G.W. North emphasizes that God's original intentions have never changed, and through the Gospel accounts, we see a return to the beginning, where Jesus is identified as the Lamb of God. Each Gospel writer traces the lineage of Christ back to significant points in history, with John connecting Jesus to the very beginning with God. The sermon highlights the mystery of creation and the foundational role of water, symbolizing baptism, in both the material and spiritual realms. John the Baptist's ministry is portrayed as a restoration to God's original design, focusing on baptism rather than the old sacrificial system. Ultimately, the message calls believers to recognize the eternal principles of the Lamb and baptism as central to God's purpose.

All is to be as it was in the beginning. The original intentions of God have never been relinquished by Him, and through this man in his day the Lord sought to prepare mankind for the One who would restore all to His eternal purposes and first ways. In accordance with this, when giving their records of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, three of the Gospel writers go right back in time, authenticating their writings by rooting their accounts in history. Mark goes back as far as the Prophets; Matthew goes further back to the Patriarchs; Luke goes still further back to Adam, the first man; but in writing his account of the Son of God, John goes back furthest of the four — to God, the very beginning of all. It is not surprising then that in this last Gospel, John furnishes us with the one statement from John Baptist which in any way connects Jesus Christ with sacrifice, 'Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world'. In doing this he takes us right back beyond earth time to that which was in the beginning with God. The phrase 'in the beginning' brings us into mystery. In it the eternity of unmeasured and immeasurable events meets the measured and measurable succession of time. We do not know when, neither can we know how nor where, we only know that the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world. It is as though on one hand time had not been, for here on the threshold of history we are introduced to God and the Lamb. Yet, as though all history was concluded, anticipating all time, the Lamb was slain. Then again, reading Genesis, we see that right there in the beginning when He was proceeding to bring forth creation God started with water. Everything that God made on this planet would have had no being except He had first brought forth the earth out of the waters. The deep waters, it seems, were original and fundamental to all. The earth was brought forth, came into light and became recognisably known only as emerging from a mighty baptism — it certainly did not break off the sun. Pondering this, we should have no difficulty in seeing and accepting the fact that John Baptist was sent of God to bring to our notice and acceptance the twin eternal principles upon which God founded both the material earth and the spiritual Kingdom of Heaven, namely the Lamb and the Baptism. Everything of spiritual import and meaning, whether it be of sin and sacrifice or animal blood and altar or temple and service, all that has of necessity intervened at God's direct command or consent from the beginning of the world was bridged by John in his day. By launching his ministry out in the formless void of the wilderness, John brought everything back to 'as it was in the beginning' ; his was a ministry of Restoration; not now lambs, blood, sacrifices, atonements, Tabernacle, Temple, Law — but Baptism.