Behold The Lamb

Turn to text - John 1: 29.

As the glory of God encircled Jesus & a voice from heaven was heard, John recognized that the one he baptized was the world’s redeemer. With outstretched hand & pointing to Jesus, he cried “Behold The Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world.” The Holy Spirit had given him the words to say.

John didn’t comprehend the importance of the words he spoke that day. John was not only talking to the hearers on the banks of the Jordan that day, he was talking to believers of today as well. It is important to Behold the Lamb.

I want us to concentrate today on the word, Behold. According to Webster’s dictionary - Behold means - to look at with attention; to observe; to hold. In the imperative sense, it is as a command, a necessity - BEHOLD!

I came across an amazing fact recently - The Japanese have an interesting method of changing the colors of birds & animals thru breeding & the course of generation. For example to develop a breed of white sparrows, they take a pair of gray sparrows . Put them in a white cage in a all white room & they are taken care of by people completely dressed in white. Amazingly the mental effect in a series of generations of birds result in completely white birds.

This isn’t something that the Japanese originated but something God thought of a long time ago. We see the same principle in God’s word in Gen. 30.

This is a part of the Bible that skeptics use to discredit the Bible but scientist now are proving that Gen. 30 is correct in what it presents.

This is the story of Jacob. He married Leah & Rachel. Jacob wanted to take his wives & children & leave Laban. Let’s

read vs. 25 - 40.

Jacob agreed to take all the speckled & spotted among the flock as his wage. When animal were separated, Laban put his sons in charge of the herd of the speckled & spotted & told them to take them 3 days walking distance. Jacob was to take care of Laban’s all-white herd. Laban wanted to prevent crossbreeding.

Vs 37. Jacob took branches of green Poplar, Hazel & Chestnut trees & stripped the bark. In other words, Jacob made speckled rods for the herds to look at, so they can become what they behold. He set rods where they drank & where the animals usually mated.

Vs 39. When the white animals conceived & gave birth, many of the offspring were speckled & spotted. When the flocks were regularly exposed to the speckled environment they had speckled offspring.

This demonstrates the Bible principle. We become what we behold. That brings up the question -

What are we exposed to? What type of TV programs?

What type of music? What type of books do we read?

Great Controversy pg. 555 says, “It is a law both of the intellectual & the spiritual nature that by beholding we become changed. The mind gradually adapts itself to the subjects upon which it is allowed to dwell. It becomes assimilated to that which it is accustomed to love & revere.”

We saw on one of the news programs 60 Minutes, 48 Hours or 20/20. A story about a policeman who has been convicted of the murder of a woman. Townspeople were shocked. The Police Dept. was protective of their own. It could have never happened to a model policeman or a model citizen. But when the story progressed & they talked to those closest to the man, they found that the policeman idolized Arnold Swartzenegger. His fellow officers even call him “The Terminator”. He even had a Terminator doll that he kept on the dashboard of his police car. What we behold, we become like.

How long does this process take?

Great Controversy, pg. 459, says

“ A long preparatory process, unknown to the world, goes on in the heart before the Christian commits open sin. The mind does not come down at once from purity & holiness to depravity, corruption & crime. It takes time to degrade those formed in the image of God, to brutal & the Satanic. By beholding we become changed. By indulgence of impure thoughts, man can so educate his mind that sin which he once loathed will become pleasant to him.”

Ps. 23:7. As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is.

It would be good to ask: Of what do I love to think about?

Of what do I love to talk about?

Step to Christ, pg. 72, puts it this way. “When Christ took human nature upon Him, He bound humanity to Himself by a tie of love that can never be broken by any power except the choice of man, himself. Satan will constantly present allurements to endure us to break this tie, - to choose to separate ourselves from Christ. Here is where we need to watch, to strive, to pray that nothing may entice us to choose another master for we are always free to do this. But let us keep our eyes fixed upon Christ & He will preserve us. Looking unto Jesus, we are safe. Nothing can pluck us out of His hand. In constantly beholding Him, we are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

It was thus that the early disciples gained their likeness to the Saviour. When those disciples heard the words of Jesus, they felt their need of Him. They sought, they found, they followed Him. They were with Him in their homes, at the table, in the closet, in the field. This is my desire & I know it is yours too, that by beholding we become more like Jesus.

There was this young man & he was born with a crooked spine. He was bent over. When a person talked to him, he had to strain with all his might to be able to look up at them to see was talking to him. This young man loved the Lord very much. He heard of a statue of Jesus that had supposedly captured the Savior’s loving expression. They said if you gaze up into the face of this statue it seemed to bring calm to a person. This young man seem to have a lot if worries in his life.

The young man would go to the park every day & would strain to look at the face of the statue. He did this for years! Then one day he noticed that he didn’t have to strain anymore. You see, he looked up into the face of the Savior all those years & in doing so his spine became straight. He began to look more like the statue standing tall & straight. What you behold is what you become!

Let us pray?

Help us to overcome our carnal natures & become more like you. Give us the desire to change.