John 1:29
The next day [John the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"
Names often mean something. My name, Joshua, means "The Lord saves." My parents named me thus in part because when my mom was pregnant with me, they were hit by a drunk driver and there was a possibility that I might not live. So, the Lord saves.
The name of Jesus is no different. He has many names, let us focus on a select few.
Matthew 1:21
She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.
Matthew 1:23/Isaiah 7:14
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel. (which means, God with us.)
The name Jesus means "Jehovah saves." (Jesus and Joshua are the same in Greek.) This, among other reasons, was the purpose for the name of our King. They shall call him, as well, Immanuel, for this baby now became God with us. This little baby is to save us, to be with us. Then his cousin, John the Baptist, proclaims him in John 1:29 as the Lamb of God. Here we go.
The lamb is a very significant animal to Israel, the people of God. Let's look primarily to the Exodus from Egypt. Therein, the Israelites were enslaved to a pharaoh who would not relent in freeing them. In their conditions, they cried out to God for liberation, freedom, deliverance.
Enter Moses and half a score of plagues, brought to reveal God's power, to liberate his people from oppression. The final plague begins the beauty of the proclamation John makes when he calls Jesus "the Lamb of God." That last plague begins the Passover, during which the people of God covered their doorways with the blood of a lamb, thusly freeing them from the plague and freeing them from the Egyptians.
The sacrifice of the lamb came to bring forgiveness and liberation. Liberation into the will of God. Jesus became the completion of the Passover, the sacrifice for once and all, freeing us from our slavery to sin and Satan. By the victorious sacrifice of the Lamb of God we can stand and proclaim him as our King, who has taken away the sin of the world.
He came as a baby, innocent and pure, and rose to become our perfect sacrifice, innocent and pure. He has liberated us into his victory, and by that do we now live. We are empowered by his powerful resurrection.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sghwe4TYY18
In His Majesty's Service.
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