Let Me Introduce You To Jesus Series

In the authority structure of this church, Jesus should be at the top, above this congregation, above me, above the moderator, above the committees, and above every worker in this church. This means before you do anything in your personal life or in this church, you look and ask what Jesus would do, what Jesus wants. And that is what you do. You don’t come up with your own plan. You don’t try to manipulate the situation. You do what Jesus would do. Hopefully, you know this and practice it. But John saw it first. John was the first to see that Jesus is first. John saw it, but Jesus saw something else. That brings us to point number 3.

3. Jesus Knew the Father

John 1:18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship (bosom) with the Father, has made him known.

John the Baptist knew that Jesus was first, but Jesus knew something far greater. He knew the Father. Jesus is our only link to God. All those people who hug trees or stand in a field getting in touch with the spiritual forces of nature, what do they know about the spiritual world? Have they been a spirit? Have they stepped into the spiritual world? Do they know anyone who has? Have they seen God? Have they seen mother nature? No.

They are only making things up about the spiritual world. Jesus has been there. He has seen God. He is in a closest relationship with the Father. He is in His bosom, that means in His arms as in a hug. If you want to know about God, if you want to know about the spiritual, look at what Jesus said. Jesus is the only One who knows the Father.

But what about John the Baptist? Who was he? Why is he in this story?

4. John The Baptist Was A Voice

John 1:19 Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was.

John 1:20 He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.”

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.”

John 1:22 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 1:23 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.’”

Malachi, many years before this time, had said that God would send Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord. The Jews thought that John might be that Elijah. John and Elijah were similar in many ways. But John said that he was not that Elijah.

The prophet, also mentioned here, was someone that Moses had told about before his death. He told the people that a prophet would come, that he would be like him, like Moses, and that he would be one of them. He told them that they must listen to him.

So that is what Elijah and the prophet are. John said that he was neither of them. He said that he is the voice of one calling in the wilderness, “Make straight the way for the Lord.” These are the words of Isaiah. I have preached on this. John's message? Make a road to God. Make it straight.