Religion Sent a Committee. God Sent a Lamb.
May 5, 2025
Some books you read.
Some books read you.
The Gospel of John does both.
Tonight, we follow an old man’s trembling hand as he sets ink to parchment. John the Apostle — the last living eyewitness — sits somewhere near Ephesus, perhaps hearing the sea breathe against the shore. He has read Matthew. He has read Mark and Luke. He has watched their testimonies go forth like bright banners.
Now, nearing the end of his days, he picks up his pen not to repeat what has been said, but to reveal what had not yet been touched — the unspeakable glory he once saw with his own eyes.
And the page burns as he writes.
Yesterday, we stood at the threshold. The prologue thundered:
In the beginning was the Word.
But today, the Word steps out from eternity, wraps Himself in dust, and stands among men.
Two Days When the Desert Shook
The first day (John 1:19–28) begins in the wilderness, where the air smells of sweat, leather, and stirred-up earth.
A man stands there, unshaven, clothes rough with camel’s hair, his voice cutting through the morning haze like a sword. John the Baptist. He does not murmur. He does not flatter. His words strike like hammer blows on cold iron.
And the people come.
From the cottages of Judea, from the stone alleys of Jerusalem, from the far edges of Herod’s bruised kingdom, they come. Some walk for days, feet bleeding, just to hear a man who will not entertain them.
The authorities cannot ignore it any longer. Jerusalem sends its priests and Levites — not to repent, but to interrogate. Their robes catch the desert wind as they descend on the prophet like crows.
“Who are you?” they demand.
John does not blink.
“I am not the Christ.”
Their mouths tighten.
“Are you Elijah?”
“No.”
“The Prophet?”
“No.”
Exasperated, they press: “Then who are you? We must have an answer!”
John lifts his voice and quotes the old prophet Isaiah:
“I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord.’”
Not the Christ. Not the King. Not the Prophet. Just a voice — breaking over the stones and valleys, heralding One greater.
Then, as the dust settles, he drops a hammer on the gathered priests:
“There stands among you One you do not know.”
Somewhere in the crowd, under the same sun, brushing the same desert dust from His sleeves, the Creator of the world is standing — and they do not recognize Him.
They jostle His elbow.
They scowl past His face.
And they are blind.
The first day ends with questions unanswered and hearts unrepentant.
But the second day (John 1:29–34) breaks like a thunderclap.
From across the scrubland, John the Baptist sees Him — and this time, he will not whisper.
“Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
The crowd looks up, squinting against the glare. Some shade their eyes.
But few really see.
John had baptized Him six weeks earlier. And as Jesus rose from the Jordan, the heavens had split, and the Spirit descended — not like a roaring fire, but like a dove, resting with finality.
And John knew.
Here is no mere preacher.
Here is no mere miracle-worker.
Here is the sinless One who would take the place of the sinful.
He does not cry, Behold the Judge! (though judgment will be His.)
He does not cry, Behold the King! (though every crown will fall at His feet.)
He cries, Behold the Lamb.
A Lamb led to slaughter.
A Lamb carrying away the black weight of the world’s guilt — not in ceremony, but in blood.
And still the crowd barely stirs.
Who Is This Jesus?
John the Baptist’s testimony does not ask us politely to consider Jesus.
It forces a reckoning.
Who is He?
First, He is the fulfillment of every whispered prophecy and every thundered promise. Isaiah, Moses, Malachi — all strain forward to see Him.
Second, He is eternal. John the Baptist had been born first, but Jesus existed before time took its first breath. Bethlehem was not His beginning — it was His stepping into the world He had made with His own hands.
Third, He is flesh and blood. A man among men. Shoulders hunched against the desert heat, dust clinging to His sandals, breathing the same brittle air.
There was no halo. No golden shimmer.
Only God, wearing human skin.
And fourth, He is the Son of God.
Not in metaphor. Not in legend.
But in very being.
To look into His eyes would be to look into the eternal — if only they had looked long enough.
What Did He Come to Do?
John does not leave us guessing about Christ’s work.
The Lamb of God comes for one purpose: to die.
To stand in the place where guilty men ought to stand.
To receive in His body the crushing blow of divine justice so that sinners might receive mercy.
This Lamb will not be offered by trembling priests.
He will offer Himself.
The altar will be a cross.
The knife will be hammered iron.
The blood will not stain temple stones, but darken a hill called Golgotha.
Yet His work is not finished with death.
John tells us that Jesus is also the Baptizer with the Spirit.
He does not merely pardon — He transforms.
He does not merely wipe the slate clean — He breathes new life into the dust of dead souls.
Eyes that once saw nothing but self now see the splendor of God.
Ears once deaf to mercy now hear the music of grace.
Hearts once stone now beat with the pulse of eternity.
Prophet.
Priest.
King.
Not three men.
One Christ.
This is the Jesus who still stands among us, though many do not recognize Him.
And Now — You
The priests turned back to Jerusalem with nothing in their hands.
The crowds returned to their homes, their hearts untouched.
But some — a few — heard the voice in the wilderness and followed the Lamb into life everlasting.
Today, Christ stands among us still.
He comes not with crowns or armies.
He comes in preaching.
He comes in Scripture.
He comes in the whispered tug at your heart even now.
You may brush past Him in the crowd.
You may hear the words but close your ears.
You may sit so close to eternity that the hem of His robe could brush your knee — and still turn away.
Or —
You may behold the Lamb.
And live.
Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
Look — while there is still time.
🙏 A Short Prayer
Lamb of God,
You stand among us still—unrecognized by many, but never absent.
Let me not be the one who brushes past You.
Open my eyes to behold You as You are:
Holy, eternal, pierced for me.
Give me the courage to look long, to believe fully,
And to follow wherever You lead.
Amen.
💬 Reflection & Application Questions
Where in your life are you standing close to Christ—hearing His words, attending His church, reading His Word—but still not truly beholding Him?
What’s keeping your eyes from locking with eternity?
John the Baptist said, “There stands among you One you do not know.”
What would change in your daily life if you lived each moment aware that Jesus still stands among us?
Have you received Jesus only as a moral guide, a wise teacher, or a distant figure?
What does it mean to receive Him as the Lamb—slain in your place, offering Himself for your sin?
For more devotions on John 1 click here.
For a list of other essential Christian reads click here.
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