God gave John the Baptist the privilege and responsibility of introducing Jesus the Messiah to Israel and the world. Although he did not do many mighty works and not many of his words are recorded in Scripture, Jesus declared that John was the greatest of the prophets.

John announced four important aspects of Jesus’ person and ministry, which we would never have grasped on our own and are integral to the gospel.

Jesus is the Lamb of God.

The next day he [John the Baptist] *saw Jesus coming to him and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! John 1:29 (NASB)

John shocked his followers by telling them that Jesus was God’s Lamb. How many of them grasped that this meant that Jesus would be a human sacrifice? Not since Abraham’s day had such a thing been heard. Would God the Father actually sacrifice his Son? Looking back from our present time, the answer, of course, is yes, but try to put yourself in that time before the crucifixion and resurrection. How would they conceive that God would carry through on the act he foreshadowed when he asked Abraham to slay his son Isaac, the son of promise, his only son by Sarah? Abba allowed his Son to die an excruciating death to expiate the sins of his enemies. Amazing grace! Only by the shedding Jesus’ blood on the cross could God the Father forgive our sins.

The perfect Lamb made the perfect sacrifice that inaugurated the perfect covenant.

Even though John prophesied these words, I doubt that he fully understood them. Jesus, however, fully grasped their import and what being God’s Lamb would cost him. At the Last Supper, he made this announcement to his bewildered disciples. Taking the cup of wine, he told them:

“...This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. Luke 22:20 (ESV) 

Probably most people who call themselves Christians know Jesus primarily as the Lamb of God, the One who died for their sins. Another way of describing this role is to call him Savior.

Those of us who become followers of Christ must first know Jesus as Savior before we can go forward on our discipleship journey.

Until we are forgiven, declared “not guilty,” and reconciled to Abba Father, we can go nowhere. We are stuck in the realm of darkness, sin, and Satan. But putting our faith and allegiance in God’s Lamb opens the door wide for us to become one of God’s born again children, part of his eternal family.

If there is a “down side” to this, many of those who acknowledge Jesus as Savior may go little further in their understanding of who Jesus is.

Jesus is Savior, but he is so much more, and the Spirit of God wants us to know him in each way John prophesied.

In our consumer culture, it is only natural that Jesus would be presented for what he can do for us, but the full gospel is not consumer oriented, however.

Whenever the true gospel is presented, the benefit of experiencing forgiveness through the sacrifice of the Lamb is always in the context of radical surrender to his Lordship.

Presenting forgiveness without the call to surrender our total being to God is a distortion that can influence people away from following the Lord in joyful obedience as a way of life. Jesus said that his disciples must enter through a narrow gate and walk a narrow path in order to follow him. Preaching only forgiveness without Lordship, is much too wide a gate and path and can hinder a person’s development as a disciple. The Lordship of Christ will be the subject of the next article.

With that being said, it is absolutely proper and necessary to proclaim the forgiveness of sins. Jesus told us to do so.

Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. Luke 24:45-47 (NASB)

Prayer

Jesus, thank you for dying for my sins as the perfect Lamb of God. I receive from you, my Savior, what I could never earn – forgiveness. Thank you, Father God, that you have declared me to be “not guilty” in your sight because of what your Son did on the cross. Thank you for raising him from the dead to be my Lord, too. Thank you for making me part of your forever family. Come, Holy Spirit, fill me to overflowing. Reveal more and more about what the Bible says about Jesus to me. Help me to live for Jesus from now on. Amen.