The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said,
“Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
John 1:29*
Levitical law allowed that if any of the common people sinned unintentionally, he would be guilty. However, atonement could be made by sacrificing a spotless lamb as a sin offering. The sinner would lay his hand on the head of the animal and confess his sin before slaying it. He would then hand it over to the priest to be burnt outside the community. Since most families rarely had more than two or three dozen sheep, the economic impact of such an offering would be clearly felt.
The legal requirements varied according to who made the offering. A priest had to provide a young bull, a ruler a male goat. The very poor could substitute a pair of pigeons as their sacrifice. In every case, two principles always applied, no matter who brought the offering:
- A sin offering without imperfections was necessary for all.
- The cost would be significant for those who offered it.
If God was to provide the sin offering for fallen man, what could He give that would fulfill the law? He is not poor. He owns the universe. He could offer a million spotless lambs. If that were not enough, He could create an additional million sheep in an instant and never suffer loss.
No, the only thing that could serve as God’s lamb was His own spotless Son. The expense was so great that the banks of heaven would have broken if His life could indeed have been taken from them. The sacrifice was so sinless that it is superfluous to think that a sin offering would ever need to be made again.
When we behold Thee, Lamb of God,
Beneath our sin’s tremendous load;
Expiring on the accursed tree,
How great our guilt, with grief we see.
– Mary Walker (1878)
*see also John 1:36
June 30
