The Lamb of God

The next day after the delegation from Jerusalem left John the Baptist saw Jesus coming. And he makes the most important and most glorious announcement the world has ever heard. The Coming One has arrived. He is Jesus and He is the Lamb of God. The Lamb to indicate the expiation and removal of sins and 'of God' because that is His nature and where He is from. From the garden sacrifice in Eden to clothe Adam and Eve, to the promise of a lamb in place of Isaac, to the Passover lamb whose blood caused death to pass over the Hebrews, and the spotless lamb sacrificed on the Day of Atonement, while the scapegoat is removed from the people along with their sins, and finally, the warrior Lamb of Jewish literature and the apocalyptic writing of the Revelation; Jesus is all those things.

John knew Jesus but did not recognize Him as the Christ until the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus. And the Spirit remained on Him from that moment forward as prophesied by Isaiah in the Servant passages. John's baptism was to prepare the people to meet the Coming One but also to act as an indicator, for after Jesus' baptism the Holy Spirit came down as a dove and the Father proclaimed His endorsement of the Son. Now the activities of God would forever be characterized as trinitarian in nature. Jesus will baptize by the Holy Spirit. Regular water cannot touch the heart or spirit of man. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, will bring cleansing and renewal by the Holy Spirit. He will give to His people what other lambs could never give: permanent removal of sins.