How (and why) does John make the following statement having no knowledge of the Cross?
John 1:29
The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
There are a couple of reasons for this.
First, here in this passage, John the Baptist was prophesying (foretelling God's Word) to the people of Israel.
The Lord Jesus told the people of Israel that John the Baptist was a prophet of God...
Luke 7:28
For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.
So we see that John the Baptist was prophesying what God would do in the future (i.e., the Cross), even though he says it early on to Israel.
I personally don't believe that any of the people of Israel who heard John the Baptist make that statement understood this prophecy clearly, because we see in scripture that even when the Lord foretells his death, burial, and resurrection, none of his Apostles, those men who were the closest to him, understood it either!
Luke 18:31-34
Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again. And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken.
Even John the Baptist himself did not understand fully what he had prophesied; and while he was in prison, he sent his disciples to Jesus to get some clarity...
Luke 7:20
When the men were come unto him, they said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?
So when John makes that "Behold the Lamb of God" statement in John 1:29, he was prophesying something that God would do in the future!
1 Peter 1:10-12
Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.
Now on to the second reason why this statement is made in the book of John and nowhere else…
The theme of the book of John (and all the other 4 books penned by the Apostle John—1, 2, 3 John and Revelation) has a futuristic setting.
Each of the four gospels presents the Lord Jesus Christ from a different perspective.
Matthew presents him as the conquering King of Israel, Mark presents him as Israel's suffering Servant, Luke as their magnificent Man, and John as their Jehovah God.
So each book will have verses in them that stay consistent to that theme.
For example, in the book of Mark we find the Lord himself saying about the day of his return...
Mark 13:32
But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the son, but the Father.
Notice that he says that not even he, the Son of God, knows the day of his return! But how is that? Isn't he God?! And doesn't God know ALL things? Well yes, he is God, but remember, the focus of the book of Mark is not on his deity, rather on his being Israel's suffering Servant. And as a servant...
John 15:15
Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
We see that in the bible, a servant knoweth not what his lord doeth. Therefore, because Mark focuses on Christ's servanthood of the Father, he makes the statement that he does not know when his lord, the Father, would send him back.
That is the same with the book of John. Since the books that John writes to Israel focuses on our Lord's deity, and the #1 proof of God's deity is his ability to foretell the future, then that is what John focuses on.
Isaiah 42:9
Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.
Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.
Isaiah 46:9-10
Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
And John records the Lord saying this very thing in his book
John 13:19
Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he.
The Lord also says the same to Nicodemus in John 3...
John 3:13
And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
Notice that although he was not in heaven yet, he still tells Nicodemus that he is in heaven! How could he say that? Well, because as Israel's Jehovah God, he calls those things which are not as though they already were.
Romans 4:17
As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.
So in conclusion, John the Baptist makes that statement in John 1:29 as a prophet prophesying about a future event (the cross) that will take place, and how, through that event, our Lord will eventually take away the sin of the entire world—in his earthly kingdom/Israel first, and then the gentiles.
Hopefully this
helps...Maranatha!
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