John 1:29

     29. seeth Jesus—fresh, probably, from the scene of the temptation.

      coming unto him—as to congenial company (Ac 4:23), and to receive from him His first greeting.

      and saith—catching a sublime inspiration at the sight of Him approaching.

      the Lamb of God—the one God-ordained, God-gifted sacrificial offering.

      that taketh awaytaketh up and taketh away. The word signifies both, as does the corresponding Hebrew word. Applied to sin, it means to be chargeable with the guilt of it (Ex 28:38; Le 5:1; Eze 18:20), and to bear it away (as often). In the Levitical victims both ideas met, as they do in Christ, the people's guilt being viewed as transferred to them, avenged in their death, and so borne away by them (Le 4:15; 16:15, 21, 22; and compare Isa 53:6-12; 2Co 5:21).

      the sin—The singular number being used to mark the collective burden and all-embracing efficacy.

      of the world—not of Israel only, for whom the typical victims were exclusively offered. Wherever there shall live a sinner throughout the wide world, sinking under that burden too heavy for him to bear, he shall find in this "Lamb of God," a shoulder equal to the weight. The right note was struck at the first—balm, doubtless, to Christ's own spirit; nor was ever after, or ever will be, a more glorious utterance.

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