Again, as I have been doing many
times of late, when the pastor has been absent from us on a
Thursday evening, I would read a sermon of the late Mr Matronola,
the pastor, uh here under whose ministry so many of us were blessed
um this this evening sermon is entitled the lamb of god it was
a sermon preached on lord's day evening sorry lord's day morning
19th of april 1992 And the scripture, the text,
is John chapter 1 and verse 29. John chapter 1, verse 29. The next day, John seeth Jesus
coming to him and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world. After four centuries, The voice
of a prophet of God was once again heard. It was heard in
the wilderness. It was heard as the herald of
the Messiah. We are told in this chapter that
a delegation of the Jews, including Pharisees and Levites, was sent
to John. They came to question the identity
of this prophet. Who art thou? They asked him
if he was the Christ. He denied it. They asked him
if he was Elijah, or the prophet of whom Moses spoke, to which
he also answered no. He then authenticated his own
ministry and declared his credentials. He said, I am the voice of one
crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the
Lord, as said the prophet Esaias. We are told that these things
were done in Bethabara, beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing,
which is, I believe, the spot, Beth-barah, at the fords of Jordan,
near to the place where the children of Israel crossed over under
Joshua's leadership to begin the conquest of the promised
land. The next day, after these things
were done, John, seeing Jesus coming unto him, identifies him
as the one before whose face he has been sent, and declares,
Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. What a cry that was! Follow for
a moment the pointing finger of John the Baptist, and hear
his words, Behold the Lamb of God. As with all the beholds
of Scripture, there is something which is to be carefully regarded,
something to which our attention must be given. No doubt there
was a prayer in the heart of John the Baptist when he uttered
these words, as there is in the heart of every preacher, that
there might be given to the people of God a view of the Lamb of
God on whom their salvation from sin depends. Behold, O to see
Him who is invisible, and know that our sins have been laid
upon Him, and that our deliverance is accomplished for His sake. It is on the expression, The
Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world, that I
would speak with the Lord's help. In doing so, we shall consider,
firstly, the Lamb of God anticipated, Secondly, the Lamb of God manifested,
and thirdly, the Lamb of God exalted. Firstly then, the Lamb
of God anticipated. John the Baptist was not just
a prophet. He would also have been well
aware of the priestly office, for John the Baptist was himself
of the priestly line. We are told in Luke chapter 1
that he was of the line which derived from Aaron and his sons,
both through his father and through his mother. Zacharias, his father,
was of the course of Abiah, or Abijah. Elizabeth, his mother,
was of the daughters of Aaron. John the Baptist would therefore
have been one who understood the sacrifices as they were appointed
to the house of Aaron in the day of Moses. But the sacrifices
did not begin with Moses. We find that the first shedding
of blood recorded is in Genesis after the fall of our first parents
in the garden when the Lord God made coats of skins so that the
nakedness of Adam and Eve might be covered. There was necessarily
the shedding of blood that the skins might be put upon Adam
and Eve, which hid their actual nakedness, but which was also
symbolic of their need of a covering because of sin in the sight of
a holy God. Genesis chapter 4 has Abel bringing
of the firstlings of his flock. This was a blood sacrifice. It
was the blood of Abel's sacrifice which distinguished it from the
offering of Cain. It was Abel's sacrifice which
was accepted, and Cain's offering that was rejected. There would
be many today who would prefer to come to God on their own terms,
with the offering of Cain, without the shedding of blood. But all
who come to God on these terms will find that they are rejected,
as was Cain. we can only come through sacrifice,
through the shedding of blood. But we find that these animal
sacrifices were only to be offered until God's sacrifice, the suffering
servant of Jehovah, the Son of God himself, should come, he
who would be as God's Lamb, which taketh away the sin of the world. This is the one of whom Isaiah
speaks. Surely he had borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And with his stripes
we are healed. He was oppressed and he was afflicted. Yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter. When we reflect therefore on
John the Baptist, who was a prophet and yet was of the priestly house,
we see the centrality of sacrifice and the shedding of blood to
the revelation which God has been pleased to give to men.
It is there in all the scriptures Throughout the Old Testament
there is the anticipation of the Lamb of God, God's Lamb,
and the shedding of blood which would put away sin and secure
a justification for the people upon whom God had said His love.
It is, of course, because of sin that sacrifice is needful. to thank God that sacrifice is
revealed in Scripture, because of God's design to be merciful
to whom He will be merciful, and gracious to whom He will
be gracious, and that there is salvation through a substitute. What a passage of the Word of
God it is in which Abraham is directed to offer up his son
Isaac for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains in the land
of Moriah. It is remarkable, not only for
what it teaches us concerning the faith of Abraham, that he
was prepared to do this awful thing, but also because of what
it shows us concerning God's purpose. Abraham was told to
take his son and offer him up, but he never had to do it. God
saw the faith of his dear friend, for so Abraham is described,
and that he was prepared to offer up his son Isaac as God had commanded
him. Abraham had tremendous faith,
accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the
dead, from whence also he received him in a figure. When God saw
his faith, there was the staying of Abraham's hand, and God said,
Lay not thine hand upon the land, neither do thou anything unto
him. For now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast
not withheld thy Son, thine only Son, from me. And Abraham lifted
up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a
thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the
ram, and offered him up, for a burnt offering in the stead
of his son. In this account there is an anticipation
of how God would give up his son. It was laid upon Abraham
that he should give his son as a burnt offering but it was not
to be. A ram was substituted in his place. There would come
a time, however, when it would not be by means of a ram by which
there would be the suspension of God's wrath, but it would
be by the giving up of the very Son of God that our salvation
would be accomplished. There are at least two texts
in the New Testament which can be linked to this passage. For
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. John 3.16. And Romans 8.32, He that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. In the sacrifices
of the Old Testament there is the preparation for and there
is the anticipation of God's Son, God's deliverance. The Son
of God, who as the Lamb of God would render the perfect sacrifice
to put away the whole sacrificial system once and for all, and
without whom there could be no acceptance, for without the shedding
of blood there is no remission. As we are looking at the anticipation
of the Lamb of God in the Scriptures, let us also consider the sacrifices
of Moses' day. at which time, although they
existed before, they began to be systematized. And there was
the setting of worship and the requirements of worship, including
priests and sacrifices, until the coming of God's dear Son. In the sacrificial provisions
in Leviticus, in the sacrifices of animals, bulls, goats and
lambs, you find that there are certain elements which belong
to the essence of these sacrifices. I want to bring these before
you with the Lord's help, not looking at any one sacrifice
in particular, but rather at the sacrificial system in general. as God revealed it to the people
in the day of Moses, and as it was then practiced in the service
of Aaron and his house. There had to be the selection
of a sacrifice. It had to be a perfect animal,
without fault, without blemish and without spot. The worshipper
bringing the lamb, according to the appointments in that distant
day, had to examine it carefully and more than once the priests
also had to examine it to ensure that it was without defect and
was a perfect animal. A male without blemish. When you think of the Lamb of
God because it is He that we desire to see. He is the holy,
harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, Jesus. John saw
Jesus coming and said, Behold the Lamb of God. The sinless
Jesus is God's Lamb, a Lamb without blemish and without spot. Having procured the sacrifice,
there was to be the laying on of the hands of the offerer.
He had not only to put his hands upon it, but he had to lean heavily
on it. This symbolized a transfer, a
transfer of something from him to the beast which was to be
offered. This comes out in many places. For example, Leviticus
1 verse 4, He shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering,
and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. There is the transferal of the
sin of the offerer, his accountability and his guilt, by his taking
hold upon the sacrifice. The symbolism of this act was
the transferal of sin from the offerer to the animal. He is
looking that something might be done in the substitute that
otherwise would have to be viewed upon him and that the substitute
might be accepted to make atonement for him. There is another example
of this in the matter of the Levites as a tribe. You recall
that God said the Levites should not have an inheritance like
the other tribes. They would have a special ministry.
They were to be concerned with all the matters of the worship.
The priestly service and all the types of that service would
be their responsibility. When the Levites took over the
rendering of this service on behalf of all the other tribes,
there had to be the laying on of hands upon the Levites, typically,
in order that this transferal of responsibility to them should
be seen and made public. Thou shalt bring the Levites
before the Lord, and the children of Israel shall put their hands
upon the Levites, that they may execute the service of the Lord.
Numbers chapter 8 and verses 10 and 11. In this way they were
recognized as the ones to whom the people looked to do for them
those things which had to be done according to God's specification. It is also to be seen in Leviticus
chapter 16 when on the Day of Atonement two goats were to be
brought. One goat was to be sacrificed
to show the punishment which must fall upon sin. But upon
the other goat there was to be the laying on of hands and the
second goat was then sent away alive into the wilderness. There
were two goals in order to emphasize the two aspects of sacrifice. Firstly, death, the punishment
for sin, and secondly, release, the deliverance and the taking
away of sin. Both these aspects could not be shown in one sacrificial
animal. The animal could not be slaughtered
and then raised up again. They could only see death in
the sacrifice. Therefore there had to be two
animals, one that died and one that was sent away alive. The
sin of the people was laid upon the goat which died and the sin
of the people was taken away by the goat which went into the
wilderness. Of course it is only in Christ
that the type is fulfilled and made perfect. He who was delivered
for our offences He died in our room and stead, and was raised
again for our justification. This could not be shown in the
type, but it is shown in the anti-type. It is shown in Christ,
who died and rose again, who suffered the penalty, and yet
by his life there is access and there is acceptance. So the second
element in sacrifice is the transferal of sin and guilt to another.
Have you ever known a transferal of your sin and guilt to Christ? In Boner's lovely words, I lay
my sins on Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God. He bears them all
and frees us from the accursed load. There was also the slaying
of the sacrifice itself at the altar. In the death of the sacrifice
there was that which is expressive of God's judgment upon sin. It
was symbolic of what must needs be. The soul that sinneth, it
shall die. And the wages of sin is death. The outpoured blood of the victim
symbolised the death for sin because there was the transferal,
the sacrifice was now regarded as the one upon whom the punishment
would fall in the place of the offerer. There must be the shedding
of blood. It was not enough that there
should be death, but there had to be the shedding of blood for
without the shedding of blood there is no remission for sin in at least one of the sacrifices
the neck of a heifer was merely broken and there was no shedding
of blood but that was not to put away sin in every case where
there was a sacrifice for sin There had to be the shedding
of blood. The blood had to pour forth and
there had to be the sprinkling of the corners of the altar with
the blood. Therefore, Paul says, almost all things are by the
law purged with blood. There was the application of
the blood of the sacrifice to all the various parts of the
worship which God had appointed. It is the death, the shed blood,
which is so important and so vital. Christ's blood was shed. You are not redeemed with corruptible
things as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. It was shed. from the wounds
made by the nails in his hands and in his feet. And after he
had died, there was the spear wound made in his side, from
which came forth blood and water. Christ died. But it was not just
that he died, but that his blood was shed. Think of that. Oh, the mystery of godliness.
Almighty God sighed human breath. the Lord of life experienced
death that the Son of God should take a body that he should have
flesh and blood which was real is a great mystery but that as
the Son of God he should be the Lamb of God and that his precious
blood should be shed is an even deeper mystery Here is that which
even the angels desire to look into. Here is that which will
never cease to be the theme of the praises of the saints in
glory. Worthy is the lamb that was slain. When they look upon the throne
of God, they see in the midst of the throne a lamb as it had
been slain. The blood of Christ is of the
lamb slain from the foundation of the world. God gave him up
before time began in his purposes of love towards his people, the
people of his choice, that they might be his sons and daughters,
in order that they might be delivered from the sin which they would
fall into. God gave his son the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. Sacrifice in the Mosaic day required
that the blood that was shed was received as an atonement
for the life of the flesh is in the blood and I have given
it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls For
it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. Leviticus
17 verse 11. It is the blood that makes a
covering. Remember we have already seen
that the nakedness of our first parents was covered by skins. There must be a covering to come
between our sinful selves and the holiness of God. And it is
the blood, the blood maketh a covering or literally an atonement for
the soul. It is by the blood of sacrifice
that God is pleased to pass over sin and not visit his wrath upon
us. The offerer was to look to the sacrifice of the animal and
receive that as the grounds whereby his sin was covered. God passes
over it. Of course, all this is in anticipation. All this is looking to the blood
of Christ which alone cleanseth us from all sin. It was not the
animal being offered which took away sin. It is the blood of
the Son of God which takes away sin. But this was the appointed
means. Therefore these countless sacrificial
services demonstrate that it was by this means and by this
means alone that God would eventually cause there to be a covering
and cause there to be a perfect righteousness and that God would
receive sinful men and women to Himself through the righteousness
of His Son, through His Son's death and through His Son's life. Paul says, God having forgiven
you all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances
that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out
of the way, nailing it to his, Christ's, cross. God was pleased
to do it. The initiative is always with
God. here in his love. Not that we
loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the
propitiation for our sins. There then had to be the burning
of the lamb upon the altar in the burnt sacrifice. In the first
chapter of Leviticus alone we are told three times of this
burning that the Lord smelled a sweet savour. There is that
which goes up to God as a sweet-smelling savour. This is an unusual thing. One would hardly describe the
smell of burning flesh upon the reeking altar as a sweet-smelling
savour. And yet we are told that it was
a sweet-smelling savour unto God. Moreover, we are told in
Ephesians, Christ also loved us. and hath given himself for
us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour." There are those who say, how
could God ever have countenanced his son's suffering? How could
it ever be that it pleased the Lord to bruise him? or that the
father spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all?
How could these things of sacrifice and blood ever be a sweet-smelling
savour to God? This is indeed a question. But
before we answer it, We must stress that if this is as a sweet-smelling
savour before God, it follows that everything apart from this
is as a stench, to use the same figure, in the nostrils of God. All our doing, all our religion,
all our chapel-going, all our service, whatever it is and however
costly it may be, if it is not that which is through the work
of Christ and independence on the blood of Christ to make an
atonement for our souls, it is as a foul smell in the nostrils
of God. If we would be those who would
bring before God a worship which is acceptable, which is as a
sweet-smelling savour, it must come through the mediator, It
must come by the blood of the Atonement, as He shows His blood
in the presence of God for us. It must be by that means alone
that we come. There can be no acceptance of
us except there be the appeal to the blood of Jesus Christ. Otherwise, it comes up as a stench
before God. Whereas through the sacrifice
of Christ, Our worship comes as a sweet-smelling savour, which
indicates that it is thus God sees that his offended deity
is propitiated. God sees that that which was
amiss is made right, that which was crooked is become straight,
and that which was causing alienation and separation has been brought
to an end. That is why it is as a sweet-smelling
savour. It means that God views it with
acceptance because He has willed it. Christ giving Himself for
us an offering and a sacrifice unto God for a sweet-smelling
savour shows that by this God is pleased. He views this with
complacency. God views nothing else with complacency. There can be no acceptance except
it be through His Son. We can never have his face lifted
up upon us, nor have the smile of his countenance upon us, except
we come through the shed blood of Christ. This is not however what men
want. They will not accept that God
could ever sanction religion such as this, the shedding of
blood. There is a hatred of the blood of Christ. as some have
even gone so far as to call it butcher's shop theology. It is
not generally taught in the theological colleges of today, yet without
shedding of blood, nothing comes before God as a sweet-smelling
savour. Man wants the sweet-smelling
savour of his own works to please the flesh, but it is not a question
of pleasing man. It is what pleases God that matters.
and nothing pleases God apart from the offering of His Son
once and for all upon the cross. This is how there is a sweet-smelling
perfume before God. He sees sin propitiated and justice
done, and now there can be the perfect coexistence of justice
and mercy, wrath and love. the sacrifices having been offered
there follows the sacrificial meal or the peace offering of
Leviticus the enmity is removed the atonement is made there is
now acceptance the sweet smelling savour has come up into the nostrils
of God and now there can be and now they can follow the fellowship
meal this is set forth in the Passover after the blood was
shed Because the blood had been shed, there was the eating of
the Passover meal. There is the preservation of
this in the Lord's Supper. We come to the Lord's Supper
and take the bread and the wine and these are to us as the peace
offering. The sacrificial meal, because
the sacrifice has been made. As we hold converse together
and communion at the Lord's table, we remember the one whose blood
was shed. We remember God's Lamb and we
say as it were with John, behold the Lamb of God. That is why
in the early church, in Reformed churches and in all true churches,
it is a table. It is never an altar. Rome and
every benighted anti-Christian form substitutes an altar for
a table. A table is where the meal of
fellowship is held, because the work is done, the sacrifice is
made upon the altar. The altar is Christ, the sacrifice
is Christ, the blood is Christ, God's lamb. But we now come to
the table. He brings us in to the banqueting
house and his banner over me was love. We look to the love
whereby he loved us. Christ died just for the unjust
to bring us unto God. Conversely, the symbolism of
the altar is that the sacrifice still has to be made. the bloodless mass, the repetition
of Christ's once and for all finished work. We can make no
allowance for this. Although in the process we stand
against the entire ecumenical movement because Rome denies
the finished work of Christ at Calvary. Rome still maintains
the need to come on the grounds of priest and sacrifice. But
Christ is the priest and Christ is the sacrifice. Thank God for
a finished work. Ye do show, ye do proclaim that
he has done it, the Lord's death, till he come. Secondly, the Lamb of God manifested. John seeth Jesus coming unto
him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God. Here is the perfect sacrifice,
the sacrifice without blemish and without spot, upon which
our sins are laid, and which is slain for us. Here is the
one who offers himself unto God for us as a sweet-smelling saviour. He is the one by whose work we
are now brought into fellowship with God and with one another. He was a voluntary sacrifice. He is that willing victim. He
was made to be sin for us. While it was the Father's pleasure
to bruise him, he could say in the volume of the book it is
written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God. He lays down
his life of himself I have power to lay it down, and I have power
to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my Father. He is the Lamb of God which taketh
away. The Greek word pyro, which is
translated here as taketh away, is much richer than our English
equivalents. We would have to use several
English words to express the thought of this one Greek word,
which means to lift up that which is down, to hold it up, and then
to lift it and take it away. We see then in this expression
the Lamb of God which taketh away, that He lifted the burden
of sin which was crushing us under its weight. He lifted us
and the burden of sin as it were, representing us and redeeming
us. And lifting up that burden of
sin, He carried it to the tree for us and has borne it away. Who His own self bear our sins
in His own body on the tree and it shall never be any more to
our loss and to our hurt. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. One other thing deserves a mention
here and that is the theological question of the extent of the
atonement. The Lamb of God which taketh
away the sin of the world There are those who claim that these
words teach a universal atonement. Christ has made atonement for,
has taken away the sins of the whole world. But we cannot accept
that because nowhere in Scripture is it revealed in the entire
history of the human race all men have had their sins taken
away. God has never intended that atonement
has been made for all men everywhere. The very existence of hell in
the will and purpose of God proves that there is no general redemption. Christ's mission was not to take
away the sins of the whole world. Had the sin of the whole world
been taken away, then the whole world's sin would never be remembered
anymore against it. Surely that is the whole significance
of the antitype, to which the types were pointing, that the
sacrifices caused the suspension of God's wrath until Christ was
manifested, but now he has come and has given himself unto God,
an offering and a sacrifice for us, for a sweet-smelling savour. And it teaches, and it cannot
have any other construction, that this was done for the taking
away of the sins of those for whom it was accomplished if he
has taken away the sins of the whole world there is no need
to preach the gospel and yet Christ appoints the preaching
of the gospel he that believeth on him is not condemned but he
that believeth not is condemned already he's damned The very imagery of the lamb
demands particular redemption. For whom were these lambs, these
animal sacrifices, slain? They were slain for Israel. I
do not read in the Bible that they were slain for the Egyptians
or the Amalekites. They belonged to the purpose
of God that he had to Israel, which made Israel different from
all other nations upon the earth. For whom is the great shedding
of the blood of the Lamb of God, God's dear Son, intended? It is intended for the Israel
of God, which is not just the Jewish Israel, for there were
many in the fleshly Israel who were never of the new Israel,
and which were never in the new covenants. The sacrifice of Christ,
then, is for the Israel of God, Jew and Gentile, the world of
lost sinners, even as many as the Father will be gracious unto. Paul declares to the Corinthians
we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block. They
cannot understand the sacrificing of the Messiah, and unto the
Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called both Jews
and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. The world, in John's mind here,
is the world of Jew and Gentile. The clear proof that this is
so is found in the book of Revelation, in the view of heaven. 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 saints, and they sung a new
song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to 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 on the earth. Thirdly, the Lamb of God exhorted. John saw Christ. He saw by the
eye of faith the things which Jesus would accomplish. John
died a martyr's death before the Saviour was brought to the
appointed place where he poured out his soul upon the cross and
died in the room instead of sinners. Yet John was a true prophet,
in that he declared things which were to come beyond his day,
and he was enabled to say, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world. The Saviour died God spared not
his Son. God's Lamb came and was offered
up. The sacrificial system ended when Christ died on the Friday
at three o'clock in the afternoon, the time of the evening sacrifice.
The veil of the temple was rent in two, from the top to the bottom,
to show that the old system of priests, sacrifices and religious
ceremonies was finished. It no longer had any significance,
for Christ, God's Lamb, had come to the place of sacrifice. God
delivered Him up for us all. Then on the third day there was
the rising of the Saviour from the dead, and there was His exaltation. 27 times in the book of Revelation
there is a sight given of the exalted Lamb. John the Apostle
is full of it. The four beasts and the four
and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb. Before the Lamb. The Lamb is exalted. The sacrifice
was made, but the sacrifice was raised upon the third day, for
He could not be held by death. He lives forevermore. He is at
the right hand of God, pleading our cause and showing His blood. He will receive us into heaven,
where He will be the great centrepiece, the Lamb once slain. We shall see Jesus there and
never forget that He is God's Lamb. Behold the Lamb of God,
which taketh away the sin of the world. And therefore we have
the inscription of praise of those in revelation 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 the earth and under the earth and
such as are in the sea and all that are in them heard I saying
blessing and honor and glory and power unto him that sitteth
upon the throne and unto the Lamb forever and ever. In the very last chapter of the
Bible it says, He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear
as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the
Lamb. And there shall be no more curse,
but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it. and
his servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face,
and his name shall be in their foreheads. This then is something of the
significance of the cross. Christ died for our sins according
to the scriptures, according to the sacrifices of the Old
Testament. Christ died for our sins, once and for all, to make
an end of sacrifices by the offering up of himself unto God for us. O see that you know this Jesus
for yourself. Behold the Lamb of God which
taketh away. None but Jesus can take away
your sin. But except your sin be taken
away, you will be damned forever. The place where the worm dies
not and the fire is not quenched will be your eternal portion.
Thank God for the Lamb, without blemish and without spot, and
for the blood which is the atonement, the covering for our sins. God
grant us a sight of Him, and in seeing Him may we be brought
low in our own esteem, and may we esteem Jesus Christ, very
highly, which is the only position that is his by right. Not only
that he should have place, not only that he should have prominence,
but that in all things he should have the preeminence. Behold
the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Amen.