The Old Testament often talks about the Jewish practice of offering sacrifices to God for purification of sins. Leviticus 4:32-35 details this process which required the man to bring a lamb without defect to the priest. He would symbolically place the sin of the man on the innocent lamb and kill it. The blood of the lamb was then placed on the horns of the altar while the lamb was burned on the altar itself. Only after this would the priest absolve the man of his sins.
However, as the author of Hebrews mentions it's impossible for the blood of animals to take away sins. It took God sending "His lamb" or "His Son, Jesus" who was without defect or sinless to take away our sin once and for all. God placed all of our sins on Jesus and put them to death along with His Son. Because of this sacrifice forgiveness is available through his death on the cross.
It is very possible, John the Baptist was referring to this idea when he identified Jesus as "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29)."
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