1. A note of demonstration or ostension, as pointing at him with the finger, ' Behold.'
2. The person demonstrated, set forth here under the notion of ' the Lamb of God/
3. His work and office, from whence the title is given him, * Which taketh away the sin of the world.'
The text is full of matter ; every word and title is emphatical.
Two doctrines I shall observe from the words — (1.) That Jesus Christ was the true Lamb of God ; (2.) The great work of Christ the Lamb of God is to take away the sin of the world.
Doct. 1. That Jesus Christ was the true Lamb of God.
1. I shall show that Christ was the true Lamb of God.
2. How we are to behold him.
I. That Christ is the true Lamb of God. He may be called so either with allusion to the common lamb, or else to the holy lamb, which, Sta«ptTi«w9, is here called ' the lamb of God,' the lamb appointed by him for sacrifice, or else to the paschal lamb.
First, There are many fit resemblances between him and the common lamb. I shall instance only in three — (1.) Innocency ; (2.) Liableness to injuries ; and (3.) Meekness and patience.
1. For innocency. Of all creatures the lamb is the most harmless, the true emblem of innocency. So was Christ without wrong and without guile : Isa. liii. 9, ' He hath done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.' All wrong and harm is there reduced to two heads — violence and deceit ; the one the fruit of wicked cunning, the other the fruit of abused power ; both are far removed from Christ, for he was holy and harmless.
2. So for liableness to injuries. Sheep are not ravenous creatures,
476 SERMONS UPON JOHN I. 29.
but easily exposed to the prey of others, and can use no forcible means to defend themselves : Mat. x. 16, ' Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves/ So was Christ himself, that in him might be exemplified the spirit and genius of that religion which he would establish. Ever since there hath been sin in the world, man hath been, grasping at power, to use it, not in acts of mercy, but violence ; but the great God, who hath all power in his hands, would come into tho world as a lamb to the slaughter, and redeem the world that was lost, not by grasping at power and greatness, but by meekness and suffer- ings ; and so establish a kingdom of patience, not of power.
3. For meekness and patience. For patience in his death he was a Iamb : Isa. liii. 7, ' He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth : he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before the shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.' Swine will howl and whine when they are touched, but sheep are dumb before the shearers. Christ did not open his mouth unless it were to instruct, and bless, and pray for those that crucified him, but went patiently to the cross. It was anciently observed among the heathens, that if the beast struggled, or did run aAvay from the altar, that it was counted an unlucky sacrifice. If we should go by this rule in judging concerning the success of our sin-offering, his carriage at his death promiseth an happy issue ; for ' He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before the shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.' He died not as the beasts in the temple, against their will ; if he complained of the bitter cup, it was to show that he was not without sense, not that he was without patience.
Secondly, The sacrifice lamb, therefore called 'the lamb of God/ All lambs were God's creatures, and therefore might be called his ; but the lamb appointed for sacrifice was God's in a peculiar manner, as set apart for this use by his special appointment. And yet that lamb was not God's so much as Christ is ; for there man had his choice, and was to interpose his judgment what lamb he would single out of the flock ; and therefore the sacrifices and offerings were called theirs ■who presented them, not God's who appointed them ; but Christ was both appointed by God : 1 Peter i. 20, ' Who verily was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world ; ' and offered by God : ' Heb. ix. 14, ' Who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God ; ' and accepted by God, in token whereof he hath set him forth in the gospel as a propitiation for sin : Kom. iii. 25, ' Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood.' And in the text he is said to be 6 d/xvo<;, not a lamb, but tJie lamb, that lamb of God ; which is said partly by way of dignity and distinction, to put a difference between him and the typical lamb ; and partly by way of ostension and demonstration, that lamb figured in the sacrifices, and spoken of by the prophets ; this is he, ' the Lamb of God ' indeed. Now lambs were often used in sacrifices. In the purification of women : Lev. xii. 6, ' She shall bring a lamb of the first year for a burnt-offering.' In the cleansing of the leper : Lev. xiv. 10, ' On the eighth day he shall bring two he-lambs without blemish, and one ewe-lamb without blemish ; ' both which figured the cleansing of our defiled natures by Christ, and the doing away the defilement and leprosy of sin. Bat the