John 1 Bible Study 10-10-21

 

Lord,

We pray. Behold our spirit in the conscious mind and unconscious.. help us to speak with you and to lay bare our thoughts and hearts as we pray. Help us to weave a tapestry here in earth in your name. We thank thee this morning for you mercy, patience and grace towards us and those we love. Bless this study this morning and allow your word to manifest in our lives..

We humbly ask..In Jesus name..

Amen

Sons of thunder and John the Baptist…..

John is one of the sons of Zebedee…There was another ..James ...They were in the fishing business around the sea of Galilee….

They were known as the sons of Zebedee until Jesus called them sons of Thunder… As they were traveling to Jerusalem with Jesus they were traveling through Sumeria and sought logging there. But they would not receive them. There had been long standing animosity between Sumerians and Jerusalem….. John and James asked Jesus “Lord would you like us to call fire down from heaven and consume them? And Jesus said, you don't know what manner of spirit you are. That is not my heart.

But Jesus loved their loyalty and their belief that this would be possible. Although misguided and perhaps full of temper they demonstrated their faith.. And Jesus saw the overriding good in it and built on it..and we are glad that he did. We are glad that He will look for the good in us, through all of our sins, and seek to build our lives so that we can be more Christ-like also…

Therefore Jesus affectionately called these brothers Sons of Thunder.. John was later called the Apostle of Love as he wrote so tenderly about Jesus… John writes about himself that he is He's called "the apostle whom Jesus loved." John felt the love of Christ….

In verse 19 begins to Segway into talking about John the Baptist… How does this link together…

Wasn’t John the Baptist also the son of Zebedee? The son of a high priest? A cousin of Jesus himself?

NO…. John the Baptist was the son of the High Priest Zechariah. Remember The Arc Angel visited Zechariah and told him that they would be blessed with a son….

As it says in Luke 15:13

13 The angel said to him, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer. Your wife Elizabeth will have a son, and you will name him John. 14 He will be your pride and joy, and many people will be glad that he was born. 15 As far as the Lord is concerned, he will be a great man. He will never drink wine or any other liquor. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. 16 He will bring many people in Israel back to the Lord their God. 17 He will go ahead of the Lord with the spirit and power that Elijah had. He will change parents’ attitudes toward their children. He will change disobedient people so that they will accept the wisdom of those who have God’s approval. In this way he will prepare the people for their Lord.”

Imagine this now…

18 Zechariah said to the angel, “What proof is there for this? I’m an old man, and my wife is beyond her childbearing years.” Zechariah is actually questioning the Arc Angel Gabriel ! Now I woulder if any of us would have that kind of audacity…. I would just guess we would not.. But he did…so this is what happened….

19 The angel answered him, “I’m Gabriel! I stand in God’s presence. God sent me to tell you this good news. 20 But because you didn’t believe what I said, you will be unable to talk until the day this happens. Everything will come true at the right time.” And from that moment he couldn’t speak until his son John was born…

Jesus said the John the Baptist was the greatest man that ever lived….. Son of the High Priest Zachariah…..

Zebedee was a fisherman. He was a man of means but was a fisherman as were his sons James and John.. ( sons of Thunder)

So why was John the Apostle writing about John the Baptist….

I will read a segment of what he wrote..

John the Baptist Denies Being the Messiah

19 Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders[c] in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. 20 He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.”

21 They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”

He said, “I am not.”

“Are you the Prophet?”

He answered, “No.”

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?”

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.’”[d]

24 Now the Pharisees who had been sent 25 questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

26 “I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know. 27 He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”

28 This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

What are the qualities in this interaction?

There is no hypocrisy.. No pretentiousness.. no dishonesty…No deceit

We hear from John’s mouth conviction, honesty, loyalty and humility… He did not say.. I am John the Baptiser son of the great high priest Zachariah.. no..He could have but he did not..

In his life and in his words he put Jesus first above all else…

Let me read what more John said about John…

John Testifies About Jesus

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”

32 Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33 And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”[f]

John’s Disciples Follow Jesus

35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”

They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”

39 “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”

So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.

40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus.

John the Apostle is traditionally believed to be one of two disciples (the other being Andrew) recounted in John 1: 35-39, who upon hearing the Baptist point out Jesus as the "Lamb of God", followed Jesus and spent the day with him.

Who were the first five disciples of Jesus? Andrew, John, Simon Peter, Philip, and Nathanael. These are the first five disciples.. And now you know why John the Apostle wrote about John the Baptist…. HE WAS THERE….. He saw it all.. He was witness to the birth of the ministry of Jesus.. and In remembrance of Marvin I’ll shout a big Hallelujah to that .. Hallelujah… What a miraculous time to be alive !

“I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. , John said..33 And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One

This has been John the Apostle’s experience.. That why we can read his wonderful prospective today..

Just a little side note…

Notice something.. When Jesus was seen by John the Baptist John was not threatened by his presents there. John never said to HIS disciples “ that’s Jesus and he will have his followers as I predicted . We’ll just keep doing what we are doing…. We all get territorial right.. We don’t like other people encroaching on our territory. That’s human nature. Right ???.. But that was not John the Baptist who said “that is the Lamb of God. Follow him. “ He is the one we are waiting for , and have been working for….He’s the one we have been talking about.. He is the messiah…. Follow him….That wasn’t Christ either…. Christ never plotted against the scribes and Pharisees..Jesus only preached truth and let “truth” stand wherever he was and with whoever was there.. He taught truth and preached truth and lived truth..

Should we compare ourselves to Jesus the perfect man and John the Baptist the greatest man that ever lived?

YES not only should we ..we better… These are the examples left for us to teach us how to live. What better examples do we have? Who better should we seek to emulate, in spirit…

We are nothing but for the grace of God. John did not even have to consider this.. For him it was automatic…Understanding this will make so many things just fall into place for us….so our first step each day is to be thankful for the scriptures, God’s grace and mercy, for our families, children, friends, homes and lives in general. When we have the opportunity to help others..to serve others..to make a difference in this world.. this is a gift from God…. We must be grateful for all that we have and not listen to that ol devil who will always plant seeds of discontent in our hearts and minds…