LOC 016 Life of Christ:
The
Sin of the World
In John 1:29 we have that remarkable statement by John the
Baptist. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Two weeks ago we started to look into this
important idea of how the word world is to be understood when we see it in the
New Testament.
We looked at some occurences where the greek word Cosmos is
translated world. We saw how it cannot
always mean each and evey man. It was
demonstrated from 1 John 2:14-15 that the world is an orderly system arranged
against God and his purposes. In
English, WORLD has many meanings. In
Greek it only has one--An orderly arrangement or system. When we find the word we must wrestle with
the context to understand intended use.
This morning, I hope to finish what was begun.
This is so important to understand the Gospels and the life and
work of Christ. Statements like, “Behold
the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World” are not about man, but
about the Lord Jesus Christ and what he did.
If we import our theological pre-commitments into the texts of
Scripture, we do violence to what God had revealed. Our theological thinking, that is, when we
bring many threads together to make one coherent thought, must take into
account the entirety of what God has said in the context n which he said in
harmony with it’s intended meaning.
Otherwise, it becomes a pretext for something else.
John 1:29, The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and
said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
It is the language of sacrifice that is found in John’s
pronouncement, “Behold, the Lamb of God.”
We know this from the context. He
continues,
Who takes away the sin of the
world.
This was a shocking statement.
In the Jewish mind, what was needed to remove the guilt of and
take away sin? A perfect sacrifice--an
unblemished Lamb.
The imagery of a lamb sacrificed is used throughout the Old
Testament in a number of different ways.
The fat of a lamb being consumed is a picture of God’s judgment. The Lamb is a picture of God’s people in need
of direction and guidance. The lamb imagery is found throughout the entirety of
the Old Testament.
The Lamb, however, is primarily understood in a sacrificial
context wherein God provides for his people wither the lamb, or something
through the efficacy of the animal slain.
Consider:
Abel’s acceptable sacrifice was from his flock.
GEN 4:4 Abel also
brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected
Abel and his offering,
It was shat Abraham expected God to provide inthe place of his son
of promise and covenant:
GEN 22:7-8 But Isaac
spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father!" And he said,
"Here I am, my son." Then he said, "Look, the fire and the wood,
but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" 8 And Abraham said, "My
son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering." So the
two of them went together.
It is what God required in the Passover:
EXO 12:3-7 "Speak
to all the congregation of Israel, saying: 'On the tenth day of this month
every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father,
a lamb for a household. 4 'And if the household is too small for the lamb, let
him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the
persons; according to each man's need you shall make your count for the lamb. 5
'Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it
from the sheep or from the goats.
6 'Now you shall keep
it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the
congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. 7 'And they shall take some
of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses
where they eat it.
And, in this imagery, we have a specific link to the Lord Jesus
Christ:1 Cor 5:7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new
lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover,
was sacrificed for us.
The typical Jes would have understood the pronouncement of the
Lamb of God in harmony with the need for sacrifice. It was a part of the life of Jews who sought
to be faithful.
Prophetically, one of the prophets spoke of the sufferings and
glory of the messiah to come, in part, with these words:
ISA 53:7 He was
oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a
lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He
opened not His mouth.
Of whom is this speaking?
Read the entire passage. It can
only be the Lord Jesus Christ. He alone
fulfills all that Isaiah had predicted.
This language of sacifice linked with the notion of world, would
have been offensive to the Jews. They
had their realm wherein the sought to do their own thing against the systems of
their day. They were not Roman Citizens
who sought to become one with the culture around them, they sought to remain
aloof, forging their own culture. This is
a great irony. God’s judgment had come
upon them through various captivities because they had taken in the culture
from the nations around them. Then after
the events leading to the celebration of Chanukah, they became intensely
nationalistic. Rabbinical Judaism became
possible because it gave some direction to this nationalist and ethnic
fervor. Where the sin in the Promised
Land was one of taking from the gentiles, in the first century they came to
disdain the gentiles around them--even the half-breed Samaritans. What a twist of fate. Therefore, John’s proclamation would have
grated against the racial prejudices of the Jews at that time.
Were not the Jews to be a testimony and light to the nations? How were the powerful words of Psalm 117 to
come to pass? Remember what we read?
PSA 117:1-2 Praise the LORD, all you Gentiles! Laud Him, all you
peoples! 2 For His merciful kindness is great toward us, And the truth of the
LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD!
Through Abraham all nations were to be blessed.
GEN 18:18 "since
Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations
of the earth shall be blessed in him?
And in the New its fulfillment:
GAL 3:8 And the Scripture,
foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to
Abraham beforehand, saying, "In you all the nations shall be
blessed."
But also,
GEN 22:18 "In your
seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My
voice."
And,
GEN 26:4 "And I
will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your
descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth
shall be blessed;
And,
GEN 27:29 Let peoples
serve you, And nations bow down to you. Be master over your brethren, And let
your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, And
blessed be those who bless you!"
And, more generally:
PSA 72:17 His name shall
endure forever; His name shall continue as long as the sun. And men shall be
blessed in Him; All nations shall call Him blessed.
The coming of the one to fulfill the Abrahamic Covenant would
bring great blessing to all nations. To
all people in the system naturally aligned against God because of the effects
of sin. God would destroy the hold of
corruption in order to redeem his people through his own sacrifice, his lamb.
The Jews had turned the promise to the nations around. Instead of seeing themselves as a light of
salvation to the nations--plural--, they had restated it as a light of
salvation to the nation--singular--meaning Israel. John the Baptist, with a ministry primarily
to Jews would have shocked all who heard his words. He was saying that Jesus was not just the one
who had come to be the perfect sacrifice for Israel, but for all who were in
the system of the world. All men would
see the glory of the Lord. It was a shock.
They could not see the weight of the glory revealed in the statement
because they had blinders on. Behold, the Lamb of God who has relevance beyond
Israel, to all the nations. And, this is
what he is and will do, he will take away sin.
This isn’t about a quantity of people, it is about the quality of
the work this lamb would do in his sacrifice. This is a statement about the
glorious ministry that this one is to have.
It was shocking that an efficacious sacrifice would be for the
goyim--the sinful gentile dogs. The Jews in the self-righteous attempts to keep
man’s will-worship and traditions of men in place of God’s Word, could not
percieve of the vast nature of what the Lamb would do. The scope of the ministry of Jesus was
broader than that of John. It was to the
whole world. What a wonderful sentiment
to express...despite the sin and ruin found in the system of the world in which
all of its inhabitants willingly take part, there is hope, behold, God’s sacrificial
lamb that takes away this world’s sin is now here. Jesus, the greatest thing was present and
ministering among men. What a glorious
pronouncement! What a personal
pronouncement!
What do you love and after what do you seek? To you live in line
with the orderly, yet corrupt arrangement of this world’s system? Do you seek to be like those around you in
the world, or do you have the desire to conform to the will of God? Do you find yourself doing things God’s way?
Or, do you find yourself doing things according to your lusts? Do you seek The Lord Jesus to rule over you
by his word? Or, do you just say that
because it’s what you want others to hear you say?
For those who love the Lord Jesus and seek to follow him in more
than just words, I point you to the text to consider the blessed hope he gives
once again. Behold, God’s Lamb who takes
away the world’s sin. Cling to him,
trust in him, will all of your heart and strength. He will satisfy your soul.
To those who love the world more than they love Christ, I point
you to the Lamb of God as well. He lived
a righteous life and died the death of a malefactor in order to save men out of
this world’s system and degradation.
Your only hope is to look to him.
Take no false comfort in a mistaken notion of a universal
salvation, behold the Lamb of God, the
only one who can take away sin. No other
thing will do. You can’t save yourself
because even your unbelief is a sin.
Yes, even unbelief is sin. Some
say the Lamb of God by taking away men’s sins died to make men savable on the
condition of their belief. This goes
hand in hand with that understanding of world as the number of all men who have
ever lived, do live or will live, rather than the system aligned against God
and his purposes. If Jesus died as the sacrificial lamb for all men he also
died for their unbelief of he did not die for all of their sin. Sin and world are usually understood as
universal terms. Al least in the case of
world, it is hardly ever a universal concept.
It is always a particular world, the place where we live, the universe
that excludes God, etc.
We need to rid our thinking of this sort of man-centered, numbers,
thinking. It is not about man, it is
about God. These statements are not
about quantity of men, but the quality of God’s provision. I belabor the point for important
considerations in the future.
To make this important point about the meaning of world, let’s
look at the proposition: if world means each and every man. We would interpret
the words to mean, Jesus, as God’s lamb, died for all of the sins of all of the
people.
Assume the statement to be true for a minute, If it can be shown
that one person for whom Christ died in this scenario did not receive all of
the benefits of salvation he promised to give, then even the universal
statement of the atonement cannot be universally true. Did you get that? Assuming a universal atonement for the sake
of argument, we find the universal statement about universalism cannot be
universally true because ot can be shown easily within that scheme that some
for whom Christ died did not receive the benefits promised, namely remission of
sin. Therefore, the universal statement would need to be conditioned in one way
or another making that what was universal particular in some sense.
Consider just one of many examples that could be given:
With great certainty in the language, it says, Psalm 9:17 The
wicked shall be turned into hell, And
all the nations that forget God.
If this verse is true about the future destiny of some know at
that time as the wicked, and if they are no longer alive today, they must have
been turned into hell. Being turned into
hell is a manifest of the justice of God giving some men what they actually deserve. They are not in heaven, therefore it cannot
be said that salvation is a universal phenomena. If Jesus was the Lamb of God who took away
the sin of each and every man it would be an injustice for any to suffer in
hell. The original statement must be qualified in some way. On it’s face it is not true. Stay with me in this theological
argument.........
As stated, 1. Jesus died
for all of the sins of all of the people.
There is no sin left for which the subject must reckon. Yet by qualification of the first argument
there is.
When the universalism of proposition one is pointed out to people
they qualify the statement in this way: 1.
Jesus died for all of the sins of all of the people yet the benefits are
conditioned on their actual belief or faith.
They place what is needed, belief or faith, into a special
category of non-sinful efficacious works.
But what are they really saying? By necessary inference they say, Is it
that Jesus died for all sin except for the sin of unbelief? I ask you, Is unbelief a special category of
non-sin? No, this sort of expression is
shallow thinking. The lack of faith is
the very thing for which men and women in the world will be condemned will be
condemned.
JOH 1:11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 12
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of
God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of
the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
And,
JOH 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have
everlasting life. 17 "For God did not send His Son into the world to
condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 "He
who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned
already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of
God.
19 "And this is
the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved
darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 "For
everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest
his deeds should be exposed. 21 "But he who does the truth comes to the
light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in
God."
These statements are not about the quantity of men who will be
saved but about the quality of the love of God who loved the wicked mass of
humanity living in accord with this world system and sought to redeem the
fallen system of this world so much, that he sent his son, the lamb of God who
takes away the sin of men, sin willingly taken and practiced in line with the
systems of this fallen world. It is about
the quality of the savior’s love. God
so loved the world, the sinful worldly perpetual manifestations of sin
within his originally holy creation. God
loved that so much that he made sure one powerful enough to redeem was
sent. It is he who is the Lamb of God
who redeems.
What is it that keeps men from this redemption? Their unbelief, PERIOD. It is not God who takes the blame, it is man
and his sin, especially that of perpetual unbelief. Unbelief is only a special category of sin
because ultimately it is the sin that damns. It is a sin and not a
non-sin. Jesus was sacrificed for
unbelief as much as any other sin.
Hebrews 3:18-19 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter
His rest, but to those who did not obey? 19 So we see that they could not enter
in because of unbelief.
Man gets no heavenly rest because of his unbelief. And,
Revelation 21:7-8 "He who overcomes shall inherit all things,
and I will be his God and he shall be My son. 8 "But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers,
sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part
in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second
death."
If Jesus died for all of the sins of all of the men, he died for
their unbelief which was a real sin.
Therefore they have nothing to worry about. They would have to admit that Jesus didn’t
die for all of the sins of all of the men and to be consistent with Scriptures
they should admit that unbelief is a sin.
This too points out the need for all men to believe. Therefore, we point them to the perfect,
unblemished sacrifice they truly need, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin
of the world. Who do you love? The Lamb who gives redemption or the World
that needs it?
Some will kick and scream against what I am saying. Look at the context of the book of John. Jesus is portrayed at the saviour of all who
call on him by faith. For them, he is
the lamb slain.
Look at the book of Revelation, given to John, the writer of the
Gospel. Her we find out how we are to
understand the universal nature of the Gospel and the work of the Lamb:
REV 14:6 Then I saw another
angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to
those who dwell on the earth--to every nation, tribe, tongue, and
people-- 7 saying with a loud voice, "Fear God and give glory to Him, for
the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth,
the sea and springs of water."
The Gospel was preached to every nation, clan, and language group
and people. The Gospel is to be
proclaimed universally.
And,
REV 5:9 And they sang a
new song, saying: "You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its
seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of
every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
Men were redeemed to God (notice the direction of the action) by
the Blood (of what? A sacrifice) out of every tribe, language, people and
nation. It is not that each and every man was redeemed, but some out of each of
those categories.
And,
REV 13:7-9 It was
granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe,
tongue, and nation. 8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose
names have not been written in the Book
of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
9 If anyone has an
ear, let him hear.
This is the one to whom John the Baptist points us. The only one who could have been the perfect
sacrifice for all of our sins. When the
world had its hold on us because we willingly partook in its ways, God loved
the system so much that he sent his son to redeem it. So Great is the love of God. It Commands all to repent and believe. Out of those who hear the Gospel outwardly,
God will accompany the gospel inwardly making his enemies able and willing to
believe. So great is this Lamb of God
who takes away the sin of the world.
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