The Lamb is God’s own provision

We are living in the age of the wounded. How shall we persevere and stand strong? How shall we find respite from the turmoil and healing for our wounds, restoration for our sinful, weary souls?We do this as we Behold the Lamb (John 1v29)

Behold the Lamb.Today, from John 1:1-34 we shall learn how to behold to Lamb, how to see Christ.John’s purpose with this gospel is captured in John 20:31‘that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in Him, you will have life’

The Lamb is God’s own provision God provided the ram for Abraham to sacrifice instead of Isaac Gen 22 v 13,14 ‘So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide and to this day it is said, ‘On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.’

The Lamb is God’s own provision On the hill of Golgotha, too, the Lord provided the Lamb to pay penance So when we ‘behold he Lamb’, the look at God’s comprehensive provision for us

Let us ‘behold the Lamb’ The Word – John 1 v1-3 ‘Christ is the Word, for by Him, God speaks to us. He has made known God’s mind to us, as a man’s word or speech makes known his thoughts.’ (M.Henry’s commentary) We cannot being to know God, to tap into Divine Providence, unless we are willing to see Christ

Let us ‘behold the Lamb’ The Word – John 1 v1-3 How is this? Because this Word was with God from the beginning of time and was God. We cannot see God unless we see Christ, and when we see Christ, we see God. Paul found in Athens that the people (Jews, god-fearing Greeks and philsophers) were philosophising about deities and entertained intellectually, many ideas of God, and he found even an alter dedicated to an unknown God (Acts 17:23) and he said to them, well, I am going to proclaim God to you, that you can know, that need not remain unknown to you – the God who made the world and everything in it… God spoke everything into being (see Gen 1: 3,6,9,11,14,20,24,26,29 .. ‘And God said..’ ‘He was with God, active in the divine operations in the beginning of time’ (M. Henry’s commentary)

Let us ‘behold the Lamb’ The life and light John 1 v4-5 ‘In him was life and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it’. ‘all living creatures have their life in him.’ ‘He is that Word by which man lives more than by bread’. (M. Henry’s commentary) He is the Word that brings life, that feeds us and becomes our Bread of life So the Lamb provides us with life by the way He feeds us and is shown in this way again, to be God’s provision for us.

Let us ‘behold the Lamb’ The life and light John 1 v4-5 The Lamb is also the light of the world. But the world doesn’t understand Him, even though He shines a light it doesn’t seem to enlighten everyone. Why is this? Jesus (John 3:19): ‘This is the verdict, Light has come into the world, but men love darkness instead of light, because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light, for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth come into the light so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.’

Let us ‘behold the Lamb’ The life and light John 1 v4-5 Isaiah prophesied about this light – Isaiah 9 v 2 ‘the people walking in darkness have seen a great lgith, on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned’ Isaiah 42 God speaks of His servant upon whom He will put His sprit v 6: ‘I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison, and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness’.

Let us ‘behold the Lamb’ The life and light John 1 v4-5 These words are echoed in Isaiah 61 v1 and by Jesus when he took up the scroll to read in the synagogue in Nazareth (Luke 4:18) and most importantly, notice Jesus words – Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. Jesus declares himself the fulfilment of the prophesy given by Isaiah. Indeed, He is the light of the world. (read also Matthew 12:15-21)

Let us ‘behold the Lamb’ The glory of the One and Only (John 1:14) Jesus is the only begotten one of God. The glory of God is visible in Jesus and it became more evident during this life, his ministry, at his transfiguration, in his perseverance through suffering and death, the miracle of the hour of his death, his resurrection and his ascension and at the outpouring of his Holy Spirit

Let us ‘behold the Lamb’ Full of grace and truth John 1:14,16,17 ‘grace and truth, just what fallen man needs’ – it is just what we, the wounded, need ‘grace – the goodwill of God towards us’ ‘truth – to instruct us’

Let us ‘behold the Lamb’ Full of grace and truth John 1:14,16,17 The double blessing of the law of Moses and the grace and truth of Christ Jesus said He has come to fulfil, not to abolish the law (Mathew 5:17) Jesus gave the law its full meaning. He’s taken us beyond mere observance of the laws to a deeper understanding of it, from a compassionate and grace-filled perspective.

Let us ‘behold the Lamb’ Full of grace and truth John 1:14,16,17 ‘The law was given by Moses, and it was a glorious discovery, but the gospel of Christ is a much clearer discovery of the law of God. That which was given by Moses was purely terrifying and threatening, but that which is given by Jesus Christ has all the beneficial uses of the law, but not the terror, for it is grace’ (M. Henry’s commentary)

Let us ‘behold the Lamb’ He who will baptise with the Holy Spirit John 1 v26 Baptism was viewed as a sacred rite of cleansing from sinfulness and John is at pains to explain that he is only paving the way (with his water baptism and his announcements) for the Messiah who is to baptise with His Spirit, who is to breathe His own life into us Only Jesus can endow us with true salvation and empower us by His Spirit.

Let us ‘behold the Lamb’ He who will baptise with the Holy Spirit John 1 v26 John 20:22 He (Jesus) breathed on them and said ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’ Luke records in Act 1:8 Jesus is saying: ‘But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witness in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.’

Let us ‘behold the Lamb’ The Son of God – John 1v34 This declaration of the divinity of Christ is the fundamental bedrock of the Christian faith. Jesus said (Mathew 16:17) upon this rock (not on Peter, but on this truth, that Christ is the Son of God) I will build my church. Jesus Christ is both human and divine. Paul writes to the Colossians 1:15 ‘He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation’. Thus, when we look at Jesus, we get to look at God, whom no one has seen. So Christ Jesus reveals God to us. He IS God, but because He came in human form, we can relate to Him at the level we are at

Let us ‘behold the Lamb’ The Son of God – John 1v34 Jesus spoke of Himself primarily as the Son of Man because the term Christ was often associated by the Jews as a political/nationalistic messiah, but acknowledges that Peter’s recognition of Him as the Christ, the Son of God was divinely revealed. It is fundamental to our Christian faith that we accept Jesus Christ as born in the flesh (human) and the divine God at the same time.

Let us ‘behold the Lamb’ Before Whom we fall down and worship As we behold all these aspects of Christ Jesus, the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world, we must also ascribe to Him our worship and our praise. Rev 5:6-14 ‘worthy the Lamb that was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and praise’ ‘to Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honour and glory and power for ever and ever’

Prayer We, in prayer, express to You, Oh Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, who took away the sin of the world, our heartfelt worship and praise. We, the sinful and wounded people, ask of You, or Lamb of God, to have mercy on us. We ask of you, to bind up our broken hearts, to return to us our spiritual sight, and insight and wisdom for our lives. We ask of you to release us from the various oppressions we face in our lives and set us free from those prisons. We, the wounded, ask you, our Good Shepherd, for healing and restoration of our souls. We, the wounded, the sinful, pray also for all other sinners of the world and all the wounded in the world, that you will have mercy on them too, as you have on us. May we in turn become the shining lights that testify of your life and your light in us, not for our glorification, but that Your name be honoured and many be drawn to Your light. Amen.

The Lamb is God’s own provision