Posts tagged Walking through the Bible

John 1:19-23 (ESV): 19 And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” 21And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” 22 So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23 He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

John’s primary role was to be a witness of the coming messiah.  In order to ascribe authenticity to himself, he sets himself within the context of Isaiah 40:3 when he says, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord.’” He makes clear that he is a prophet that was spoken of in the scriptures and so John is a herald announcing that the kingdom has arrived.  The messiah is upon us.  A message of this nature would of course bring crowds as there was much anticipation of the messiah at this time.  However, John would have been forgotten if it had not been for the fact that the messiah actually did come.  John was the opening act of the grandest story in all of time — the truest story of all time!

There is also one thing especially that I take from John the Baptist more than any other figure in the New Testament.  John was a man called for a very specific purpose.  He had a very short ministry.  He had no glory for what he did.  And as we find out in the other gospels, he would pay with his life for being a prophet.  John forsakes it all for the gospel. In our rather cushy time in America, it is John who reminds me of so many things that get lost.

First, we cannot expect anything materially in this age.  We are not all going to be as wild as John, but we need to avoid being in chains for our materialism.

Second, we need to focus on doing what we are called to do, no matter how small it may seem and no matter the cost.  Our focus should not be on what we get out of this world, but on the Kingdom of God.

Third, we have to be prepared to pay the ultimate price.  We may not pay physically as John did, but we might.  But, either way, we need to die to this world and follow Christ.

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Walking through the Bible is a verse by verse study of the Bible. A small segment of verses will be looked at each time and a brief, but relevant study of the text will be conducted.

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John 1:16-17:   16 From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

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In these verses, John is pointing to one of the immediate changes that we find in the messiah.  John does not expound on it, but instead hints ever so slightly that the Jewish expectations of the messiah may not be correct.  The Jewish people expected a messiah to come and to reign immediately on the earth.  However, as we know, Jesus did  not – - at least, not on the earth.  And so while John does not address this fact immediately, he does hint at it by indicating the purpose of Christ when he says, “grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”  By connecting this statement to the one preceding it (the law was given through Moses), we also find the connection of Jesus to the Jewish scriptures.

Again, as indicated previously, John is setting the framework for our thoughts about Jesus prior to going into the events of His life.  So, the function of this verse fits nicely into that overall purpose.  First, John ensured in prior verses that we saw Jesus as more than a man.  In fact, John told us that Jesus was God incarnate (come in the flesh).  Now, John is telling us that his coming has essentially two purposes (among others):

Grace:  Jesus came this first time to die on the cross.  By doing so, He laid down His life as the perfect sacrifice, bearing the judgment of God, and offering His grace to those who believe in Him.

Truth:  For those who do believe Him, he offers truth, brought along by the Holy Spirit in our lives as we are molded and made into the image of Christ.

These two concepts are the primary reasons that the covenant held together by the law has been replaced.  Jesus has provided a new way, a direct connection to the truth and grace of Christ.

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Walking through the Bible is a verse by verse study of the Bible. A small segment of verses will be looked at each time and a brief, but relevant study of the text will be conducted.

Popularity: 3% [?]

John 1:14: The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

I decided to go a little more into this verse:

John is preparing to transition into the more historical aspects of his Gospel, the events of Jesus life, and so it is appropriate that he come to this point where he looks back to his opening line about the logos.  He is about to start writing about Jesus and all of the things he did and so he says here, “The Word [Logos] became flesh.”  Thus, this is a key line that prevents us from marginalizing Jesus the man.  He was certainly more than a man.  By saying, the word became flesh, we are unable to call him a mere man and instead have to acknowledge at the least that he was greater than a man.  And yet, as we recall from verse 1, “the Word was with God, and the Word was God” and the following verse that affirms that this Word made everything and He Himself was not made, we must conclude that John is tying these together and clearly claiming that Jesus was God come in the flesh.  He is effectively setting the backdrop for the rest of his Gospel and unlike the other three Gospels, John is making his theological claims right from the start.  Whereas they may have done it in a more subtle manner, John is laying it out there and saying, God came to visit His people.

What truth is there that is greater than the fact that God came to earth as man with a plan of redemption?  The God that created everything we see simply by speaking it into existence came with a plan to die the lowliest of deaths for the lowliest of people.  The deeper I think about my Christian faith, the more I see myself in a mirror and realize how truly unworthy I am.  And I think of Paul who said in regards to sinners in 1 Timothy 1:15, “I am the worst.”  This is the same Paul that we rely on for so much of the New Testament.

To think that God was mindful of man enough to come and die for us – amazing!  He not only came, but he had a plan!

We must be ever mindful of the nature of Jesus and so I appreciate that John wrote his Gospel in the manner that he did.  As we read on about the events of Jesus life, it should always be within our thoughts that Jesus, while fully man, was also fully God.  As he later submits humbly to be killed, we must also recall that he did so while restraining the power that he had at his disposal.  It is one thing for a man to submit to a greater power humbly when he knows he has no alternatives.  However, Jesus submitted humbly to be sacrificed even though he had the power to do otherwise.  What can we say, but WOW?!

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Walking through the Bible is a verse by verse study of the Bible. A small segment of verses will be looked at each time and a brief, but relevant study of the text will be conducted.

Popularity: 6% [?]

John 1:10-13:  He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

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Let’s look first at verse 10, “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.”  We see here again the reference to Christ as the creator, a clear indication of his deity.  And despite his coming to earth, only a small few came to believe in him during his time on earth.  We can go even a step further.  In verse 11, it tells us, “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.”  This is a clear reference to Jesus coming to the Jews, of whom, he was not only a Jew, but as it turns out, it was YHWH himself visiting his people.  I believe you have to look at it in both contexts.  This was perhaps not as obvious at the time, but nonetheless true.

Thankfully, our merciful God had a plan that included redemption, which we find in verses 12 and 13, “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”  We can become children of God!  What can we say to this, but wow?!  If we see ourselves rightly, we should understand that there is nothing in us deserving of such honor, and yet the God of the world came to earth as a lowly baby, lived a humble life marching towards a death on a cross, so that he could redeem us.  That’s love!

John is nearly finished with his introduction to the gospel he is pinning and has set the framework for the presentation he will make.  He has made clear references to to the deity of Christ and the redemptive plan of salvation found in him. And importantly in this verse, he has provided what has been a hallmark of Christianity that Jesus himself spoke of, that a person must be born again; hence, where we get the term ‘born again Christian.’ There is even a clear reference to the nature of this spiritual birth in the phrase, “born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”  This birth is supernatural.

As we continue to read John, we will find the beginnings of what are later determined as Biblical doctrines.  Watch for them along the way.

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Walking through the Bible is a verse by verse study of the Bible. A small segment of verses will be looked at each time and a brief, but relevant study of the text will be conducted.

Popularity: 9% [?]

John 1:5:  The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

This verse concludes the initial intro to the Gospel of John.  These first five verses fit quite nicely together, setting up the rest of the chapter.  All five deal greatly with the deity of Christ, but also with role of Christ as the true light.  And yet, as I alluded to in my prior post, this verse now tells us that the “darkness has not understood” the light.  I think there are a couple of interpretations here and at this point, I cannot be dogmatic.  The two main options are the one above where the darkness did not understand or comprehend.  However, some interpretations use the word “overcome.”  This would seem to mean something else entirely.  So, let’s look at the actual Greek word:

Katalambano

Clearly, this is a much more versatile word that we are used to dealing with.  It is used in Mark 9:18 to describe a demon “seizing” a person.  It is used in Romans 9:30 in saying regarding the gentiles that they have “attained” righteousness.  I am by far and away a novice when it comes to Greek, but I rather think the first interpretation does more justice to what is being communicated.  It fits into the other verses that we have already discussed and makes sense.  Jesus comes into the world as the one true light, but is rejected because so many did not comprehend the truth.  And in fact, I rather like the overarching definition of laying hold of.  You might say that we did not lay hold of the truth (the light).

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Walking through the Bible is a verse by verse study of the Bible. A small segment of verses will be looked at each time and a brief, but relevant study of the text will be conducted.

Popularity: 1% [?]