Point People To Jesus (John 1:19-28) Series

Last week, in John 1:1-18, AJ (Author of John) started his gospel by focusing on 2 people, telling us who they are, and what they came to do. The first, and easily more important, is Jesus. Jesus is the Word become flesh. He is the preexistent one. He is Life. He is Light. He is God. To those who receive him, and give their allegiance to him, Jesus gives them the right to become children of God. He gives them something superior to Moses-- he gives them a better grace and truth.

The second person, who is less important, is John the Baptist. Let's read what the introduction told us about John.

John 1:6-8 (ESV):

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

John 1:15 (ESV):

John bore witness about him, and cried out, "This is he of whom I said, He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me."

So what was John the Baptist? John was one sent from God, whose main role was to bear witness to the Light.

Now, when you hear this language about a witness, you should hear this in legal terms.

God did not send Jesus to be Light and Life, without giving evidence that Jesus is from God. We aren't expected to take this blindly. It's perfectly reasonable for people to expect evidence that Jesus is who he says. And so God sent witnesses (Deuteronomy 19:15).

So those are the two big players in John 1 (along with God). Now, this week, starting in John 1:19, we find ourselves entering into the story proper. But AJ doesn't start the story with Jesus. Instead, he starts with John, and John's testimony/witness about Jesus.

Today, we will work from John 1:19-28. But when we read this, we should understand that we are reading a small portion of a larger section in John, that stretches from 1:19-4:54. Starting in 1:19, John gives us a sequence of four days. I want to quickly summarize these, to give you a perspective on the larger framework for the story.

In vs. 19-28, day one, we read about the witness of John the Baptist, who freely confesses what he is not-- John is not the Messiah, or Elijah, or "the prophet" (Deut. 18:18). What he is, is the voice crying out in the wilderness, "make straight the way of the Lord."

In vs. 29-34, we have day 2. Verse 29 starts, "On the next day." (You should underline "on the next day" in your Bibles). Here, John the Baptist witnesses to Jesus as (1) the Lamb of God, (2) the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit, and (3) the Son of God.

In vs. 35-42, we have day 3. Verse 35 starts, "On the next day." Here, John the Baptist witnesses to Jesus by pointing two of his disciples to Jesus. These disciples then leave John and begin "following" Jesus, the Messiah they have "found" (vs. 41).

In verses 43-51, we have day 4. Verse 43 starts, "On the next day." Here, Jesus calls Philip to "follow" him, and Philip in turn invites Nathaniel to "come" to Jesus and see who they have "found" (vs. 45). Philip "believes" Jesus (1:50), and calls him the "Son of God" and "King of Israel." But Jesus tells him he will see still greater things-- he will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man (vs. 51).

Chapter 2 begins with another time reference. "On the third day." There's a lot of debate about how this time reference relates to chapter 1, and if we are supposed to read into it. But what this time reference does, for sure, is invite us to read 2:1-12, the story of Jesus turning water into wine, in light of chapter 1.

And the high point of chapter 2 is found in verse 11:

"Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee,

and he revealed his glory,

and his disciples [believed/gave allegiance to] him.

The question I have, is what's the best way to try to teach all of this? We are expected to read 1:19-2:12, and hear it as a whole. What we will see, is Jesus calling people to come to himself, and those people, in turn, inviting others to come to Jesus. What we will see, really, is the creation of a new people. And we will see this new people-- Jesus' disciples-- move from an early, and partial, faith, to giving their full allegiance to Jesus. And this happens when they see Jesus' glory (cf. 1:14). Jesus had promised Nathaniel he would see greater things-- and that's exactly what happens.