Lamb and Son of God – John 1:29-34

I was on edge because of the strange compulsion I felt inside to talk to an acquaintance from church about what I felt God wanted him to know.  Sunday was the next day so I laid out a test.  “God, if you want me to talk to this man cause me to run into him at church tomorrow.”  This seemed like a fair test because I did not normally see him at church.  I didn’t see him that morning.  Whew!  I felt released.  But after church my wife and I went to lunch at the local mall and walking out after, lo and behold, here was this fellow and his wife walking toward us.  I knew what I had to do.

John the Baptist seems to have had a similar experience to mine.

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  He is the one I said was above me, the man coming after me who was yet before me because he was first before me.  And I did not know him, but that he might be made known to Israel I came baptizing with water.”  And John testified, “I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from heaven and remain upon him.  I didn’t know he was the one except that the One who sent me to baptize him in water told me, ‘When you see the Spirit descend upon and remain upon him, this is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’  And I have seen and borne witness that he is the Son of God.”  (John 1:29-34)

Jesus has already been baptized by John and John has seen the Spirit descend on Jesus from heaven.  Though he knew Jesus as a relative (we don’t know the exact relationship between Mary and John’s mother Elizabeth), he didn’t know that he was the Messiah for sure until he saw the sign God told him to watch for.  This confirmed it.  John had just told the delegation from the Pharisees that he, John, was not the Messiah but that Messiah was coming, and now he points him out to whoever is around as that one who was before him and who was baptized by him and by the Spirit.

But John uses two designations for Jesus that are a bit startling.  He calls him the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  He is the Passover lamb whose sacrifice covered Israel’s sin and kept the death angel from visiting death on their firstborn.  So Jesus will take away the sin of the world, will be the great covering, not only for Israel but for all nations, for all who receive or welcome him as Savior. 

John also calls Jesus the Son of God.  The Davidic king was called God’s son and Messiah would be the king in David’s line, the king of all kings.  Son may also refer to Jesus’ eternal relationship to the Father and thus to his divinity.  Did John understand from the Old Testament Scriptures that Messiah would be God?  There are several Scriptures that point that way (Isaiah 9:6; Psalm 110; Genesis 19:24).

To whom do we need to point out that Jesus is the Lamb of God and the Son of God?

Discussion Questions

1. Describe an awkward social moment in your life.
2. How awkward would you have felt if you were there as an innocent bystander when, upon seeing Jesus, John the Baptist spoke out the words John’s Gospel records here?  If you were one of John’s disciples?  If you were Jesus?
3. Why do you think God needed to give John a sign to identify the Messiah?
4. Have you ever felt compelled, as John the Baptist did, to speak out a truth from God?  If so, how did you feel doing it?
5. Why do we not feel more compelled to proclaim Jesus?
6. To whom do you need to point out that Jesus is the Lamb and the Son of God?