Look - The Lamb of God!

"The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptising with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptise with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptises with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”
The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, ithe Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter). John 1: 29 - 4

John the Baptist (JtB) introduces Jesus to some of the guys, but uses a bit of a different way of introducing Him. "Take a look guys, the Lamb of God!" This is more than an introduction, it is a full blown revelation )it one of the things that makes John's Gospel such a powerful and vey different Gospel from the synoptics matt.Mk & Lk). He follows the Old testament pattern whereby prophets catch sight of a person and declare "LOOK . . . . ." (a good example being Samuel upon first seeing Saul in 1 Sam 19, "LOOK, (says God) here is the man who will rule over my people!). John does exactly the same.

Now JtB knows what He is doing and knows that he will lose his followers to jesus. But it's not about having our own little flock but about the wider picture, and John not only knows that but lives it every day of his life. The disciples follow Jesus, who stops and turning to face them asks what they're looking for. I don't think they know, other than they want to be right with God (and of course, physically speaking, even if they don't yet realise it, they are!). they want to be taught, and so they follow and stay with Him all day (no one service a week mentality here!).

One of the guys, Andrew, goes and gets his brother Simon, telling him some exciting news, "We have found the Messiah!' Now, unless Andrew was the family flake who was finding Messiah's and new campaigns every day, I'd have been racing to see this revelation. But regardless of whether they ambled or raced, jesus and Simon find themselves in the same place and looking at him (Peter), Jesus says, "You are to be called 'Cephas'."

An interesting thing really for Jesus knows who he is and better still, before we even met Him, knew us and the name we had and the new name and calling we knew not. All the days numbered for us, as the Psalmist says (Ps 139) and all that we are called to do are known to Him. He is the Pascal Lamb, the Lamb of God who comes to take away our sins and set us free from the power of sin and the penalty of death.

Hallelujah!