John 1:29-34 "The next day John 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 is preferred before me, for He was before me. I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water." And John bore witness, saying, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, "Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit." And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God."
Jesus came for two main purposes, according to John the Baptist: Jesus was the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world, and He is the One who baptizes us with the Holy Spirit. His main goal was not to remove the sin of the world. His main goal was to baptize or immerse us in the Spirit of God, so that we are reunited with God again and His Spirit can live in us. No one in the Old Testament had the Spirit of God dwelling in them permanently. For God to dwell in us permanently by the Holy Spirit, Jesus had to bear our sin and suffer the penalty of sin. We are freely justified before God by His grace, demonstrated to us in Christ Jesus. He can now come and live in us because the debt for sin has been paid.
This saying that Jesus would be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world would have been shocking to the ears of the Jewish people who heard it. In the Old Testament, the lamb sacrifice was just for the sins of the Jewish people. John was proclaiming that Jesus would take away the sin of the whole world. This would have to be for every sin that we have committed in the past or ever will commit in the future. You and I were not even born yet. Every sin you and I have ever committed in the past or ever will commit in the future were all future sins when Christ died. 1 John 2:2 "And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world." So John said the same thing in the epistle of 1 John that he said in the gospel of John. Even for those in the world who have not accepted the gospel, Jesus has already paid for their sins. All they have to do is hear and believe the Good News, then God can come and dwell in them by the Holy Spirit.
The lamb sacrifice in the Old Testament is a type and shadow of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. The sacrifices under the Old Testament were for only one sin at a time, or at best for all the sins committed in ignorance for one year, according to Hebrews 9:7. But Hebrews 10:12 states that Jesus made one sacrifice for sins forever. This is in complete contrast to the daily sacrifices and one yearly sacrifice under the Old Testament.
The water baptism of John in the wilderness was a type and shadow of the baptism in the Holy Spirit that Jesus came to give us under the New Testament. Even though the people were immersed in the waters of the river Jordan by John the Baptist, the water was not in them. But when Jesus baptizes us with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God dwells within us and upon us. If the sins of our entire lifetime were not already paid for, God could not dwell in us by the Holy Spirit. The very fact that He dwells in us shows us that our sins are remitted. Our Christian growth really begins with the acceptance of the fact that our sins are forgiven. In 1 John 2:12 "I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake." John is speaking to little children in the faith. The first thing we should learn is that our sins are forgiven. Unfortunately, far too many churches teach that our past sins are forgiven, but our present and future sins are new offenses that separate us from fellowship with God. This teaching will cause us to stay baby Christians and keep us from maturity in Christ. These types of ideas will leave us insecure in our relationship with God. Know that Jesus made one sacrifice for sins forever, as Hebrews 10:12 states. He paid for the sins of our entire lifetime, past, present and future.
Keith Oliver
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