John – God Speaks!After 400 years, God breaks His silence to his people and sends a part of Himself to earth in the form of a baby. God named this part of Himself, Jesus. He was the Messiah God’s people had been waiting for centuries to come. Some recognized Jesus as the One. Many did not. But He came, just the same.
It is no coincidence that John the Baptizer declared Jesus as the Lamb of God. As soon as the words were spoken, two disciples turned their focus from John, who introduced them to God, to God’s Son. This became the beginning of the Twelve who would be called to be Jesus’ disciples.
“Disciple” means “one who learns”. Over the next three years Jesus would mentor, train, correct, and challenge as He taught these men as they walk along the road to seek and to save lost people. Jesus will teach these disciples that HE is the only Way, He is the only Truth to Real Eternal Life with God. The salvation work of Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah, will be multiplied in their lives as they become witnesses of The Truth.Yes, HE is the One and Only God’s people have been waiting for…and He is here!
John 1, New Living Translation
The First Disciples
35 The following day John was again standing with two of his disciples. 36 As Jesus walked by, John looked at him and declared, “Look! There is the Lamb of God!” 37 When John’s two disciples heard this, they followed Jesus.38 Jesus looked around and saw them following. “What do you want?” he asked them.
They replied, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”
39 “Come and see,” he said. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon when they went with him to the place where he was staying, and they remained with him the rest of the day.
40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of these men who heard what John said and then followed Jesus. 41 Andrew went to find his brother, Simon, and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means “Christ”).
42 Then Andrew brought Simon to meet Jesus. Looking intently at Simon, Jesus said, “Your name is Simon, son of John—but you will be called Cephas” (which means “Peter”).
43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Come, follow me.” 44 Philip was from Bethsaida, Andrew and Peter’s hometown.45 Philip went to look for Nathanael and told him, “We have found the very person Moses and the prophets wrote about! His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.”
46 “Nazareth!” exclaimed Nathanael. “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
“Come and see for yourself,” Philip replied.
47 As they approached, Jesus said, “Now here is a genuine son of Israel—a man of complete integrity.”
48 “How do you know about me?” Nathanael asked.
Jesus replied, “I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you.”
49 Then Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God—the King of Israel!”
50 Jesus asked him, “Do you believe this just because I told you I had seen you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” 51 Then he said, “I tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth.”
THINK ABOUT IT…
John summarized what John the Baptist had to say about Jesus Christ;
1. Jesus is eternal (v.15).
2. Jesus Christ has fullness of grace and truth (v 16).
But what is grace? Let’s remember…
Grace is God’s favor and kindness bestowed on those who do not deserve it and cannot earn it. If God dealt with us only according to truth, none of us would survive, but He deals with us on the basis of grace and truth. Jesus Christ, in His life, death, and resurrection, met all the demands of the law; now God is free to share fullness of grace with those who trust Christ. Grace without truth would be deceitful, and truth without grace would be condemning.
We are saved by grace (Eph. 2:8–9), but we also live by grace (1 Cor. 15:10) and depend on God’s grace in all that we do.
John the Baptist called Jesus “the Lamb of God,” a title he would repeat the next day (John 1:35–36). In one sense, the message of the Bible can be summed up in this title. The question in the Old Testament is, “Where is the lamb?” (Gen. 22:7). In the four gospels, the emphasis is “Behold the Lamb of God!” Here He is! After you have trusted Him, you sing with the heavenly choir, “Worthy is the Lamb” (Rev. 5:12). WOW! Have you ever connected this in your minds?
ANDREW IS CONVINCED AND BRINGS HIS BROTHERS
“We have found the Messiah!” was the witness Andrew gave to Simon. Messiah is a Hebrew word that means “anointed,” and the Greek equivalent is “Christ.” To the Jews, it was the same as “Son of God”. It is worth noting that Andrew and John trusted Christ through the faithful preaching of John the Baptist. Peter and James came to Christ because of the compassionate personal work of their brothers. Later on, Jesus would win Philip personally, and then Philip would witness to Nathanael and bring him to Jesus. Each man’s experience is different, because God uses various means to bring sinners to the Savior. The important thing is that we trust Christ and then seek to bring others to Him.
At the close of that fourth day, Jesus had six believing men who were His disciples. They did not immediately “forsake all and follow him”; that was to come later. But they had trusted Him and experienced His power. In the three years that lay ahead, they would grow in their faith, learn more about Jesus, and one day take His place on the earth so that the Word might be carried to all mankind. Jesus of Nazareth is God come in the flesh. When Philip called Him “the son of Joseph,” he was not denying Jesus’ virgin birth or divine nature. That was merely His legal identification, for a Jewish person was identified according to who his father was (John 6:42).
The witness of this entire chapter is clear:
Jesus of Nazareth is God come in the flesh!
God is here! The wait is over!
Dear Heavenly Father, Lord and Savior,
You are, were and always will be. You came to earth to save us and set us free. You came and that is enough for me. You are here now in this room with me as I learn more and more about you, abide with you, talk to you and listen to you speak to my heart. How can anyone deny your existence? Help us to be witnesses as bold as John the Baptist as we tell Your Story of saving grace.
In Jesus Name, Amen. I believe.
