Behold the Lamb of God

Abraham was a man who lived many years ago. He was a follower of the one true God, and God was pleased with him. Abraham had a son (whose name was Isaac) whom he loved very much. One day when Abraham was old, God spoke to him, and told him to go to a certain mountain and sacrifice his son (Isaac). Abraham did not understand why God told him to do that, but he obeyed. A little group of four people travelled for three days - Abraham, his young son (Isaac), two servants, and a donkey. At last they came to the mountain to which God had sent them. The two servants and the donkey remained at the foot of the trail while the old man and his son together began to climb the mountain. The boy carried wood for a burnt offering (for a sacrifice that they were going to burn). The old man, Abraham his father, carried in his hands the fire, a rope, and a knife.

As they got near the mountain top, the boy exclaimed, "But, my father, behold (see here, we have) the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Abraham looked at his beloved son, and answered him with the words, "My son, God Himself will provide a lamb for the burnt offering."

Yet at this moment, Abraham with a broken heart was obeying God's strange command to him that had said, "Take now your son whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering." The lad helped his father build a stone altar. They laid the wood on the altar. Abraham took the rope and bound (tied up) his son, who did not resist him. Abraham laid his son on the wood. Then the moment came when Abraham raised his knife in order to kill his son. Suddenly a cry came from heaven, "Abraham, Abraham!" The angel of God spoke. "Do not lay your hand upon (kill) the boy!" Abraham looked around, and then he saw a ram (sheep, lamb) caught by its horns in a bush (bushy area, thicket). Abraham took this ram, and killed it and burned it (offered it up) instead of his son.

Many hundreds of years later, a prophet, John, stood on a street of a city in the country of Abraham, with his two followers (disciples). The prophet John saw a certain man approaching him, and he knew who it was, Jesus Christ. John pointed to Jesus and said to the two disciples, "Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world." At that instant, the two disciples turned to follow Jesus Christ, this sinless One.

Andrew was one of the two disciples who began to follow Jesus Christ on that day. Three years later, Andrew looked, and behold, Jesus Christ was walking beneath (carrying) a heavy wooden cross. Jesus climbed the hill called Calvary outside the city. Differently from the sacrifice of Abraham, God did not spare (keep back) His Son from dying. Jesus died as did the ram. Jesus was crucified on that cross, dying in the company of two thieves who were punished for their crimes. Jesus Christ died; His blood was shed as God's sacrifice for man's sins.

Then Andrew remembered the words of the prophet John, "Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world." The Bible tells us about Jesus that "He took our sins on Himself, giving His own body to be nailed on the tree (cross)." The Gospel further brings the good news that "God so loved the world that He gave His only Son." It says, "God did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all." After three days God raised Jesus back to life again. Jesus Christ was proven to be the Son of God with power, by His resurrection from the dead. Now, "He is able to save to the uttermost (completely, eternally) all those who come unto God by Him, because He ever lives." "He is the One Who lives and was dead, and is alive for evermore."

Refs: Gen. 22:1-13; John 1:29, 36; I Pet 2:24; John 3:16; Rom 8:32; Rom 1:4; Heb. 7:25; Rev. 1:18