“BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD”
I. M. Shearer
John the baptist’s place in divine arrangements was special and he has a particular significance in the fulfilment of prophetic writings. Nevertheless, I see features in John that would be of great help to us in so far as he was a man whose life, from its very inception to his martyrdom, was one of occupation with Christ. The passage which we have read is like a précis, a summary of what his life really was. We get details of it in the other gospels, we learn secrets in those passages that underlie the brilliance of what you see in him here. Let us consider them as features that we, as Christians, as lovers of the Lord Jesus, may well imitate and pursue in the time that remains.
John’s coming into this world was a miracle, but his upbringing was the result of the godly exercised service of his parents. He was in the deserts until the day of his showing to Israel.
Think of the exercises that that involved. We are told about his food, we are told about his clothing—important aspects of life that bear on this question of Christ being before the soul.
As to his food, it was simple; as to his clothing—no evidence of self-expression, no distinction among men; no material comforts for their own sake—a leathern girdle which you might say was flexible but not elastic. He knew what it was to face the rigours of wilderness life without the expression of himself. So in a time when he could have displayed himself he said, I am just a voice. There was nothing there for men to fasten on to.
There was no way at all that the testimony could be damaged. How careful we must be that nothing we put our hand to limits what God might do with us and in us. May there be no impairment, no blemish, that would disqualify us from being available. In this way John was available. As the Lord Jesus came upon his view he says, “I knew him not”. He made no natural claims on One who was near to him by nature; he recognised in Him a superior Person. One who eclipsed him. “He is preferred before me”. Have we truly come to it that He is preferred before us? Can we see any natural feature that we have so carefully cultivated that does not pale into uselessness as we see what is in Christ?
There is nothing in the flesh that God can take up. He has already tested man in every way and found him wanting. Christ is the provision to meet that lack. Now John represents one who recognised that in his life. He had not pursued anything that would tend to his own distinction, to his own advancement; he had pursued only what would make way for Christ.
Was there a mountain in the way? Was there a gorge in the way? He was able to see that it was removed to make way for Christ. Was anything crooked? He knew how to set it straight.
Of course he had a special distinction because he was making a way for God’s Man, but he would suggest to us what is sought in us, for who of us would want anyone promoted other than Christ? Who would want anyone distinguished but Christ Himself? Such was John.
When the crowds came to him he would identify the need and speak as to it—“Offspring of vipers, who has forewarned you?”, Luke 3: 7. He was not taken in by their robes, nor by their teaching, nor by their histories. He could see what it was— deadly. He was uncompromising in refusing it. That is one thing you will find as you are occupied
with Christ, that such intrusions become insulting, become outrageous, and love would be uncompromising to see them removed. Let Christ have His way fully. So they came with a temptation. ‘Are you somebody? Maybe you are spoken of in prophecy as Elias’. ‘No, no’.
‘Maybe you are the prophet’. ‘No, no’. ‘Then what do you say of yourself?’—“What sayest thou of thyself?”—what a temptation! How would you deal with such a question? Do you want to speak of yourself? Would you like someone to know just a little about you? He says, I am just a voice calling attention to Christ.
You see what this means practically. When he saw Jesus as He walked, when he had two of his disciples beside him there, they left John, in fact it seems to be just the next step. What a service his was; how perfectly he had served those men in that as soon as Christ came on the scene they followed Him. They were free from any obligation to, or any preference for, the one by whom they had got help. He says, “In the midst of you stands, whom ye do not know, he who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to unloose”. We are often tested by common opinion. We are often governed by the preferences of the many, but here is a man who singled out One that was overlooked, and says, ‘I am not even worthy to unloose His sandal’. He was not swayed by popular opinion. He was attracted by features of moral worth—features that were already noted and loved of God. We are told earlier, “There was a man sent from God, his name John” (John 1: 6). Think of the secrets that he had shared.
Think how his thoughts had been put into that avenue so that he was looking for such a One, and when He came he readily identified Him; that was the One—‘I am not even worthy to unloose the thong of His sandal’. We can take character from John, and what a testimony will then emerge.
So Jesus comes before him and he exclaims, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”. That Jesus should be an acceptable offering required perfection, the complete answer under God’s scrutiny to every feature that a man should bear. Such a One was adequate, and there He was walking—the Lamb of God walking. This was not the time of His sacrifice; this was the time of His manifestation. God was testifying—‘This is the Man, this is the order of Man that I will accept’. John saw it. What extraordinary intelligence!
What a view he had—when He was walking in the midst of them, and men did not know it. It was manhood in perfection. He “takes away the sin of the world”. John would have faced that question. John was a sinner; we are all sinners; we must make an examination of the very roots of our being; but then see how God has found His own answer to our lack in this perfect One.
So we move on to the testimony John gives, how he singled Jesus out. How particular God is to help us to recognise this One. “He said to me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and abiding on him, he it is who baptises with the Holy Spirit”. You can understand how John would be seeking an answer to so many questions. Here is the tender provision of God to show him beyond all mistaking that this was the One He was singling out—the Spirit descended and abode upon Him. The anointing was distinctively there. God has put His seal upon this perfect Man. This was the One—“Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and abiding on him”. What are we looking for? Something that can be confirmed with heaven’s full approbation, full confidence? He was worthy of it. Jesus was not One who, under pressure, would show up differently. He was the same through and through. As we learn from the offerings, the inwards were washed, just to bring out in the type what Christ
was intrinsically; His heart, His emotions, were in every respect pure, perfect. These are things that God delights to show us, and as we see them we shall just recognise what we are as totally different. John had seen it.
So, a second time he could speak about this blessed One—“Behold the Lamb of God”. This was no strange subject to John’s disciples. They had heard him speak about Him. The whole purpose of his life was to prepare the way for this blessed One. They would know immediately who he had in mind and they followed Him. Let the bent of our lives, and all that we do together, be to understand and recognise the Lamb of God. They say to Jesus,
“Where abidest thou?” He says to them, “Come and see ... and they abode with him that day”.
There is a tendency with us to accept what God has provided in Christ, acknowledge it, and perhaps in some respect appreciate it, but then go on our own way, live our own life. Abiding with Jesus is another thing. You can still go to the workshop, you can still do the shopping, you can still go to school, dear young people, and be abiding with Jesus. What would they do? Do you think these two disciples would ‘hold the floor’? No. They would be drinking in what was there in Him. They would be like Mary, sitting at His feet. They would be like that woman who brought out her very precious ointment and bestowed it upon Him. They were persons who were content just to be with Him.
One feature that comes out at the end of Matthew’s gospel, involved in Peter’s exposure, was that he had been “with Jesus”, Matthew 26: 69, 71. Recognisable help and change come in as you are just with Him (see also Acts 4: 13). It affects your language, “For also thy speech makes thee manifest”. You cannot be in the presence of the Lord Jesus without being changed. So there it was
—a day spent with Him, “They abode with him that day”. Peter speaks about the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls. He knew what it was to wander away and get out of His company, and, like a sheep, he was recovered. The Shepherd had sought him, found him, and recovered him. Let us not wander, let us never depart from the company of Jesus.
I just move on to the last passage. It is a very suitable finish for a lover of Christ. We know how John was removed from the scene. We know what it involved for him. He was a faithful man. He was in unfavourable circumstances and he stuck to the truth. He just kept on saying what was right (Matthew 14: 4), and he suffered an extraordinary death. We know that; but this is the other side. John passed out of sight as Christ came into view. John, the gospel writer, does not record his death. I would love to be one such who just disappears from sight that Christ might fill every gaze. “He must increase, but I must decrease”, and he goes on to say, “He who comes from above is above all”. John the baptist goes out of sight. Here even his voice seems to merge with the Spirit’s.
Let our speaking all lead to this, beloved brethren, that Christ is magnified, and may our words be merged with those of the Spirit as Christ becomes greater and greater in our midst, in our lives, in our households. May it be so, for His name’s sake.
Address in Dundee
13 December 1986