STARTING WITH JESUS
John 1:29-34 NKJV
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ 31 I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.”
32 And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. 33 I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”
Happy New Year! I hope you are preparing for and expecting a good year in 2024!
If you are starting new with these devotionals, welcome! If you are back from the last couple of years, rest assured that this year will be different. I will still be using the same format and primarily covering our New Testament readings. But I always reserve the right to be led by the Lord into passages in the Old Testament part of Bible 365, which includes the Psalms and Proverbs. The big difference is that God's Word is alive and inexhaustible. The Holy Spirit is always revealing new insights and perspectives. So this year will be different.
Let's look at seven things that John the Baptist had to say about Jesus. John was the forerunner of Jesus, and many thought he was the Messiah. But John understood his place in the Kingdom and was very upfront about declaring who he was; the voice of one crying in the wilderness make straight the way of the Lord.
John's first and maybe most significant revelation was that Jesus was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. No one even came close to seeing this when Jesus walked the earth. Jesus was God's sacrificial lamb who would be crucified to take the punishment for our sins on Himself.
Jesus was preferred before John. A better translation was that Jesus outranked John in power and position. This had to be humbling on John's part. John had been the most exciting individual in Israel in hundreds of years. But Jesus, who was unknown at that time, was more important and higher ranking.
Jesus existed before John. This was an amazing revelation from John. Declaring that Jesus existed before coming to earth is pretty deep stuff spiritually. In the gospel of John, no relation to John the Baptist, Jesus was in the beginning with God as the Word. I know, don't even try to wrap your head around that one; just latch on with your heart as something beyond all we can ask or think!
Jesus had to be revealed to Israel. This does away with the idea that Jesus was healing children and animals when He was a boy. If Jesus was performing miracles as a child then He would have become famous in the small country of Israel. He was undercover until He was 30 years old and had to be revealed to the nation.
Jesus had to be revealed to John. John did not know Jesus ahead of time. God spoke to John that when he would see the Holy Spirit descending and remaining on a man, that man was the One.
Jesus is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit. John made a couple of references to Jesus being the baptizer. John baptized in water, but Jesus would be the One who would baptize or immerse believers in the Holy Spirit. This was yet another example of Jesus being more powerful and outranking John. The Holy Spirit is greater than water.
Jesus is the Son of God. The One who came to earth to fulfill God's plan of love for mankind. And for all who believe on Him, He gives them the ability to become children of God!
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, thank You for what You have done. Help me see more of You and reflect You more in 2024!