Behold the Lamb

The words John preached on the banks of Jordan echoed from the pulpit on Sunday: “Behold the Lamb.”

It is not simply an Easter invitation. Holy Week is complete, and the countdown to Pentecost has begun. We are in the middle of revival, setting aside the busyness of our lives to seek a transforming move of God’s presence. And the cry from the pulpit is as relevant this week as ever: “Behold the Lamb.”

Scholars have described this word “behold” as a “divine spotlight”. It’s meant to grab our attention and turn our eyes. It is a call to lock eyes with something, and give our complete focus.

We’ve been invited to behold the Lamb, and it’s vital that we do. What captures our attention will eventually capture our heart.

Paul expounds on this principle in 2 Corinthians 3:18: ”But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory…”

We become like what we behold.

It’s no coincidence that righteous Job committed, “I will set no wicked thing before my eyes.” We are molded into what we gaze upon.

The Lamb of God is beautiful in love, in sacrifice, and in humility. In the pages of Scripture, and in His work in our hearts today. He is so completely different than anything humanity can find elsewhere.

So adoring Him is not our task. That will come naturally. Worship is the reflex when we truly see Him. Our calling is simply to behold Him. As we turn our faces more and more towards His brilliant light, there comes a change in us. We become transformed by what we have fixed our gaze on. As one writer said, “We faintly give back what we adore.”

Maybe our frustrations with our lack of growth or our recurring struggles could be resolved with less beholding ourselves and more beholding the Lamb.

It’s very possible to see and not behold. We can be in attendance and yet not give Jesus our attention. In revival service this very night, there will be grocery lists and unpaid bills and work responsibilities, all clamoring for us to behold them. Endless voices cry for our concentration, our focus, and our thoughts. Those have their time and place for attending to. It’s interesting though, how much easier it is to behold those things of our natural world. Anything eternal is a fight to behold.

What a worthy fight. We can leave this revival transformed, the fire that burns in His eyes aflame in our hearts. In every service and in every heart… let us behold the Lamb.