Behold the Lamb

I want to close this Advent devotional with a scripture reading. Two actually. This whole little experiment in writing was titled “Behold the Lamb” and so I want end by going back to the two passages that I had running in my mind as I wrote this devotional.

First, John 1:29-34:

“The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said: ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘after me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’  I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

John admonishes us.

Behold. Look. Pay attention. You don’t want to miss this!

Jesus is the Son of God, the Lamb who take away our sins.

Our second passage gives us a glimpse of how that happens. Isaiah 53 gives us Christ’s story hundreds of years in advance and couldn’t be a better way to close out our reflections on Christmas:

“Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had not form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces hew was despised and we esteemed him not.

            Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned- every one- to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

            He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

            By oppression and judgment was he taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

            Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he was put to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors.”

How beautiful it is to realize that from Mary’s womb to the empty tomb, God planned it all for your sake and mine.

Take a moment to reread the second passage and take account of two things: what Christ endured and what we received. The lists are astounding.

I often ask myself “when was the last time you were ‘undone’ by the power and beauty of Jesus and the gospel?” Today, behold the Lamb and reflect on that question. Perhaps it is pride that needs to be undone. Or comfort. Or bitterness and anger. Or an unrepentant heart.

Let Jesus the Lamb “undo” the sin, pride, and brokenness in your life and replace them with hope and joy and peace. That was the message of the first Christmas and remains the message today. Let this season point ahead to Easter where Isaiah 53 “undoes” all our sins and sorrows.