jL he scope of this chapter, is to prove the divinity and eternal Godhead of Jesus Christ. One of those arguments by which this great article of faith is confirmed and proved is the testimony of John. This testimony of John is the more remarkable, because it was before prophesied of him, that when the Messiah should come, this messenger should go before his face, to prepare the way for him, Mai. iii. 1.
Now, among all the testimonies that ever John gave of Christ, none ever was, or could be more full and clear than this in the text : " Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the ^vorld !^'
In which words are remarkable, 1. The preface to his testimony. 2. The testimony itself.
First, The preface or introduction to John's testimony ; Behold ! there is a double use in scripture of this word : sometimes it is used by way of indication, and sometimes by way of excitation. In the first, it points out the person ; in the last, it raises our affections to him. In this place it hath both these uses.
Behold the Lamb of God ! q. d. ' This is the great expectation and hope of all ages. This person whom you behold, is the desire of all
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nations. Lo, this is God manifest in the Jlesh. This is the great sacrifice, the Lamb of' God : Never did human eyes behold such an object before.'
Seco7idly, The testimony itself: Which must be considered two ways; as it respects, 1. The truth and reahty; 2. The virtue and dignity of Christ its object.
Firsts John's testimony respects the truth and reality of the object: This is 0 af/.vogy the Lamb of God; the very antitype to which all legal sacrifices had respect, and from which they derived all their value and virtue ; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, as he had said before, ver. 17. The paschal lamb and the lamb for daily sa- crifice, were but the types and shadows of this Lamb of God.
Secondly^ His testimony respects the virtue and dignity of Christ and his blood. He taleth away the sin of the world. The Greek ai^nv (as De Dieu, a learned critic observes) answers both the He- brew words, Sit: et aw^ Isa. liii. 4. which signify not only to bear, but to bear away ; Potando expiat, cxpiando aufert, efficitque ut remxttatur. By bearing sin, he expiates it; by expiating, takes it away, or procures the remission of it. The expression seems to allude to the scape-goat, mentioned, Lev. xvi. 22. Thus Christ really and wholly takes away the sin of the world ; i. e. the sin of all be- lievers in the world, for whom he was sacrificed, as Drusius well expounds it, concurring with the stream of sound expositors.
So that this is a very full testimony which John gives to Christ, and it is given with great affection and admiration of him : Behold t yea, admire in beholding tJie Lamb of God, which tali:eth away the sin of the ivorld! Behold him with affections suitable to such an ob- ject ; Ecce persona a Deo ordinata, in victimam ad expiandum pec- cata, Grotius. Behold the person appointed by God, for a sacrifice to expiate sin ! Now, though this scripture be very fruitful in prac- tical observations, yet it is not my purpose, at this time, to note or prosecute any of them except this one, which rises from the prefatory particle, or that note of admiration, with which John's testimony of Christ is ushered in : Behold the Lamb of God ! And the note thence will be this :
Doct. That Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, is to be beheld ivith admiration and affection suitable to such an object.
Christ is beheld by men three ways :
First, Carnally with an eye of flesh : so men saw him in the days of his flesh, and despised him, Isa. liii. 2. Carnal eyes saw no beauty in him, that he should be desired.
Secondly, Fiducially, by the eye of faith : believing, is seeing Christ, John vi. 40. Faith is to the saints instead of eyes : By it they make Christ present, though the heavens have received him out of our carnal sight.
Thirdly, Beatifically, by the glorified eye : so the spirits of just men made perfect do, by their mental eye, see him in glory ; and all
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the saints, after the resurrection, shall with these corporeal eyes, see their Redeemer, according to Job xix. 26, 27.
The sight of Christ by faith (which is all the sight of him that any man now hath, or can have in this world) as it is much more excellent than the first; for " blessed are they that have not seen, *' and yet believe," John xx. 29- so it is much inferior to the last; 1 Cor. xiil. 12. " For now we see darkly through a glass, but then *' face to face" But though it be an inferior vision in respect of that which is immediate and perfect ; yet the eye of faith is a precious eye, and the visions of Christ by faith, are ravishing visions : and he that beholds Christ, the Lamb of God, by a steady fixed eye of faith, cannot but admire, and be deeply affected with such a sight of him. The views of Christ by faith, are ravishing and transport- ing views, 1 Pet. i. 8. " Whom having not seen, ye love ; in whom, *' though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy " unspeakable, and full of glory."
It is a disparagement to so glorious an object as Christ, to behold him, and not wonder ; to see, and not love him. Certainly the ad- miration, love, delight, and joy of our hearts, are all at the command of faith : for let us but consider what ravishing excellencies are in Christ, for the eye of the believer to behold and admire.
First, God is in Christ, 2 Cor. v. 19. He is God manifested in the flesh, 1 Tim. iii. 16. A God incarnate is the world^s wonder ! Here is finite and infinite joined in one ; eternity matched with time; the Creator and creature making but one person ! " The Lord hath " created a new thing upon the earth ; A woman shall compass a " man," Jer. xxxi. 22. It is an argument of weakness to admire little things ; and of stupidity, not to admirs great things. « Many miracles (saith one) were wrought by Christ in the flesh ; but the ' greatest of all miracles was his assumption of flesh.'
Secondhj, The wisdom of God is in Christ ; yea, in him are hid all the treasures oficisdom and hnoidedge, Col. li. 3. Never did the divine wisdom display its glorious beam-s in the eyes of men and angels, in any work of God since the beginning of time, as it hath done in the designation of Christ to be the Lamb of God, a sacri- fice for sin. Behold the Lamb of God ! and in him behold the un- searchable wisdom of God, in recovering the elect perfectly from all the danger of sin, and yet making sin more dreadful to them, by way of their recovery from it, than ever it could be made by any other consideration.
Infinite wisdom, in suiting the sinner's remedy to the cause of his disease ! The disease was the pride of man ; the remedy was the humiliation of the Son of God. Man affected to be as God ; that ruined him : God comes down, assumes flesh, and will be found in fashion as a man ; that saved him.