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[John] confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

᛭ INI ᛭

Little bit of time travel this last Sunday in Advent. Last week, we got John the Baptizer toward the end of his life—imprisoned, soon to be executed. Today, we get John the Baptist toward the end of ministry. From here, as far as the Apostle John’s Gospel is concerned, John the Baptist, the final Prophet, fades into obscurity, fulling the Baptizer’s own prophecy “[Jesus] must increase, but I must decrease.” (Jn 3:30)

Last week, we had John doubting, sending his students after Jesus for his own sake. This week, we get something completely different. He proclaims: “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (After our reading, some of John’s disciples follow Jesus.) But before that John’s taking up a different prophetic duty: He confessed. [John] confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

(2. What is John’s confession?)

John makes the good confession, both about himself and about Christ. Sure, he confesses that he’s not the Christ, but there’s more to his confession than that. In confessing that he is NOT the Christ, John also confesses how he relates to the Christ. “I am the voice crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the LORD.’” He confesses, “I’m not worthy to untie Christ’s sandals.” Finally, John confesses: “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

Just a teeny bit after our reading, John also bears witness and confesses by saying, **“After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me... I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”**

“Confessing” isn’t just admitting wrongdoing or sin. That’s certainly something Christians do. Confessing is also more than that, for the Lord is no judge trying to make you crack on the witness stand. (He already knows…) His ministers are no spiritual detectives trying to get some written confession to get you sentenced for eternity in the eternal prison.

Surely, there is a confession of sin. You should confess your sins. You should also repent of them. Should actually want to do better, even actually do better! But there’s also the confession of the faith. You should confess the faith. So, you should know what God’s Word says. Actually believe what it says! “To confess” means to admit you’ve done something wrong, but “to confess” also means to declare the things you believe from the Bible. Confessing your sin and confessing the faith are not as far apart as you might suppose.

“To confess” more fundamentally means to speak the truth. So, there are words to speak (confess) the truth about ourselves and how we relate to the true God. There are also words to speak (confess) the truth about the true God and how He relates to us. Speaking true words about yourself in relation to God is a confession of sin. Speaking true words about the true God in relation to you is the confession of faith. So, you, too, can make good confession like John. It all comes down to the words, but where do the true words come from?

There is only one place to find the true words needed for proper confession. Let’s follow John’s example today. He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” About himself, [John] said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” God’s Word gives the true words for a good and proper confession, both of sin and of faith. The Word of the Lord given through Isaiah norms what John says about him and about Christ who comes after him. In fact, God’s Word doesn’t just norm what he says, but gives life to what he believes!

He was sent to make the Lord’s way straight, to prepare the way before the Lord. And so John bears witness, “I’m not worthy to untie His sandals!” The Lord Himself was coming to walk that road. No matter which lane or side street Jesus might’ve taken, they all led to one place—His death. John knew this, also from Isaiah!

He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. (Is 53:5–7)

So John finally cries out:

“BEHOLD, THE LAMB OF GOD THAT TAKETH AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD!”

(1. What’s your confession?)

That’s your confession, too!

“BEHOLD, THE LAMB OF GOD THAT TAKETH AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD!”

In that Word of the Lord spoken through John you have all the fixings for a proper confession. Since John was the last prophetic voice of the Old Testament, a voice recorded in the New Testament, you have everything you need to make a good confession from all of God’s Word. You have everything both to confess your sins and to confess your faith.

To say that Jesus is the Lamb that takes away sin, and that He is such a lamb for you, means that you must have sins for Him to take away! No, bland “I know I’m not perfect” here. No, you’ve got actual sins. Things you’ve actually done to other people, things you’ve said to them or called them. Not to mention how you’ve failed them… There’s actual anger, actual resentment, actual animosity in your heart. There’s things you can’t undo, do over, take back, or unsay. Actual guilt. Actual shame. On top of that: what you’ve done actually offends your all-holy Creator. He not only commanded you to act properly, but He actually put you in that person’s life to love them and not whatever you actually did.

Things really are that bad, because well, THE LAMB OF GOD THAT TAKETH AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD is actually God Himself! And if God Himself is the one giving “His soul as an offering for guilt,” (Is 53) then your guilt, your sin is that horrific! That He does the same for the whole world is a multiplication that even no supercomputer can calculate! That’s how you, left to yourself, relate to the true God. “Sin is such a deep corruption of nature that no reason can understand it. Rather, it must be believed from the revelation of Scripture.” (SA III I § 3)

Yet, here also is confession of faith. (A true confession of sins is also a confession of faith.) Only those with faith actually confess their sins. Only those with faith will have the true confession of faith not only in their mouths but also in their hearts! “For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” (Rom 10:10) “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit.” (1 Cor 12) And without the Spirit you can’t say or believe:

“BEHOLD, THE LAMB OF GOD THAT TAKETH AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD!”

That is how He relates to you. He is such Lamb for you. Your sin, your condemnation, your death—all His! He shed His blood for you, paid for you. You are now not guilty. He is forever the Lamb slain for you. That is how He relates to you. He relates to you as the one who took away your sin! (We just keep taking back…) Yet He relates to you as Your Lamb: “take eat, take drink My body and blood given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” “And I will see the blood, and I will passover you.” (Ex 12) So, our first distribution hymn is always the Agnus Dei.

This is our confession to the world! Not only “Jesus is Lord,” but Jesus is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (That’s what it means to be “Lord.”) The Christian confession echoes throughout the world: “BEHOLD, THE LAMB OF GOD THAT TAKETH AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD!” That echoes here in through words of the Nicene Creed. That echoes daily at home in the Apostles’ Creed. (That’s the Creed used for Baptism, but also for each of us as we daily live as God’s baptized children.)

(Conclusion.)

There are words to confess the truth about yourself and how you relate to the true God. There are also words to confess the truth about the true God and how He relates to you. One is a confession of sin: you say, “I am in need of lamb to take away my sins.” The other is the confession of faith: Christ says, “I am such a Lamb for you and for the whole world, too!”

“BEHOLD, THE LAMB OF GOD THAT TAKETH AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD!”

That’s our confession—before God and before men, in our homes, in our congregations, and in our daily lives.

᛭ INI ᛭