The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
The next day - the crowd, as we take it, having dispersed, and only his own disciples being present,
John seeth Jesus coming unto him. This was probably immediately after the Temptation, when Jesus, emerging from the wilderness of Judea on His way to Galilee (John 1:43) came up to the Baptist. But it was not to hold conversation with him, however congenial that would have been; for of this there appears to have been none at all from the time of His baptism even until the Baptist's imprisonment and death. The sole object of this approach to the Baptist would appear to have been to receive from him that wonderful testimony which follows:
And saith - immediately catching a sublime inspiration at the sight of Him approaching:
Behold the Lamb of God, Which taketh away the sin of the world! Every word here is emphatic, and precious beyond all expression. "THE LAMB" here, beyond all doubt, points to the death of Christ, and the sacrificial character of that death. The offering of a lamb every morning and evening and of two on the morning and evening of every Sabbath day, throughout all the ages of the Jewish economy, had furnished such a language on this subject as to those who heard these words of the Baptist could need no explanation, however the truth thus expressed might startle them. But in calling Jesus "the Lamb," and "the Lamb of God," he held Him up as the one 'God-ordained, God-gifted God-accepted' sacrificial offering.
If, however, there could remain a doubt whether this was what the words were designed to convey, the explanation which follows would set it at rest - "Which taketh away the sin of the world," The word х airoon (G142)] here used, and the corresponding Hebrew word х nosee' (H5375)] signify both 'taking up' and taking away. Applied to sin, they mean to 'be chargeable with the guilt of it' (Exodus 28:38; Leviticus 5:1; Ezekiel 18:20), and to 'bear it away' (as in many places). 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 thus borne away by them (Leviticus 4:15; Leviticus 16:15; Leviticus 16:21-22; and compare Isaiah 52:6-12; 2 Corinthians 5:21). "The sin," says the Baptist using the singular number to denote the collective burden laid upon the Lamb, and the all-embracing efficacy, of the great Sacrifice; and "the sin of the world" - in contrast with the typical victims which were offered for Israel exclusively: '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.' Thus was the right note struck at the very outset. And what balm must it have been to Christ's own spirit to hear it! Never, indeed, was a more glorious utterance heard on earth; no, nor ever shall be. But it was uttered, as we think, in the hearing only of those who were in some measure prepared for it.