Pam B

My family hunts deer and raises chickens. Even with these endeavors, we are still far removed from the violence associated with the slaughter of sacrificial animals. To raise sheep, knowing which one is the most perfect and thus will be the sacrificial animal, caring for them daily and learning their quirks and personalities, and then having to lead that one into the area knowing what the dad of the family is going to have to do...my mind balks at going there. It's a horror movie of the worst kind. And yet, that knowledge should make sin much more reprehensible.

I have mixed feelings about this. Why is anger an appropriate response to sin? On the one hand, because to sin is to go against God. But in getting angry, we also go against Him. We should approach the sinner in love and try to correct the behavior gently, instead of acting in anger. And yet, sin cannot be tolerated because it is an affront to God, and to let it go unchecked is to let it continue to fester and grow. Capricious or uncontrolled anger is like throwing gasoline on a fire that's already out of control. Someone stands a great chance of being permanently hurt. Could be an innocent bystander. Anger that brings about justice can be repentance, or it can be some form of fair punishment to the guilty. It is not a knee-jerk reaction done out of emotion, though.

John 1:29 references Jesus as the Lamb of God. He uses the verb Behold, drawing specific attention to Jesus as the Lamb. John, though he was related to Jesus, had not met him beforehand, but recognized him nonetheless.. Each Jewish family was to provide an offering for their sins once a year. This was the recognized and accepted offering, along with the daily offering in the temple by the priests. Now those who repent of their sins are being offered salvation by the blood of the Lamb.