Come and See - Part 1 - The Lamb of God
by Jerry Ousley

Have you ever tried to describe something to someone else only to have them react in disbelief? Normally our response is simply, "well, you'll just have to see it for yourself." I had one of those moments that I'd like to share with you. It was in the late spring when hatchlings try to stretch their wings. How often have we seen those young birds fall from the nest in attempt to fly? Sometimes they manage to get airborne and fly away and sometimes they are unfortunately snatched up by a cat or other predator.

I had stepped outside and there was a bird just casually standing in our driveway. It didn't appear to be a young bird but just sort of stood there. I walked right up to it and it refused to fly. Scratching my head and wondering if this bird had some kind of disease or not, I spotted our own cat, "Shaggy" coming across the back yard. He too had spotted the bird and was on the prowl. I thought, "This bird is done for," and tried again to make it fly away. It wouldn't budge. Shaggy came running up to this bird fully expecting it to fly away but it didn't. He walked right up to the bird and it looked him in the eye.

Shaggy looked at that bird then looked at me and I could hear his feline thoughts in my head saying something to the effect of, "What's wrong with this stupid bird? I've never had one refuse to fly away!" And instead of grabbing that bird up in his mouth he just sat down in a state of confusion.

I opened the front door and tried to tell my wife just what had happened and she couldn't believe it so I said, "Come and see for yourself." She did and it was one of the funniest sites I'd ever witnessed. Later on, after Shaggy had lost interest I gently kicked at the bird until I forced it from our driveway. A few minutes later this bird just flapped its wings and flew away. It was either the bravest bird I'd ever seen or the stupidest . . . I never figured out which one.

Some things we've just got to see for ourselves. In John 1:35-51 we see this happening with the newly called disciples of Jesus. Just the day before John the Baptist had baptized Jesus. On this day he looked up and saw Jesus coming. He pointed to him and speaking to all those around him said, "Look! The Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world." Two of his own disciples standing there with him immediately began following Jesus. When Jesus turned to them asking them what they wanted, they asked, "Where do you live?" Jesus responded with, "Come and see." We could accuse Jesus of stealing John's disciples but John himself had said that he had to decrease so Jesus could increase. What he meant by that was that his own popular, yet controversial ministry must begin to fade in the background. He had been the one preparing the way for the Messiah. Jesus had to begin taking center stage now. Nowhere in the scripture do we read that John complained about losing his disciples to Jesus.

John had told them to look and see Jesus, and he was basically telling them that this man would be the one who could remove the sin of the world. That's something to see. You don't find an individual everyday that can do that. In fact, no one had been successful in doing that at all! John had described Jesus as the Lamb of God. He was referring to the Jewish sacrificial system. Up until that day the only way sin could be forgiven was to take an innocent animal to the priest, have it killed and sacrificed, and its innocent blood would appease God into forgiving the individual for the sin they had committed. These sacrifices were done perpetually. There were regular Holy Days that required sacrifices. Anytime a person sinned it required a sacrifice. From reading the scripture people were not much different at that time than they are today so I'd say millions of animals were killed in effort to appease God for their sin. I'd be making a sacrifice nearly every day especially if we count all the thought-sins and things most people regard as little sins. But sin is sin. It is still wrong.

John was telling people that Jesus was the Lamb of God the sacrificial lamb that would once and for all remove the sin of the world. Now that was something worth seeing!

Jerry D. Ousley is the Author of five books, "Soul Challenge", "Soul Journey" "Ordeal" "The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional" and his first novel "The Shoe Tree." Listen to the daily broadcast Spirit Bread. Find out more by visiting www.spiritbread.com
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Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS