"The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, 'Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world'" (John 1:29)!
The language John chose to use here is powerful. He speaks of Jesus as the Lamb of God. The term Lamb must be understood in the context of the sacrificial system. It is hard to say how John's hearers would have understood what he meant.
The image is closely related to the Passover. In Exodus 12:1-7, the Israelites were instructed to sacrifice a lamb and smear its blood upon their door posts. When the angel of death passed through Egypt, he would spare those whose houses were so marked. Paul links Jesus to the passover lamb in 1 Corinthians 5:7.
The term Lamb was a term of substitution. The Lamb was offered in the place of the guilty. It was also a term of sacrifice. The lamb's blood was shed; it's life was ended. Lamb came to be a term of sovereignty. In Revelation 5:5-6, John sees a heavenly vision of Jesus in which he is referred to as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, but John sees a Lamb. Throughout the remainder of Revelation, the Lamb is seen as Sovereign.
John the Baptist didn't just call Jesus, Lamb. He called him the Lamb of God. The expression "of God" means that Jesus was God's. He belonged to him, and was being offered by God on behalf of the world. Isaiah makes this clearer in Isaiah 52:13-53:12.
John the Baptist also informed his hearers that Jesus was the Lamb that "takes away the sin of the world." What does it mean that Jesus "takes away sin"? It means that he removes the penalty of sin by exchanging his life for the lives of those who will come to him in faith. It means that he has power over sin and death, so that those who believe in him will live, even if they die.
The expression, Lamb of God, is a beautiful one, but it is also a bloody one. As Peter said, "For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver and gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect" (1 Pet. 1:18-19).
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