This Is The Lamb Of God

Speaker: Archbishop Loren Thomas Hines

January 20, 2026

in Spritual Growth

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January 18, 2026

Readings: Isaiah 49:1-7
1 Corinthians 1:1-9
John 1:29-41

And it came to pass that John the Baptist had stirred up quite an emotion in Israel, so that many people were following him. John did not have plenty. He ate simply, he dressed simply, he taught in the wilderness and not inside a fancy temple. When he preached about repentance, many came to him to be baptized. John always emphasized to the people about the importance of repenting and being baptized. Baptism wasn’t really for the Jews but for the foreigners. Jesus had to go through baptism even though He didn’t need it, but He was doing it for righteousness sake, because he was made of flesh. After He came out of the water, God proclaimed Him as His Son and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove descended upon Him and stayed there.

The Holy Spirit then led Him to the wilderness to be tempted by the devil for 40 days. After which He returned to John. When John saw Him, he said, “This is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” This is such a powerful statement for us to really understand it. If we go back to history, God had instructed Israel to sacrifice two spotless lambs daily. One in the morning, one in the evening. Jesus was being called the “Lamb of God.” God here was talking about perfection. The ordinary lamb (animal) has really no power left after being sacrificed. But Christ who is the Lamb is God’s own Son being offered to be the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. Isaiah 53: 1-12 “Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely, he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore, will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” Isaiah was laying out God’s plan, for the salvation of mankind. Christ was the Lamb of God because He was representing the Father. He took all of our sins and iniquities so that we may be free. We must understand what Christ did for us. He not only bore our sins, He also bore our sicknesses. God gave us the gift of new life. God is calling us today to walk with Him and prove to the world how great He is. Romans 3:25-26 Whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in God’s merciful restraint He let the sins previously committed go unpunished; for the demonstration, that is, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Why are most of us still living in the old life when God has given us new life? We need to take authority over our minds. God’s love and compassion for us is awesome. Hebrews 10: 8 First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law. Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will. “He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

The animal “lamb” could not take away our sins. It had to be Christ Himself who was willing to sacrifice on our behalf. Evil does not belong to us. Christ was willing to pay the price. Willing to go to the cross. And yet we have allowed ourselves to hold on to anger, bitterness and hatred. Jesus lived simply. He lived in Nazareth, an obscure, unpopular city. Christ came to set us free. We are not weak. We have been given new life. The enemy has no right to enter into our lives. It is us who are allowing him to enter. Scriptures tell us that when we are baptized, we have the power because of the Holy Spirit in us. We have been listening to the voice of the enemy telling us we can’t win. That we have no power. Christ had to be tested. He did all this to destroy the power of the enemy. If new life has been given to us, we should be like Him. We’ve been seated together with Him in the heavenly places.

We haven’t really understood these things. We should see ourselves more than flesh. If Christ is the Lamb of God, He is the One who paid the price of the sins of man. Scriptures tell us we will not be put to shame. We will not be disgraced. When we start being defensive we often times get into trouble. Let God be our defense. We should not hold on to the sins and failures. We should allow the Holy Spirit to quicken our mortal flesh. It’s time for us to be what God wants us to be. We are blessed by God and nothing can override the blessings. We are His children, His family. We belong to the Lamb of God who paid the price for us.