Again the next day after, John stood and two of his disciples and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God!” John 1:35-36 (KJV)
The first questions that might come to your mind are, John who and what two disciples?
But I want to start by asking: The next day after what and why “Again the next day after?” Uh…after what?
Read John (Big John) 1:29-34
The next day John saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, ‘After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me’. And I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.”
And John bare record, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and it abode upon him. And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said to me, ‘Upon whom you shall see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizes with the Holy Ghost’. And I saw and bare record that this is the Son of God.” John 1:29-34
See we backed up a day and we answered the question of John who? What John do we know was in the wilderness Baptizing people, including Jesus?
John the Baptist, of course, but we have another statement, “The Next day.” If “Again the next day” was the day before “the next day”, what happened before this next day?
I’m not meaning to confuse you. Well, actually I am. People who have sat through my Bible studies know I like to start with confusion. But in this case clarifying this next day stuff is important to help you understand the way some Gospel writers present things, especially John; otherwise, you may fall into the trap of some critics who get their timing all messed up.
So what was the next day and again the next day after?
Read John 1:15-28, where John the Baptist is having a discussion with the Pharisees and Scribes about whom he is and whom Jesus is. He is answering their questions about his own identity.
John 1:15-34
John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, “This was he of whom I spoke, He that comes after me is preferred before me for he was before me. And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man has seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him.” (Reference Luke 3:16, Matthew 3:11 and Mark 1:7.) And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”
And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”
And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?”
And he said, “I am not.”
“Are you that prophet?”
And he answered, “No.”
Then said they to him, “Who are you that we may give an answer to them that sent us? What say you of yourself?”
He said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah.” (Isaiah 40:3--“A voice of one calling in the desert, prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.”)
And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. And they asked him, and said to him, “Why baptize you then, if you be not that Christ, nor Elijah, neither that prophet?”
John answered them saying, “I baptize with water: but there stands one among you, whom you know not. He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose.”
These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.
The next day John saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, ‘After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me’. And I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.”
And John bare record, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and it abode upon him. And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said to me, ‘Upon whom you shall see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizes with the Holy Ghost’. And I saw and bare record that this is the Son of God.” John 1:29-34
Again the next day after, John stood and two of his disciples and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God!” John 1:35-36
So we are talking about three days here. On day one, John is confronting these religious leaders. The next day John sees Jesus walking by and again on the next day, the third day, John is standing with two of John’s own disciples and points Jesus out to them.
We will see this pattern of the next day and again the next day and so forth a bit later and it is important to keep track of how many days are really passing and from what event they begin. This knowledge will explain away some of the critic’s skepticism if we do.
Now, I don’t want to get into much about John the Baptist, because that would be a different study, but perhaps two things mentioned need explained.
Since John was born six months before Jesus, why did John keep saying Jesus came before him?
What John is telling us is although Jesus was born to Mary after he was born to Elisabeth, Jesus actually lived long before John came along. He is also saying that Jesus ranks higher than he does.
The other oddity is their asking John are you the Messiah or Elijah or That prophet? Who is that prophet?
In Deuteronomy 18:15 Moses said to the Hebrews, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— “
The Pharisees were looking for the return of Elijah, they look for him every Passover, but they were also looking for a prophet like Jeremiah. This was based on Moses’ prediction. but actually Moses was referring to Jesus as That Prophet. That is all we need to know right now.
There are two events concerning the life of Jesus almost everyone in the USA has been exposed to repeatedly, Christian or not.
What would you say these are?
One is his birth and the other is his death. Every year at the appropriate season we see movies, TV shows and other media enactments of these two events. Almost all of these presentations get it wrong. People picture a Hallmark Card Christmas, for example, a manger scene glistening in moonlit snow and crowded with Angels, shepherds, sheep, Wise Men, camels and a donkey; mustn’t forget that donkey. Somewhere in this crowd is a beatific Mary, an old-man Joseph and a Baby wrapped in swaddling clothes.
If a film or play go beyond these bookend events of birth or death, they tend to hit popular highlights, something photogenic; Jesus curing lepers, breaking a couple loaves of bread into a whole bake shop full of food or Jesus walking on water, that sort of thing with no depth provided, even when the water is involved and Peter begins sinking in the waves. Their depictions remain shallow. Mostly they are just trying to get from his birth to his death and all the blood and violence that entails. Yeah, let’s get to the Game of Thrones moment!
These portrayal tends to make Christ a myth, not a real person.
So what do you think of Jesus? Was he some guy who just kind of wandered onto the scene one day performing street magic such as turning water to wine for the crowds?
Do you think he make it all up as he went?
Or do you think Jesus had a plan of operation?
Did the Apostles really just see him walking down the beach one day and when he yelled “Follow me,” did they impetuously jump in behind to follow this stranger on their shore?
How did Jesus draw attention?
Did he ever declare himself to be the Messiah?
When did people first plot to kill him?
Over the next few posts I want us to take a look at the early Jesus. Not his birth or childhood, but his first months of ministry and I want us to get a feel for Jesus as a real, living and breathing person. We will find that Jesus used his brain rather than his divinity. Remember he had set his divinity aside.
Philippians 2: 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
And we will begin next time looking at how Jesus acquired his first disciples and who they were.
No comments:
Post a Comment