I did not know him
However close John was to his cousin Jesus, it was not enough for him to fully grasp his identity. He didn't proclaim Jesus to be the one who was to come just because he seemed, from John's experience, to be a good candidate. Rather, it was on the basis of prophetic revelation that the full extent of the identity of Jesus was revealed. Thus, unlike those people who grew up alongside Jesus in Nazareth, John was able to realize that he was more than just the son of Mary.
Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
When we hear what John said about Jesus we recognize that it was more than flesh and blood could reveal. The fact that he would, in himself, sum up the entire Old Testament sacrificial system, reveal its true meaning, and at last fulfill the purpose toward which it pointed, was not something one could have guessed, however close his proximity to Jesus as he grew up. Those sacrifices pointed toward the need to make of oneself an offering. They were reminders of the fact the people could not practice the unfailing obedience that alone was compatible with God's absolute holiness. Jesus was at last one who was able to offer himself in the obedience as a perfect sacrifice to the Father. But he did not do this merely as a substitute, as animal sacrifices were thought to be. He did it, first for us, so that, by his grace, he could do it within us.
‘A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me
because he existed before me.’
Even had their been a merely human individual capable of offering the Father perfect obedience it could not have had this transformative effect on humanity. It was, therefore, insufficient. Had Abraham not been restrained by an angel and gone on to offer Isaac as a sacrifice it would have had no lasting effect on human nature. He could have offered something like a perfect sacrifice, but he did not have the power to make that sacrifice universally available. And in this case, that would miss the whole point. It was not anything unless it could be everything. It wasn't about the destruction of anyone, however perfect. It was about the redemption of all, something that could only be accomplished by Jesus himself. Jesus was the one who existed, not only before John, not only before Abraham (see John 8:48-59), but before all creation. He was the lamb slain since the foundation of the world (see Revelation 13:8). Scripture tells us that he is the same yesterday, today, and forever (see Hebrews 13:8). It is for this reason that the perfect sacrifice of one man can be applied to every human individual, regardless of whether they lived before, during, or after his earthly life.
Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them (see Hebrews 7:25).
How does the sacrifice of the lamb of God become efficacious in our own lives? It is precisely through our baptism, in which we receive the Holy Spirit and become, like Jesus himself, sons and daughters of God. The Spirit was unleashed upon the world precisely through his gift of himself on the cross for us. It was then that the flow of living water, coming from the very heart of God, was unleashed (see John 7:38-39, John 19:34) . And it has never stopped. It will never dry up or be exhausted. That's what it means to say that the one who is beyond time has entered it in order to transform it, not just in a partial or incomplete project of renovation, but rather, to make all things new.
I will make you a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.
We share in the identity and destiny of Jesus through our baptism. This means that we too are intended and empowered to live lives of obedient self-gift. It is for this, more than for any more dramatic external effects, that we have been given the gift of the Spirit. It is toward this that all of the many fruits, gifts, and charisms of the Spirit conduce. And it is in this way, by this grace making us to be in this way new creations, that we attain our intended destiny of becoming lights to the nations. Through God's work in us may he draw others, even others from the ends of the earth, to share in his salvation.
Matt Maher - Behold The Lamb Of God
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