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What a wonderful verse this is, and what a Person He is, the

Taker-away of the sin of the World! Think of the glories of

Christ as the Lamb of God, the One who would suffer and die.

It would relate to the Passover lamb. The lamb was secured

for a household and each household would get to know and

appreciate and love that little lamb. One night that lamb had to

be slain, and that would speak to us of Jesus. Think of how the

household would feel it. What a Lamb, the Lamb of God! He

has come within our range, not come in pomp or outward

glory, but come as the Lamb of God because He was to take

our place, to suffer.

What a Sufferer Jesus was! So He “takes away the sin of the

world”, involving not only the removal of our sins, but the

removal of sin, the principle of sin. How wonderful a Person

He is! How great the glory of His Person. There is no one like

Christ. So John the baptist says, “A man comes after me who

takes a place before me, because he was before me”. John

says, in the presence of the greatness of Christ, ‘I cannot

consider myself’. Think of His eternal Being, His eternal

existence, the glorious Person who never ceased to be what

He was by reason of what He became, but was perfect in what

He became. John adds, “I knew him not”.

Although John the baptist was related to Christ and thus near

in a natural sense, he knew Him not. There was something

that was beyond him, something related to what is inscrutable.

Then in verse 35, “Again, on the morrow, there stood John and

two of his disciples. And, looking at Jesus as he walked, he

says, Behold the Lamb of God”. I think this would bring out the

greatness of this One, viewing the Lord Jesus as the Lamb of

God not so much in relation to the sin question but as He is in

His own glory. “And the two disciples heard him speaking, and

followed Jesus”. There must have been something about

John’s word that affected them. It says, “looking at Jesus as

he walked”. Do we look upon Jesus? What I have in mind in