Let us ask ourselves, as we leave this passage, "Whether we are baptized with the Holy Ghost, and whether we have any real interest in the Lamb of God? Thousands, unhappily, are wasting their time in controversy about water baptism, and neglecting the baptism of the heart Thousands more are content with a head-knowledge of the Lamb of God, or have never sought Him by faith, that their own sins may be actually taken away. Let us take heed that we ourselves have new hearts, and believe to the saving of our souls.
Notes. John I 29—34.
29. — [The next day.] This means the day after the conversation between John the Baptist and the deputation of priests and Le- vites. The careful marking of days by St. John at this stage of his gospel deserves particular notice.
[Seeth Jesus coming unto him.] These words seem to prove that Jesus was not present on the preceding day, during the conversation with the priests and Levites, and that John's words, ''standeth among you," cannot be Hterally taken.
It seems probable, as before observed, that our Lord came back to John after His temptation in the wilderness. The Spirit took Him into the wilderness "immediately" after His baptism, (Mark i. 12,) and it was upon His return, at the end of forty days, that John the Baptist saw him again.
[And saithj iehold.] This appears to have been a public, open, proclamation made by John to his disciples and the multitude who surrounded him. "Behold that person who is coming towards us. He is the Lamb of Grod, the Messiah of whom I have been preaching to you, and on whom I have told you to believe."
[The Lamb of Ood^ There can be no reasonable doubt that John gave this name to our Lord because He was the true sacri- fice for sin, the true antitype of the passover lamb, and the lamb prophesied of by Isaiah. (Is. liii. 7.) The idea that he only refers to the quietness and meekness of our Lord's personal character is utterly unsatisfactory. He is describing our Lord's official character as the great propitiation for sin.
The expression, " Lamb of God," according to some, signifies " that eminent, great, divine, and most excellent Lamb." It is a well-known Hebraism to describe anything very great as a thing
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" of God." Thus we read of " thunderings of Grod," and "trembling of God," (Exod. ix. 28; 1 Sam. xiv. 15.) — According to others i signifies the Lamb which God has provided from all eternity, and which God has long covenanted and promised to send into the world to be slain for sinners. Both views make good doctrine, but the second seems the preferable one.
Bengel thinks that John called our Lord "the Lamb of God," with a special reference to the Passover, which was then near. (John ii. 13.) He also sees a parallel between the expression " Lamb of God," and the phrase. " sacrifice of God," (Psalm li. 17,) which means " the sacrifice which God acknowledges as pleasing to Him."
Chemnitius thinks, in addition to other reasons why John calls our Lord " the Lamb," that he desired to show that Christ's kingdom was not pohtical. He was neither the ram nor the he-goat described in Daniel. (Dan. viii. 20.)
[Taketh away.] The Greek word so rendered, is given in the marginal reading, " beareth." Both ideas are included. It means " taketh away by his expiatory death." The Lamb of God " bear- eth " the sin of the world by taking it upon Himself He allowed our guilt to be laid upon Him, and carried it away like the scapegoat, so that there was none left. It is one of the many expressions which describe the great Scripture truth, that Christ's death was a vicarious sacrifice for sin. He became our substitute. He took upon Him our sin. He was made sin for us. Our sins were imputed to Him. He was made a curse for us.
The word here rendered " taketh away " is found at least 100 times in the New Testament. In 82 places it is rendered, " take," — " take up," — or " take away." In 5 places it is, " bear." In 4 it is, "lift up." In 2 it is, " remove." In most of the other places it is the imperative expression, "away with !" All point to the same view of the text before us, viz., " a complete atonement for sin."
The use of the present tense, " taketh away," is remarked by all the best commentators, ancient and modern. It is intended to show the completeness of Christ's satisfaction for sin, and the continual application of His once-made sacrifice. He is always taking sin away. RoUock observes, " The influence of Christ's sacrifice is perpetual, and His blood never dries up."
The idea maintained by some, that "taking away sin," in this place, includes sanctification as well as justification, seems to me quite untenable. That Christ " takes away " the power of a believ<ir's sins, when He applies His redemption to his soul, is no doubt true. But it is not the truth of this text.