“30 Pictures of Jesus” 30 Day PlanНамуна

Today we see Jesus as the Lamb of God.

John the Baptist’s ministry was preparing Israel for the arrival of their King. By baptizing people, he called them to turn away from their sin—their rebellion that only leads to death—and to prepare for God’s long-awaited kingdom of righteousness. When questioned by the temple leaders, John pointed beyond himself to the one who truly had authority to forgive sins. And when Jesus appeared, John announced him with sacrificial language: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

For Israel, this was striking. The leaders questioning John administered the sacrifices in the temple and knew the role lambs played. In the sacrificial system, lambs were offered to cleanse the pollution of sin. As Leviticus says, “the life of the flesh is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:11). The blood of a lamb carried life into the place where rebellion had brought corruption. By this means, God purified his people so that he could continue to dwell with them and make them righteous.

But the prophets added another layer. Isaiah 53 describes a Servant who would not only cleanse but personally carry the people’s sins. He is despised, pierced, crushed, and wrongfully punished—not for his own sins but for the sins of others. Like a lamb led to slaughter, he would take the world’s evil into his own body, absorbing its violence so that his people might be healed.

When John calls Jesus the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, he fuses these two visions together. Like the lambs of the altar, Jesus brings God’s life into the places corrupted by sin. And like Isaiah’s Servant, he bears the crushing weight of the world’s rebellion in his own body. His baptism anticipates this mission: though sinless himself, he steps into the waters of repentance so that we might join him—dying to our sin, being cleansed, and rising into his new life.

Jesus is the Lamb who both cleanses and carries. He takes away sin by absorbing its violence and spreading God’s life, so that we can be purified, made righteous, and brought into fellowship with God.