Author: Jeff Englund

Read John 1: 22-23

Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”

John the Baptist represented a unique event in human history. He was literally a herald of the new king. Those who sent the messengers to inquire of John were asking John to tell them plainly who he was. John’s response shows that he understood people have to make up their own minds about him.

Q: If you were able to ask John the Baptist one question, what would you ask?

Read John 1: 21

“They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?’

He said, “I am not.’

“Are you the Prophet?’

He answered, “No.'”

Malachi 4:5 says, ““See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes.” In Deuteronomy 18:15 Moses says: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him.”

Q: If John had answered, “Yes,” to the question, “Are you Elijah?” or “Are you the Prophet?”, what would the Jewish leaders have expected of him?

 

Continue reading “Elijah”

Read John 1: 19-20

“Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was.  He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, ‘I am not the Messiah.'”

Part of John the Baptist’s unique character is his awareness of his own mission. He waited in the wilderness until God told him it was time to start preaching. When he did preach, he was very clear about what he was saying, and who he represented. He was also very clear about who he was not.

Q: Why did the Jewish leaders think to ask John if he was the Messiah?

 

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Read John 1: 18

“No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.”

Think about the problem facing John as he writes these words. He is telling us about a man he knows personally, whom he came to believe is much more than a man. He knows what he believes is true, because he saw the man brutally crucified and then run through with a spear. Later, he saw the same man alive again.

Q: If you were in John’s place how would you describe the relationship between Jesus and God?

Read John 1: 16-17

“Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.  For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

John has laid the groundwork for his gospel in broad strokes, explaining the battle between good and evil (light and dark) and the mission that brought Jesus to be with us on earth. At this point in his gospel he starts to give us more specifics.

Q: What do you think John mean when he writes, “…we have all received grace in place of grace already given…?”

Read John 1:15

(John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) 

Adding to his own testimony about Jesus, John records the testimony of John the Baptist as he tells us who Jesus is.

Q: Explain what John the Baptist means by saying, “He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.”

Read John 1:1-14

Reading over John’s first words again, he concludes with, “We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son…”

Q: How does John attesting to what he has seen personally affect your understanding of his words?

Read John 1: 14

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

John’s grasp of who Jesus is goes well beyond the historical facts of Jesus’ life on earth. Clearly, when he wrote his Gospel account, he was completely convinced that Jesus is God, Creator, and Savior.

Q: What does it mean to you that the Creator becomes the created? What does that say about the Creator’s opinion of and love for his creation?

Read John 1: 12-13

“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—  children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”

These two verses encapsulate the essential elements of the gospel narrative: If a person receives Jesus and believes in his name, he has the right to become a child of God, born not of man’s will but of God’s.

Q: How do these two verses compare to your favorite summary of the Gospel message?

Read John 1:12

“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—”

To say that some people “received” Jesus is to say that everyone else either was unaware of Jesus or that they rejected him. Since verse 9 shows us that Jesus offers light to everyone, then it seems fair to conclude that people either receive Jesus or they reject him. There is no third option.

Q: Where do you see yourself in relationship to Jesus? Have you chosen to receive him? What does that mean to you?