What are you following? Part 2

In Part 1, we were talking about what people might follow, and what it might mean to call Jesus the Lamb of God.

Someone who has no Bible background may think this is a strange way to talk about Jesus. To the people of the time, though, it made sense. He was living his life to fulfill centuries' old prophesies to fill a kingly role, but also to fill the role for getting rid of guilt in everyone's life.

From the very beginning of mankind, human beings had a problem with feeling guilty when they did something wrong. We all do. God had given the people of Israel a temporary fix: by offering tangible, living sacrifices. People bought something and gave it to be sacrificed to God to tell him they were sorry and wanted to be forgiven. One of the best things to be sacrificed would be a lamb. But it had to be absolutely perfect in every way. It couldn't have any marks, weaknesses, or defects.

I'm oversimplifying, of course, but Jesus took on this role with his life. He became that lamb on behalf of each one of us. He became the Lamb of God, and he lived a perfect life, so that when he was killed, he could take all the guilt for everyone who ever had lived or ever would live, including us.

As his followers, we decide to believe in the gift Jesus gave when he allowed himself to be put to death, and receive the forgiveness he bought with his death.

Paul actually had the boldness to tell the Corinthians (in the King James 11:1), "Be followers of me, as I follow Christ."

Yes, we can of course follow others, but we realize the main ONE we're following is Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. We can have our followers, too, but we have to be clear-headed that they're following us as we follow HIM.

John 1:43 The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and he found Phillip and said to him, "Follow me."