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The Desire of Ages
Redeemer whom he had baptized. The Holy Spirit rested upon him,
and with outstretched hand pointing to Jesus, he cried, “Behold the
Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
None among the hearers, and not even the speaker himself, dis-
cerned the import of these words, “the Lamb of God.” Upon Mount
Moriah, Abraham had heard the question of his son, “My father, ...
where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” The father answered, “My son,
God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering.”
Genesis 22:7, 8
.
And in the ram divinely provided in the place of Isaac, Abraham saw
a symbol of Him who was to die for the sins of men. The Holy Spirit
through Isaiah, taking up the illustration, prophesied of the Saviour,
“He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter,” “and the Lord hath laid on
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Him the iniquity of us all” (
Isaiah 53:7, 6
); but the people of Israel
had not understood the lesson. Many of them regarded the sacrificial
offerings much as the heathen looked upon their sacrifices,—as gifts
by which they themselves might propitiate the Deity. God desired to
teach them that from His own love comes the gift which reconciles
them to Himself.
And the word that was spoken to Jesus at the Jordan, “This is My
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,” embraces humanity. God
spoke to Jesus as our representative. With all our sins and weaknesses,
we are not cast aside as worthless. “He hath made us accepted in the
Beloved.”
Ephesians 1:6
. The glory that rested upon Christ is a pledge
of the love of God for us. It tells us of the power of prayer,—how
the human voice may reach the ear of God, and our petitions find
acceptance in the courts of heaven. By sin, earth was cut off from
heaven, and alienated from its communion; but Jesus has connected
it again with the sphere of glory. His love has encircled man, and
reached the highest heaven. The light which fell from the open portals
upon the head of our Saviour will fall upon us as we pray for help
to resist temptation. The voice which spoke to Jesus says to every
believing soul, This is My beloved child, in whom I am well pleased.
“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear
what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be
like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.”
1 John 3:2
. Our Redeemer
has opened the way so that the most sinful, the most needy, the most
oppressed and despised, may find access to the Father. All may have a
home in the mansions which Jesus has gone to prepare. “These things