The Holy Lamb of God

John 1:1-5 ESV

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

When we get to verses 15-36 we will learn that “the Word” spoken of here is Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God who is God, the second person of our triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He was in the beginning with God and he is God, and he is our creator God. So, he is both the giver of human life, and he is the giver of eternal life to all who follow him in obedience as their Lord and Savior (Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14).

Jesus is the light, and the light is truth, and it is righteousness, and it is the gospel of our salvation from sin and of eternal life with God. And Jesus said that if anyone would come after him he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin and to self) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for the sake of Jesus we deny self, die daily to sin, and follow our Lord in obedience, then we have the hope of eternal life (see Luke 9:23-26).

And darkness has to do with what is evil and wicked and sinful, and it is of the devil, which is the opposite of the light. And we read in 1 John 1:5-10 that if we say that we have fellowship with God/Christ but while we walk (in conduct, in practice, in lifestyle) in the darkness (sin), we are liars. And in 1 John 2:3-6 we read that if we say that we know God, but we do not keep (or obey) his commandments (New Covenant), that we are liars. And we read in 1 John 3:4-10 that if sin is what we practice, and if righteousness is not our practice, that we don’t know God, and we are not born of God.

John 1:9-14 ESV

“The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Jesus was and is the Christ, the promised Messiah/Christ who was to come and who did come, first to his own people, and then also to the Gentiles. But mainly it was through his death and resurrection, and through the witness and the teachings of his NT apostles, that the gospel message also went to the Gentiles (non-Jews). 

God the Father had planned from the very beginning that Jesus Christ would be the sacrifice for our sins, that he would be born as a human baby to a human mother, but with God as his birth Father. So when Jesus walked the earth, he was fully God and fully human, yet without sin. So, he was God incarnate (made flesh) who lived among the people of the world. But even though the world was made by him, the world did not recognize him.

And he came to his own people, the Jews, and yet they did not receive him. And this word “receive” means to take from or to receive from, or to take with you from close alongside, to aggressively take (receive). It means to accept, to grasp, to welcome him (close alongside), to embrace him, to say “yes” to him, to allow for him in your life. And for Jesus it meant for us to deny self, to die to sin daily, and to follow him in obedience. For to receive him is to welcome who he is and what he stands for and what he teaches.

So, when this says here that to all who receive him, who believe in his name, he gives the right to become children of God, he is not talking about giving lip service to him. He is not talking about a mere formality. This is about us accepting who Jesus is in heart, mind, character, and will into our lives to let him live his life in and through us so that we can become like him in heart, mind, character, and will. It means we agree to forsake our sins and to die to sin daily and to follow him in obedience to his ways and to no longer live for self and for our own selfish and sinful desires.

And to believe in Christ is not of our own doing. It is not of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. For Jesus Christ is the originator of our faith, and God gifts us with that faith, and that faith is divine persuasion as to the will of God for our lives. So, we don’t get to choose what that faith looks like. God does. And if we read his word, in context, it shouldn’t take long before we realize that genuine faith in Christ Jesus, which saves, submits to Christ as Lord, and surrenders to the will of God, and obeys his commands, in practice, and does not live in sin, but in holiness, righteousness and godliness, in the power of God, and for the glory of God.

[Hebrews 12:1-2; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; Ephesians 2:8-10]

Lamb of God

By Twila Paris / Michael Paul Bethany / Kevin Turner

… Your only Son no sin to hide

But You have sent Him from Your side

To walk upon this guilty sod

And to become the Lamb of God

… Your gift of love they crucified

They laughed and scorned Him as he died

The humble King they named a fraud

And sacrificed the Lamb of God

… Oh Lamb of God, Sweet lamb of God

I love the Holy Lamb of God

Oh wash me in His precious Blood

My Jesus Christ the Lamb of God…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nFtvbrjvjY

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