"This is the Son of God."

(John 1:29-34; 1:15-18)
Jesus came to reveal God to us and to restore us into a relationship with him. We celebrate Easter once a year, but we should be reminded that we celebrate his life, resurrection, and promise of eternal life every day. We have so much to be thankful for, so many blessings that we do not deserve.

John 1:14 says that Christ came from the Father full of grace and truth. In these passages of John, we see the benefits that we receive: “From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.” The greatest gift is the “taking away” of our sin. John the Baptist exclaims this as an introduction pointing the people and his disciples to Jesus, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

The phrase "takes away" is a proclamation of Jesus’ role as the “scapegoat” in Jewish law (The Day of Atonement, Leviticus 16). The sin of the people was placed on the “scapegoat” and taken away into the desert to take away their sin. Our sin, the sin of the world, was to be placed on him. The rituals in The Day of Atonement also required the sacrifice of a goat. The law required atonement for sin. Jesus fulfilled both roles, by taking on our sin to take them away, as well as by sacrificing himself on the cross to atone for our sin.

Christ with his offer of grace took on and paid for the sin of the world. In doing so, he revealed the Father.

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.

John the Baptist who played a role in the introduction of Jesus Christ onto the scene through baptism proclaimed in John 1:34, “this is the Son of God.” It’s not without significance that the Roman soldier who played a role in escorting Jesus out of his earthly life proclaimed, “Truly this was the Son of God.” (Matthew 27:54) He is the Son of God!