Who was John the Baptist, and why did he baptize?

In John 1:19-34, John the Baptist points away from himself and toward Jesus: “Behold! The Lamb of God.” In this study, Dr. Toby Holt explains John’s one great mission — to prepare the way for the Messiah.

When the religious leaders ask John who he is, he refuses every title, calling himself only “a voice crying in the wilderness.” Dr. Holt explains why John’s baptism was so startling: Jews normally baptized only Gentile converts, so baptizing Jews implied that Israel itself needed to repent. John says he is not even worthy to untie Jesus’ sandal. Then he names Jesus the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” — pointing to the Passover lamb and the cross, where Jesus would die in the sinner’s place.

Questions this study answers:

1. Why was John baptizing people? As a call to repentance. Because Jews usually baptized only Gentile converts, John’s baptism implied that Israel, too, needed to turn back to God.

2. Why did John call Jesus “the Lamb of God”? Because Jesus is the true Passover Lamb who would die in the place of sinners, taking away their sin.

3. What was John the Baptist’s mission? To prepare the way for the Messiah and point people to Jesus — never to himself.

“Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” — John 1:29 (NKJV)

Speaker: Dr. Toby Holt is the President of New Geneva Theological Seminary, a Reformed seminary in Colorado Springs. He is known for clear, down-to-earth Bible teaching, and his sermons have been downloaded more than 1.9 million times on SermonAudio.

Listen and go deeper: This sermon is part of the John Explained study from New Geneva Theological Seminary. Find more verse-by-verse teaching across the Bible at newgeneva.org. To support this teaching ministry, visit newgeneva.org/give.

[gentle serene music] Centuries and centuries ago, the prophet Isaiah said that a man would come who would be a voice in the wilderness. Specifically, Isaiah said that a man would come who would prepare the way for the Messiah and to make straight a highway for our God. In today's study of John 1, we're going to read about that man, a man we call John the Baptist.

Have you ever noticed the guys at the airport that hold up the signs with people's name on it? Now, what are those guys doing? Well, when I was a kid, I had no idea. I thought, "This is odd." You come off a plane, there's people with signs, and they have names on it. I didn't quite understand it. My dad said, "Well, these are chauffeurs that are looking to pick up people who just came off the plane." Now, the only thing I knew about chauffeurs was that we didn't have one. [laughs]

[laughs]

The wealthy aristocrats had guys who sat there with signs waiting for them when they got off the plane. With that said, why the sign at all? Why the sign? Well, here's the thing. The guy who was waiting didn't necessarily know the guy he was waiting for, and so the sign is a means by which they could make some sort of connection. The guy waiting for the guy coming off the plane didn't know what to look for per se, wasn't really sure who it would be. The guy could be standing right next to him, and he wouldn't know it if there was not some sort of connection made. Well, with that said, the first-century Jewish leadership was a lot like the guy with the sign, the chauffeur at the airport. In one sense, they were waiting for somebody to show up. In one sense, they were waiting for a Messiah, someone. "Rome is really messing with us. We're under the boot of Rome. We sure don't like that. We hope the Messiah comes any day now. Are you him? Are you him? Here's a sign." Right? At one level, they were expecting and anticipating that this Messiah would come. However, they had lost complete touch with what to expect when he finally showed up. They had been given instruction on what to look for. The Old Testament is filled with prophecies that said he's going to do this, but not that. He'll be born here, but not there. He'll grow up in this place, but not that place. The Old Testament is filled with passages that should have told them, like a neon arrow, what to expect when he showed up. And if that wasn't enough, there was a miraculous star that hung over the exact place where he was born that others witnessed, the star of Bethlehem. There was all manner of means by which God had told them what to expect, who to expect, where he'd be born, when he'd be born, that he even was born through the star. And if that wasn't sufficient, he's going to send this man named John the Baptist to make it as abundantly clear as is humanly possible, despite every sign that they could've been given that this is the guy. "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world." Despite literally John pointing his finger. The prophets for centuries, all they could do was point through the annals of time to some guy who would eventually come. Point with their words that there will be a guy who will one day come, who will do all these things. John didn't just point with his pen. He pointed with his finger, and he said, "That guy. That's the guy we have been waiting for." And yet, the Pharisees and the religious leaders wouldn't comprehend and understand who in the world this guy was in comparison who they wanted, who they desired. They misunderstood. The worst case of mistaken identity was Jesus Christ. They didn't know who he was to the point of killing him when he was the Son of God. They had no proper understanding. Now, if they didn't get Jesus right, they definitely weren't going to get John the Baptist right. In today's text, John the Baptist is going to be introduced to us as this guy who was baptizing people down by the waters. That's how he got his name, John the Baptist. With that said, they had no idea who he was, even though just like Jesus before him or just like Jesus after him, even though he also had numerous verses in the Old Testament that anticipated who he'd be, what he would do, and what he would look like. This morning's text, we're going to look at these verses. We're going to see how John the Baptist was anticipated, and more the point, how Jesus was anticipated through the Old Testament lens that here in the first chapter of John should have resonated more with the original audience, including the very priests who were told to expect him. All right. Let's look at verses 19 through 23. I'll read this text, and we'll work our way through as we usually do through the passage. Verse 19: Now this is the testimony of John. John the Baptist. This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent the priests and the Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" And he confessed, and he did not deny, but he confessed. That's really almost impossible in the Greek to translate properly because it's so emphatic. It's more emphatic than we have words to really put to. So it says this: He confessed. He did not deny, but he confessed, "I am not the Christ," because some said that maybe he is. And so they asked him, "Well, what then? Are you

Elijah?

We were told to expect Elijah," the last prophet in the Old Testament. What's the last book of the Old Testament?

Malachi. The last book is Malachi. The last book in the Old Testament and the last prophet of the Old Testament anticipated the coming of this one who would be like Elijah. And so they ask, "Are you Elijah?" "Are you Christ?" "No." "Are you Elijah?" [chuckles] And he says, "No." And so they ask him, verse 21, "What then? Are you the prophet?" And he answered, "No." Now, in this particular case, they're reaching way back to the book of Deuteronomy because in Deuteronomy, Moses talks about one who would come who would be a prophet, a prophet greater than he. Now, that's also pointing forward to Jesus Christ. They didn't know any better. So they said, "Well, you're not the Christ. You're not Elijah. Are you that prophet Moses talked about?" So they go through all the possible candidates. "We know you're someone important. We know you're doing things no one has done, and there's people who are saying you're one of the three. Which is it? Are you this guy? Are you this guy? Are you this guy?" And he answers, "No, no, no." And so verse 22, having exhausted the options, then they said to him, "Who are you then, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?" And this is John's answer, and this is a wonderful answer because he's quoting Isaiah. He said, "I'm the voice. I am the voice of one who's crying in the wilderness, 'Make straight the path of the Lord,' just as the prophet Isaiah had said." All right. Let's stop for a minute. What caused the Jewish leadership, the Jewish elites, the priests and Levites, and all of those, not only the guys who were sent, but the guys who were waiting in Jerusalem for the report back, what caused them to care about what some itinerant hermit was doing in the wilderness? Why did they care in the least about what was going on so far from their seat of power?Well, they cared because there were people in Jerusalem that were going to that guy. Scripture says in Mark, "All of Judea and Jerusalem were traveling out, were leaving the city, were going to the wilderness," to a place no one went of their own volition. It's like going to Wiggins. [audience laughing] I'm so sorry. [laughs] They went to a place of their own volition that people just generally speaking don't otherwise go. So they go to this place and people go, "Why? Why are you going and why are you going there?" Great multitudes. So John was attracting large crowds. That's number one. That's why they had his attention. He was attracting large crowds, and everyone was talking about this guy. This guy is in a place that no one else would volitionally go, but everyone's going to him. Why? Is he a great speaker? What's he doing? Well, he's doing this. He's baptizing. That was the second thing that got their attention. He's baptizing. Baptizing. What is he baptizing them for? You see, they understood baptism through a very cultural lens, and here was the lens. The only people that you put water on, the only people you immersed in the Jordan in this case, the only people who were baptized were who?

Were the Gentiles. Let's say you had some Gentile who drifts into the land and says, "You know, I kind of like what y'all got going on. I think I'd like to convert. Is that okay? Could I convert?" And they said, "Well, yes, and here's the things you need to do." And there was circumcision and feast days and all sorts of things that had to happen. But among the things that had to happen if a Gentile was to become a Jew is he had to undergo something called proselyte baptism. Proselyte baptism was basically a way of saying, "You, Mr. Pagan, you, Mr. Gentile, you're not clean enough to have even set foot in our holy city, let alone the courtyards of the Most High. You are unclean." Remember that word comes up all the time in the Old Testament. Say you're unclean. And so what must happen? Well, you must be washed. You must undergo baptism as a type of spiritual cleansing and a shadow of that what you need in the heart. You must also endure outwardly. You'll undergo this proselyte baptism, and then, and only then, can you join with us. All right, so that's their understanding of baptism. Well, here you got this guy out in the wilderness, out in nowhere land, and he is not only drawing multitudes to him, but he's drawing multitudes to him not just to hear him speak. In fact, that wasn't foremostly what he did, but rather to baptize. Now if you're a Jewish aristocrat, you're saying, what in the world are people, Jews, what are our brothers and sisters doing going to a guy to be baptized? That's reserved for them, the pagans. That's reserved for the Gentiles, the dogs, right? Because that's the term they use for those nations. That's reserved for them. They're the ones that need it, not the Jews. We don't do that. Who is this guy? Who is this guy who is baptizing as if we're unclean? You see, John got something the religious leaders didn't. They thought they were good. They thought they were clean. Remember the Pharisees would stand before Jesus all prim and proper as if they were just fine, and he would say, "No, no, no. You're a brood of vipers. You don't understand who you are. You are of your father, the devil." They didn't understand corporately, and especially the leadership there in Jerusalem, they didn't understand just how dire their situation was. They didn't understand corporately how far Israel had strayed. They didn't understand that just in a few decades, God's judgment would come down. In 70 AD, the whole city and the temple would be utterly destroyed because of their sins. They didn't get it. They had no idea. They thought things were just fine. And it's funny how that happens. In the Old Testament, even the New Testament, there is times when God's people think, "We're doing pretty well. We're on top of this faith game. God's pleased with us. Things are going well." They have no idea that the hammer's about to drop. What's about to happen? In 70 AD, God's hammer would come down. With that said, there was going to be warnings. Warning. Warning, the end is coming. At least the end is coming for Jerusalem. Warning, judgment is coming. The winnowing fork is in his hand. He comes to baptize with fire. The one who's coming is not going to deal just with Rome. He's going to deal with you, Jerusalem. That alone would've gotten under their skin if you were a Jewish leader because your main issue was Rome. If we could get rid of Rome, man, we'd be cool. Get rid of Rome, get rid of Caesar and the empire and all that sort of stuff, get the tax guys out of the way, then we could really thrive. They thought their problem was Rome, and it was not their problem. The problem was in here. It was sin, and they didn't get it. So everything John was doing was counter-cultural. It didn't match with their understanding. They thought they were good. They thought they were clean. They didn't think they had an issue. And so when John says, "Come repent," those who had no sense of a need to repent didn't grasp it. Whatever the case is, John had gotten the attention of the elite in Jerusalem, so they sent their priestly henchmen to go and ask him these questions and get to the bottom of what's going on. With that said, how did John respond to their inquiries? In verses 19 through 23, he makes two things clear. Number one, he says that if anyone had any doubts, if anyone had wondered whether he was the Messiah, he says, "I am not." If anyone anywhere is wondering whether I'm that guy, as a case of mistaken identity that plagued first-century Israel, he says, "I'm not that guy. I am not the Messiah." And he goes on to say, "I'm not Elijah, and I'm not the prophet who's mentioned in Deuteronomy. I'm none of those guys. I'm none of those guys. And yet, I am somebody in this sense. I'm the fulfillment

of the text in the Book of Isaiah. I'm the fulfillment of a prophecy of one who would come who would be a forebearer to the Messiah." You see, the Messiah's coming. In fact, he's here, and you don't even know it. The Messiah's coming. But remember, priests, remember, Levites, the guys who should know better, remember what the scripture said. It said before that guy gets here, there's going to be another guy. Another guy's going to come and prepare the way.

I'm that guy. I am the voice in the wilderness preparing the way of the Lord. Make straight the highway of our King. So that's his answer. That's his answer to them. Now again, these same priests and Levites and leaders, they would not understand Jesus properly, and they would not understand John the Baptist properly, even though there was verses and passages that said exactly what they would do when they showed up. They were witnessing the fulfillment of things that they had been looking forward to for centuries, but with the blinders on and a different level of expectations in place, they either didn't understand it or rejected it, even when it was told to their face. It's not like these guys walked away and said, "Hey, we just met the voice in the wilderness. Awesome." And he says, "That guy's the savior? All right, let's worship him." Even when he made it clear, they did not respond accordingly. All right. Let's look now at verses 24 through 28Now, those who were sent from the Pharisees, and they asked him, saying, "Why then do you baptize if you're not the Christ, if you're not Elijah, if you're not the prophet?" And John answered and said, "I baptize with water. I baptize with the most common ingredient on planet Earth. I baptize with water, but there stands one among you who you do not know. And it's he who comes after me. He's preferred before me, whose sandal strap I'm not worthy to loosen." Now, these things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing. All right. So their first questions were geared to who in the world are you? And I'm not sure they were satisfied with his response, so they moved to the next question. Why are you doing this? Why are you baptizing? This makes no sense. As we said before, they were caught up in the idea that only pagans needed to undergo this. They didn't understand why Jews were undergoing it. And so they ask him these questions, and he responds, and he says, "I am baptizing in baptism of repentance, with water. Of course, one is going to come after me who's going to baptize with the Holy Spirit," and that's a whole other and better thing. But then in verse 27, he says something interesting. He says, "If you all are wondering who I am, remember, I'm nobody." And to prove I am nobody, in verse 27, he says, "It's him, the one who comes after me, who's preferred before me, and his sandal strap I'm not worthy

to loosen." Now, what's significant about that? Well, culturally, that was a phrase that would've been very well understood. You see, the most disgusting thing in the first-century Israel was feet. They wore sandals. It was dusty. It was dirty. They were sweaty. They were all day long. Messing with anyone's feet, really in any context is no fun, but especially in this context. It was not the most desirable thing in the world. So let's say that you were the master of the house or what have you, or let's say you were a rabbi. Right? Now, you had disciples who would sit around and listen to you, and they'd sit at your feet, right? They'd listen, and you'd train and teach and so forth. But disciples didn't take off your sandals. Disciples didn't wash feet, touch feet, generally speaking, which is why it was such a shock when Jesus would do this later on. But they didn't mess with that. That wasn't the job of even the disciples who were listening to the rabbi. With that said, you know whose job it wasn't either? It wasn't even the slave's job. If you had a Jewish brother or sister who was a slave in your house, you know what? It wasn't their job to untie your sandals either. This is really the lowest

job in the world at this time. So whose job was it? If your disciples didn't do it, and if your own slaves in your own house didn't do it, who's left? Well, at that time, it was once again the Gentiles. You could get a Gentile dog, so to speak, to untie your laces, to take off your sandals. That was a job that was worthy only of the lowest of the low of the low, which didn't even include anyone in Jewish society, but only included the Gentiles. With that said, notice what John says here. John says, "I am not worthy even to untie the lace on his sandal. This one who is coming, I can't even be the guy to mess with the feet. If I'm lower than a disciple and I'm lower than a slave, and guess what? I'm also lower than even a Gentile compared to this guy," then what does that leave? Well, it leaves nothing. He didn't say this. Notice in this text, he didn't say, "I'm only worthy to untie his laces." He didn't say, "I'm only worthy to loosen his sandal strap." That would've said, I'm like the Gentile dogs. I'm like those guys. I'm only worthy to do that. I'm compared to those guys that we all hate. I'm like that. He says, "I'm not even up to that standard compared to him." You see, the interesting dichotomy here is that Jesus would later say that John the Baptist was the greatest one of woman-born. Of all the people who've ever walked the planet Earth, whose name was not Jesus the Christ, of all else, you know who the greatest is? John the Baptist. And we know that because Jesus said it. He says, "Of anyone who's ever been born of a woman, the greatest is John the Baptist." And yet John the Baptist rightly understood this, that even he is the greatest person to walk the planet Earth, as the greatest among men and women of all time, even he was not even worthy to do the least of all jobs in Jewish society to untie the sandals of this king. The object here was not simply for John to be humble, although he did that. John regularly said, "I must decrease. He must increase." Humility was 100% part of his desire. But it's not just to lower himself. It was to say, you have no idea the magnitude and the holiness and the radiance of the one who walks among you. You don't know who he is, but he walks among you, and you don't know it. So that's what he's saying in verses 24 through 28. All right. Let's look at verses 29 through 34.

Now, the next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him, and he said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world. This is he of whom I said after me comes a man who's preferred before me, for he was before me." That's a way of saying this is the eternal king. This is not a guy who was just born a week before or a week after me or anything like that. This is the eternal one. So it says, "This is he of whom I said, after me comes a man who's preferred before me, for he was before me. I did not know him, but that he should be revealed to Israel. Therefore, I came baptizing with water." I'm the voice saying, that's the guy. Verse 32: And John bore witness, saying, "I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove." So this text takes place after the time that John baptized Jesus in the Jordan. And he says, "I saw it. I was there. I saw the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, descend from heaven like a dove." Not necessarily as a dove. We don't know exactly what it looked like, but at least like a dove. "And he remained upon him, and I did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon him, he is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' And I have seen that, and I have testified that this is, that guy is, the Son of God." He was there when the Spirit came down to anoint the one who would be the Son of God. He was there to hear the words that were proclaimed from on high from the Father that said, "This is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased." Again, this wasn't just his conjecture saying, I sure hope and think and pray that it might work out this way. He says, "I saw it. I heard it."I'm a witness to this. The word witness comes up time and time again in chapter one. Again, our faith doesn't hang just on conjecture, it hangs on facts. He says, "I was a witness to this, and I saw the Spirit come down, and I heard the voice, and the Spirit, and the voice, and the dove, and all of it testified that this man, that man, behold, look at him. He's right there. He's coming down the river. That man. Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." Now, as we look to wrap up this morning, why that phrase? That's not a normal phrase. That is 100% not a normal phrase anywhere in scripture. The term Lamb of God really comes up here, and it comes up in Revelation. It's not a concept they understood at great length throughout all the pages of scripture. So why use it? Why not just say, "Behold, the Son of God. Behold, the Messiah is here, everyone." Why didn't he just do that? Why did he refer to the Lamb of God? Well, as we wrap up, remember what Jesus came to do. He didn't come down just to flex his power, come down from this high and airy estate just to show off some miracles, and everyone realize who he was and maybe worship him because he was so great and majestic and powerful. He didn't do that exclusively. He didn't do that principally. Principally, he came down from a throne to this fallen world, ultimately to go to a cross, in order that he might die. Our Lord and Savior came down that he might die. Now, that would have resonated with first-century Israelite because they engaged frequently, daily, in something called the sacrificial system. You ever wonder why they slaughtered animals in the Old Testament? When I was growing up, that was the one part I had the most trouble with. I was six, seven, eight years old. I got the idea that Jesus loved me. Jesus loves me this I know. So I got that sort of stuff really well. But I'd go to the Old Testament or Sunday school class would be on some sacrifices on the temple, and I just didn't get it. I love animals. I still do. It's why I adopt every weird thing that comes down our path. Everyone abandons dogs and cats and chickens and other things in our front yard, and before I know it, it's in my house. Why? Because I love animals. Well, that said, I couldn't fathom. What's the deal with all the slaughter of the animals? What is this all about? Well, here's the thing. The slaughter of animals was a teaching mechanism. God tutors people for centuries on the need for a sacrifice to do what? To take away sins. And so when they slaughtered oxen and goats and the like, the idea was that those sacrifices pointed forward to a sacrifice that would later come, that one day one would come who would be the fulfillment of these shadows and types. Now, not only did they sacrifice all these bulls and ox and so forth at the temple, but you remember, once a year, they celebrated something called Passover. Now, Passover was the recollection of what God had done during the Exodus. You recall during the Exodus that God says, "Let my people go." He sends Charlton Heston to talk to Pharaoh [chuckles] and, "Let my people go." And Pharaoh is like, "No, Charlton Heston, I'm not going to do that. Not going to happen." And so all these plagues rain down upon this hard-hearted Pharaoh. And ultimately, the final plague was the death of the firstborn. The death of the firstborn. The angel of death would go through the land at night and slaughter the firstborn throughout Egypt. Now, how could you be saved from such a terrible event, such a terrible encounter on this one night? How could you and your family be spared? Well, remember, God gave instructions through Moses to the people, and he says, "What you're going to do is you're going to find a perfect lamb. Not just any lamb, not the three-legged, bucktooth, cross-eyed lamb. You're going to find the perfect lamb. When you find the perfect lamb, in the exact manner that's described, you're going to kill this lamb, and you're going to take the blood from this perfect lamb, and you're going to mark the doorpost of your home. You're going to mark what's called the lintel of your home. And because your home is marked in the blood of the lamb, when the angel of death comes through the city, he will pass over your home and spare those who are within." Why? Because your house is marked in the blood of the lamb. For century upon century upon century, they celebrated the Passover. They found the perfect lamb. Then they slaughtered this lamb in recognition, not only of what God did way back then during the time of the plagues, but in anticipation of what he would later one day do. That ultimately, finally, there would become one. One would come down who would be the fulfillment of all those dead animals over all those centuries. One day one would come that would be the perfect lamb. And on this particular day by the river,

John pointed to him. He says, "Behold, behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world." What we've been doing for centuries, slaughtering animals, what we've been doing every time we celebrated the Passover, it all pointed to that guy right there. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. So we wrap up here this morning. This whole book is predicated on the belief that you and I are sinners and that we need a sacrifice on our behalf if we're ever going to be able to dwell with God on high. Now, the culture around us believes in something called appeasement. The culture around us says, "Okay, there is a God. He exists. How am I going to be right with him? I'm going to be right with him by appeasing him. Maybe I've offended him. Okay, maybe I've sinned, right? Maybe I've done something like that. But what I'll do is I'll do these right, good things. I'll give to the Boys & Girls Club. I'll volunteer to do this. I'll help the old lady across the street. I'll do these various tasks, and because I've done these things collectively, God will look at me and say that my wrath, that was otherwise going to fall upon you, is now appeased because you're just too lovable. I just can't do it. Look at all that you've done. I can't turn a blind eye to all that you did," right? So what happens then is that salvation, there's no grace in that. Salvation then is a debt God owes you because, look, you earned it. He just can't judge you now because you're too wonderful. That's appeasement, and that's what culturally our whole world believes. There's belief systems that don't even call themselves Christian that still believe the same concept, that you appease whatever's out there, wherever he is, you do enough good stuff, you offset the ledgers, and you're in. May have some of us who've fallen into that trap. That's not the gospel. The gospel is not about appeasement. The gospel is about atonement. Do you understand the difference?The gospel is not about appeasing God so that he just will, "Eh, I can't judge you today or down the road. Welcome on in." It's not about appeasement, it's about atonement. The wages of sin is death. If a man has sinned, then a man must die. Scripture's unequivocal about that. The wages of sin is death. So the question is, are you a sinner? Should hear a lot more yeses. I know we're Presbyterian, but yes, yes, we are sinners. We confess. That's confession. We confess. We are sinners. We've sinned more since breakfast than we could possibly imagine. Yes, we're sinners. We sin, we sin, we sin. The wages of sin, singular, not plural, the wages of sin, singular, is death. What are we going to do about that? Well, John knew the answer. He points and says, "That guy. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." This one, through his sacrifice, because that's what he came to do, through his sacrifice and our faith in him, not in ourselves, not in our works, not in the pile of stuff we've piled up here, but our hope in him, and our faith in him, and our trust in his perfect person and work, that's the means of our salvation. Behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world. God looked down upon the lamb when he hung on the cross, and it pleased the Father to crush the Son. He who knew no sin became sin for us. What must we then do? Get away from the idea that we're going to pile up our mountain of works. That's not the answer. Instead, we behold the Lamb. We say, "This one, this one, this one who came down, who suffered and died." It is on him, and his person, and his work that have any hope now or for the future. John the Baptist, John the Apostle, they both are in the same business, and it's the same business you and I are in. To say, "Behold the Lamb." To say that although a man has sinned and a man must die, that's exactly what happened on Calvary. He who knew no sin became sin for us. It pleased the Father to crush the Son, and because of who he is and what he did, his sacrifice is considered sufficient to save not only me, but the whole lot of we who believe. Atonement, not appeasement. Your sins were atoned for by Jesus Christ on Calvary, the Lamb who was slain. Let's pray.

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