Behold, The Lamb of God

“This was the first gospel sermon, and it is a model for all preachers and teachers. The preacher pointed his own followers away from himself to Christ. This same beautiful unselfishness appears in all John’s course. He was only a voice, announcing the coming of a King. He was not that Light, but only one bearing witness of that Light. With throngs following him, the moment Jesus came John asked the throngs to leave him and go after Jesus. His whole ministry was simply a pointing of men to another.
This is what all Christian workers should do: they should preach and teach Christ, not themselves. They should not seek to win attention to themselves, but to get all to see Christ and to love him. Like John the Baptist, they should be willing to decrease that Christ might increase; they should be satisfied to fade away like the morning star in the brightness of the sun’s rising. Then this name by which John drew attention to Jesus is important. He called him the Lamb of God. This meant that Christ had come into the world not alone to be a teacher, but chiefly to be a sacrifice for the sin of the world, to die in the place of sinners. He was called a lamb, no doubt, because of his gentleness and meekness; but the principal reason was because he was to save us from our sins by bearing them himself. Just the day before this, John said of Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” Not only did he take our sin upon himself; he bore it away into eternal forgetfulness, to be remembered no more for ever. Now all who come to him are safe for ever from condemnation. Long ago their sins were laid on the atoning Lamb, and they will never have to be borne a second time. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.” – Dr. James R. Miller

Biography of John the Baptist

1. He was born in the hill country of Judah (Luke 1:39)
2. He was the son of Zechariah a priest (Luke 1:5)
3. His parents were godly and obey the commands of God (Luke 1:6)
4. His birth was prophesied by the angel of the Lord (Luke 1:8-13)
5. His name was assigned by the angel (John 1:13)
6. He would be great in God’s eyes, would not drink any alcohol, and would be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb (Luke 1:15)
7. He was related to Jesus (Luke 1:36)
8. He lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance (Luke 1:80)
9. He preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Luke 3:3)
10. He bore witness of Jesus (Mark 1:7-8)
11. He baptized Jesus (Matthew 3:14-17)
12. He reprimanded Herod who imprisoned him (Luke 3:19-20; Matthew 14:3-5)
13. He was beheaded by Herod (Mark 6:27)
14. His body was laid in the tomb (Mark 6:29)

The Bible Mini-Series – John the Baptist

Credit video: Focus on the The Family
Original Photo Credit: principles for lifeministries
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