In John 1:29-34, the apostle John says this:

“On the morrow he [John the baptist] seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man who is become before me: for he was before me. And I knew him not; but that he should be made manifest to Israel, for this cause came I baptizing in water. And John bare witness, saying, I have beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven; and [He] abode upon him. And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize in water, he said unto me, Upon whomsoever thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and abiding upon him, the same is he that baptizeth in the Holy Spirit. And I have seen, and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

In this passage, the apostle John describes John the baptist’s second testimony about the identity of the Lord Jesus Christ, which occurs soon after he has testified about Him to Jewish priests that were sent from the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem. In this second testimony, the baptist clearly identifies who Jesus is, and explains how he knows who Jesus is.

It may be divided into 5 sections:

  1. When John testified
  2. What John testified
  3. Who John testified to
  4. How John testified
  5. Why John testified

First, then, the apostle notes when John gave this second testimony: “On the morrow . . .”

What does this mean? It simply means “the next day”. But why would John tell us that this occurred on the next day? The next day after what day? The day before, John had testified about himself, and about Jesus, to Jewish priests from the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, and had said that the One who was coming after him was so far above him that he was unworthy to perform slavish tasks for Him, and also that this One would baptize with the Holy Spirit, or be able to influence the Holy Spirit, so as to save people. Therefore, the apostle tells us that this occurred on the next day to let us know that John’s first testimony was fresh in the minds of his disciples and listeners, who definitely had witnessed him talking to the priests, since he had talked to them where he was baptizing people. Thus, the same people who are with John now, and are going to hear his second testimony, are the same people who heard his first testimony.

Second, the apostle tells us what John testified to: “. . . he seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world!”

Now, why was Jesus coming to John? Not to be baptized by him, since John says this in verse 33:

“And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize in water, he said unto me, Upon whomsoever thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and abiding upon him, the same is he that baptizeth in the Holy Spirit.”

What is John basically saying here? He’s saying that he didn’t recognize who Jesus was — that He was the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world — until he saw the Spirit descending and abiding upon Him. And this happened at Jesus’s baptism, as you can see in every other Gospel. Hence, since John now says who Jesus is — showing that he now knows Him — it must be after Jesus has been baptized.

So, why was Jesus coming to John? We need no other answer than this — since there is no clear answer given in Scripture — that Jesus was coming to John so John could point Him out, and tell the crowds, and his disciples who were there, to behold the Lamb of God.

But why was John calling Jesus the Lamb of God? To tell his hearers that Jesus was the fulfillment of all the sacrificial lambs in the Old Testament. And why the Lamb of God, and not another sacrificial animal? Because a lamb is a very young sheep, and is weak, harmless, and innocent of any evil, nor is hardly capable of anything bad. The same can be said of Jesus; He appeared to be weak, harmless, and He certainly was innocent of all evil, and wasn’t capable of doing anything wrong — He was the spotless, innocent, pure, and undefiled Lamb of God. And why was He called the Lamb of God? Because God the Father sent Him into the world to be the sacrificial Lamb that would be slain for the sins of the world, so He would take away the sin of the world.

Now, what did John mean that Jesus was the Lamb “that takes away the sin of the world”? Just as he was alluding to the Old Testament lambs by calling Jesus the Lamb of God, he was now alluding to the prophecies about Christ that said He would take away the sin of the world. But what does it mean that He would take away the sin of the world? What is the sin of the world?

Let’s see how the New Testament defines the sin of the world:

1. “Every one that doeth sin doeth also lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.”           – 1 John 3:4

What is lawlessness? Living as if God has no law for us to obey — and He certainly does. Otherwise, sin wouldn’t be defined as lawlessness.

2. “All unrighteousness is sin . . .” – 1 John 5:17a

What is unrighteousness? Simply put, it is wrongness, or imperfection.

3. “. . . for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God . . .” – Romans 3:23

Here, we see that sinning results in falling short of God’s glory, or failing to glorify God, or manifest the character of God. In other words, sin is ungodliness.

4. “Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin; and so death passed unto all men, for that all sinned:— for until the law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the likeness of Adam’s transgression, who is a figure of him that was to come.” – Romans 5:12-14

What does this passage teach us about the sin of the world? It teaches us these things, among others:

I. sin entered into the world through one man — Adam

II. death passed to all men through that sin

III. this death passed to all men because all of them sinned

IV. sin was in the world before the law of Moses

V. sin isn’t imputed when there’s no law

So, why did all men die before the law came, even though sin isn’t imputed,  or counted against people, when there’s no law? Because they all sinned. And how did they all sin? Only in such a way that they received the same punishment that Adam received — they shared in his sin. That is why death passed to all men, even though they were alive before the law came. Thus, the sin Paul is speaking of here is imputed sin. In other words, since Adam represented all of us as the first of the human race, when he sinned, he involved us as his descendants in it, and we were condemned with him by being sentenced with death for that sin. In theological terms, this is called “original sin”. We are all guilty of Adam’s sin, as well as our personal sins. And what was Adam’s sin? Disobedience to God.

Having looked at what the sin of the world is, what is this world that John speaks of? Let’s look at what Scripture says about this group of people:

1. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him.” – John 3:16-17

The first question I have is, what is “for” there for? Let’s find out:

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so MUST THE SON OF MAN BE LIFTED UP; THAT whosoever believeth may in him HAVE ETERNAL LIFE. FOR God so loved the world, that HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, THAT whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but HAVE ETERNAL LIFE.” – John 3:14-16

So, why did the Son of Man have to be lifted up, so whoever believed in Him would have eternal life? Because God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son (the Son of Man), that whoever would believe in Him would not perish, but have eternal life. In other words, the necessity of Jesus being lifted up on the cross is paralleled with God giving His only begotten Son, and the result of both of those things is the salvation of those who believe in Jesus, and only those who believe in Jesus.

Here, Jesus tells us many things about the world:

I. God loved the world

II. God gave His Son because He loved the world

III. God loved the world in this way so that whoever believes will not perish

IV. God did this because He didn’t send His Son to judge, or condemn, the world

V. God did this so that the world would be saved

So, who is the world?

I. those whom God loved

II. Those for whom God gave His Son

III. Those who eventually believe in His Son

IV. those who weren’t condemned by Him

V. those who are saved by His Son

2. “. . . and he is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.” – 1 John 2:2

What is the propitiation for sins? It is the sacrifice of Jesus’s death that satisfied the wrath and justice of God on behalf of those in whose place Jesus died. So, the world here must refer to those whose sins have been propitiated, or satisfied by Christ’s death, and thus payed for.

These definitions for the world make even more sense if we think about what John the baptist meant by Jesus “taking away” the sin of the world. What does it mean? Well, we must read it in context. John doesn’t just say that Jesus would take away the sin of the world, but that the Lamb of God would take away the sin of the world. Thus, John must be referring to an atonement, not an actual elimination of sin, since believers still sin.

So, what does it mean that Jesus took away the sin of the world? Let’s look at Scripture again:

1. “And you, being dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, you, I say, did he make alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses; having blotted out the bond [certificate of debt (NASB)] written in ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us: and he hath taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross . . .” – Colossians 2:13-14

So, what does this passage say about Jesus taking away the sin of the world?

I. it results in the forgiveness of the world’s trespasses

II. it involves God blotting out the certificate of sin debt by nailing it to the cross

So, how did God take away the sin of the world? By blotting out, or canceling, the certificate of sin debt that was against it; and He did this by nailing it to the cross. Now, what does that mean? It means just what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:21:

“Him who knew no sin [Jesus] he [the Father] made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him [Jesus].”

When Jesus was on the cross, the Father treated Jesus as if He was the sin of the world, and forsook, crushed, chastised, condemned, and destroyed Him as punishment for the sin of the world. That is how He nailed the certificate of sin debt to the cross — by nailing Jesus to the cross, who became sin for the world. When Jesus took the punishment required by the sin debt, the sin debt was payed for, and the certificate of debt was cancelled for the world.

2. “. . . being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God set forth to be a propitiation, through faith, in his blood, to show his righteousness because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime, in the forbearance of God . . .” – Romans 3:24-25

How does Paul tell us that Jesus took away the sin of the world here? By being a propitiation, or atoning sacrifice, in His blood, or bloody death. And why did God send Him to do this? To “show his righteousness because of the passing over the sins done aforetime, in the forbearance of God”. In other words, God was showing that He was not unrighteous in not dealing with the sins of believers before the cross because of His forbearance, since He eventually dealt with them by setting forth His Son as a propitiation in His blood.

3. “. . . when he [Jesus] had made purification of sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high . . .” – Hebrews 1:3

Here, the writer of Hebrews says that Jesus purified sins, or cleansed them, thus taking away the sin of the world.

4. “. . . but now once at the end of the ages hath he [Jesus] been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” – Hebrews 9:26

Here, the same author says that Jesus put the sin of the world away by sacrificing Himself on the cross.

So, that’s what it means that Jesus took away the sin of the world. John was proclaiming something that was quite amazing to the Jews, since every other lamb before the Lamb of God had only “covered” sin, not taken it away.

After telling us what John testified, the apostle next tells us who John testified about: “This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man who is become before me: for he was before me.”

Now, John is here telling his audience — his disciples and the crowd about him — that the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world is the same Person to whom he testified to the Jewish priests the day before by saying, “I am not worthy to untie the thong of His sandals”. That statement is similar to “a man who is become before me”. What does this new statement mean? As the NASB translates it, it means that this Man has “a higher rank” than John. And why does He have a higher rank than John? Because “he was before me”. In other words, John is saying that Jesus, who was conceived in Mary after John was, actually existed before him. How could He exist before a person who was conceived before Him? Because He is the eternal and pre-existent God.

And what does it mean that John said that Jesus was coming after him? It means that Jesus was going to take over the ministry of God in Israel eventually, and John would have his ministry ended by this. John’s ministry was the preparation for Jesus’s ministry.

After telling us who John testified of, the apostle then tells us how John testified about Him: “And I knew him not; but that he should be made manifest to Israel, for this cause came I baptizing in water.”

First, John testified about Jesus without knowing that He was the One to whom he was testifying. He probably knew Jesus, since they were cousins, but he didn’t know that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, at first.

However, John didn’t testify about Him so he would know Him, but so He would “be made manifest to Israel”. In other words, John testified about Him so He would be eventually revealed to the nation of Israel as the Christ, the Son of God, and the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Finally, John testified about Christ, first of all, by baptizing in water. What does this mean? To the Jews, baptism, or submerging people in water, was a symbol of conversion to Judaism, and they only did it to Gentiles who were converting to their religion. It was symbolic of the cleansing of defilement that they believed Gentiles received by converting to Judaism. Therefore, the fact that John was baptizing Jews showed that he considered them to be no better than Gentiles, who were thought of as dirty and despicable creatures by most of the religious Jews. This was the impression that John was giving about the rest of his Jewish countrymen, when he commanded that they be baptized as a symbol of changing their minds, or repenting, and turning back to God to be ready for the coming of the reign of the Messiah, which was at hand.

The last thing that the apostle John describes in this passage is why John testified about Christ:

“And John bare witness, saying, I have beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven; and it abode upon him. And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize in water, he said unto me, Upon whomsoever thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and abiding upon him, the same is he that baptizeth in the Holy Spirit. And I have seen, and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

First, John says that he testified, or bore witness, because he saw the Spirit descending like a dove out of heaven, and staying on Jesus. Who is the Spirit? He is one of the Persons of the Trinity, or Godhead, who is divine in nature or essence. If the Spirit is divine in nature, and therefore spirit, and invisible, how did John see Him? Because He manifested Himself in the appearance of a dove, representing the gentleness of Christ in His ministry, for which He was being empowered by the Spirit. And how did John know that this dove was the Spirit? Because it came straight down from heaven, or the sky, and remained on Christ, or didn’t go away. The implication is that, once the dove reached Christ, it disappeared.

Second, John says that he testified about Jesus because God told him that Jesus was the Messiah:

“And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize in water, he said unto me, Upon whomsoever thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and abiding upon him, the same is he that baptizeth in the Holy Spirit.”

This is how he knew that Jesus was the Messiah, even though he didn’t know it all his life up to the time of Jesus’s baptism. The very One who sent him to baptize said that the One upon whom he would see the Spirit descending and remaining was the One that baptizes with the Holy Spirit. What does it mean that Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit? It means that He can send the Spirit to cleanse people of their sins, and to save them. This could only be done by the Messiah.

Lastly, John says that he testified about Jesus because he saw the Spirit descending on Christ like a dove, and staying on Him: “And I have seen, and have born witness that this is the Son of God.”

John saw just what God told him he would see, and responded by testifying that Jesus was the Son of God, or the One who shares God’s nature and character — God the Son.

So, are you beholding the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world? Are you believing that Jesus is the Lamb of God who took away your sins by dying on the cross because of them, and by rising from the dead?

Do you believe that Jesus has a higher rank than you, and that He has always existed?

Do you believe that Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit?

Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God?

If you believe all these things, are you telling people to behold the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world?

Are you willing to baptize people who change their minds about Jesus and the Father, and who are depending only on Jesus, His death for their sins, and His resurrection as the only way that they have God’s forgiveness of their sins?

Are you serving people so Jesus will be made manifest to them?

Are you testifying that Jesus is the Son of God?