Tag Archives: Baptist

Sunday February 12, 2023 The Gospel of John Week 6– John 1:29-34 “Just Who Is Jesus”

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Sunday – February 12, 2023

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Word On Worship – Sunday – February 12, 2023

John 1:32-33
John testified saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. “I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’

John’s Gospel alone explains the significance of our Lord’s baptism to John the Baptist. All the time John has been preaching, telling the Israelites that the Messiah is coming, the Baptist has not known the identity of Messiah for certain. As mentioned, John may have had his suspicions, but he does not have absolute proof. That proof comes at the baptism of Jesus. One day, John the Baptist is proclaiming to the people of Israel that Messiah is among them—but not yet identified. The next day, John is pointing to Jesus, testifying that He is the Messiah—the One of whom he has been speaking, and declaring, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

John is marked by humility, but this does not prevent him from preaching with boldness. John’s message is not watered down to please his audience. He speaks against sin, whether it be that of tax-gatherers or soldiers or even Herod himself. He clearly identifies sin, condemns it, and calls for repentance. This boldness is not a contradiction to his humility, but a manifestation of it. He is inferior and subordinate to his Lord, the Messiah. He would do no less than proclaim that message with boldness and clarity. There are those today, as there have always been, who water down the gospel, and leave out the hard words which define and condemn sin, and which call for repentance. Those who do so think they are doing the gospel a favor by making the message more appealing. In fact, they are emasculating it.

What made the dramatic difference in the Baptist’s preaching from one day to the next? It is what John the Baptist saw and heard at the baptism of our Lord. When, under protest, John baptizes Jesus, he sees the Spirit descend upon Him and remain upon Him. He hears the voice of the Father from heaven, declaring Jesus to be His beloved Son, in whom He is well pleased. He now knows for certain who the Messiah is, and from this point on, He refers to Jesus as God’s Messiah, the Son of God.

John is an example of a man of faith, the kind of person every Christian should be. Faith believes in what God has promised, rather than in what we now see. Faith lives in the present, in light of the future God has told us is certain. Faith is willing to suffer now in order to enter into God’s glory for all eternity. John spends a good deal of his time in public ministry speaking about a person whose identity he does not know for certain. He speaks a great deal about a Person who is going to come, who is even then present, but not identified, trusting that God will reveal Him. This is faith. And this is the very same kind of faith each of us is called to exercise.

Sunday February 5, 2023 The Gospel of John Week 5 – John 1:19-28 “Pointing the Way to Jesus”

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Word On Worship – Sunday – February 5, 2023

John 1:19-20
This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

Can you imagine Abraham leaving his family and homeland and setting out for an undisclosed place far away from home? Or think of how Moses felt leaving his father-in-law’s flocks in the wilderness and going to Egypt to confront Pharaoh and demand that he let God’s people go. Think of what it would have been like for the Israelite priests to step into the Red Sea, trusting God to somehow make a path through the sea to the other side.

Now place yourself in the sandals and camel hair suit of John the Baptist. God commands you to go out and to begin calling the nation Israel to repentance, announcing that the Messiah is soon to be revealed. You are not even certain at the time just who the Messiah is—or how He is to be revealed. You are to preach in the wilderness, so that all who want to hear you must come out of the city and into the wilderness. You have never even performed so much as one miracle. Can you imagine faithfully preaching a message of repentance in preparation for Messiah, as John the Baptist did, without even knowing the name of the one about whom you were preaching?

By nearly any standard, one would have to admit that John is “unique.” He dressed strangely, wearing a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt. His diet consisted of locusts and wild honey (Mark 1:6). He kept the Nazarite vow, refraining from wine and strong drink (Luke 1:15; 7:33-34). Filled with the Holy Spirit from the womb (Luke 1:15, 40-41), he was a man of prayer, who taught his disciples to pray (Luke 5:33; 11:1).

John the Baptist is to Jesus in this Gospel what Barnabas is to Paul in the Book of Acts. Both these men have their time of prominence and visibility. Both prepare the way for the one who comes after them, who surpasses them. Perhaps it is best to say that John is most like his Master, the Lord Jesus, who is the model for all who would serve others in humility. In a day when individualism, competition and success are the guiding principles for life, for work, and even for Christian ministry, we would do well to reflect on the spirit of humility so evident in the life of John the Baptist.

Sunday January 22, 2023 The Gospel of John Week 3 – John 1:6-13 “Witness to the Light”

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Sunday – January 22, 2023

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Word On Worship – Sunday – January 22, 2023

John 1:6-8
There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.

The Apostle John turns our attention to John the Baptist. John the Baptist was a very prominent and respected individual. Many came to him to hear him preach, even though his message was a call to repentance. They were content to follow John, and even open to the possibility that he was the Messiah: “While the people were filled with anticipation, and they all pondered in their hearts whether perhaps John could be the Christ” (Luke 3:15). The amazing thing about John the Baptist is that he never performed a miracle or a sign; he only preached and baptized.

John the Apostle was the second disciple of John the Baptist who left him to follow Jesus (John 1:35-42), so it is little wonder that the writer of this Gospel has something to say about John the Baptist. It is interesting that the Apostle John does not refer to the Baptist as “John the Baptist,” but simply as “John.” The emphasis is not on John as a “baptizer,” but on John as a “witness.” John came as a witness to the “light,” that all men might put their trust in Him. John the Baptist was not the light, but only a witness to the light.

John the Baptist’s task was to bear witness to the “light.” His mission was the same as his disciple, John the Apostle: to focus his ministry on the One, so that men might come to believe in Him for salvation. The “light” to which John had been bearing witness had not dawned as yet, nor had Jesus yet been identified as that “light.” John could only speak of the “light” as One who was coming, One who was yet to be revealed. When John tells us that Jesus is the “light,” he is telling us that our Lord is the fulfillment of Israel’s hopes, realized in Messiah, who was symbolized and characterized by light in the Old Testament. Jesus is the “true light,” that is, the final consummation of that “light” foreshadowed in the Old Testament.

This One John has been introducing is Jesus Christ. He is the One of whom John the Baptist bore witness. He is the One who is greater than all. He is greater than John the Baptist; He existed before him. He is greater than the law. He is “full of grace and truth” (verse 14). The law was a revelation of God, written in stone. The Lord Jesus Christ is the revelation of God, manifest in human flesh, who tabernacled among men. He is the full and final revelation of God.