The Glory of the Son: Full of Grace and Truth, John 1:1-18

John, the Witness to the Light

 

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.”

John 1:15 “John testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’”

John 1:19-23 “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.” They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” Then they said to him, “Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am A VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, ‘MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”

 

John the Baptist

1. Sent from God, John 1:6
2. A witness about the Light, John 1:7-8

• He was not the Light, only a witness

3. Humbly exalted in the eternal nature of the Messiah, John 1:15
4. Fulfillment of Isaiah’s Messianic prophecy, John 1:19-23

• Prophecy from Isaiah 40:1-9

 

The Glory of the Son: Full of Grace and Truth, John 1:1-18

John, the Witness to the Light

Introduction (Header – Slide 1)

• AWANA leaders meeting - Wednesday, August 3 at 6:30 in the fellowship hall
• We turn now from the Logos – the Word – to a brief excurses about a man
• John the Baptist appears in all four Gospels and his significance to the nation of Israel along with his significance as a forerunner of the coming Messiah is the major emphasis
• As a kid, we were always astonished by John because of his fashion and dietary issues – he wore camel’s hair and a leathery belt, he ate bugs dipped in honey
• We were also struck by his habit of baptizing all these people
• He lives in the wilderness area off the Jordon River and all day long preaches to passersby and convinces many of them to come down into the Jordon
• He baptizes – thus the name – “John the Baptizer”
• His baptism message is a little different than the baptism of the church
• He baptizes as a mark of repentance from sins and a turning toward God
• He calls people snakes and warns them of God’s coming judgment on them
• So brash, so outlandish is this Old Testament prophet in the vein of Elijah or Isaiah or Jeremiah that he willingly and publically calls out a local king for the king’s immorality
• In the end, this act of public confrontation gets him arrested and subsequently killed – again in a fashion that causes the Sunday school going child some real moments of pause – beheaded
• Ironically – as much as all of this stokes our imagination, it is none of this that grabs us here
• It is not the significance of John that grabs us, but his insignificance in comparison to John’s subject matter thus far in the text
• We will look only at these first three verses and I will come back to the rest of John the Baptist at a later point
• I know they are in the notes, but that will give you a feel for the type of witness John is giving

John the Baptist

1. Sent from God, John 1:6

• Read John 1:6 (Slide 2)
• Notices the striking contrast between John the Baptist and the Logos
• Read John 1:1-2 (Slide 3)
• “The Word” – “a man”
• “sent from God” – “”was with God, was God”
• Read John 1:3 (Slide 4)
• “all things came into being by Him” - “came a man”
• Read John 1:6 (Slide 5)
• In some ways, though this passage is about the good witness of John, John is set in contrast to the Logos – “the Word of God”

2. A witness about the Light, John 1:7-8

• What was John sent to do?
• Read John 1:7 (Slide 6)
• “He came as a witness” “All things came into being through Him”
• The word witness is the word “martyr” as so many witnesses of the early church were martyred that to bear witness meant to bear that witness until it lead to your death – and so it was with John
• John ultimately is martyred for his bearing witness to the light
• In the verses just prior to this we discover that the Logos is the Light of the world
• Read John 1:4-5 (Slide 7)
• The Light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it
• Along comes John to make the darkness comprehend it
• Read John 1:7 (Slide 8)
• The concept of testimony in Jewish circles and how important this is to Jesus throughout John’s Gospel
• Consider this, as a sample of many passages about witnesses in John
• Read John 5:36-38 (Slide 9)
• In this dialogue between Jesus and the religious leaders of His day, they are demanding proof that Jesus can do and say what He is doing and saying
• Jesus identifies three witnesses over a few verses – John the Baptist is one such witness and we will look at that verse in just a minute
• Here in these three verses Jesus identifies two witnesses – the Father and the works or miraculous signs that Jesus had done
• Consider another example of a witness similar to John’s
• Read John 4:39 (Slide 10)
• Here the Woman at the Well functions as a witness – ironic because no self-respecting Jewish lawyer during the time of Christ would take her witness
• However, we see the impact of her witness
• Read John 4:41-42 (Slide 11)
• It reminds me of how struck I am by the baptism testimonies of so many
• I have kept every baptism testimony from every person I have ever baptized
• I read their testimony as a part of their baptism as a testimony – a witness to what God has done that brought them to this point
• Now back to John 1
• Read John 1:7 (Slide 12)
• He was not the Light, only a witness
• John the Apostle then gives us this qualifier, just to make sure we are not confused about the role of John the Baptizer
• Read John 1:8 (Slide 13)
• Lead me to ask this question this week – how is it that we are the light of the world as Jesus says in Matthew 5 and yet here John is not the light
• Read John 5:33-35 (Slide 14)
• In this text Jesus refers to John as a lamp
• Read Matthew 5:14-15 (Slide 15)
• You are the light of the world, but what will people see
• Read Matthew 5:16 (Slide 16)
• See your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven
• Read John 1:8 (Slide 17)
• So John’s calling is our calling – for just as the woman at the well and so with John the Baptist – we are called to give witness to the world concerning the Light of the World Jesus Christ
• Ultimately the universe and our lives are about the true Light that has come into our world and we are to make much of the true Light by pointing everyone, anywhere and anytime to the Light