Following after Jesus #32

We are looking in John 1 at how John the Baptist presented Jesus as the One to be Followed:

 29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

John the Apostle, as he wrote, had presented Jesus as the Word of God, the preexistent Christ Who had come into the world. He now identifies him with two more titles, as he shares how John the Baptist talked about Him and introduced Him. First, He is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! That is one big picture in one concise statement: Jesus replaced and fulfilled all those lambs that were sacrificed year after year, and beyond that, it was not just the sins of those who brought them that were taken away; His sacrifice was sufficient for the sin of all." John then shared how he would know when this Lamb had arrived, and that He indeed had shown up at His baptism.  On this particular day, the Lamb came walking by again, so John fixes his eyes on Jesus and said: "There He is! He is the One. He is the Son of God." These titles form the bookends of this paragraph. The Lamb, the Son, and the Word are all the same One. The Son came into this world to be the Lamb of God. He is the One to watch, to keep our eyes on, to follow.