John the Baptist would have known the other passages that so clearly prophesied this lamb—most famously Isaiah chapter 53, where the Lord Jesus is described as the lamb led to the slaughter, the one like a sheep before his shearers who is silent. This image is taken up in the rest of the New Testament. We’re going to have it in the morning next week with the Ethiopian eunuch. Peter, in his first letter, speaks of Jesus as a lamb without blemish. John himself was to see Jesus in heaven portrayed to him as the lamb who was slain.
So, look to this prophecy-fulfilling Lamb—the one who, hundreds of years before this, had been preached to the people by Isaiah as the one who would come like a lamb led to the slaughter. That’s who he is.
Do you see him coming towards John? Remember that. That’s what he’s doing. He’s not just ambling up to John for a cousin catch-up. He is coming to be led to the slaughter.
So, give thanks for his spotless nature. Give thanks that this is the Lamb without blemish—that he is worthy. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, as John later came to see.
