"BEHOLD" is preeminently a Bible word, occurring in our common version nearly thirteen hundred times. It is an emphatic word, calling one not to a mere glance, not simply to see, but to fix the attention upon, to see, observe, keep; to see so as to make it one's own, to grasp by the sense of vision.
WHEN, therefore, the messenger of God, with kindling eye and ringing voice, declared, on that long-ago morning, as he stood by old Jordan's side among his disciples, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world," he called for no casual look, no mere glance of acquiescence, no mere look of curiosity or recognition. He desired his hearers to look, to grasp, to hold the Lamb of God, the world's Saviour.
IT is God's cry of the ages to the children of men; for Jesus Christ is "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world," "who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you." When Abel offered the spotless lamb, he, as the messenger of God, pointed to the Infinite Sacrifice and said, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." And every lamb offered subsequently, every kid of the goats, every sin-offering according to the Lord's direction, pointed forward to the great Antitype. When "Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness," and asked the serpent-bitten host of Israel to look, there was life in the look; it was the type of the lifting up of Him who "became sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." Faith saw through the symbol to the mercy and power of the One symbolized.
"There is life in a look at the sacred cross, Jesus has said, 'Look unto Me.'"
You can not take away your sin. It is a heavy burden, weighing you down to perpetual slavery, sinking you beneath the water-floods to everlasting ruin. God does not demand that you shall rid yourself of the burden. He knows that you can not do this. You have no power to lift yourself above yourself. You seem to do it at times, but when strength is spent, you find yourself on the same old level of self. Give over the hopeless struggle. Yield your sins and will and way to God, and look and live. He will pardon; He will cleanse; He will save, if you will but look. Surely you can do that
“Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John 1:29.
MOREOVER, there is a principle involved in the looking. It was not a mere truth uttered by the great apostle when he said, "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." By beholding we become changed. If we continually behold evil, our mind absorbs the evil. Looking steadfastly at one color for a long time, we see it still when looking elsewhere. Other things are tinged with the same hue. The politician has looked upon politics so long that he sees politics in everything, even in Christianity. The money-maker gluts his eyes with gold till he asks, "How much can I get out of godliness?" The mouser after the wickedness of the slums and dark places of our cities, does not see the bright pearls and jewels of righteousness which God has placed in the highway of holiness, where the servant of God ought to be, and to which he ought to invite the weary wallowers of the mire. Just before him walks Jesus, and his cry ought to be, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."
SINNER, there is all hope for you in beholding the Lamb of God, in looking unto Jesus. It matters not what the sin may have been; give it up forever, and look unto Him with single eye, with open heart, and the divine rays of light will illuminate your whole being, shine away the darkness, and cleanse the sin. He invites, "Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else." Would you make progress?—Continue "looking unto Jesus the Beginner and Finisher of our faith." Let His light and beauty flood your soul. Does darkness settle around you? Let faith pierce the darkness, and behold the constant shining of the Sun of Righteousness "with healing in His beams." Let riches tend to luxury and ease; let harlotry tend to sensuousness and destruction; in Jesus Christ are more than all that sin can give. "Behold the Lamb of God." Look constantly to Jesus. See what He endured that He might save you. Behold what He has in store for you. Let His sunlight of love flood continually your entire being, shining through you to others. By thus beholding you will become changed to the same image, and your whole life will be a constant transformation "from glory to glory." "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." "Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith." X.
