John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said,
"Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
John the Baptist was preparing those who came to him to be ready to receive Jesus. Therefore he did not tell them to take note of his excellent preaching or wonder working. He did not apparently suggest that they ought to train as soldiers to enlist in his messianic army. Instead he pointed toward one who came to deal with the problem of sin, a problem John taught his followers to deeply desire to overcome by the ritual of his water baptism. In Jesus was, at last, the one who could take away the sin of the world.
He is the one of whom I said,
'A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me
because he existed before me.'
It made sense that Jesus could deal definitively with sin because of his divine nature. He was, as man, younger than John the Baptist, but, in virtue of his divinity John could say of him, "he existed before me". Yet the one of whom John said this was also, somehow, the "Lamb of God". He was the sacrifice that would finally accomplish what the blood of bulls and goats ultimately never could (see Hebrews 10:4). He was the one who would be led to the slaughter like a lamb, and who would not open his mouth as a sheep is silent in front of its shearers (see Isaiah 53:7), but who would thereby "make many to be accounted righteous" (see Isaiah 53:11).
I did not know him,
but the reason why I came baptizing with water
was that he might be made known to Israel."
John testified further, saying,
"I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from the sky
and remain upon him.
Even John did not initially recognize all that God was doing in Jesus or understand all that God would accomplish through him. But the descent of the Holy Spirit on Jesus at his baptism appeared to help John recognize in Jesus the preexistent Son of the Father, on whom the favor of the Father rested. It must have been difficult to understand how one person could be both divine and also the lamb of sacrifice. But on the other hand, if the lamb wasn't of such infinite value it was even more impossible to understand how it could actually address the problem of sin. If Jesus was merely a man who gave his life for his beliefs there was no reason to assume that one life could balance out the sin of the whole human race. But Jesus was not merely a man. Hence his offering of himself had the infinite value necessary to allow how to make baptism in the Holy Spirit available for the whole world. Thus Christian baptism was infused with the power to take away the sins of any who willingly allowed themselves to be touched by those living waters.
See what love the Father has bestowed on us
that we may be called the children of God.
Important as it was that Jesus dealt with the problem of sin it was nevertheless not his ultimate goal. What he desired to give us through his Holy Spirit was more than forgiveness. It was adoption as daughters and sons of the Father, making us partakers of the divine nature, able to share in his own relationship to him. Thus when Christians arise from baptism they hear words similar to those Jesus himself heard, as though the Father was saying of each one, 'Behold my beloved daughter or son with whom I am well pleased.'
Baptism is a great gift but it is not the end goal. Even after becoming God's children there is still a greater destiny for us that has not yet been revealed. The more pure our hearts become the more we will truly see God as he is and therefore become like him. This is meant to be a hope to motivate us to grow as Christians and to become more truly what we are in virtue of our baptism.
All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.
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