Behold the Man
When Pilate brought Jesus out to the crowd, he said, in scorn, "Behold the man." And in John 1:14, John wrote, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
The word beheld means more than to see with one’s eyes. It means to appreciate something for what it is, to see it with the heart, mind, and intellect. When we think about Jesus, we ought to behold him—to see him as more than a man wearing a white gown, or a teacher from a long time ago.
The Word
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). And in 1 John 1:1, he writes, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life.” John had seen Jesus. He touched him, felt his hands, heard him preach, and afterwards, he was never the same. Jesus is the Word of Life and the Word of God, God’s agent in creation. The world was not made apart from him.
The Word of God is the way God makes himself known to mankind. With it, we have communication. When the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, man was able to understand God in a way we previously hadn’t.
There was much God did not reveal to the Jews of the Old Testament. Moses asked, “Please show me your glory” (Exodus 33:18), and God replied, “You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live” (Exodus 33:20). John wrote, “No one has ever seen God; God the only Son, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known” (John 1:18). That’s Jesus. Were it not for Him, we could not know God.
The Lamb
When John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him, he said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29). Jesus is the Lamb of God in the sense that He is God’s Passover Lamb. When Jesus was crucified, the Roman soldiers broke the legs of the thieves on their crosses, to hasten their deaths. But Jesus was already dead, so they did not break his;“For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken”” (John 19:36). In Exodus 12:46, the Passover Lamb is described, and the Israelites are told “you shall not break any of its bones.” Passover was when the angel of death passed through Egypt, and the Israelites were told to paint their doors with the blood of the lamb, so that the angel would spare them (Exodus 12:13). In the same way, we are covered in the blood of Jesus, so that when God’s wrath passes over the Earth, we will be spared; “Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God” (Romans 5:9).
The Light
In John 8:12, Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” The world is filled with billions of people who are walking in darkness. They have no idea why they are here or where they’re going; “The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going” (John 12:35). Jesus illuminates the way and shows mankind how we ought to live.
The Bread
In John 6, Jesus fed 5,000 people with five loaves and 2 fish; they even had twelve baskets of leftovers. The people were so amazed that they chased Him across the sea and asked Him to do it again. But Jesus replied, “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal” (John 6:27).
We may be physically healthy and nourished, but spiritually starved. We eat the bread of life by believing in Jesus; he said, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). By eating the bread, we nourish a spiritual life with God which not even death can take away.
The Way
In John 1:51, Jesus said to Nathaniel, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” Jesus was speaking of the way a prophet sees, as in a spiritual vision, and He was referencing Genesis 28, where Jacob dreamed of a ladder between Earth and Heaven that the angels ascended and descending. He meant that He was that ladder, the bridge between God and man.
The Son of Man
In Numbers 21, the Israelites were griping and complaining about everything, so God sent serpents, and many people were bitten and died. Eventually, Moses prayed that the snakes might be taken away, and God told him to make a brass serpent, set it on a standard, and raise it up. And anyone who was bitten and looked at it did not die. The brass snake was not the remedy; that was just how God chose to heal them. If God hadn’t commanded it that way, nothing would have happened. But how is it relevant?
“No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (John 3:13-15). And in John 12:32, Jesus says, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” If we want to be saved ourselves, we must look to Christ.
Jesus is the greatest thing that ever was, is, or will be. We cannot live without the Word of God, the blood of the Lamb, the light of the world, the bread of life, the way, or the Son of Man. We have to truly behold Him to be saved and have eternal life.
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