What remarkable four days these
are beside the River Jordan. These days after the Lord Jesus
Christ had returned from his temptation in the wilderness,
having been revealed to John, he was gone for 40 days or more. had never ever forgotten this
meeting with the Lord Jesus Christ and he'd probably never forgotten
the words of John the Baptist because he was one of these men.
So we looked last week at this interview that the Pharisees
sent of the Jews from Jerusalem had and then in verse 29 John
sees Jesus coming to him and now John is talking to his disciples. And so just in these four days
we have these remarkable events. The proclamation of the gospel
for the first time in all of these years by a man sent from
God. Let's read. 29 The next day John
seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of
God, which taketh away the sin of the world. This is he of whom
I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me,
for he was before me. him not, but that he should be
made manifest to Israel. Therefore am I come baptising
with water. And John bear record saying,
I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and it abode
upon him. And I knew him not, but he that
sent me to baptise with water, the same said unto me, upon whom
thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same
is he which baptises with the Holy Ghost. And I saw and bear
record that this is the Son of God. Again the next day, after John
stood and two of his disciples were looking upon Jesus as he
walked, he saith, behold the Lamb of God. And I love the result
of beholding the Lamb of God, since in the very next verse,
which Lord William might look at next week, the two disciples
heard him speak. The Lamb of God, behold the Lamb
of God who takes away the sin of the world. What a remarkable
command from God. That's what it is, it's an imperative. It's a command to behold. And God wouldn't command to behold
unless there was one to be beheld. To behold means to examine closely,
to discern particularly. It's not just a glance, is it?
To behold is to look closely and intently, and in every way
you look at the Lord Jesus Christ, you'll find him extraordinary
in glory. Salvation is in a look, isn't
it? Here, finally, after all of the
promises and all of the pictures of the Old Testament, here finally
is Emmanuel, God with us. And isn't it remarkable that
he comes and when he comes, his servants declare him a lamb. And they say, you behold the
Lamb of God. All the scriptures speak of him,
to him give all the scriptures witness. And the greatest of
the prophets, the greatest all-born of a woman who walked on this
earth, his very first declaration is, you behold the Lamb of God.
You behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Would to God that everyone would have the same desire. Behold the Lamb of God, not behold
the Lord, not behold yourself. You behold the Lamb of God. You
make straight the way of the Lord. The way of the Lord in
this day and age is extraordinarily complicated. And you can get
there through all sorts of contrivances of men. John the Baptist was
simple, wasn't he? He was very simple. You behold
him. You look to the Lord Jesus Christ. You don't look to yourself. The Lamb says, look unto me and
be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth. Salvation is in Him revealed,
so that you can see Him. And the one seen, the one looked
at and seen, is seen in truth. He's full of grace and truth,
and He's seen as He's declared by His servants. He's seen as
He is declared in the Old Testament Scriptures. I read that verse
from John 640, isn't it? To see the Son and to believe
on Him, you may have everlasting life. will raise him up at the
last day. You see him as described in the
scriptures, you see him as proclaimed by his father, which is what
John required to see him and to clear him as the Lamb of God. So to see God, in the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was made flesh. To see God is to
see the Lord Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God, slain, as promised
in covenant, that covenant that we speak of in Hebrews 13, 20,
the covenant in the blood of the Lamb, the God of peace that
brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd
of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant.
It's Jesus Christ and Him crucified, it's behold the Lamb, which taketh
away the sin of the world. It's the Lamb of God's promise,
it's the Lamb of God's providing, the Lamb who is the sacrifice
for sin, the Lamb who is the substitute for sinners, the Lamb
who is the successful Saviour of all of his people. to God, sacrifice and satisfaction
and substitution. In Genesis, as we just looked
earlier, Abraham looked up and he saw a ram. On the mount of
the Lord it shall be seen and God will provide. We will, as
God reveals, be delighted to see the lamb and to have him
proclaimed. The Lamb proclaimed in his honour
and his glory, Abraham in that covenant cutting ceremony which
pictures the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and the sacrifice
of his in Genesis 15. Abraham had one job to do prior
to the Lord putting him into a deep sleep and that was to
keep the fowls of the sacrifice. These days the sacrifice of the
Lord Jesus Christ is polluted in the eyes of so, so many and
the way to the Lord or the way of the Lord is not straight anymore. This notion that somehow the
Lord Jesus Christ died with an attempt on his behalf to save
everyone, if you will add something to it, is nothing other than
blackmail. John the Baptist said of him
and it denies all the Old Testament. He didn't say, Behold the Lamb
of God which takes away the sin of the world. He didn't say,
Behold the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world.
If you do something, if it's taken away, he's taken it away
and it's gone. And the work and the worth and
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ cannot be separated. What
Christ has done and who Christ is cannot be divided. If it is divided in any way at
all, then the Jesus you're talking about has lost all of his glory
and all of his truth. People saw him in the flesh. and were offended by him. They appreciated his miracles,
were amazed at his teaching. In Matthew 13, 57, they were
offended in him. I said earlier that wonderful
verse in Revelation 13, 8, the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. The Lamb slain is before this
book was written. The Lamb slain and 29 times in
the book of Revelation. He is the Lamb who takes away
the sin of the world. He is the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. We see in time and with our limited
view of things we see a progression, but for God everything is one
perfect present all the time. And so the Lamb of God that was
slain from the foundation of the world is the Lamb that covered
the sin of Adam and Eve and it covered the sin of Abel and it
covered the sin of all God's people until the last of them
was there. The Lamb slain means that the
Lamb must come and the Lamb must suffer as the Lord Jesus Christ
did on Calvary's tree. And the Lamb comes to behold
the Lamb is to behold him as determined by God the Father.
He was put to death by the Romans. He was put to death by the Jews
in their contrivance against him. But what does God say? God says, Him being delivered to death
and to the cross by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. And you have taken him and your
hands are wicked. Your hands are covered in his blood and
you are responsible. And all of God's people will
say, if I was there, I would have done it as well. But the
Lamb slain, to behold the Lamb is to behold him as determined
from before the foundation of the world. To behold the Lamb
of God is to behold him as promised. In Genesis 3.15, the seed of
the woman will crush the head of the serpent and in the process
will have his heel bruised. He will suffer. But he's promised,
and he's promised throughout all the scriptures. He's coming,
he's coming, he's coming. And John the Baptist can say,
he's come. And the children of God can say,
he's coming, he's come, and he's coming again. He's promised. The Lamb of God is beheld typically
in all the sacrifices. Abel was well taught by his father
when he came to worship God, what did he bring? He brought
a blood sacrifice. He brought a lamb because his
father had taught him. What did Cain bring? Cain brought
the work of his own hands. The Lord Jesus Christ is pictured
in all of those sacrifices. He's pictured in the ark. He is the propitiation. The blood
shed is the propitiation, which is the pitch that covered the
arc on the inside and the outside. It's remarkable. You can understand
why it's covered on the outside. If you want to make a boat float,
you only have to cover the outside. The outside, the blood shed for
the outside is that blood that absorbs and turns away the wrath
of God. All of the wrath that fell on
the world fell on that ark. The very difference was the Lamb,
the blood of the Lamb. But remarkably it was pitched
inside. The work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Abraham brought that sacrifice
to Passover and all of those other sacrifices under the law.
You see, it was the lamb whose blood was shed. They had the
lamb in the house. They had it as a member of their
family and treated it very, very specially. But it wasn't the
lamb in the house that saved those people from the avenging
angel as it went through and slew every firstborn in Egypt. And they ate the lamb as the
blood was put on the outside, as the Lord's people these days
eat the Lord's supper, that the emblems of his broken body and
his shed blood become one with us and cause us to live. So the Lamb of God is to be seen
predeterminately, is to be seen before the foundation of the
world, is to be seen in promises, to be seen typically, but the
Lamb of God is always going to be seen as a successful saviour,
it's always going to be an efficacious salvation, an efficacious death,
and it was applied to the children of God prior to the death of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And the typical one and the one
that we know well is David, wasn't it? When Nathan came to David
and says, you will not die, the Lord has taken away your sin.
It would have seemed the most extraordinary injustice to everyone. Imagine if you were Nathan and
you walked down the street of Jerusalem the next day and you
met Uriah's parents. And they said, well, you're the
prophet of God. What's God going to do about David? And Nathan
turns to Uriah's parents and says, God has taken away his
sin. What would they scream? Injustice, injustice. Until they see the Lord Jesus
Christ. sins in his own body on the tree.
But the effect of the Lord Jesus Christ's death goes into the
lives of all those people beforehand. They went straight from here,
from this earth, and they went straight into sins perfectly free. And that was prior to the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And of course, the Lamb slain
is going to be slain actually in time. There was a particular
time the Lord Jesus Christ came in history, as John will tell
us, and he will devote half of his gospel to die. It's always effectual,
isn't it? It's efficacious, it's effectual. It's always effectual in its
application to the children of God. God, Acts 5.31, God has
exalted him to his right hand to be a prince and a saviour. sins. The work of the Lord Jesus
Christ is always going to be applied. And then at the consummation
of all things we'll see the Lamb of God. When you come to Revelation
chapter 5 what do you see? When heaven is opened you see
a Lamb. As it was slain, sitting upon
a throne, at the consummation of all things, we will see the
Lamb. No wonder John says, Behold the
Lamb of God. You behold Him before the foundation
of the world. You behold Him as promised. You
behold Him typified in all of these sacrifices. You behold
Him now, actually. He that sat on the throne says,
Behold, I make all things new. that verse in Revelation 13a
it says in literally it says the lamb having been slain So any understanding of this
Lamb, and it would have been John's understanding, every understanding
of this Lamb must begin where God begins. God is the first
cause. He's the initiator of everything.
He's absolutely sovereign. And God's purpose of grace is
to gather all together in His Son. It was all done before the
foundation of the world. It was all covenanted and sealed
and done. That's why God can declare, as
Isaiah 46, 10 says, He can declare the end from the beginning. The works were finished from
the foundation of the world. All that comes to pass in time
has a must written over the top of it. All that happens is a
must. The Lamb didn't come as an accident. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ
was not an accident. He says, I must, I must be betrayed,
and I must be mocked, and I must be scorned, and I must be put
to death, and I must rise again. He must. He must. It's all Ephesians 3.11 says
According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus
our Lord. One of our difficulties is trying
to get our puny brains around the reality of who God is and
the reality of what it is for God to be God. So we think of
eternity, we go back, we think as far back as we can possibly
think, we think of eternity, and we think of eternity this
way and we go as far forward as we possibly can and not Lord
willing as to a new creation. where the centre of it and the
light of it and the temple of it and everything about it will
be the Lord Jesus Christ. Every look and every glance in
all of new creation will be the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
The reality is that we leave a bit out in the middle. See,
eternity includes now. It's not just past and future,
it's now. Now, it's the blood of the Eternal
Covenant covers all history, past, present and future. It's all together as one, isn't
it? See, God doesn't learn anything. For God, who is omniscient, everything space however we want to try
and wrap our puny little brains around it. Everything for him
is a present isn't it? That's what it is to be omniscient
and he's omnipotent and everything that is present is his and he's
done it. Our God is not like us in any way. So he has a purpose, our God,
and his purpose is a unity, and his purpose is one with all of
his attributes, and his purpose is all fulfilled and worked out
in the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified. See the Lamb slain,
behold the Lamb slain, he's the author and the object and he's
the substance of all of the Bible. In the scriptures purpose and
doctrine are existing all the time. It also
means that I save as I save. It's embedded in it. He never
learns. He's never surprised. So often, when we sin, we want
to try and hide from him, and try and hide from others. And
there are some things we ought to hide from others. with the fact that nothing you
have ever done and nothing that will ever happen to you will
ever surprise God. Behold the Lamb of God. Behold
the Lamb of God. He is the one who reveals God. He explains Him. He reveals Him. If you want to
see God, you look to the Lord Jesus Christ. If you want to
see all the glorious attributes of God, you look to the Lamb
slain. Behold the Lamb. So the value
of Christ's death is based on his person. God cannot die, but
the God-man can die and must die and be raised again. He's the spotless sacrifice.
He's the infinite sacrifice. He's the perfect substitute.
He's the complete substitute. And He fits the needs of sinners
perfectly. So to be the Saviour, to be the
Lamb slain that takes away the sin of the world, He must be
slain for three things, at least. He must be slain for what His
people have done. And what have we done? Sin. We've just done sin. Sin, as Paul says, is mixed with
all he does. 1 John 3, verse 5. And you know that he was manifested
to take away our sins, and in him is no sin. See, he must be slain for what
we have done, and he must be slain for what we haven't done.
God's requirements of us are really simple, aren't they? Walk
before me and be ye perfect. Be holy as I am holy. Sin is a transgression of the law,
and we've transgressed the law in every heartbeat we've ever
made. If God held us accountable for the sin that we are committing
right now, Eternity in hell is just, isn't
it? Because we're falling short of
the glory of God. The Lamb has to be slain for
what man has done, for what man has not done, and he has to be
slain for what we are by nature. The Lamb must be slain for those
three things. What man has done, what man has
not done, but what man is by nature. And the Lamb must be
perfect. The Lamb must be perfect. A perfect
life and a perfect substitute. That's what Leviticus 22, 21
says, to be accepted, a sacrifice to be accepted must be perfect.
And he was perfect. Perfect in everything he did.
And he must not only have a perfect life as an offering to God to
be a perfect sacrifice, but he's gotta be a perfect substitute.
We know those verses in Isaiah 53 well, don't we? And it speaks
of the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ opened not his mouth. He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth. If I'm falsely accused of something, what am I going to do? The same
as you. When I'm falsely accused of something, the very first
thing I'll do is open my mouth. Why did not the Lord Jesus Christ
open his mouth? Because the sin was his. His. He didn't commit the sin,
but the sin was laid on him. The reason the Lamb was silent. The God-Man, Christ Jesus, the
Lamb of God, could offer to God what God requires to be in His
presence. The Infinite Saviour. God was
in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. The Infinite Saviour
stood as one with His people and one with all His bride. He
was paying the debt that was owed, what an extraordinary debt
was owed by our Saviour. He was meeting the legal obligation,
the wages of sin is death. Only a glorious humanity sustained
by a deity could bear, could receive, absorb and pay the price. I've got the wrong verse, I'm
sorry. Verse 18, for Christ also has
suffered once for sin, the just for the unjust, that he might
bring us to God. What a price sin extracted on
our Saviour. What an extraordinary price he
paid. and he bore the wrath of God
on their sins and their sins are no more. To behold the Lamb
of God is to behold him as the Father's substitute and the Father's
offering and the offering to the Father according to the Holy
Spirit. Why don't you turn with me to
Hebrews chapter 9 verse 14. I'll start in verse 11 while
you're turning there. But Christ being come a high priest of good
things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not
made with hands, that is to say, not of this building, neither
by the blood of goats and cows, but by his own blood, he entered
in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption
for us. The blood of bulls and goats
and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies to the
purifying of the flesh. How much more, how much more
shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered
himself without spot to God. So he offered himself to his
father. The offering of the Lord Jesus
Christ wasn't to this world, the offering was to his father.
What God required, the Lord Jesus Christ must pay. through the
Eternal Spirit, he offered himself without spot to God. And look
at the end result of it. Purge your conscience. To purge
is to take something that's dirty and make it perfectly clean.
Purge your conscience from dead works to serve Jesus, as I said earlier, it's
not the life of the Lord Jesus Christ lived that saves a man,
but it's the life poured out in the shedding of his blood.
Behold the Lamb. When you talk about the Lamb,
you're talking about a Lamb to be slain. As I said earlier,
it's not the living lamb in the house, but the blood on the doorpost
and God sees it and he says, I'll pass over. Sin will only
ever be seen by a just and holy God in two places. It'll either be seen on the sinner
or on the sinner's substitute. And if it's on the sinner's substitute,
it cannot be on all those to whom he substituted. He who his
own self will bear our sins in his own body on the tree, by
whose stripes we are healed. He did it. He did it successfully. And only the washed and only
the cleansed The high priests went into the
Holy of Holies, into the very presence of God, and they had
with them two things, didn't they? Among many others, they
had completely new clothes, which pictures the robe of the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and they took his blood in. Behold, behold the Lamb. God to be righteous and to be
just. He magnifies the law of God and
he honours it. God set the price of redemption
and the Son paid it all. And now God's the just God and
the justifier of all those that believe. And we are justified. God is justified and we are justified. And God's justice demands that
the blood shed will be the blood applied to the hearts of God's
people. Our God gets what he paid for. It's a Trinitarian salvation.
The Father's election, the Son's redemption, the Spirit's regeneration,
they are all of one and they all in extent and purpose and
success and reign all fall upon the same people. Again, I want
to remind you here who might listen to me that the notion
that Christ died conditionally for all, but absolutely for none,
is a monster. In closing let's turn to Revelation
and I will read these verses and trust that you will find
the Lamb beheld. Because that's what the saints
in heaven are doing right now. That's what all of the redeemed
are doing right now. And if you leave this world as
a child of God, this is what you'll be seeing. Walter Gruber
just a couple of weeks ago went into this very place, didn't
he? And he's now saying those things. In Revelation chapter
5, it's a glorious picture, isn't it? John, there was a big question asked,
wasn't it? In verse three, in verse two, sorry. Who is worthy
to open the book? It's the book of the covenant.
It's the book of prophecy. It's the book of the Lamb's book
of life. It's a book that's written on both sides. There's nothing
you can add to it and nothing you can take away from it. Who
in heaven can open it? Moses, can you open the book?
Noah, can you open the book? Abraham, can you open the book?
They're all there. None of them can open the book.
John weeps. John weeps, and then they say,
behold, behold. Weep not, verse five. Behold,
the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed
to open the book and loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and lo, in the
midst of the throne and the four beasts, and in the midst of the
elders, stood a lamb. As it had been slain, having
seven horns, horns are a picture of all power, seven eyes, that's
omniscience, he sees everything, which are the seven spirits of
God sent forth unto all the earth. And I love what it says in this
next verse, and he came, this one that's worthy, he came and
he took the book. out of the right hand of him
that sat on the throne. He took the book, and when he
had taken the book, the four beasts and the four and twenty
elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps
and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of the
saints. And they sung a new song, saying,
Thou art worthy to take the book, and open the seals thereof, for
thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of
every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation, and hast
made us unto our God, kings and priests, and we shall reign in
the earth. Over in verse 12 it says, saying
of the loud boys, worthy is the lamb that was slain. If you're
gonna behold the lamb, you'll behold the lamb slain, and you'll
behold the lamb reigning and ruling. Worthy is the lamb that
was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and blessing. And every creature which is in
heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and as such as are
in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard I say, in blessing,
and honour, and glory, and power, be under him that sitteth upon
the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. And I saw when the Lamb opened
one of the seals. He alone can take the book. He
has the right to take the book. He alone opens the seals. He
alone is completely and sovereignly in control of all of God's plans
and purposes. That's how big the Lamb is. The
Lamb is remarkable and they sing in verse 16 of chapter 6, worthy
is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb. In chapter 7, there's a vast
multitude and they're arrayed in these robes, the robes of
the righteousness of the saints. In verse 9, and after this I
beheld, so you're going to behold him. And what's he's done? He's washed
us. He's washed us. In verse 17. Chapter 7, for the Lamb which
is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead
them into living fountains of waters and God shall wipe In this journey here, we will
do battle with remarkable things, and our fight is not against
flesh and blood, but powers and principalities. But they overcame
him, verse 11 of chapter 12. It's remarkable, isn't it? They
overcame him. They overcame Satan. They overcame the dragon. They
overcame all that's false and the lie in this world. They overcame
him by the blood of the lamb. They didn't overcome him by their
own activity, by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their
testimony. The word of their testimony and
they love not their lives unto death. It speaks at the end of it, these
names are not written in the book of the life of the lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. In chapter 14, verse
one, and I looked and lo, a lamb stood on Mount Sion, and with
him 144,000, that's not a particular number, it's a number that typifies
all of the children of God. Having his father's name written
on their feet, And they follow, verse four,
chapter 14. These are they which are not
defiled with women, for they are virgins, and these are they
which follow the Lamb with us, so ever He goeth. These were
redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God. In verse 10 of chapter 14, the
beast is punished in the presence of the Lamb. In 15 verse 3, they sing the
song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb,
saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, O Lord God Almighty. Just and true are thy ways, are
thy ways, thou King of saints. There will be And there is, and
there has been, an ongoing battle in this world. In verse 17, chapter
14, it speaks of they make war with the Lamb. These shall make
war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for he is
Lord of lords and King of kings. And the consummation of all things
in Revelation 19.9, there is the marriage supper of the Lamb. Let's close in this glorious
pictures in verse 9 of chapter 21. Come hither, the angel says
to John, and I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in spirit
to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city,
the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having
the glory of God, and her light was like unto the stone, most
precious even, jasper stone, clear as crystal, and had a wall
great and high, and twelve gates, and the gates at the gates twelve
angels and names written thereon which are the names of the twelve
tribes of the children of Israel on the east three gates on the
north three gates the south three gates on the west three gates
and the wall of the city had twelve foundations and in them
the names of the twelve apostles And in this city, chapter 22,
verse 22, in this city... No, sorry, chapter 21, verse
22, and I saw no temple therein for the Lord God Almighty and
the Lamb are the temple of it. In this city, there's no temple.
And the city, verse 23, and the city had no need of the sun,
neither of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of the Lord
did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. In the
new city, there is no temple, the Lamb is the temple, and there
is no need for light, because the Lamb is the light, the light
of the world, is the light of His people there. And verse chapter
22, and he showed me a pure river of the water of life, clear as
crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. And in the midst of the street
of it, on either side of the river, was there the tree of
life, which bear 12 manner of fruits, and yields their fruit
every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing
of the nations. And there shall be no more curse,
but the throne shall be in it, and his servants shall serve
him, and they shall see his face, and his name shall be on their
foreheads, and there shall be no night there, and they need
no candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth
them light. And he said unto me, verse six,
Revelation 22, these sayings are faithful and true. The Lord God of the holy prophets
sent his angels to show unto his servants the things which
must shortly be done. Behold, I come quickly, says
the Lamb. Blessed is he that keepeth the
sayings of the prophecy of this book. Behold the Lamb slain,
thy God causes to see.