Sermon Tone Analysis

Come and See

JOHN, the Book, the Man – Part 2

January 21, 2007    Dr.

Rick Isbell

 

 

*READ – John 1:19-42a*

* *

*1:19  *The ministry of John the Baptist was so influential that the authorities in *Jerusalem *decided to send some religious leaders to investigate him.

-          *to ask *about his baptism and what he claimed for himself.

*1:20-21*  It is interesting that John the Baptist’s answers got increasingly shorter, same answer, fewer words to the pressing questions:

-          Who are you?

v.20 - *I am not the Christ*

-          Are you Elijah?   v.21 *- I am not *

-          Are you the prophet?

v.21 - *No *

-          He did not want to talk about himself, for his function was to point to Another – Jesus.

-          John the Baptist had an Elijah-type ministry.

o   He appeared on the scene suddenly

o   dressed like *Elijah*

o   sought to turn people back to God as Elijah did in his day

o   Therefore many speculated that John was Elijah who had returned.

*1:22-23.*

*John replied *that he was not any of the expected prophetic figures.

-          He explained that he was *the voice *(phōnē), while Jesus is the Word (/Logos/).

-          John’s function was one of preparation, and it was carried on in *the desert ~/ the wilderness.

*

*1:24-25.*

The *Pharisees *were an important sect of Judaism.

-          They numbered about 6,000

-          were VERY influential

-          held a strict interpretation of the Law

-          embraced the traditions of religion

-          Their question to John the Baptizer was, in essence, “Since you are non of these people (Christ, Elijah or Prophet) and have no official title, *why *are you baptizing?”

*1:26-27 * John knew that his baptizing work was only anticipatory.

-          He explained that another *One *was coming who was unknown to them.

-          That coming *One *is so great that John considered himself unworthy to do even the lowliest service for Him (such as untying His *sandals*).

*1:28 * All this happened in *Bethany across the Jordan *River

-          It is not to be confused with another Bethany, home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus which we will talk about in John 11

*1:29*  John’s second witness started at the beginning of a series of days - *The next day *

-          *John *identified *Jesus *as *the Lamb of God *

-          A connection to the Old Testament sacrifices of a sin offering

-          Of the worship offerings

-          Of the Passover lamb from Exodus

-          And Isaiah’s prophecy of the Messiah’s unto a lamb

-          John the Baptist, by the revelation of God, saw Jesus as the sacrificial Lamb who *takes away the sins of the world.*

*1:30-31.*

John repeated here what he had said earlier about Jesus, that John the Baptist’s fame was to be superseded by that of Jesus

-          *He was before me.

*

-          But why did John say, I myself did not know *Him?

*

-          Though John the Baptist and Jesus were related, as their mothers, Mary and Elizabeth were relatives (Luke 1:36), nothing is known of any contacts between them in their years of childhood and adolescence.

-          John the Baptist did not know that Jesus was the coming One until He was revealed by the Father.

-          All John knew was that he was to prepare the way for Him by *baptizing with water.

*

-          God would send The Chosen One *to Israel *in His own time.

*1:32  *The baptism of Jesus itself is not recorded in John’s Gospel but because of John being one of the Synoptic Gospels, we know that John the Baptist batptized Jesus and the Spirit of God descended from heaven in the form of a dove and landed on Jesus.

-          Remember that the Synoptic Gospels mean that the four Gospels, Mt, Mk, Lk, Jn fit together to tell one story from different perspectives.

o   Like if you go to a doctor to find out what is wrong with you, they might do an X-ray, blood work, MRI and Cat Scan all for the purpose of one diagnosis from multiple angles for one problem.

o   So it is that the four Synoptic Gospels with different angles tell the same story.

*1:33 * John the Baptist had been *told *by God that when you see the Sprit dove descend on a man, that man that you baptize with water is the One who will *baptize with the Holy Spirit*.

-          Of course we learn later in Acts that at Pentecost, 50 days after Jesus’ resurrection, the baptism with the Holy Spirit brought in the Living Church of a Living Lord

*1:34 * John the Baptist’s testimony was *that He is the Son of God.

*

-          The title “Son of God” goes beyond the idea of kinship to Jesus’ essential nature as we discussed last week with the idea that the Word (Logos) WAS God.

-          In the book of John, this title is not applied to believers – like you and me – They are called “children” of God while “Son” of God is reserved for Jesus alone.

*1:35-36*  *The next day *refers to the second day in this series of days

-          The most likely reason for this chronological notation is that the John the author wanted to notate how quickly some of the early disciples of Jesus readily switched their allegiance from John the Baptist the VOICE, to Jesus the WORD.

-          In verse 36, John the Baptist clearly pointed to Jesus as being the one to which they should direct their attention

*1:37  Two *of John the Baptist’s *disciples heard *his witness and *followed Jesus.

*

-          The word “followed” has a double meaning here

o   They followed Him in the sense of literal walking and

o   also as His disciples

*1:38.*

The first words the disciples heard from *Jesus *were, *What are you looking for?

*

-          In one sense Jesus was asking a simple question and the disciples responded with a request for information – *where are you staying?*

-          But John the author seemed to imply more.

-          Perhaps Jesus was also asking, “What are you seeking in life?”

o   The word translated *staying *(menō) is a favorite word of John’s.

o   This Greek word occurs here in his writings for the first time.

o   Of the 112 New Testament passages in which it occurs, 66 are in John’s writings—40 in the Gospel of John, 23 in 1 John, and 3 in 2 John

o   Sometimes, as here, it means “to stay or dwell” in a place;

o   a few times it means “to last or continue”;

o   but more often it has a theological connotation: “to remain, continue, abide”

*1:39  *Jesus’ words of invitation were, *Come . . .

and you will see.

*

-          In addition to their seeing where He stayed, these words most likely have a deeper theological implication.

-          The two disciples remained with Him *that day, *beginning at *the 10th hour*

*1:40  Andrew, *one of the two disciples who *followed Jesus, *was the first proclaimer of Jesus as *the Messiah.

*

-          In Hebrew, “Messiah” means “the anointed One,”

-          in Greek it is translated ‘Christos’ *Christ *

-          Being anointed was an OT practice to set apart kings and priests… anointing them with oil.

-          This new King, this highest of all Priests was anointed not with oil, but with the very essence of God Himself.

*1:41  *When Andrew realized who Jesus was, the first thing he did was to find his own brother and tell him, *“we have found the Messiah!”*

*1:41  and he brought his brother Simon to Jesus.

*

-          When Andrew brought *Simon *Peter to Christ, he did the church the greatest service that any man in history has ever done, which we will flesh out more later.

-          Andrew appears two more times in John’s Gospel; both times, as we will see, he was bringing someone else to Jesus.

This passage states that there were *two *disciples (other than Simon) who gave their devotion and allegiance to Jesus:

-          The unnamed disciple is commonly believed to be John the son of Zebedee, the brother of James and the author of this Gospel… the Apostle John, himself

-          Without calling attention to himself, he subtly tells us that he was won over by the Lamb of God.

Let me give you four thoughts I have on what we have read and expanded on here this morning:

 

1.

John the Baptist said:  “Come and see the Promise.”

He said that I have come to baptize you with water, but there One coming, the Promise, will baptize you with the Spirit.

What is baptism?

A seal of approval

-          It impresses upon our hearts that we are God’s child

-          It impresses upon the hearts of OTHERS that we are God’s child

-          In the story of the Prodigal Son

o   the ring symbolized kinship

o   the shoes symbolized wealth

o   the robe symbolized rank in the Father’s domain