The first sign, John 2:1-11

 In our study of the first chapter of John, we saw the author under the inspiration of God give a masterful treatise stating the theology of Jesus Christ; that He is God in the flesh, He was with God from the beginning, He is Light and the light of the world, and that He is the Life of men, that is the Creator, the giver and sustainer of life.  That was John’s opening argument in his gospel, which is given as an apologetic as well as an evangelistic message, the purpose of which is stated in John 20:31, “but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”

Then we saw in the remainder of chapter one that John brought forth witnesses to corroborate his claim.  The first witness was John the Baptist who declared Jesus is the Son of God and the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  And then  John brought another group of men forward as witnesses, that being the Andrew, Simon Peter, Philip and Nathanael.  Andrew called Him the Messiah, Philip said of Him that He was the One of whom Moses and the Prophets wrote, and Nathanael called Him the Son of God, the King of Israel.

Now beginning in chapter 2, John provides illustrations from the works of Christ which attest to His divinity and His purpose; that He is the Son of God, and the Messiah, that is the Savior of the world.  And to do this, John begins with what he calls a sign, or what we would call a miracle.  John says in vs.11, that this was the beginning of signs that Jesus did, and they manifested His glory, and because of this sign, His disciples believed in Him.

Now I would point out that His disciples already believed in Him as attested to in chapter one.  But this sign increased and strengthened their faith.  And that fulfills a spiritual principle found in Luke 19:26, "I tell you that to everyone who has, more shall be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.” In other words, God will build your faith as you follow Him in faith.

Now before we get into the event in detail, I just want to be sure you understand the purpose of signs or miracles in the gospels.  Many people mistakenly look at the miracles recorded in scripture and think they are a blueprint for what we can expect to accomplish in our lives.  But as we look at the gospels, we see that the miracles are not simply exhibitions of our Lord’s power but they are designed to teach us certain spiritual truth.  I have stated before on numerous occasions that all miracles in the gospels are given as a parable to teach a spiritual principle.  And we would do well to remember that as we study the scriptures.  No where is it taught that Jesus healed everyone, or performed miracles in order to make His life easier or just to remove some difficulty. But miracles serve to illustrate a spiritual principle by means of an earthly parable.

And I like the word John uses rather than using the word miracle.  He uses the word sign.  We all know what signs are, don’t we?  You are driving down the road at night and you see a yellow diamond shaped sign with an image of a leaping deer, you know what that means don’t you?  I know what some of you think.  “Target practice.”  But seriously, we all know it warns us that deer might be on the road ahead.  And in the same way a sign as used in this passage points to a person, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.  It points ahead to a time when Christ will be manifested to the world, but for now we see a sign signifying that He is Lord.

So we know then that the following miracle is not merely presented as just a happy circumstance that happened 2000 years ago, but that it points to something that will be revealed fully later, it points to a truth about Christ.  So as we unpack this account, let’s focus on the principles that God is teaching us through this sign.  And there are a number of them here.  But first let’s fill in a little background information in order to be able to understand it fully.

The third day establishes the chronology of John as he gives this historical account, after the day mentioned at the end of chapter one when he saw Philip and Philip called Nathanael.  There have been two days intervening, when Jesus and the disciples traveled to Cana of Galilee, which was the hometown of Nathanael.  So not only  Nathanael would have known the groom who was being married in this tiny village, but obviously Jesus did as well, as it says in vs.2 that He and His disciples were invited to the wedding.  And it’s likely that since Cana is only about 6 miles from Nazareth, and Jesus’ mother was in attendance and she seems to have direction over the wine and servants, that there is a good possibility that this is the marriage of one of Jesus’ brothers.  That is speculation of course, but it accounts for the fact that His mother is in a supervisory role in the marriage over the wine and the servants.

But I would point out that John has deliberately left out such details.  They are not really germane to the story or the principle of the story.  Many people have read way too much in between the lines of this account and as a result have come up with all sorts of false doctrines, such as the worship of Mary and the intercession of Mary, so that they teach the need to pray to Mary to intercede on their behalf.  And nothing could be further from the truth.  In fact, the event proves that Mary is in need of a Savior just as everyone else is.  She is not in a preferred status as evidenced in Jesus addressing her as “woman” rather than mother.

Now just a word about weddings in general in those times.  Weddings were the social events of the year in that culture. When people came to a marriage celebration, they came because there had been a betrothal, an engagement period. About a year earlier, the couple had been engaged. That was a legal, binding, contract that could only be broken by divorce. But the marriage wasn’t consummated at this point.  It was consummated at the end of the celebration which sometimes lasted for up to a week.

Ancient Jewish weddings were very different from our modern affairs. In western weddings the bride is the prominent figure. When the bride enters, clothed in all her glory, the whole congregation stands and the organ plays, "Here comes the bride! " and every eye is focused on her. But in ancient Jewish weddings it was the groom that was prominent. He was the one whose coming was anticipated.

So for a year the husband has been preparing a place for his bride. He would have purchased or built a house for his bride and prepared it for them to live in.  And during this time he would have been working to pay for the cost of the wedding feast.  The bridegroom had full responsibility for all the cost of the wedding which lasted for up to a week and involved the whole village.  His job was to get everything ready, and then when everything was ready and the house was built and the house was furnished and all preparations were made and he had demonstrated that he had what it took to care for his bride and to provide for her, he would come take his bride to his house and the celebrations began.

Now I cannot help but see a correlation here in this account of the marriage in Cana to the marriage of Christ and the church as His bride.  In Ephesians 5 Paul talks about the church being the bride of Christ and compares His relationship to the human institution of marriage between a man and a woman.  Listen to this; Eph. 5:23-32, “For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body. FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.”  Notice that a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh.  Is that not an echo of what we read at the beginning of chapter one, that the Word was with God, but the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  He became one of us, that He might be joined to us, so that we might become one with God.

So in the marriage of Christ and the church Jesus is the bridegroom and we are the bride of Christ.  Jesus calls Himself the bridegroom in Matt. 9:15 “And Jesus said to them, "The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.” 

So as we understand the symbolism of marriage, Christ became flesh to seek a bride which is His church.  He betrothed Himself to her.  He has made promises to come again and take us to His home which He said He is preparing for us.  And when He comes again, we will join in the celebration of the  marriage supper of the Lamb and then we will be like Him and join Him on the throne in His glory to rule and reign and live with Him forever. 

Now as we understand that, it helps us to know what Jesus is saying when He responds to His mother’s complaint that they had run out of wine.  This was a major faux paus on the part of the bridegroom.  He somehow either did not have the means to buy enough wine, or they had more people show up than they had planned for or the party ran a few days longer.  And the fact is they couldn’t just run down to the store and pick up a few more bottles.  So if one of Jesus’ brothers were getting married, and Mary was the matron of honor so to speak, then the family of Jesus was responsible for getting more wine.  Jesus as the eldest son would have had the headship of the family.  It is generally agreed upon by most scholars that Joseph was dead by this time and so Jesus would have taken on the responsibility as head of the family. 

So Mary says to Jesus, “They have no wine.”  And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what do I have to do with you? My hour is not yet come.”  Now there is a lot of commentary on that phrase, “what do I have to do with you,” as well as the fact that He called His mother Woman.  First of all, Woman was not a term of disrespect, but a word which signaled a change in relationship between Jesus and Mary.  As Jesus began His earthly ministry, He would no longer be bound by familial restraints as head of the household, and as a consequence she would have no more hold over Him in the usual way a mother might have over her son. But even more to the point, as I said earlier, it indicates that  she does not have any special privilege as His mother.  She would have to come to Christ the same way every other person must come; as a sinner, saved by grace.  Even on the cross, as He is obviously full of concern for His mother, He calls her Woman, even as He passes on responsibility for her well being to the Apostle John.  So it’s not a disparaging title, but a term designating a change of position, from Son to Savior.

And then to the question of what He said.  A better reading might be; “What is that to you and to Me?” In other words, the fact that they don’t have wine, what is that to us?  My hour is not yet come.”

Now keep in mind the picture presented here is Christ coming for His church, His bride.  He is saying I am not ready to provide the wine at this point of my ministry, because my hour is not yet come.  So what is does the wine symbolize? Well, in a few minutes we will be celebrating another supper, the Lord’s Supper.  And as you know there are two elements in communion, the wine and the bread.  And Jesus quoted by Paul in 1Cor. 11:25 says,  “In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me."  Now when Jesus said that, obviously it could not be His own blood as the Catholics would have us believe, because He had not yet shed His blood.  So what was it?  It was wine.  Wine symbolizes then the blood of Christ which washes away our sins, in which we have forgiveness of our sins.  This is the token of the new covenant which Hebrews 9:15 speaks of, which is better than the old covenant which featured the blood of bulls and goats which could never take away sins.  But the new covenant in His blood takes away sins and purchases the right to an eternal inheritance.

So Jesus is saying, My hour to die on the cross and shed My blood for the remission of sins is not yet come.  He will say the same thing in John 7:30 “So they were seeking to seize Him; and no man laid his hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.”  He speaks of His hour in another half a dozen places in John’s gospel. And finally in His priestly prayer before His crucifixion in chapter 17 He prays, “Father, the hour has come, glorify your Son.”  Amazing isn’t it?  That He equates crucifixion with glory.  And why would He say that?  Because at that time He purchases the redemption and sanctification of His bride.  In that act God destroys the power of sin and death and crushes the head of the serpent, Satan.  His death achieves the glory of God.  It manifests the glory of Christ and it makes possible the glory of the church, His bride. So then His hour He speaks of is the time when He offers up His life as a sacrifice on the cross for sin, purchasing with His blood the remission of sins for all who believe on Him.

So Jesus says, “I am not ready to be glorified at this point.  I am not ready to shed my blood which will be the wine of the new covenant at this hour.  That hour is coming, but it is not now.

But somehow Mary understands that He isn’t speaking a rebuke to her, He is speaking metaphorically of His glorification which had been promised her by the angels before His birth.  And so she turns to the servants and says “Whatever He says to you, do it.”  Mary doesn’t speak much on record in the scriptures, and so we should find what she says very instructive.  Our emphasis is not on the words of Mary, or the actions of Mary as an intercessor, but on the Word made flesh.  Our obedience and obeisance should be to the words of Christ.  The preference is not given to Mary but to Jesus and her instructions indicate that.

So Jesus knowing the need, supplies the abundance.  He said He came to give life and that more abundantly.  And that is a principle we see here in this sign as well in other places, particularly at the feeding of the multitudes.  Jesus does not just supply barely enough, or not quite enough, but supplies grace upon grace.  John 1:16 “for of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.”  This is speaking of His grace of righteousness to cover our sins.  We cannot spend all the grace of Christ.  Not that we should desire to presume upon the grace of God through licentiousness in continuing to sin, but that regardless of the greatness of our sin, the greatness of our separation from God, He has provided more grace than enough to reconcile us to God. 

So Jesus orders the servants to take the six empty water pots and fill them with water.  And the servants fill them to the brim.  The Bible scholars tell us that this would have been about 120 to 150 gallons of water. That would have provided well over 3000 servings of wine.  The significance of that is a measure of His grace; of His fullness, of the abundant supply of righteousness. And then when the servant drew out the water and presented it to the head waiter he was astonished that the bridegroom had saved the best wine for last.

I used to train wine stewards when I was in the hotel restaurant business.  And I can assure you that if the wine steward knew it was wine, it was indeed wine.  Now it is well known that they watered wine down in those days three parts water to one part wine, so that it was very difficult to get drunk from normal table wine.  But it was wine, and furthermore, it was very good wine.

Now a note about the water pots.  John says that they were used for ceremonial washings; for the Jewish custom of purification.  The Levitical law required certain ceremonial washings in regard to sacrifices and various modes of daily life.  But over time the Jews had added customs to the law that far exceeded the intent of the law to imply that the physical cleanliness was a means of spiritual cleanness.  As you will remember, the Pharisees condemned the disciples at one point to Jesus because they had not ceremoniously washed their hands before eating.  And later on Jesus condemns that sort of external ceremony that does not cleanse the heart of sin.  Matt. 23:25 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.”  So Jesus condemns the ceremonial washings which could never take away spiritual uncleanness.

So as we already alluded to, the old covenant could not take away sins by the blood of bulls and goats, nor could the customs and traditions imposed by the religious leaders take away sins.  And let me be even more clear, the ceremony of baptism cannot wash away sins.  All of those things are just signs as well, pointing to the blood of Christ which is the only thing that can take away sin. 

So what are the principles that we learn from this parable illustrated by a sign?  One is that when Christ bestows a blessing it is usually preceded by a command.  Secondly, Christ’s commands are not to be questioned, but obeyed.  Thirdly, that Christ is the bridegroom that has purchased the redemption of His bride with His blood, for the forgiveness of their sins and to give them an inheritance prepared in heaven. Fourth, that as the wine was more than enough to meet the needs of the party, His grace is more than sufficient for all our sins, that we have received His fullness and grace upon grace.  Fifth, that only His blood is sufficient to cleanse us from sin, but that no ceremony has the power to do more than point to Christ.  Sixth, that the new covenant is a better covenant, enacted on better promises.  And seventh, that He has saved the best for last. 

As Heb. 11:39-40 says concerning the patriarchs and heroes of the faith of old, “And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.”  We are living in the last days.  And God has saved the best for last.  We have the complete, perfect revelation of Christ.  We have His death, burial, resurrection of Christ and He now stands at the Father’s right hand to make intercession for us. We have all the promises of God made more sure by the written scripture.  We have the immeasurable benefit of the Holy Spirit living in us, even as wine in stone water pots. Even as 2Cor. 4:7 says, that “we have this treasure in earthen vessels.” So that by the power of the Spirit within us we might live to the glory of Christ.  Our redeemed, transformed lives are able to bring about glory to Christ through  His death which is symbolized in the wine of His blood which was shed for us. 

Our Lord is able to take the person who recognizes that they fall short of the righteousness required and with his touch make them full of abundant life; to turn their mourning into joy. He will do this with any who will call upon Him, follow Him, and believe in Him. That is why John highlights for us in vs.11, that seeing this sign,  “the disciples believed in Him." I pray that your faith in Christ has been strengthened as well as we understand the significance of this sign; what Christ has done for us and what His purpose is for us as we follow Him.

The testimony of the disciples, John 1:35-51

 As we continue in our study of the book of John, I would remind you that John has given a theological treatise, or opening argument in the first 18 verses that is unparalleled in scripture establishing the divinity of Jesus Christ.  And then starting in vs. 19 he brought forth his first witness to testify to his premise which is stated in chapter 20vs.11, “but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.” That is the purpose of his epistle.  To show that Jesus is the Christ, that is the Messiah, and that He is the Son of God, and as a result to illuminate men to the saving knowledge of that truth, so that we might have life, eternal life, in His name.

So as John proceeds to lay out his gospel he first brings John the Baptist to give testimony as to the eternal nature of Jesus, to give testimony that God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit, to testify that Jesus the Christ, that is the Messiah, to testify that Jesus was the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world, and to testify that Jesus was the Son of God.  That was the testimony of John the Baptist.

Now according to Jewish law, every fact was to be corroborated by two or three witnesses.  So starting in vs. 35, John introduces three more testimonials from ordinary common men who would become  disciples of Christ.  And we are going to look at these men’s testimony.  But in the process of hearing their testimony, we will also see revealed the ultimate goal of John which is to show the way of salvation, so that one might have life in Christ.  And in the process of showing the way of salvation, we will also see the method of evangelism.  So you might break down this passage by saying there are three points that are interwoven in the narrative; the testimony of the disciples presented, the way of salvation presented, and the method of evangelism presented.

Let’s begin with the testimony of the disciples presented and we will see the other two elements interwoven in the process as we go along. The apostle has already introduced John the Baptist and his testimony.  But as a means of introducing the next witnesses he says that John the Baptist was standing with two of his disciples when he sees Jesus walking by, and he said, “Behold the Lamb of God,” and his disciples left him and followed Jesus.  Now this is a restatement of John the Baptist, having already declared this the previous day as we see in vs.29.  But the day before day Jesus was walking towards him, and on this day Jesus is walking away from him.  And John’s declaration at this time is to point to Jesus as the one that they should follow. John came to prepare the way for Him who was to come, and when He comes, to point men to follow Him. 

Now we know from the other gospels that John came preaching a gospel of repentance.  So his disciples had learned his message of sin and repentance and the need to get their hearts right before the coming of the Messiah.  So when John the Baptist sees Jesus coming in vs.29, he declares that this is the Messiah, the Lamb of God who will take away their sin.  It is one thing to know that you need to repent of your sins, it is another to recognize that Jesus is the Lamb of God appointed by God to be the Savior of the world, the substitute who will bear the penalty of sin that we deserve.

And that is the way of salvation presented. Repent and believe.  The two lynch pins of salvation, faith and repentance.  Repentance will not save you unless you recognize the One who has the power to forgive your sins, to take away your sins, to bear your sins.  And John pointed them to Jesus Christ as the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world.

And I just want to point out one Old Testament reference which foretells that Jesus would be the Lamb of God who would be our substitute. There are many illustrations in the OT, particularly the Lamb which took the place of Isaac when Abraham was about to sacrifice his son, as well as the  Passover Lamb, and the sacrificial lambs used in the temple sacrificial system, but I want to reference a few verses in Isaiah 53:4-7 which attribute this title directly to Christ. “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth…,vs.11, By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities.”   There it is; the Lamb of God led to the slaughter, who will take our punishment upon Himself, and who will bear our sins on the cross.  What a tremendous picture of our Savior, as the Lamb of God.

Now these two men had been John’s disciples, but now John the Baptist is directing them to become Jesus’ disciples.  Only one of the disciples is named here, that being Andrew, but practically all Bible scholars agree that the apostle John is actually the other disciple.  His humility keeps him from ever naming himself in his writings, but there are a number of hints that this is John the author himself. 

So they left John the Baptist and followed Jesus.  And Jesus seeing them following Him turned to them and asked, “What do you seek?” and they answered, “Rabbi, which is translated Teacher, where are You staying?”  And this further illustrates the way of salvation.  Salvation is marked by following in the footsteps of Christ. 1Peter 2:21-22, 24 says,  “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; ... and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.” 

Listen, the way of salvation is not merely to acknowledge certain facts about God, or even to claim certain benefits because of what Christ has done, but to become a disciple of Christ, to follow in His footsteps, to be joined to the body, the head of whom is Christ, and so then doing the works of Christ.

And that is seen in the text; they first follow Jesus, calling Him Rabbi, meaning He is their teacher and they will do what He tells them to do, and then they enter into communion/fellowship with Him.  They respond to His question of what do you seek, with “Rabbi, where are you staying?”  I love that they didn’t see the way of salvation as a once a week visit with Christ, but 24/7 living with Christ.  They moved in with Him.  To live with Him and He with them.  That is the communion we have as  believers.  Christ in us and we in Christ.

So Jesus says, “Come and you will see.” Now it was the 10^th hour, that is 4pm, and so they stayed with Him that day.  They were being taught by Christ now, and it’s a constant, 24/7 experience that will go on for 3 years, and then when He leaves and the Holy Spirit comes at Pentecost, He continues with them forever.   And this is the reality of our salvation.  We become one with God because He lives in us.  And He is with us constantly, forever, leading us, guiding us, and helping us.  Making His word live in us and giving us eternal life.  That’s what is involved in becoming saved, it’s becoming disciples.  That is the great commission by the way.  Not to make converts, but to make disciples.  I think there are a lot of people that consider themselves Christians today as opposed to being Muslim, or Atheists.  But that is not salvation, nor is it discipleship.  We are told to go make disciples.  And before we can make a disciple we must first be a disciple, a follower of Christ’s example.

Now finally we come to the first testimony of the disciples, and in the wonderful economy of the scriptures we also see evangelism presented.  And this example is especially instructive, for we see that after his experience with Jesus, Andrew goes and finds his brother Peter.  And he says, ““We have found the Messiah” and he brought Peter to Jesus.  We hear a similar expression often in the church, “leading someone to the Lord.”  If we are not careful, we sometimes think of it in terms of us takings someone through steps to salvation.  That is not something we can do, nor should we try to do.  What we should do is lead someone to Christ.  We tell them about Christ. He does the saving.  We just make the introduction.  We should testify of Him, even as Andrew does to his brother, that he has found the Messiah.  And I would just add that our families should be the first people we share the gospel with. Our families are the first frontier of evangelism. That should be natural; if you truly love people you will share the gospel with them.  What’s the point of going  on a foreign mission trip if we haven’t first evangelized our loved ones here at home? 

So Peter comes to Christ.  I believe that is a literal and figural statement.  To come to Christ is to come in repentance and faith that He is our Savior, our Lord and King.  He is the Son of God. And we know that Peter also becomes at that moment a disciple and follows Jesus.

So in response Jesus gives Peter a new name.  That is another aspect of salvation.  Jesus sees not only who we are, but who we are going to become in Him.  And so Jesus gives Peter a name which indicates what he will be.  Peter will be a stone, a foundation stone as part of the foundation of the other apostles upon which the church will be built as stated in Eph. 2:20.  When you come to Christ He will change your life, He will change your purpose, He will change your desires. He gives you a new name. Rev. 2:17 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.”

Now the next day, Jesus found another man named Philip from Andrew and Peter’s hometown of Bethsaida, and he says to Philip, “follow Me.”  This is a familiar expression of Christ, 20 times in the gospels He will say that to someone, “follow Me.” You want to know what salvation looked like in Jesus’ day?  He didn’t give an invitation and play 7 stanzas of Just As I Am, have them raise their hand and repeat the sinner’s prayer.  He just says “Follow Me.”  And they step out in faith, believing in Him, learning of Him, learning who He is and what He says, and being obedient to what He says.  That is discipleship and discipleship is equivalent to salvation.

Somewhere between vs.43 and 45 Philip discovers enough to become convinced that Jesus was the Messiah and so he goes to tell Nathaniel. He is referred to most often as Bartholomew. Only John calls him Nathanael. He lived in another little village in that region called Cana at the north end of the Sea of Galilee. And something very special is going to happen in Cana that we will look at  in chapter 2. That’s where there’s a wedding and Jesus does His first miracle.

And this is the pattern of evangelism most often laid out in the scripture.  I would even suggest that this the normal pattern of evangelism - one on one.  One person introducing another to Jesus as Savior, Lord and Messiah.  One person leading another to Christ.  There are a couple of examples of a few large scale conversions such as the day of Pentecost, but I think they are the exception rather than the rule.  We are not going to reach the beach community by outreaches and crusades necessarily, but by individual evangelism, one by one. One person at a time.

Now we see another man’s testimony concerning Jesus;  Philip tells Nathanael, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”  This testimony again is no less than that Jesus is the Messiah, we have found the Messiah as described in scripture. And he adds that Jesus is from Nazareth, which is a short distance from Cana, and that He was in human terms at least, the son of Joseph.

But I want to point out just one of the many OT references to the Messiah, so that we might get the full intent of what Philip is saying about Jesus being the One, that is the Anointed One, or the Messiah.  And especially at this time of year I think this passage is apropos; Isaiah 9:6-7  fleshes out the full magnitude of the title Messiah.  And this scripture is the basis for the famous Handel’s Messiah. “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.”  Jews who knew this very familiar prophecy would know that the Messiah who was prophesied not only would be King, but He was also Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.  That is the full import of the title Messiah or Christ.

Now Nathanael seems to reflect a common prejudice towards Nazareth.  I’m not sure why.  There was a national prejudice about Galileans in general, and Nazareth in particular.  But I’m not sure that it was prejudice that prompted his remark, because Jesus does not rebuke him, but rather commends him for being without guile or deceit.  Not a light compliment. But rather it’s a possibility that Nathanael is amazed that someone like the Messiah could come from such a humble place, even a place with such a bad reputation. And we are reminded that this was God’s strategic purpose in demonstrating the extreme humility of Christ, as it says in Phil. 2:7-8  “But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”  Let us not forget that He is our example.  And we should walk in His footsteps, humbleness being a foremost characteristic of a disciple of Christ.

Vs.47, Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” Now this is an amazing statement.  In it Jesus is saying that Nathanael is a true believer from an Old Testament perspective.  He is a true Jew which according to Romans 2 is circumcised in his heart.  A penitent believer in the true God in whom there is no deceit--no guile, no hypocrisy, no duplicity, no phoniness. Now this is a rare thing in a nation which for the most part had become apostate, that was awash in hypocrisy.  But this is how Jesus describes Nathanael.

And Nathanael is surprised that Jesus knew him.  It’s probable that Jesus knew his name, but even more surprising is that Jesus knew him.  Knew who he was.  What kind of man he was. And so Nathanael says, ““How do You know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”

Now Bible scholars tell us that the phrase under a fig tree was a Jewish way of referring to a place where one retired  to meditate on the scriptures and pray.  And so Jesus is saying that He saw him under a fig tree, and He heard his prayers.  What a great picture to remind us that God hears every prayer, even silent prayers, even prayers when we think no one sees, no one hears, yet God hears and takes notice.  And He responds to our prayers.  Nathanael, who Jesus said is a true Israelite would have been looking and praying for the coming of the Messiah, now finds himself  standing before Jesus the Messiah in answer to his prayers.

And when Nathanael hears Jesus’ answer, his heart awakens to the truth of God that Jesus must be no less than the King of Israel, that is the  Messiah, and the Son of God. Vs.49, Nathanael answered Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.” He echoes what John the Baptist also said, that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God.  That title Son of God means nothing less than that Jesus is God.  To be the son of something or someone is to have the same nature as them.  My son has my nature, my characteristics, but most significantly he is human because I am human. And Christ is God because He is God’s Son. Christ is not an angel, as Hebrews 1:3-6 so eloquently states: “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they. For to which of the angels did He ever say, "YOU ARE MY SON,TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU"? And again, "I WILL BE A FATHER TO HIMAND HE SHALL BE A SON TO ME"? And when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says, "AND LET ALL THE ANGELS OF GOD WORSHIP HIM." 

So if He is God’s Son, then He is God in human form. Thus the angels worship Him. And He is the exact representation of God’s nature in human flesh.

Then Jesus responds to Nathanael’s faith, and says, “Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” And He said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Now some people think that what Jesus was saying referred to the dream of Jacob in Genesis 28:12, where Jacob saw a ladder from earth to heaven, and the angels ascending and descending upon it. They see in that symbolism that  Jesus is the ladder, the link, between heaven and earth. That Jesus is the way to God.  And that when Nathanael comes to understand that Jesus is the mediator between God and man, it will be an even greater sign than the sign of Jesus seeing him under the fig tree.  And I am willing to concede that is a possible explanation.  But I think a more obvious explanation is that Jesus is referring to His ascension into heaven after His resurrection.  When Jesus ascends into heaven in plain view of 400 witnesses, and the angels of God are there to testify that He is coming again just as He was taken up into heaven, that is the greatest sign that Jesus is God’s Son, and He is sitting at the right hand of the Father on His throne, and all rule and authority have been given unto Him.

And perhaps Jesus Himself alludes to that ascension by referring to Himself by yet another title; the Son of Man.  Don’t be misled into thinking that this title is any less divine than others.  It refers specifically to Dan 7:13-14, which says “I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him.  His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.”  This title of Son of Man then is one that Christ uses of Himself to show affinity with mankind.  God became man and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. God so loved man that He Himself became Man that He might be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, so that whosoever believes in Him might have life and have it more abundantly.  I pray that you have believed the testimony of the disciples and know Him as your personal Savior, and decided to follow Him and have fellowship with Him.  That is the only way to life.  And Jesus has provided the way for you to receive eternal life in Him and He in you.  I hope that you will receive Him today, if you have not already made that decision. 

And if you do know the Lord as your Savior, then I hope that you will be about the Lord’s business, testifying to loved ones and friends that you have found the Savior.  Introduce them to the Light of the world.  There is no better time to do that than at Christmas.  I hope you will fulfill your calling as a disciple and show people Jesus Christ. 

The testimony of John the Baptist, John 1:19-34

 The world is a very different place in the 21^st century than it was in the days of our parents.  But I am not talking about the obvious advancements in technology and science and so forth that enables our culture to think that we are  so much more advanced than previous generations.  The difference in our day from our father’s day is that at least in western civilization,  man has become more egocentric rather than theocentric.

A good illustration of that is that in our father’s day, young men cheerfully signed up  to fight the Nazis, risking and even losing their lives for the sake of God and country.  Not everyone was a Christian in those days of course, but there was instilled in people the sense that there were higher ideals worth living for than simply self gratification.  Consequently, we look back in history with a sense of awe at what that generation suffered through, and realize that their sacrifices provided the security and prosperity that our nation now enjoys and takes for granted.

On the other hand, the when the pendulum started swinging in the opposite direction post WW2, during a time of unparalleled prosperity that was for the most part the result of winning the war, we see that society lost that sense of chivalry and became increasingly narcissistic and egocentric.  That attitude has fostered a philosophy of secular humanism which is the pervasive view today in society. 

As a result, politicians pander to such self aggrandizing attitudes, producing a society that increasingly depends upon government entitlements and consequently is contributing to what I think marks the beginning of the end of this great nation.  John F. Kennedy’s quote made 50 years ago that we should “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" no longer gets traction in today’s “Me First” culture that asks and keeps demanding special rights for every possible special interest group at the expense of the greater good. 

But what is more disconcerting than the trend in the political arena is that the church is pandering to the egocentric trends of the culture as well.  The whole focus of the relevant church movement is to find out what appeals to the congregation, and then format the church to meet the expectations of the people.  So we end up with messages geared to such topics as fixing your marriage, or straightening out your finances.  There is even a popular sermon series out there based on dieting.  It’s called the Daniel Plan.  Not that there is anything wrong with dieting.  Some of us could probably benefit from it, but it is not the ministry of the church to provide a health club or social club or self help classes. 

The Apostle John said in vs. 6 that “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.” So what was the testimony of John the Baptist? Did he come and give messages on love, sex, and marriage? Did he come and give messages on how to resolve family issues? Did he come and give messages about psychotherapy? I’m sure all of that would have been as popular in his day as they are in ours.  And there may be a place for these things sometimes. But John saw that the need of his people was much more fundamental than that. Israel had left her first love. Israel had become apostate. Israel was a nation who needed reconciliation and forgiveness from  God.  So John the Baptist preached theology.  He didn't think that theology was impractical, old fashioned, or irrelevant. He didn’t tickle their ears and give them what they wanted to hear, but he gave them sound theology.

The great thing about the ministry of John the Baptist was that he didn’t pander to the culture.  He didn’t worry about being seeker friendly.  He spoke about what God told him to speak about.  His message was simply repentance, to prepare the people to receive the Messiah, the Son of God.

Sound doctrine is the knowledge that leads to salvation.  And once saved sound doctrine produces stability, maturity and spiritual fruit.  Paul told Timothy in 2Tim.3:15 that the scriptures gave him the wisdom which leads to salvation through faith. 

Now I would remind you that Jesus would say about John the Baptist that among men born of women, there was none greater than John the Baptist.  So if we are going to pattern our ministry after someone, then I suggest patterning our ministry after John the Baptist.  Personally, I have always identified with John the Baptist.  I don’t say that to imply that I am anywhere near his level, of course.  But I do identify with a voice crying out in the wilderness.  I do believe that the primary message of the gospel is repentance and pointing people to Jesus Christ.  I guess I also identify with the idea of a no frills, open air ministry.  Not really having a permanent location, especially when we meet out on the beach. 

So I want to look at the testimony of John the Baptist that is presented here, and take some points from his ministry which we should apply to our own.  And we are going to divide this passage by looking at three points; first what John says  he is not, and second, what John says he is, and third, who he says Jesus is.  What he is not, what he is, and who Jesus is.

Now to introduce this section let me remind you that the Apostle John has presented a masterful theological treatise, much like the opening statement in a court of law, presenting the facts concerning Christ.  Now John brings forth his first witness to corroborate those facts, and illustrate that theology.  And his first witness the apostle brings forth is John the Baptist.

So vs.19 says that “This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’”   Now for most of us, there is no more favorite subject matter for which we prefer to talk about than ourselves.  Isn’t that so?  If the average pastor was asked that question today, he would probably launch into a biographical essay in which he ends up giving a glowing testimony of himself.  But not John the Baptist.  This was a humble man.  Let me tell you something; humility is the hallmark of a true servant of God.  Not where you went to seminary, or how big your church might be.  But even as Jesus humbled himself, taking the form of a servant.  And if we are truly servants, then we should remember that the servant is not greater than his master.  We need to be humble, to practice humility if we are going to minister as Christ’s representatives.

And we see that humility illustrated in the answers that John gives to the questions of the religious leaders.  As my outline illustrates, he starts out by saying what he is not.  What he is not.  That is the mark of humility.  Peter admonished the men of the church in 1Peter 5:5-6 “You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time.”  All of you, that is all the men of the church, pastors and all of the church, clothe yourselves with humility.

You know there was another famous prophet who was singled out as being one of the greatest, and that was none other than Moses.  And notice what it says about Moses in Numbers 12:3, “Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.”  Humility is the hallmark of a man or woman of God.  Not how charismatic or talented they may be, but how humble they are.  That is what God looks at. And that is the person that God will use. He will not share His glory with man.

So what John was not.  He answers there question of “Who are you?” with “I am not the Christ.”  I believe it was Luke that tells us in his gospel that the religious leaders had been asking, along with many of the multitudes that were coming out to hear him, if John the Baptist could be the Messiah.  And so he answers that question; “I am not the Christ.”

Then they ask him, ““What then? Are you Elijah?” And he *said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”  Notice John goes from a five word answer to a three world answer to a one word answer.  I think that indicates that he doesn’t want to talk about himself.  He wasn’t in ministry to promote himself, but to promote Jesus Christ.  And John knows that very well.

You know I think God hates self promotion.  So by extension, I would have to say that God hates facebook.  Lord knows that is the most visible form of self promotion in this modern world gone narcissistic and egocentric.  And ranked right under that I would have to put this obsession with selfies.  Even the very word conjures up self serving.  Take 500 digital photos of yourself and pick the most flattering one and put it on facebook.  And then do it everyday until you get enough likes to satisfy your ego.  I don’t think you would find John the Baptist on facebook if he were alive today. Nor would you find Moses, or Jesus for that matter.  Some people might pretend that it is a ministry tool, but I think the fact is most are probably just tools.  I’m sorry if that offends somebody.  But we can’t do ministry when the primary person we are interested in is ourselves.  We need to drop our façade of self righteousness and start speaking the truth to the world, and start caring about others more than ourselves.  That’s pretty basic ministry fundamentals.

So John says he is not the Messiah, he is not Elijah, he is not the Prophet, and back in verse 8 we see that he was not the Light.  Furthermore, in vs.27, John says “He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”  He is saying that he doesn’t even consider himself worthy of the lowest household servant in the kingdom of God, so that he is not worthy of even untying the sandals of Christ.  So not only is he not the Christ, he is not even worthy to untie Christ’s shoes.  Now that is humility.  And yet Jesus says about him that he is the greatest among men. “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God and He will exalt you at the proper time.” 

Jesus said in Matt. 20:26-28 "It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant,  and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave;  just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

Now then let’s look at what John testifies about himself.  Who John says he is and what he is doing. Vs.22 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."

First of all, note the contrast John the Baptist makes between himself and Christ.  He is not the Word, but he is a voice. The Word exists before him.  The word exists in the mind before the voice articulates it.  The Word remains once the voice is silent. He just speaks the words of God as God gives him utterance.  John would later say “He must increase, but I must decrease.”  He understood that it was not his words that had any power to save.  But John knew that the Word of God who was God was the only power unto salvation. 

I wish we could get hold of that principle today in our churches.  We exist merely to give voice to the Word of God.  To bear witness of Him.  All of the programs and skits and dancing and singing if not giving voice to the word of God are useless and self serving.  Those things may attract a crowd, but the only power to save is found in giving voice to the Word.

Then notice that the next question they are concerned about is his practice, his baptism.  People are concerned about the externals, aren’t they?  What rituals we practice.  What ceremonies.  What kind of programs you have. Well, John did indeed practice baptism.  But the emphasis of the gospel of John is not John the Baptist’s baptism, but on the fact that he was a witness.  And that is the emphasis of John the Baptist as well.  To point to Christ.  Baptism simply prepares people’s hearts to receive Christ through repentance.  John’s emphasis is not on the mode or method of baptism as a means of grace, but as a means of repentance. Not focused on the outward sign, but on the heart of man.

So they ask him, “Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”  See the problem wasn’t that he was baptizing.  Baptism was already practiced among first century Jews as a means of purification.  But it was self administered.  And the other thing was that it was for Gentiles, not Jews.  It was part of the method by which non Jews could become proselytes.  They could become accepted into the Jewish faith by becoming washed in water and then going through certain ceremonies and offerings.  So for John to be administering baptisms to Jews for repentance was a new teaching that would have attracted criticism.

But again, John deflects attention to his ministry and points to Jesus. Vs. 26 John answered them saying, "I baptize in water, but among you stands One whom you do not know.  It is He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie."  What John was saying was that his baptism was a sign.  He did not have power to cleanse or forgive sins.  All he could do was use human means to point to a heavenly purpose that would be fulfilled in Christ.  It was a sign in the flesh, much the same as the sign in the flesh of circumcision which was given through Moses.  So John the Baptist comes with the sign of baptism, and this sign points to Jesus Christ.  First by showing their need for a Savior, and then when John baptizes Jesus it points to Him as being the Son of God.  So in all  aspects, John’s ministry points to Jesus and Jesus alone.  Never does it magnify John the Baptist.

Now then the last point, who John testifies that Jesus is. Who John says Jesus is.  Vs. 28 These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.  The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”  John says Jesus is the Lamb of God. Now that goes back to what I just said about John’s baptism.  The first purpose of baptism is to show us our need for repentance, for forgiveness of sin.  And as he is baptizing, which has no power to forgive sin in and of itself, he sees Jesus coming to him and says “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”  Baptism then has no power to take away sin, but the Lamb of God does take away sin.

Now any Jew would understand the imagery that John is referring to when he says the Lamb of God.  First of all, hearing that a Jew would naturally be reminded of their father Abraham when he offered up Isaac on the altar, and was about to slay him as a sacrifice, and God stopped him and provided a ram that was caught in a thorn bush behind him.  God provided a substitute.  God provided a lamb. That is the first lesson of the Lamb of God.  He is our substitute.  God placed our sins, our punishment upon Him, so that He died for us, so that we might be made righteous with His righteousness and live. 

And that brings up the second point of the Lamb of God that every Jew would think of.  And that would have been the Passover Lamb that was slain on the night when God caused all the first born male children in Egypt to die because of the hardness of the Egyptian’s hearts and their refusal to let Israel worship the Lord.  So God told His people to take a lamb for every household and slay it and put the blood on the doorposts of their houses so that the angel of death would not strike them.  And as they obeyed God’s command and sacrificed the lamb and put the blood on the doorpost of their house, the angel of the Lord passed by and they were saved from death.  Now that illustrates the second principle of the Lamb of God, He saves us from death, eternal death. 

So first who John says Jesus is, He is the Lamb of God. Secondly, John says Christ is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit. As opposed to his baptism with water, Christ will baptize in the Holy Spirit. (and by the way, it is noteworthy that Christ is never recorded as baptizing anyone in water) So John says in Vs. 30 "This is He on behalf of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.'  I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water. 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.'”

Now there is a lot in those verses and we don’t have time to unpack everything there.  But one thing I want to say that John says it was necessary for him to baptize in order that the Christ might be made known. Now certainly John knew of Jesus before this time. He was his cousin.  And though they may not have lived near one another as they were growing up we must imagine that John knew of Him, and perhaps even had met Him or known Him all his life.  That is certainly possible but I don’t think that is what John is saying here.  What he is saying is that I did not know Him as the Christ, as the Messiah, as the Son of God until it was divinely revealed to me in the baptism.  God had spoken to John previously and said He who the Spirit descends upon is the Christ. 

So John knew Jesus not by sight, not by human intellect or knowledge, but by divine revelation from the Holy Spirit.  And this illustrates an important principle of salvation.  God has to open men’s eyes to see that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.  Remember the famous situation with Peter when Jesus asks, “who do men say that I am?”  And Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of God.” And what did Jesus say to that?  “Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you Peter, but my Father who is in heaven.  (Matt. 16)  It takes a divine intervention to open a blind man’s eyes, and we that are in our sins are blind.  Jesus said in John 6:44  "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.”

But it also reveals the two fold nature of salvation; on the one hand there must be a removal of sin, but also a filling of the Holy Spirit. Both are necessary for salvation.  One sanctifies you, the other makes you a temple of the Holy Spirit and empowers you to live as a witness to the world in obedience to God.  You must be born again of the Spirit of God if you will have the life of God in you.

Then the last statement that John the Baptist testifies as to who Jesus is, is found in vs. 34 "I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God."  This is the ultimate witness of John the Baptist.  That Jesus is the Christ, that is the Messiah, and He is also the Son of God.  He is God in the flesh, the Word made flesh.  And John saw the Spirit of God descend and remain on Him just as God said, and he heard the proclamation of God as recorded by Luke in Luke 3:22  when the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, "You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased." This was the witness of John, and this is his testimony, that Jesus is the Son of God.

And of course that testimony correlates perfectly with the Apostle John’s stated purpose for writing this book in John 20:31,  “but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”

Now there are two quick applications that I would point out that makes the believing in Christ efficacious for you. One is to recognize the One whom you do not know. Notice vs.26, John says, “among you stands One whom you do not know.” Some have decided that they do not want to know Him.  They have rejected the idea of God and Lord, and so they have rejected the Savior of the world.  Knowing God is a decision that everyone must make for themselves.  To know the truth about God.  Everyone, atheist or believer, starts with a presupposition which is either God exists or He does not exist.  That decision comes before all evidence, before all science.  There is either a rejection of God or a realization that God is. And based on that presupposition, then man goes about living out either his theology or philosophy.

But knowing God is a choice.  And it’s a choice that all of us make. And then the second point of application is that you must receive Him as your Lord and Savior. It is not enough to just believe in God, or even believe that Jesus lived on earth 2000 years ago.  It’s necessary to receive Him as your Lord and Savior.  You must accept Jesus’ substutionary sacrifice on your behalf, for forgiveness of your sins, and receive the promise of life by the Holy Spirit.  If Jesus is truly the Son of God, then there is no alternative but to bow down before Him and plead for His mercy.  And Jesus said that to them that call upon Him He will surely save them.  In vs. 12 of our text, John says, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.”

Today we have heard the testimony of the Apostle John here in this passage before us, who lived with and followed Jesus for 3 years of his life.  We have heard the testimony of John the Baptist who heard the voice from heaven declaring that Jesus is the Son of God and saw the Spirit descend in the form of a dove upon Him as was prophesied.  We have heard the testimony of the Old Testament Scriptures which present the Christ as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  We have around us the testimony of creation which reveals His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, so that we are without excuse.  But most importantly, we have the witness of the Holy Spirit inside us, convicting us, drawing us to Christ, opening our eyes that we might see Him and believe in Him and be saved.  I hope if you are here today, and you do not know Him, that you will not reject these faithful witnesses.  Jesus came to earth to save those that are lost.  All that is necessary is for you to believe in Him and receive Him as your Lord and Savior, and you will have life everlasting.  You will come to know Him who is the source of all life and the Light of  the world. 

The Word became flesh, John 1:14-18

There is a lot of sentimentality at Christmas time.  For a multitude of reasons, the holiday season evokes a lot of nostalgia, and it plays upon some of our deepest emotions.  That is why Christmas is sometimes such a stressful time for many of us.  It can seem ironic to wish people a Merry Christmas and yet find yourself almost overcome with sadness. 

The solution, of course, is to remember or be reminded of the real meaning of Christmas.  But unfortunately, even the Christmas story has become so sentimentalized that the real joy to be found in the advent of Christ is kind of lost due to an over familiarity with the scenes of a manger and the baby Jesus.  So as we enter this Christmas season, and consider the incarnation of our Lord, I for one am happy that the Apostle John does not dwell in sentimentalism, but focuses on theology.  Because though most people may think theology and doctrine sound dull and uninteresting, I believe that a proper understanding of the truth is the path to true joy.

The truth is that the Christmas story is not just a sentimental story of a baby born in a manger, but it’s the greatest love story ever told.  In preparing this message, I thought of trying to find an example of a great love story in order to illustrate this passage, but I ended up discarding every possibility because they could not come close to the magnificence of the story of Jesus coming to earth in human form.  Ironically, last night my daughter was watching a modern movie adaptation of Romeo and Juliet.  But even though that story is often called the greatest love story of all time, it pales in comparison to the story we have in front of us.

In addition to being a great love story though, vs. 14 represents one of the greatest theological statements in the Bible.  This entire prologue of John’s gospel is one magnificent presentation  of the doctrine of the divinity of Jesus Christ.  So far in our studies, we have seen that the Word was God, the Word was Light, and now today the Word became Flesh. 

Now let me try to explain why this statement can be called the greatest love story of all time.  But to do that we must go back once again to Genesis, to the creation account.  In chapter 1, God said “let us make man in Our image, in Our likeness.”  So God made man in the image and likeness of God.  He made man spirit, soul and body, a triune being like God Himself.  And then in John chapter 1, we see God making Himself in the image of man.  “The Word, who was God, became flesh and dwelt among us.” 

That in and of itself is a tremendous thought.  That the eternal God who existed in the form of the Word, who was life, and was Light, who made all that was made in the universe, became a man.  The question is why would the eternal, creator God stoop to become one of His creation?

Well, the answer I would suggest is illustrated in chapter 2 of Genesis, that after God had made man, God declared that it was not good for man to be alone.  But after God made that statement, He did something interesting.  God caused all the animals of the creation to parade before Adam so that Adam could name them. And in the process, something else was discovered by Adam.  Gen.2:20 says, “but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.”  Then once Adam realized that fact, then God put him to sleep and took a rib from his side and made woman for man. 

Now that scene illustrates a great truth, I believe.  I think that it illustrates why God made man to begin with.  God existed before creating the heavens and the earth.  And we don’t know of all that He created in eternity past, other than that He created the angels.  By the way, the Bible doesn’t teach that all angels look alike. We do see that different types of angels were created for many different purposes.  So we could speculate on what God might have created beyond what the Bible tells us, but I’m not sure that it would be profitable.  However, suffice it to say that when God made trees He did not make just one type of tree, but thousands of types.  When God made birds, He made thousands of different types of birds.  And the same with all types of His creation; there is a multitude of diversity in each thing that God made.  Even with people, there is great diversity.  So we can assume that though we call them “angels” there is great diversity in that type of being.  So contrary to popular images of angels, it’s not likely that they all look identical.  However, the Bible does indicate that the number of angels correlates with the number of stars.  Possibly billions of angelic beings. But beyond that we do not know what else God has created. 

But what I think God is illustrating with Adam and the animals is that God viewed all of His creation in eternity past, and there was not found anyone suitable for Him.  And in a manner of speaking, God decided that it was not good for Him to be alone. So God created man in His image, in His likeness.  Another indication of this desire of God for a help mate is that in all of the rest of creation, He merely spoke and they came into being.  But with man God bent down and formed man out of the ground with His hands.  And then God put His mouth on man’s lips and breathed into him, and man became a living soul. 

So creation itself was no less than a great act of love.  The same thing is illustrated when God made woman from man.  He does not just speak woman into existence, but He takes from Adam’s side a rib, and makes or literally the word is builds woman from that rib.  So that woman was a part of man. Now the Bible is resplendent with imagery of the church being the bride of Christ, and Christ being the bridegroom.  In chapter 3 of John, John the Baptist refers to Jesus as the bridegroom and the church as His bride.  Jesus Himself talks about the kingdom of God as the marriage supper of the Lamb.  In Revelation 21 the angel shows John what he calls the bride of Christ, the church, spotless, having no spot or wrinkle, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.  But probably the best passage that illustrates this principle is Ephesians 5, which talks about the way a husband must love his wife, and says in vs. 25-32, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,  so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,  that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.  So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself;  for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church,  because we are members of His body.  FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH.  This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.” So Paul is saying that human marriage is a picture of Christ’s marriage to the church, the bride of Christ.  We are made from His body to be united with Him as one flesh, joined together with Him for eternity.

But looking back at Genesis again, we see that Adam and Eve enjoyed walking with the Lord and communing with God, having fellowship with God.  But not long afterwards, they sinned by eating of the forbidden tree.  And as God had promised, their spirit died.  That part of their being that was in communion with God, that divine spark that they were created with was extinguished as the now sinful bride of God was removed from His holy presence.  They were banned from the garden and they no longer were able to be in the light of His glory.  Consequently, as their spirit died, their flesh soon followed after. And every offspring of Adam thereafter not only inherited his sinful nature, but he also inherited his mortality. But thank God for 1Cor. 15:22, “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.”

Now that brings us back to our text.  Because God did still love the world. Specifically, He loved the human race.  And He loves the human race so much that though His holiness and justice requires that man suffers the penalty of his sin by separation from the Life of God, yet His love found a way to satisfy that requirement.  And God satisfies His judgment  by the most incredible means possible.  He becomes one of us.  Man could not come to God, he could not bridge the chasm between God and man.  He could not climb up to God, so God came down to man. Phl. 2:6-8 “[Jesus] who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,  but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  As we were first made in the image of God, so God must be made in man’s image in order to be the representative man who would be able to become man’s substitute, savior and high priest. Now that is love.  We cannot imagine a love story to equal that story.  If we were to imagine a king becoming a pauper so he could marry a peasant girl that would not come close to Christ’s love for the church. If we were to imagine a man blinding himself in order to be married to a blind bride that still would not rival this story.  There is no greater story of love than to consider that the eternal God created man to be like Him, to be His mate, His companion, and then that mate rebelled and sinned against Him, and was expelled from His presence, only to have the same Holy God humble himself to take on sinful flesh so that He might die for His bride as her substitute. It’s beyond our comprehension.

So the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Even so He remains fully man and fully God. The deity of Christ is not diminished by His humanity, nor is His humanity overpowered by His deity. Because as John says, even though we beheld Him in human form, He retained His glory, and He was seen in His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

We need to explain that word glory.  What is glory? When I was a kid growing up in an old country church, I used to hear sometimes one of the old timers yell out “glory!” when the preacher would really get them riled up or some singer would do a number.  Never knew what it meant, but I it usually managed to snap me awake. Well, I’ll tell you what it means.  There is a hint right there in the verse; it’s the word “dwelt”, or skenoo in the Greek.  And it means tabernacled.  You will remember that the tabernacle was the tent that God designed to house His glory when the children of Israel set out for the Promised Land.  God dwelled in the tabernacle, and His shekinah glory indwelled the tent so that it lit up in the nighttime with the light of His presence.

So what John is saying here is that the Word was Light, the Light of the world, and He came into the world, becoming human, one of us, and His shekinah glory tabernacled among us in the human form of Jesus.  Now John says we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.  And one explanation for that statement would be the transfiguration, when Jesus’ glory began to shine out of Him and the Father God rebuked Peter by saying “this is My beloved Son, listen to Him.”

But for even more insight into His glory we need to go back to Exodus 33 and 34, when Moses asked to see God’s glory.  And God told Moses in Exo. 33:19-22 "I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion."  But He said, "You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!"  Then the LORD said, "Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by.”

Now in the next chapter we see the Lord put Moses in the cleft of the rock as His glory passed by, but listen how God describes that glory.  Not as a blinding light, but with words describing His attributes. Exo. 34:6-7 Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth;  who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations."

Now that’s incredible isn’t it?  We know that there was also a great light because Moses came down from the mountain with a veil over his face because it shown so much the reflected glory of God that the people could not look at him.  But when God describes passing His glory by Moses, He doesn’t describe the light, but with words describing His attributes.  And what two attributes do we see on parade above all others?  Grace and truth.  The very same attributes John ascribes here in John 1:14, “and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

So how did John and the disciples primarily see the glory of God revealed in Jesus?  By His attributes.  He was holy and righteous, full of grace and truth. Though He was fully man, yet He was fully God and manifested the character of God in all that He did. So Christ’s attributes attested to His divinity as clearly as a  blazing light from heaven.

Then in vs.15, the apostle also includes the testimony of John the Baptist as to Christ’s divinity.  Listen to vs.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.’”  You will remember the in the story of Jesus’ birth, Mary His mother visited Elizabeth who was already pregnant with John.  So John was about 6 months older than Jesus.  He was born before Jesus, and yet John is saying that Jesus existed before Him, that means that He was preexistent.  Eternal.  And immortality is another attribute of divinity.  And John the Baptist adds that Christ had a higher rank than him.  Jesus then was more than a great prophet, He was the Son of God.  But the main point that the apostle makes from John’s statement is that Jesus existed before John being eternal in nature. 

John continues this great love story in vs16. The eternal God became human flesh and we beheld His glory.  So that we might receive that same glory. Vs.16, “For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.”  Now what does this mean?  Well let’s start with the word “fullness.” It is really referring back once again to His attributes, all the attributes of God, epitomized by grace and truth.  John is saying Christ was fully God. 

Paul says the same thing in Col. 2:9, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.”  So Christ is fully God in human form.  But then John says we received that fullness.  We received God’s fullness?  How does that work? It works because Christ died in our place to satisfy the justice of God, effectively purchasing us to become His bride, the church.  That divine spark that was extinguished in the fall of the first Adam, was rekindled in the Light of the second Adam, when we believed on Him and received Him as our Savior, and we were remade in His righteousness, so that now the Spirit of God tabernacles within us.  His Light in us gives us the Light of life so that our divine spark in reignited.  The Word became flesh so that the glory of God might tabernacle in us.  So that we might be like Him.

Eph. 1:22-23 says about the exalted Christ “And He (God) put all things in subjection under His (Christ’s) feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”  Christ fills us with the fullness of the Spirit of God that we might exhibit the attributes of God to the world and so that we might be conformed to His image, made once more in the likeness of God.  That we might become suitable unto Him as a help mate. That we might become His spotless bride.

So John says not only did we receive His fullness, but we received grace upon grace.  Never ending grace is certainly one interpretation of that.  Grace that never runs out. Grace that is greater than all our sins. But even more to the point, I think it means we not only receive the grace of our salvation, but then we receive the grace of our inheritance; that we shall rule and reign with Christ - as the bride of Christ we will sit on the throne next to Him and share in His glory.  That shekinah glory of God that man could not look on and live, one day we shall share with Him. We will receive glory, glory like the glory that He has. 1John 3:2 “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.”  That is the epitome of the beatific vision, is it not? When we shall live forever in the light of His glory, so that His glory becomes our glory.  That is the fullness of joy.  And that is our inheritance. That is our future.

Up until that time, John says, “No one has seen God at any time.”  God cannot be seen by any man while he is in sinful flesh. But we have seen Jesus, and if we have seen Jesus, we have seen the Father.  Vs.18, “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”  The Greek word is exēgeomai, which means to unfold, or explain.  It’s the word we get exegete from, which is the term we use to explain the style of preaching that I use.  I attempt to unfold the word of God, explain it, expand it, unpack it.  And that is what John says Jesus has done by coming in the flesh.  First in vs.17 John says Jesus manifested God. Then in vs.18, Jesus exegetes God. The Word made flesh and dwelt among us, and then we beheld the glory of God in Him and through Him as He exhibited the attributes of God. And all of that is so that we might become like Him, to be united with Him as the church, the bride of Christ.

Well, that is enough for today.  But let me leave you with this thought.  The beginning of the Christmas season is called advent.  But advent did not always mean the birth of Jesus. It simply means the coming of Jesus.  And in the first centuries of the celebration of advent, they were looking forward to the imminent return of Christ, not looking back at His birth.  I want to leave you this morning looking forward to the coming of Christ for His church, for His bride.  That was the purpose of coming as a baby in a manger.  To become tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin so that we might become the children of God, the body of Christ, even His church.  Jesus is coming again.  This time not in a manger but in the clouds. This time not in secret, but at the sound of trumpets.  In the fullness of His glory. He is coming for His bride.  I hope that He finds you ready to meet Him.