John 1:36

Behold the Lamb of God!

On the preceding day John had recognized Jesus in. public discourse as "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world." Now he personally points the disciples to him. The lamb, throughout Old Testament times, was commonly used as. sin-offering (Leviticus 4:32), at the morning and evening sacrifice (Exodus 12:21-27), at the great feasts (Numbers 28:11), and on special occasions (1 Chronicles 29:21). The paschal lamb was offered by every family in Israel at every Passover. In pointing out Jesus as the Lamb of God, John declares that he is the great sin-offering of which all the lambs slain on Jewish altars were the types. "He taketh away the sins of the world;" he is the great sin-bearer, not for. single generation, but for all time; not for. single family or race, but for the world. These words teach. sacrifice and an atonement, but were not understood by John himself, as we learn by turning to Matthew 11:2-6. "Under the Old Testament were provided by the sinner, lambs, whose sacrifice took sins away from the individual or the nation, but for the time only, and therefore the sacrifice had to be continually repeated; under the New Testament one Lamb is provided, the Lamb of God, whose sacrifice takes away the sin of the whole world, and therefore needs never to be repeated."-- Abbott.