As the Light, Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of God’s promise and plan for all humanity...

This week we are looking at the opening verses of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of John. Tuesday, we discovered that Jesus Christ is the eternal expression of God that is the source of life and light for humanity. We discovered that as the Word, Jesus Christ is God’s ultimate disclosure of Himself. Jesus Christ, as the second member of the Trinity, is the eternal Divine Being who has always existed in a close, personal relationship with God the Father and the Holy Spirit.

As the Word, Jesus Christ is the hands of creation through whom all creation came into existence. And as the Word, Jesus Christ is the source of life and a light for all of humanity. While the evil and destructive power of selfishness and rebellion attempted to overcome and defeat the light, as the Word, Jesus Christ has prevailed over selfishness, sin, rebellion, and death.

Now a natural question that could arise at this point is “Well Dave, how do we know that Jesus has overcome, because the world still seems to be a dark place? How do we know that Jesus is the eternal expression of God that is the source of life and light for humanity?"

So today  I would like for us to pick up where we left off Tuesday. And as we jump back into the opening sections of the gospel of John, we see John provide the evidence to back his claims regarding Jesus by introducing us to another person who played an important role in God’s story. So let’s meet this person together, beginning in John 1:6:

There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.

John brings us into this section of his account of Jesus life by introducing us to a man named John. When John states that John was a man sent from God, he is revealing for us the reality that John was sent by God with a mission that was designed to accomplish a specific objective. And that mission and that objective was that John would be a witness that would testify about the Light. John’s mission was to act as a witness who confirms or attests to the truth of Jesus being the Light on the basis of his personal knowledge and belief.

You see, a witness does more than confirm and establish truth. A witness makes a commitment to the truth. And by confirming and establishing the truth of Jesus as the Light, John would be the vehicle by which all men might believe in Jesus as the Light. Now this word believe, in the language that this letter was originally written in, means to entrust oneself with complete confidence to someone or something. John was to proclaim Jesus as the Light so that all may come to place their trust in Jesus through his message.

And to make sure that no one became confused, John explains that this messenger from God named John was not to be confused with the Light. This messenger named John was not the Light. Instead this messenger named John was to point people to the Light. Now you might be wondering “Wait a minute Dave. Who is this John? Are you referring to the man named John who is the one who wrote this letter? Are you referring to the John who was the person who had the closest relationship with Jesus while He was on earth? Are you referring to John who was Jesus best friend? Who is this John? I’m confused.”

The person that John is referring to here is not himself. Instead the person who John is referring to here is another man who was named John the Baptist. John the Baptist was Jesus cousin. Now another question that arises here is “Well Dave, what exactly was the testimony that John the Baptizer gave when it came to Jesus as the Light? What proof did John the Baptizer provide that confirmed and established that Jesus was God’s ultimate disclosure of Himself. What proof did John the Baptizer provide that confirmed and established Jesus Christ, as the second member of the Trinity, as the eternal Divine Being who has always existed in a close, personal relationship with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. What proof did John the Baptizer provide that confirmed and established Jesus Christ as the source of life and a light for all of humanity?”

If those questions are running through your mind, I want to let you know that those are great questions to be asking. And fortunately for us, just a few verses later in John 1:19, we see John record the testimony of John the Baptizer when it came to who Jesus was as the Light. Let’s look at those verses together:

This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ." They asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" And he said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" And he answered, "No." Then they said to him, "Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?" He said, "I am A VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, 'MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD,' as Isaiah the prophet said."

As people heard about John the Baptizer and his message, throngs of people were going out to see him and hear his message. So the self righteous religious people wanted to find out who John the Baptizer thought he was. Upon arriving, this delegation asked John the Baptizer “are you the Christ?” In other words “are you the Messiah”?  You see, hundreds of years earlier, God promised the Jewish people that He would send a rescuer, a redeemer, a Messiah, who would deliver the Jewish people from oppression and establish them to a place of prominence in the world. And it is John the Baptizers response that we see him begin to give his testimony. John the Baptizer begins to testify about Jesus by denying that he was the Messiah. “I am not the Messiah”.

The delegation then asked a follow up question: "What then? Are you Elijah?" The delegation wanted to know if he was claiming to be the fulfillment of God’s prediction and promise that had been made some 400 years earlier in the book of Malachi. In the book of Malachi, the prophet had predicted and proclaimed that before the end of God’s story here on earth, Elijah would come to announce that the Messiah was coming. John the Baptizer responded to their question by simply saying "I am not."

Now this led the delegation to ask a third question: "Are you the Prophet?" The delegation wanted to know if John the Baptizer was claiming to be the prophet referred to in God’s promise to the Jewish people in Deuteronomy 18:15. There God had promised that someday in the future He would send a prophet that was greater than Moses who would teach and lead the Jewish people. And once again, John the Baptizer responded to their question by simply saying "No."

Now, as you might imagine at this point the delegation was becoming very frustrated, as they were no closer to knowing who John the Baptizer was then when they started. And in their frustration, the delegation exclaimed "Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?" John the Baptizer responded to their frustrated question by quoting a section of the Old Testament book of Isaiah that was written some 600 years earlier. John the Baptizer quoted Isaiah 40:3 to call the Jewish people to be ready, because the coming of the Messiah is near. John was calling the Jewish people to prepare themselves by clearing any obstacles from their lives that would cause them to miss the Messiah when He comes. John then allows us even more detail into John the Baptizer’s testimony about the light, beginning in verse 24:

Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him, and said to him, "Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" John answered them saying, "I baptize in water, but among you stands One whom you do not know. "It is He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie." These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing. The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! "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.' "I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water." John testified saying, "I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. "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.' "I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God."

John tells us that as Jesus approached from the distance, John the Baptizer made a powerful proclamation: "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” In Jewish culture, a spotless lamb that was without blemish was required as a sacrificial offering to God. The spotless lamb was offered as a substitute to pay the penalty for acts of selfishness and rebellion that had been committed against God.

John the Baptizer is revealing for us the reality that Jesus, as the Light, was the sacrificial lamb that belonged to God and was provided by God to deal with the selfishness and rebellion of all humanity throughout all human history. Jesus, as the Light, was the sacrificial lamb without blemish that the prophet Isaiah predicted and proclaimed that the Messiah would be some 600 years earlier in Isaiah 53:7. John the Baptizer then continued his testimony to confirm and establish that Jesus was the Light by pointing to an earlier encounter with Jesus when he baptized Jesus.

And it is here, in the mission and the testimony of John the Baptizer, that we see God reveal for us a timeless and powerful truth timeless truth when it comes to Jesus as the light. And that timeless truth is this:  As the Light, Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of God’s promise and plan for all humanity. You see, it was John the Baptizer’s baptism of Jesus in fulfillment of the mission that he had been given by God that provides us the proof that confirms and establishes that something happened in history.

It was John the Baptizer’s baptism of Jesus in fulfillment of the mission that he had been given by God that provides us the proof that confirms and establishes that Jesus was God’s ultimate disclosure of Himself. It was John the Baptizer’s baptism of Jesus in fulfillment of the mission that he had been given by God that provides us the proof that confirms and establishes that Jesus Christ, as the second member of the Trinity, is the eternal Divine Being who has always existed in a close, personal relationship with God the Father and the Holy Spirit.

It was John the Baptizer’s baptism of Jesus in fulfillment of the mission that he had been given by God that provides us the proof that confirms and establishes that Jesus Christ is the source of life and a light for all of humanity. And, it was John the Baptizer’s baptism of Jesus in fulfillment of the mission that he had been given by God that provides us the proof that confirms and establishes that what happened in history some 2,000 years ago was the fulfillment of a promise and a plan that God had made to all humanity.