July 21 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

John 1:19-34:

¹⁹And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou?
²⁰And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ.
²¹And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias [Elijah]? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No.
²²Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?
²³He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias [Isaiah].
²⁴And they which were sent were of the Pharisees.
²⁵And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?
²⁶John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not;
²⁷He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose.
²⁸These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.
²⁹The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
³⁰This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me.
³¹And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.
³²And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.
³³And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.
³⁴And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.

Devotional

A lamb is a clean animal. It is timid, weak and rather defense­less. It suffers extreme pain without crying out. It was extensively used for sacrifice at the Passover, for the morning and evening sacrifices of the children of Israel, and on numerous other occa­sions. It typified the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. Let us behold him and rejoice in the fact that our sin is taken away. "The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." Silver and gold could not atone for our sins. It required "the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."

We are cleansed from sin that we may live unto righteousness. As Peter puts it: "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed." We are redeemed by the blood. We are cleansed by the blood. We overcome by the blood. All honor to the Lamb! "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing."

Prayer

O Lord, may we ever be mindful of the fact, that we are bought with a price, not with gold or silver, but with the precious blood of Christ, the Lamb without blemish and without spot. Forbid that we should ever count the blood of the covenant, wherewith we are sanctified, an unholy thing, or deny the Lord that bought us; but rather may we confess the Lord, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. Help us to give all honor and praise to the Lamb. Amen.

---

Scripture in Devotional: Ex. 12; 29:39; Isa. 53:6; 1 Pet. 1:18, 19; 1 John 1:7; 1 Pet. 2:24; Rev. 5:9; 1 John 1:7; Rev. 7:14; 12:11; 5:12.

Click here for background on Light and Comfort and the author.