“Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples. And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, ‘Behold the Lamb of God!’” John 1:35-36.

Quite likely the above scenario played out in the following manner, on the day before this, the Baptist had testified to everyone present the following:

“Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29b.

The two disciples mentioned in verse 35, were not present at that time, and were told all about the Lamb of God later that day when they came to see John.

The next day as stated in verse 35, “…John stood with two of his disciples…” and pointed Jesus out telling them that He was the Lamb of God.

Hindsight is twenty-twenty so it easy for us to say that Jesus was the Lamb of God because all the lambs sacrificed up to that time were a precursor to His final sacrifice on the cross.

How could the Jews have missed that? And they did miss it; as you study the gospels it will become clear that all of the Lord’s followers, including John the Baptist, expected Him to take the throne of Israel and rule. So it was quite a punch in the gut when the Christ was taken and crucified like a common criminal.

How did they miss it? Part of the problem was that the Israelites found two descriptions of the Messiah/Christ in Scripture; one was a suffering Messiah and the other was a conquering hero.

It is human nature to reject a loser and desire the hero, so they were looking for a Christ who would throw off Roman rule and establish an eternal kingdom.

“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; a King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely; now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” Jeremiah 23:5-6.

“I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.” Daniel 7:13-14.

Pretty heady stuff is it not? This is the Messiah the Jews were looking for. The good news is that this is the One that the Christian is now looking for who will return soon to fulfill Daniel’s prophecy. The above and the next passage concern the return of Christ to rule once and forever.

“Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.” Revelation 19:11-13.

Some were just blinded by Satan to the identity of the Christ. After Peter healed a lame man at the temple he gave an oration to those who marveled at this miracle; here is part of it.

“The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.” Acts 3:13-18.

While others, which for the most part made up the religious leadership, were just willfully ignorant and jealous.

“Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, ‘What shall we do? For this Man works many signs. If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.’” John 11:47-48.

“But Pilate answered them, saying, ‘Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?’ For he knew that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy.” Mark 15:9-10.

But we are talking about the Lamb of God, are we not? Since He is coming as a conquering hero He is no longer a Lamb, correct? The answer is a definite yes and no.

“So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it. But one of the elders said to me, ‘Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.’ And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying…” Revelation 5:4-9a.

In this vision, the Apostle John is standing before the throne of God in heaven, and an angel cries out, “Who is worthy to open the scroll [in God’s hand] and to loose its seals?” Revelation 5:3b. John weeps because no one, angel or man, is found worthy to open the scroll.

An elder draws John’s attention to the Lion of the tribe of Judah, Jesus, God the Son. John turns and rather than seeing a Lion, he sees a Lamb, a Lamb who looked as if it had been slain.

All the Christian will see of Christ is a Lamb; the Lion will be seen seated on the great white throne of judgment by the ungodly.

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.” John 5:24.

Throughout eternity Jesus may be other things to us, but He will always be the Lamb of God, and will be worshipped as such.

This is important to understand because it is easy to miss the fact that the sacrifice of Christ was a cataclysmic event.

If you have ever seen the movie “Flash Gordon”, you are probably familiar with the plot wherein he saves the entire earth from destruction. The theme song goes something like, “Flash, he saved every one of us, every man, every woman, every child!”

While I do not particularly recommend this movie, there is one which I feel you may be more familiar with.

In the movie “Armageddon”, the hero played by Bruce Willis, saves the entire earth from destruction by destroying a planet killing asteroid at the last minute.

Pretty decent movie if you remember that it is science fiction. The men in both of these movies are heroes of inexpressible proportions, and the debt of gratitude enormous; still, all they really did was put off the inevitable – death.

“And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment…” Hebrews 9:27.

What these heroes did was good, they gave mankind a little longer to come to Christ as their savior, and that must not be forgotten, for many firemen, policemen, soldiers, and everyday folk have saved multitudes of lives, oftentimes giving their own in exchange.

But Christ gave up His life so we can have eternal life. He did what no one else could do, He bought an eternity in heaven for all who would just accept that sacrifice as their own.

All 7.5 billion, may, or will die before the Lord returns to earth, but not one need go to hell and the lake of fire for eternity.

“And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Acts 2:21.

This is why throughout eternity, men and women will be worshipping the Lamb. Worshipping, not out of compulsion, but because every moment in that wonderful, peaceful place they will recall that it was at such a great price paid by another that they are there.

“…knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” 1 Peter 1:18-19.

The Lamb of God was:

“…despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.” Isaiah 53:3b.

“Just as many were astonished at you, so His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men…” Isaiah 52:14.

“I gave My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting.” Isaiah 50:6.

“Then they spat in His face and beat Him; and others struck Him with the palms of their hands, saying, ‘Prophesy to us, Christ! Who is the one who struck You?’” Matthew 26:67-68.

“Then Herod, with his men of war, treated Him with contempt and mocked Him, arrayed Him in a gorgeous robe, and sent Him back to Pilate.” Luke 23:11.

“So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him.” John 19:1.

Scourging or flogging was reserved for murderers and traitors, and consisted of a whip, probably resembling a cat-o’-nine-tails, with fragments of metal or bone imbedded in the leather whips. The damage is unimaginable.

“Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole garrison around Him. And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand. And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head. Then when they had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified.” Matthew 27:27-31.

Those who like to blame the Jews for the crucifixion of Jesus should note that it was a Gentile who pronounced sentence on Him and anywhere from 300 to 600 soldiers mocked and spat upon Him, further representing the Gentile world.

All mankind is to blame here, not only in this manner but also because it was our sins that nailed Christ to the cross, so each individual person is responsible.

“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, and from the words of My groaning?” Psalm 22:1.

“I am poured out like water, and all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; it has melted within Me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and My tongue clings to My jaws; You have brought Me to the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded Me; the assembly of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet; I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me. They divide My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.” Psalm 22:14-18.

“…He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” Isaiah 53:12b.

The sin offering under the law was completely consumed by fire; Christ too was consumed completely on the cross when He came under the wrath of God for sin during the three hours of darkness between noon and three o’clock.

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2.

God with Us, John 1:35-36 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 6-13-12, updated on 6-6-17.

Scripture taken from the New King James version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.