THE WITNESSES
FIRST SIGN
77
AND
scruples concerning baptism, for the clear and evangelical testimony of
verse 29: `Behold the Lamb of God, Which taketh away the sin of the
world'. Here, in one brief, clear-cut sentence is crystallized the
supreme purpose of the prologue. It was for this purpose that the
Word was made flesh.
`In the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and
unblameable and unreproveable in His sight' (Col. 1:22).
`... that through death He might destroy him that had the power of
death, that is, the devil; and deliver ... ` (Heb. 2:14,15).
This same purpose, expressed in varied language, is the testimony
of prophet, evangelist and apostle alike.
Throughout the sacrificial system of the law of Moses, the offering
of a lamb is of constant recurrence. No Jew could forget that at the
beginning of every year (Exod. 12:1) there was the offering of the
Passover lamb, and at the beginning and end of each day the sacrifice
of a lamb upon the altar. There would be one passage, however, that
would be uppermost in their minds when they heard the cry, `Behold
the Lamb of God' - the well-known passage in Isaiah 53.