First impressions can be misleading. The people thought that John the Baptist was someone else. John, however, emphatically denied that he was either the prophet Elijah or the Messiah. Who was he then? John quotes from the Scriptures to show that he had come to prepare the way for Jesus. He did this by calling on them to humble themselves and turn back to God.

This raises another question …… who is Jesus? We find in this passage that John pointed to Him as the ‘Lamb of God’. We are also told what Jesus would do as the ‘Lamb of God’ and that was to ‘take away the sin of the world’.

This leads to two things. Firstly, the sad but necessary outcome for those who reject him ….. especially the Jewish leaders who refused to humble themselves. Secondly, and most wonderfully, it points us to the cross where Jesus took on himself the punishment for wrong things which we have done. In this he is our ‘Passover’ ….. we need to get to know him better.