Q1. Prophetic Insight

[Lorraine Wright]

Q1. How do you know that John the Baptist's statement about the Lamb of God refers to sacrifice? (John 1:29). How was the comprehensiveness of "sins of the world" so radical a concept?

It was common in those days for lambs to be used for sacrice for the forgiveness of sins. I think the part about the sinner having to lay hands on the lamb before slaughter must have had a deeper impact on them - I know it would have for me. "sins of the world" - Jesus didnt' come to deal with just one person but for the sins of all the world.

[davidgh01]

Q1. How do you know that John the Baptist's statement about the Lamb of God refers to sacrifice? (John 1:29). How was the comprehensiveness of "sins of the world" so radical a concept? Exposition

The comprehensiveness of sins of the world was a shock, especially to the Jews, because it meant that Gentiles could be saved and inherit the same promises that they believed they only were entitled to. To say that the Gentiles were allowed to "come into the fold" was to allow the "unclean" to take part in the "clean," and the "uncircumcised" to have part with the "circumcised" (explained in Acts 15).

[davidgh01]

Q1. How do you know that John the Baptist's statement about the Lamb of God refers to sacrifice? (John 1:29). How was the comprehensiveness of "sins of the world" so radical a concept? Exposition

John the Baptist's reference to Jesus as the Lamb of God seems to point to sacrifice because of the lamb's use throughout the Old Testament. The first sacrifice we read of is a lamb- the first of Abel's flock, which was pleasing to God. Leviticus tells repeatedly of a lamb to be slaughtered (i.e. Leviticus 4:32-35). Exodus, especially, speaks of the Passover lamb whose blood covered the doorpost, and when it was seen by the Angel, the firstborn (and the whole family, consequently) was spared. I think.

[Gabriela]

1. How do you know that John the Baptist's statement about the Lamb of God refers to sacrifice? (John 1:29). How was the comprehensiveness of "sins of the world" so radical a concept?

John's statement about the Lamb of God refers to sacrifice because in the Old Testament, lambs were commonly used for sacrifice. The lamb had to be perfect and without blemish, which Jesus was.

The comprehensiveness of "sins of the world" was a radical concept, because at the time, Jews believed that the Gentiles were unclean. Having one person take away the sins of both the Jews and the Gentiles was considered repulsive to the Jews.

[kalineshen]

1) John said jesus is the lamb of lord and take away the sins. We know in old days, there was only one way to take away the sins, that is sacrifice.

2) As the sin of the world, I think all of the person in the world are sinners.

[Abbas Child]

1. How do you know that John the Baptist's statement about the Lamb of God refers to sacrifice? (John 1:29). How was the comprehensiveness of "sins of the world" so radical a concept?

Throughout The Scriptures, whenever a saint had experienced a Divine revelation from The Spirit of God as to "The Character of God," the saint would then call upon Him with The Name of God that he was now intimate with. Here are some examples:

The LORD God provided, thus The LORD was called "Jehovah-Jireh," The LORD, my Provider.

The LORD God healed; The LORD was called "Jehovah-Rapha,"

The LORD, my Healer."

The LORD God filled a saint with peace; The LORD was his

"Jehovah-Shalom," The LORD, my Peace.

Jehovah had become very personal to the saint that worshipfully had uttered His Intimate Name. The LORD'S Name was His Character.

We, the saints of this dispensation, are priviledged to know, love, and experience the hundreds of Names of The LORD; for Our LORD has provided us with His Holy Word, The Scriptures.

Yet there is nothing that can come close to calling upon a particular Name, as we walk though a diffficulty or even a great JOY.

I lead a Grief Group at my Church, and we are constantly calling out to "THE GOD OF ALL COMFORT." We have learned through experience, that He is The One Whose Arms are open and waiting, when grief overcomes us and we need the hug of Our Father.

Getting back to the 1st question: I believe that Our Beloved Holy Spirit revealed to John, who was the forerunner of Christ, The Beautiful Name for Jesus, "The Lamb of God." And what overwhelms my heart, is that Jesus "was slain from the foundation of the world!" God has loved us from Eternity!

I believe John knew the Jewish Scriptures, and that he, like his fellow Jews, had greatly anticipated the arrival of "The Messiah."

John, however, I believe, wasn't waiting for an earthly king to release the people from their bondages. John was looking for The Lamb, Whose Kingdom was not of this world; The Lamb who would be THE FINAL SACRIFICE, TO ONCE AND FOR ALL, take away the sin(s) of the world.

John recognized The Messiah; for his eyes had been opened by The Spirit of The LORD. John was born to be a Baptizer and a Prophet; the one who would be given the privilege to baptize The Christ, God's very Own Lamb.

For The Saviour and the Baptist had ties that went back to the womb; for when John's mother heard the voice of Mary, "The Babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with The Holy Spirit:

And Elizabeth spoke out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed is The Fruit of your womb. And whence is this to me, that the Mother of my LORD should come to me?"

John was waiting for the arrival of His Mother's Lord, His LORD! He recognized Jesus by the power of The Holy Spirit, and prophetically spoke His Name to his disciples, "BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD!"

John was given the great honor to usher in "The Lamb of God."

He paid for his great devotion to The Lamb with a horrible martyr's death.

The Beloved Lamb!! Wouldn't He belong only to the Jews, God's Chosen people? He would be born from a Jewish Mother and raised a Jew, and would one day be a Teacher in the Temple.

What Jew would ever imagine that The Lamb of God would take away THE SINS OF THE WORLD. A Saviour for the Gentiles! That would be absurd to the Jew!

But then we have two of the most beautiful and sacred Scriptures ever written: "For G-d so loved THE WORLD, that He gave HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, that whosoever believes IN HIM should not perish, BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE.

For G-d sent not His Son INTO THE WORLD TO CONDEMN THE WORLD; but that THE WORLD THROUGH HIM MIGHT BE SAVED." John 3:16-17

Blessed be The Lamb of God!!

elsie

[gwith4]

John's statement about the Lamb of God refers to sacrifice because lambs were commonly used by Jews for sacrifices to obtain forgiveness of sin. And since John coupled his statement with "who takes away the sins of the world", it confirms that he was referring to Jesus as the sacrifice. The comprehensiveness of "sins of the world" was so radical a concept - on one level because in the system of sacrifices, it was one lamb for one person's sin. So, that this Lamb could remove the sins "of the world" was something very different. Also, the Jews were always God's chosen ones. That He would extend this removal of sins to the "world", all mankind, was incredible.

[Rich L]

Did the Jewish people sacrifice a lamb daily or just once a year for their sin?

[Robert Decker]

Q1. How do you know that John the Baptist's statement about the Lamb of God refers to sacrifice? (John 1:29). How was the comprehensiveness of "sins of the world" so radical a concept? Exposition

Why?

In the beginning God created man to be in perfect harmony and fellowship with Himself. However, man was deceived by Satan and sinned against God in an effort to be like God; knowing good and evil. God, out of love for His creation, did not abandon them, but instead promised to save His people from their transgressions against Him (Genesis 3:15). Sin came into the world through disobedience and lack of trust in God. As we will see, sin was conquered and paid for through obedience and trust in God. God promised that a son, born of woman, would come and rescue His people from this terrible sin against Him.

The prophesy that God would reconcile the world to Himself was unclear, even Adam and Eve did not know the true extent of the prophesy, because they thought that Cain was the promised child. As time passed God would clarify His prophesy through more prophesy.

Who/What?

The first prophesy to fill in the blanks was in Abraham and Isaac. God had commanded Abraham to offer his one and only son as a sacrifice (Gen. 22:2) to prove that he feared, loved and trusted in God. When Abraham and Isaac reached the place where the sacrifice was to be made Isaac asked where the Lamb was (Gen. 22:7) and Abraham replied,

[KURT WEBER]

THE JEWS (GODS CHOSEN PEOPLE), had a high priest, he had two lambs to atoin for sacrifice one of the lambs, the sin of the people were laid hads on to transfere the sin and was let to go in the desert and the other lamb was offered as a sacrifice. Now JESUS was/is that oofered sheep and replaced the old system of forgiveness of sins.

[charisbarak]

The Jews equated lambs with sacrifice & when he added that He was come to take away the sins of the world, it was a huge sacrifice.

It was pretty mind-boggling to them at that time since they had no idea what was going to happen. It is mind-boggling to me that John KNEW who Jesus was & why He had come. The Holy Spirit was flowing!

[Carol Janette]

John's phrase "the Lamb of God" had to sound strange to the bystanders, not because they had never heard that before, but because John was pointing to a man while saying it. I believe that the Jews had been looking for their Messiah who would someday "take away the sins of the earth", but they didn't think he'd be just some man from Galilee - a common carpenter's son.

The Holy Spirit has had to reveal that knowledge to John - he was moved by the Holy Spirit even before birth!

[ilive4christ1965]

Well we all know that most of the time the lamb was used as a sacrifice. The Lord was a sacrifice for our sins so John used the saying since he was born to die for us. His blood washed away our sins so that we may live with Him in heaven and not die.

[care2hope2]

John says" Behold the Lamb of God " he is pointing out Jesus as this. and because Lambs

were used at that time for sacrifice and John had most likely had a revelation from God or

studied ancient text of the bible and knew of Jesus being sacrificed. He most likely was

referring to sacrifical lambs. Lambs were the generally used along with goats for sacrifice

only the poor could use pigon doves as a replacemnet.

But because of the times he most likely was referring to a sacrifical lamb in his

greeting and showing the crowd whom was approaching. He preached on repentance and

this would be right in line with what he was preaching to the crowd about repentance and

baptism... and that Jesus would die to get rid of all mankinds sin...

The comprehensiveness of " sins of the world " was a radical idea at that time for each

individual mostly and sometimes families would individually offer sacrifice for their own

individual sins. To preach " sins of the world" would be forgiven was very radical and

almost beyond some of the people's imigination i would think. And if they inclued that

this included past from adam to their time and future to the end of time then they would

have been thinking this was really really radical.

[Saved55s]

How do you know that John the Baptist's statement about the Lamb of God refers to sacrifice? (John 1:29)

Perhaps, because in that day & age, a lamb was probably seen as an animal of sacrifice. To be called the

[masika]

Every morning and evening , a lamb was sacrificed in the Temple for the sins of the people (Exodus 29:38-42). Isaiah 53:7 Prophesied that the Messiah , God's servant , would be led to the slaughter like a lamb. To pay the penalty for sin, a life had to be given-- and God chose to provide the sacrifice Himself . The sins of the World were removed when Jesus died as the perfect sacrifice . This the way our sins are forgiven.

[Daleen]

Before responding to Q1, I wish to tell you how excited I am about what I have learned today! I have a son, very close to me, but very far from the Lord, who abhorres the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament and until today I had no clear answer for him on that. From a moral point of view God could not have chosen a more abhorrent way of "explaining" to humankind how He feels about sin, that it is offensive and repugnant to Him and to think His Son had to become sin to redeem humankind of their sin!

Response to Q1: I believe that just as John's mother knew that Mary carried the Messiah, John knew and understood his mission: to pave the way for the Lamb of God who will be slaughtered for the sins of the world. As a Jew he understood the meaning of the sacrificial lamb. It is amazing, however, to read in Matt 11:3 that John sent his disciples to Jesus asking Him if He is the One to be expected or whether they should expect someone else. Did he loose his own inspiration and vision??

I agree with most of the participants that the idea of redeeming the whole world was totally outside the frame of reference of the Jewish people. Up until now, pagans and sinful nations were often killed by their ancestors in obedience to God. The new dispensation of grace was to them a mystery.

[Valiant Overcomer]

John 1:29 "The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, 'Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!'"

How do you know that John the Baptist's statement about the Lamb of God refers to sacrifice?

This is such a good place to pause and ponder on this "Lamb of God"....not just any lamb, but the "Lamb of God"....and not just a lamb one personally brings for the daily sacrifices (Lev.14:12-21), not just a spotless lamb one would choose for the Passover lamb (Exodus 12:1-36)....no this Lamb was chosen of God....belongs to God, and was provided by God. This Lamb would not atone for merely one person or one household, or even for a nation or people, but for the sin of the world! A lamb taking away sin was a common every day life occurrence for those in the Jewish community and the foreigner who had joined himself with the nation of Israel. So the imagery of a sacrificial lamb surely would be present as this prophetic statement was uttered. Now, how fully the statement was comprehended by the hearers and the prophet at the time it was spoken, that's another question.

How was the comprehensiveness of "sin of the world" so radical a concept?

Notice "sin" in its singular form vs. sins - it seems to imply the totality of all the sin of the world being taken away by the Lamb of God. We know from hindsight that the blood of the Lamb entered the Most Holy Place once for all and obtained eternal redemption. (see Hebrews 9:11-15)

"sin of the world"....this is an atoning sacrifice made available to all....both the Jews and those to be grafted in (see Romans 1:16; Romans 9-11)

[Yvonneevonne]

The old convent that was made in the Old Testament was that there had to be a blameless sacrifice for the redemption of sin.

Every morning and every evening , a lamb was sacificied in the temple for the sins of the people.

The sins of the world means everyone sins.

Jesus paid the price for your sins by HIS death.

[Commissioned]

Q1. How do you know that John the Baptist's statement about the Lamb of God refers to sacrifice? (John 1:29).

In those days lambs were commonly used by the Jews for sacrifices to obtain forgiveness for sins.

How was the comprehensiveness of "sins of the world" so radical a concept?

This was such a radical concept because of the implication that this "one Lamb sacrifice" would be sufficient to obtain the forgiveness for the "sin of the world." The world being inclusive of all peoples, from then, to the present and until Jesus the Lamb of God returns to take us home; everybody who ever sin. Outside of the knowledge of God and His sovereignty, it would be truly inconceivable.

[mckaywiii]

In defference to the many and several wonderful posts offered (thanks all)

I'm going to suggest that "taking away the sins" is a key to sacrifice.

It is fundamental to the Jewish context that a blood sacrifice was offered to God and that sins were taken away.

Radical was the idea of a one time sin offering.

[mckaywiii]

Also radicalness is displayed in the idea of "sins of the world" since "salvation of the Gentiles was relatively foreign to the Jewish pursuit of religion.

[Craig]

Using a cultural context of that time, Jews commonly used lambs as a sacrifice for sin to God.

The comprehensiveness of the "sins of the world" was radical because the Jews were sacrificing to God for only individual and national sins yearly. The Jews were not witnessing aggressively or otherwise in pointing the world to a faith in God Almighty. That was a problem God had with them for over a thousand years. They had no imperative or sense of urgency in the sprititual welfare of people outside the Jewish communtiy. So the forgiveness of sin on a world-wide scale by one sacrifice rocked their world.

[misindi]

The question of why it is so radical the concept of sin forgiveness could perhaps be seen in the idea Jews have about the Messiah (many still think this way). They did not expected their Messiah first to die, second because they beleived the Messiah was a person sent by God bit only God could forgive sins hence saying This Man will take away the sins of the whole world was at least revolutionary and stating that He came as a sacrificial Lamb, well, unthinkable. At least that is what I think. I am new, this is the first question of the first Lesson.

[mckaywiii]

Did the Jewish people sacrifice a lamb daily or just once a year for their sin?

Another short answer. Yes to BOTH.

Exodus 29

38 "This is what you are to offer on the altar regularly each day: two lambs a year old. 39 Offer one in the morning and the other at twilight.

and besides Leviticus 1-7 see also Lev16 Oh, and there's more. SIN IS BIG!