Week 2 - Feast on the Lamb
Worship
Today spend some time worshipping the Lord through the song “Behold (This is Jesus) by Jesus Image”. You can find the song in the worship playlist linked on this page.
Scripture
John 1:19-34
19 Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. 20 He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.”
21 They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”
He said, “I am not.”
“Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.”
22 Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
23 John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’ ” 24 Now the Pharisees who had been sent 25 questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” 26 “I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know. 27 He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”
28 This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing. 29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33 And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”
Devotional
“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” What an amazing declaration about the identity of Jesus! Personally this is one of my favourite bible verses, it’s even where the name from our ministry comes from! It’s such a powerful and jam packed sentence about who Jesus is, and what he came to accomplish.
Picture this: as John the baptist was at the peak of his ministry baptising in the wilderness by the river Jordan, with a crowd of people in front of him, John sees his cousin, Jesus, walking toward him. Immediately John made sure to get the attention off of himself and exclaimed to the crowd to turn and to ‘behold’ Jesus. Not just to notice or acknowledge his presence, as we often do when someone honourable is in our midst. Not to even to listen to see if Jesus had anything to add or wanted to preach, no, when Jesus entered the scene John stopped what he was doing, and told everyone to behold Jesus.
The word "behold" means to look at or observe something, often with attention or admiration. There was something important about Jesus that John wanted everyone to see, that pointing to Jesus was actually the very point of what John was doing. You see as John preached ‘repent!’, ‘repent’, day after day, and baptised people as a response to repentance, Johns message was incomplete until the arrival of Jesus. For what is repentance without the sweetness of forgiveness on the other side? In this moment John had his crowd turn to behold the answer to all of his sermons, the climax of his entire ministry, as John had been urging people to turn from their sin, suddenly Jesus the lamb of God had come to take away the sin of the world!
We behold this same Jesus today, the lamb that has been slain to take away your sin, my sin. What a joy it is to stop, turn, and behold the one who came to pay for our sin. May this be at the very front of mind for you today. Give him praise, adoration and thanks today that he is the lamb of God who has taken away the sins of those who put their faith in him. There is sweetness to repentance because Jesus gave up his life as an offering to take away the consequences and power of our sin so that we can have peace with God through the forgiveness of our sins.
Prayer
“Lord, I hide myself in you today, safe, firm and secure. Thank You Jesus for protecting me from the punishment that I deserved and for instead giving me a hope and a future with you”. Continue to thank Jesus for his sacrifice and to bring to him anything that is going on in your life.