God-centered resources from the ministry of John Piper

This weeks sermon: "Behold the Lamb of God"

Like a great root—one that protrudes above the ground a few feet out from the tree trunk—John the Baptist appears at the outset of the Gospel of John and then falls to the background.

He is a bridge between the Old Testament and the New. He is prominent at the beginning of Jesus' story because he is part of the deep roots of the Gospel in previous Scripture.

Jesus didn't appear on the scene of history without historical preparation. God had been at work in Israel for two thousand years—and even before that—putting in place a historical backdrop that would make Jesus life and ministry more intelligible.

The highpoint of what John the Baptist proclaims about Jesus is that he is "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." In this announcement are two shocking truths:

1. Jesus, the Messiah, will be slaughtered like a lamb and
2. he will open up the way of salvation not to Jews only but to the whole world.
   

Regardless of race, nationality, ethnicity, or status, those who embrace Jesus as their Lamb and their Lord will be sheltered from the otherwise inescapable wrath to come.