact, I've discovered one of the quickest ways to make a bunch of Christians angry is to talk about God saving everyone. Like if you want to try it at your next Christian gathering, just watch the reaction that you get. You see, for many people, heaven doesn't seem like enough unless other people are experiencing hell.
And in here, John is saying, no, no, no, this Jesus, he is the lamb for the entire world. Now let's keep reading in verse 30 and 31. John writes this. He is the one I was talking about when I said a man is coming after me who is far greater than I am for he existed long before me, which is an interesting way to explain that he came after him, but he was before him.
Verse 31, I did not recognize him as the Messiah, but I had been baptizing with water so that he might be revealed to [00:06:00] Israel. Notice what John's admitting here. I did not recognize him right away. It took John even a moment. It's like John saying, look, with this water baptism thing I'm doing, I'm just keeping it warm for him.
I'm keeping everybody ready for what Jesus is going to do. John's ministry was a stand in. To get people prepared for that. And even john acknowledges here. He had his doubts. He had his moment where it wasn't obvious to him. You know, so often we demonize people throughout christianity if you have a doubt and if you are a person who is prone to doubts as I most definitely am a lot of times a lot of environments will discourage that and say, well, if you had more faith, you wouldn't have quite as many doubts.
I've got doubts. I find people all throughout the scriptures as we find with John the Baptist here who have doubts and acknowledge their doubts. And so if you were watching this today, you're listening to this day and you're going, I've got doubts.
You're in great [00:07:00] company. So did John the Baptist. And then we get to verses 32 through 34. Then John testified, I saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove from heaven and resting upon him. Talking about Jesus. I didn't know he was the one, but when God sent me to baptize with water, he told me the one on whom you see the spirit descend and rest is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.
I saw this happen to Jesus. So I testify that he is the chosen one of God. Now what's intriguing is that all four gospel accounts tell the story of the dove descending on Jesus. But the first three, Matthew, Mark, and Luke all focus it on Jesus, on Jesus seeing the dove and Jesus reacting to it. And in John's gospel, John the disciple, not John the Baptist, he focuses the story on John the Baptist watching this [00:08:00] event happen.
And for John the Baptist, this was the moment when it clicked. This was the moment when he went, that's the Messiah, that is the chosen one. It's John's conversion moment from when he goes from generically preparing the way for the Messiah to now he's specifically preparing the way for Jesus. And John lets us in on this.
So the question I want to ask you and I today, what is it we are looking for? John was looking for something specific to show him Jesus and when he saw it he knew this is it. What are we looking for? Are we looking for someone who saves us and the people like us or someone who's interested in saving the entire world?
In Galatians Paul writes this, there's no longer Jew or Gentile slave or free male and female. For [00:09:00] you are all one in Christ Jesus. And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God's promise to Abraham belongs to you. See, this Passover lamb of Jesus is not just for one group of people.
It's not even for the people who believe. According to the disciple who's writing this, John. He says this is for the entire world, that this lamb is for the entire world. Now, who are the people that you don't want to be included in this? Who are the people that come to mind when you think about this? And I want to leave you with this thought.
How might Jesus be inviting you to participate with him in the saving of those people? We'll see you next week on Rebuilding Faith.
