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THE KING’S BUSINESS
61 8:17), and this thought is clearly presented in the passage that John the, Baptist had in mind in calling Jesus the Lamb of God (Isa. 53:11). 'T he Greek word rendered “taketh away” is in the present tense and suggests that as a result of our Lord’s bearing our sin, His taking it away would be a continuous work, a work that never ended. John does not say “sins,” but “sin,” that is, the whole mass of human sins are regarded as a unify and the whole mass is taken away by Christ, and riot'only the sins of believers in Christ, but the sin of the world.” Here we have a very definite hint of the truth so clearly brought out by John the Apostle in 1 John 2 :2, that the, sacrifice of Jesus Christ avails for the whole world, i.e., it moved out of the way the whole mass of humanism, and provided a ground upon which God could deal in mercy with the human race. All of God’s dealings in mercy with man since sin entered human history have been on the ground of the shed blood of the Lamb of God. The sacrifice of Christ avails for the whole human race, it provides a ground upon which God deals in mercy-with men. Of course it only fully avails and bririgs eternal life to those who accept Him. v. 30. “This is He of whom I said, A fter me cometh a man, which is preferred (become) before me: for He was before me.” These words carry us back to verse 15. The word translated “man” is emphatic, it is not the word for man that John usually employs, It is found in only one other place in John’s writing (ch. 6:10) except in passages where it is; translated “husband’.’ It is not the generis word for a human being, whether male or female; but the word that sets forth a man as distinguished from a woman and an adult man as distin guished from a,boy. It is also the word used wherever we find the word/ “husband” in our English Version. John uses it here instead of the usual word for man in order to set forth the dignity and mental strength of the Lord Jesus, and possibly with a veiled suggestion that the Lord
mony itself is most remarkable, it contains the substance of tire whole gospel. In calling Jesus the Lamb of God, John had two thoughts in view: first, that Jesus was the fulfiller of the 53rd chapter of Isaiah; second, that He was the Passover Lamb. The Passover was not far off (ch. 2:12, 13), the lambs were already on the road to Jerusalem for sacrifice, and John the Bap tist points to Jesus who was the real Pass- over sacrifice. The first thought contained in the words, “The Lamb of God,” is that of Isaiah’s prophecy, viz. : vicarious suffer ing endured with meekness and without complaint. But this is not the whole .thought, the further thought is that of blood shed as a ground upon which God passes over and pardons the sinner (Ex. 12:13, 23), ,The whole of the great truth of redemption through shed blood is con tained in these few words of John the Baptist. By calling Jesus, not merely “the Lamb” but “the Lamb of God,” John sets forth the truth that the Lamb was of God’s own providing (cf. Gen. 22:8). But more than this is taught by the addition of the words “of God”: they set forth the truth that our Lord Jesus was a Lamb worthy of and" belonging to, and well pleasing to, God. He was not merely a “Lamb of God,” but “tfie Lamb of God.” , All the other lambs slain throughout the centuries as sacrifices pointed forward to Him, the one Lamb of God. The words, “which taketh away, the sins of the world,” define the office and work of the Lamb of God. “Taketh away” might be rendered-“taketh upon Himself.” In fact, this is a more primary meaning of the Greek word used here than the one given in the Authorized and in the Revised Versions. But the usage of the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament, and the usage of the New Testament, and John’s own usage as seen in 1 John 3 :5 and elsewhere, requires the translation given in our English Versions. Nevertheless, the thought of taking upon Himself the sin of the world is here, for it was by taking upon Himself our infirmi ties that our Lord took them away (Matt.
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