John the Baptist points with uplifted finger to the approaching Jesus of Nazareth and exclaims: "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." His Jewish hearers could not mistake his meaning, for every day a spotless lamb was sacrificed before their eyes in the temple as a propitiation for their sins. The lamb thus sacrificed was a prophetic symbol of the coming Savior, who, as the true Lamb of God foretold by Isaiah (chapter 53), was to suffer and die and thus obtain eternal redemption for us.

The sacred time of Lent repeats the message of John and again directs our attention to our suffering Savior. "Behold!" it cries with pleading and insistent voice, "behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world," and therefore your sin! Will we not open our ears and hearts most reverently to its sacred, saving message and behold our Savior, not with indifferent eyes, as the unbelieving world beholds Him, nor with hate-filled, blasphemous eyes, as the Jews did and all mocking infidels do today, but with penitent and believing eyes, as did the penitent dying thief at the side of our crucified Savior, who prayed to Him with sincere, contrite, and believing heart: "...Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." [Luke 23:42] and who was pardoned and forever saved as the first fruits of our Lord's bitter Passion?

Oh, blessed shall we be if we thus behold our suffering Lord! Then shall we also see with rejoicing and adoring hearts how He has taken away all our sin and guilt out of the sight of the holy God, how He has redeemed us forever from the power of the devil and gained for us the favor of His heavenly Father. When death comes to us, we shall hear Him say to us what He once said to the dying thief: "To day shalt thou be with me in paradise."

[devotion text by Rev. F. W. Herzberger (1920) -
from the Family Altar - CPH (1957 edition)]
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