JESUS IDENTIFIED

SEPTEMBER 8, 2013 

·         John the Baptist Had a delegation sent to him to ask him who he was.

·         What he was doing was unusual; if I understand it correctly only non-Jews were baptized when they converted to Judaism so the delegation was wondering why he was treating Jews as non-Jews.

·         They asked him who he was (they really wanted to know where he got his authority) and he made it very clear that he is not the Messiah.

·         He also denied being Elijah or the prophet.

·         Apparently, the Pharisees thought that they had John cornered.

·         They thought that they were talking to someone of no consequence, and therefore challenged John's authority to baptize. 

Matthew 21:23-25

23 And when He had come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him as He was teaching, and said, "By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?" 24 And Jesus answered and said to them, "I will ask you one thing too, which if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 "The baptism of John was from what source, from heaven or from men?"     NASB 

·         John the Baptist kept steering the question away from himself and toward Jesus.

·         John's mission was to bear witness of Christ.

·         As the "voice," which is heard but not seen, John was not to display himself, but to tell others of Christ.

·         A servant must do every task of his master.

·         A disciple, however, must do every task except take the thong out of the teacher's shoes - That was the rule of the day.

·         John is saying that he is a servant and not a disciple, and he is not even worthy to be that servant, although that is what he was. 

I CAN BE FORGIVEN (JOHN 1:29-36)

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming to him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 "This is He on behalf of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.' 31 "And I did not recognize Him, but in order that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water." 32 And John bore witness saying, "I have beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. 33 "And I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, 'He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.' 34 "And I have seen, and have borne witness that this is the Son of God."

35 Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and he looked upon Jesus as He walked, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!"     NASB 

VERSE 29:

·         Note the orderly development of the SCOPE of the sacrifices.

1.  Genesis 4......for an individual.

2.  Exodus 12......for a household.

3.  Leviticus 16...for a nation (the Day of Atonement).

4.  John 1:29......for the world.

·         The singular use of sin for the world makes it all inclusive.

·         Here we find the fulfillment of the answer that Abraham had given to Isaac those many years ago. 

Genesis 22:6-8

 7 And Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." And he said, "Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" 8 And Abraham said, "God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." So the two of them walked on together.     NASB 

VERSE 30:

·         John the Baptist was seeing and speaking with spiritually enlightened eyes.

·         He knew that Jesus was the Son of God who was preferred before all people.

VERSE 31:

·         John declared that when he entered upon his calling he did not know who the Christ was.

·         He was only being obedient to his calling to make straight the way for Christ to come.

VERSE 32-33:

·         John declares that he got a sign from God whereby he might know the true Messiah; this he says came true concerning Jesus, according to God’s revelation to him.

VERSE 34:

·         We have gone from the declaration that the Word was in the beginning, and was God, to God coming into the world manifested in the flesh, to the identification of the individual one spoken of as the Son of God.

·         The confession also preserves the distinction and relationship between the Father and the Son - they are separate entities.

·         If it were not so, when Jesus prayed to the Father, He would have been praying to Himself.

VERSE 35:

·         John's ministry generally was not a fruitful one, but it was completely successful in that it accomplished exactly what God intended.

·         Although many came to hear him preach, and many were baptized, few were really changed by the experience, for only a few stood ready to accept the Messiah when He appeared and was identified as the Lamb of God and the Son of God.

VERSE 36:

·         This is John's fourth testimony.

·         It is the duty of faithful servants to be much in testifying of Christ, Him crucified, and pointing Him out as the only sacrifice for sin.

·         In witnessing for Jesus, we must ever follow the example of John the Baptist. 

I CAN TRUST GOD’S PROMISE (JOHN 1:40-42a, 45-46)

40 One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. 41 He found first his own brother Simon, and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which translated means Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus.     NASB 

45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." 46 And Nathanael said to him, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him," Come and see. "     NASB 

VERSE 40-42a: 

Andrew “…speaks humbly; not, “I have found,” assuming the honour of the discovery to himself, but “We have,” rejoicing that he had shared with others in it.”…

“He brought him to Jesus; would not undertake to instruct him himself, but brought him to the fountain-head, persuaded him to come to Christ and introduced him.”

Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible 

·         To those that come to Christ, He gives a new nature, and admits them into His family as children.

·         His giving Peter a new name indicates that Peter was now a born child in His family, and He his Father.

VERSE 45:

·         Again we see the result of a person being touched by the Lord.

·         They have a great desire to share the good news.

·         They have a concern for those who do not know the Lord.

·         This statement to Nathanael by Philip strongly suggests that these godly men were versed in the Scriptures which pointed out the coming of the Messiah, and that they fed on Him as held forth in the Word, and that the finding of Him now in person was joyful news to them.

VERSE 46:

·         Phillip did not get into a debate concerning Jesus - there was no theological discussion or defending Nazareth, or anything like that.

·         This is a good lesson for us today, for the purpose of our witnessing is to get people to visit the church where they will be sitting under sound gospel preaching and teaching.

·         Then our trust is in the Holy Spirit to work a miracle of grace in the heart of the lost so that they will realize their need for Jesus.

·         No prejudices should hinder people to come to Christ, and although others cannot solve their doubts, yet a blink of Christ will easily dispel them; for Philip’s answer intimated his own weakness to satisfy all of Nathanael's doubts.

·         However it was Philip's duty to extend the invitation to come to the Lord, and it was Nathanael's duty to accept. 

I CAN SEE GOD WORKING (JOHN 1:47-51)

47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!"  48 Nathanael said to Him, "How do You know me?" Jesus answered and said to him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you."  49 Nathanael answered Him, "Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel." 50 Jesus answered and said to him, "Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You shall see greater things than these."  51 And He said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you shall see the heavens opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."      NASB 

VERSE 47:

·         Christ will in mercy pass over the faults, prejudices, and mistakes of those who do not persist in them, but come to Him.

·         We see Christ welcoming and receiving Nathanael even while he is coming.

·         The definition of the word "guile" is deceit, i.e., what you see is what you get. This was great praise from Jesus for Nathanael.

·         This implies that there were many Israelites who were not truly such.

·         The true mark of a true Israelite is, not perfection or sinless, but sincerity, where by all are enabled to serve God from right principles and for right objectives, and are in so far  purged from hypocrisy that it does not reign in them.

VERSE 48:

·         This is a very important verse which is easy to just pass over and therefore we learn nothing from it!

·         Jesus as God is not only Omniscience but Omnipresent saw Nathanael in the sense that He is God and sees all things everywhere.

·         In these verses, we see Nathanael convinced that Jesus is the Son of God because Jesus gave him a very, very small display of His omniscience.

·         To the unbeliever, the omniscience of God is something that strikes terror in their hearts.

·         To the believer, it is the cause of much comfort, especially in prayer.

·         We learn from this that Christ omniscience as God condescends to know even the most minute details, even posture of the body (sitting), circumstances of time (before Philip called you), and place (under the fig tree).

·         By this Christ would assure us of His taking notice of greater things that may concern us.

VERSE 49:

·         This is evidence that a divine work had been wrought in Nathanael's soul. He was blind, but now he "sees”.

·         In a very special way the gospel of John, emphasizes the deity of the Lord Jesus.

·         For example, in the Gospel of Mark, no one, except the unclean spirits, confessed Jesus as the God until His death.

·         Thus did Nathanael give testimony to the dual nature of Christ.

VERSE 50:

·         Christ commended Nathanael's believing on so easy terms, and promised further grounds of confirmation of Nathanael's belief.

·         However, it seems that Christ is better pleased the less evidence we believe upon.

VERSE 51:

·         The ladder is Christ, and only by Him can you and I make contact with God.

·         Jesus promises those who follow Him that they will see even greater things.

·         When we respond to Jesus by trusting Him and committing our lives to Him, He reveals more of Himself to us.