Behold the Love of God

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 have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

John 1:29-34

My penchant for efficiency got the better of me again today. It was raining, so the entire school drop-off was moved under the one port cochere. Though there were two lines, the cars still wrapped around the school and out onto the major thoroughfare. The parent in front of me decided it was a good time to get a conference in with the teacher directing the car line. I was about to lose my mind. Finally, I was directed to pull forward. Knowing their system could run much more efficiently by using the second overhang, I pulled through, past the port cochere, allowing the parents behind me to pull forward, and I let my child out at the unsupervised second overhang. “Hurry! Hustle up! There are cars behind us!” I urge my special needs child as she, like all her peers, moves at the pace of a sloth to exit the car. For all my planning, speed and efficiency are not even a possibility for these children. In my haste and frustration (and arrogance), I did not get to pray a blessing over my child or say, “I love you. Make it a great day!” In my desire to get the job done, I lost my focus on what is most important. I missed the chance to love, not just my daughter but the teachers and the other parents. I see it clearly now. God is using another ordinary moment to remake me. Out of a deep love to rescue me, and you, because we could not, cannot, rescue ourselves, God sent His Son.  

Behold the Lamb of God.  

God was in no hurry when He sent Jesus. I am certain, that if I were in charge, I would have sent Him as an adult. That would have been far more efficient than sending an infant who would take time to grow up. In His infinite wisdom, that’s not how God planned it. In fact, Scripture tells us that Jesus, “grew in wisdom” (Luke 2:52) and that He “learned obedience” (Hebrews 5:8). He also grew in love – in the Father’s love for Him. What Jesus had to do could not have been motivated by mere obedience.  

The Apostles’ accounts of Jesus’s baptism are very similar, yet Matthew records a part of Jesus’s baptism that John does not:  

 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately He went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on Him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:16-17).  

The love of the Father and compassion for His people motivated the sacrifice of our Savior.  

Behold the Lamb of God.  

The Israelites standing beside the Jordan would have heard the phrase, Lamb of God, differently than we do. They knew God was sending the Messiah for their collective and historical sin, their waywardness, and their disobedience. They knew Isaiah’s prophecy and understood it in the context of their ritual sacrifices. Though centuries separate us, our desire to have life on our own terms, to organize our days at our pleasing, are a reminder that we are no more advanced in our souls than they were. We want what we want when we want it.  

All we like sheep have gone astray;  
we have turned—everyone—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 (Isaiah 53:6-7).  

Behold the Lamb of God.  

Because of the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, the Spirit of God lives in me, and because I know His love for me, I can draw near to Him, recognize my sin, repent of my sin, find forgiveness, and be made new.  

Behold the LOVE of God.