Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; (36) And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! (37) And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. (John 1:35-37)
Explanation
In verse 35 and 36 you get a setting. The when and the who are in view here. John the Baptist, two of his disciples, and Jesus. You also see John saying the same message again. What is John’s message? “Behold the Lamb of God”.
Here you see the disciples of become the disciples of Jesus. How?
The testimony of John is a part of it. “Behold”….Look at… There he is… See… Come and see…
This is the “lamb of God”.
It was the message of John’s life. “Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.”
You see We learned that at the Passover, God gave instruction through Moses about the sacrificing of a lamb.
“Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:” (Exodus 12:5)
In Leviticus we learned about the day of atonement, and how the priest would take two goats. One would be slain as a sacrifice to God. The other one would have the priest symbolically place the sins of the people on it, and then would be driven into the wilderness.
When John said about Jesus that he was the lamb of God, the two disciples understood the symbolism at some level. They understood him to be the Messiah. They understood that he was going to deal with sin.
John’s message was “Behold”. See. Look! He experienced- Come and See. He influenced- Go and tell.
It’s interesting that John has made the effort to receive and make disciples. He had no doubt invested in these guys.
Yet what it means to be a forerunner of the Messiah is that you understand that you are the lesser and he is the greater. That means that when John pointed his disciples to Jesus He could view their following of him as losing disciples, or as sending them.
The point of John’s life is to make much of the Messiah. This impacted his actions here.
Application:
If we are doing Christ’s mission, we are making disciples of him and not of ourselves. It’s not about making followers of us. It is about making followers of Him.
Response:
- What is your personal commitment to making and sending disciples of Jesus?
- Who can you point to Jesus today.