SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/16/2015
10:12 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 1st
Day, 1st Group, 1st Emphasis
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: John 1:19-28
Message of the verses: “19 This is the testimony of John, when the
Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are
you?" 20 And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ."
21 They asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" And he said, "I
am not." "Are you the Prophet?" And he answered, "No."
22 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?" 23 He said, "I am A VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN
THE WILDERNESS, ’MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD,’ as Isaiah the
prophet said." 24 Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. 25 They asked
him, and said to him, "Why
then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the
Prophet?" 26 John answered them saying, "I baptize in water, but
among you stands One whom you do not know. 27 “It is He who comes after me, the
thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie." 28 These things took
place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.”
When
we look at the first phrase “This is the testimony of John” we actually see the
introduction to verses 19-37 even though they take place on three different
days as John speaks to three different groups.
John MacArthur writes “The noun marturia
(‘Testimony’) and the related verb martureo
(testify’) are favorite terms of John’s, appearing more than seventy-five times
in his writings. John the Baptist was
the first witness called by the apostle John to testify to the truth about
Jesus Christ.” Again remember the
purpose for John writing this gospel “these have been written so that you may
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may
have life in His name (John 20:31).”
There
is another thing that we have to learn and to also remember and that is how
John uses the term “Jews” in his writings here in this gospel, for even though
we know that this term speaks of the children of Israel in John’s writing it
speaks of those who were the enemy of Jesus Christ as we will see as we go
through this book. John uses this term
to speak of the religious authorities and particularly those in Jerusalem. It was the Jews, the religious Jews in
Jerusalem who were the most hostile to Jesus, and it is those who eventually
talked Pilate into giving the order to have Christ crucified. Now another thing about these religious Jews
who lived in Jerusalem is that they were a part of the Sanhedrin who were the
supreme governing body in Israel (under the ultimate authority of the
Romans). John the Baptist has some things
to say these Jews as seen in Matthew 3:7-10 “7 But when he saw many of the
Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers, who warned
you to flee from the wrath to come? 8
"Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; 9 and do not suppose that you can say to
yourselves, ’We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these
stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. 10 “The axe is already laid
at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is
cut down and thrown into the fire.” This
is one of the things that I truly admire about John the Baptist.
Some
of these Jews were wondering if John the Baptist thought himself to be the
Messiah and so that is why they sent some of their cronies to come and talk to
him and find out who he was. “Now while
the people were in a state of expectation and all were wondering in their
hearts about John, as to whether he was the Christ (Luke 3:15).” The religious leaders of the Jews were
worried about an uprising from the people which would have been brutally
suppressed by the Romans as we can see from John 11:47-50 “47 Therefore the
chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council, and were saying, "What
are we doing? For this man is performing many signs. 48 “If we let Him go on
like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away
both our place and our nation." 49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high
priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all, 50 nor do you
take into account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people,
and that the whole nation not perish.’”
We
also see in verse 19 who it was that these Jews sent to John, the priests and
the Levites and we can also believe that there were some Pharisees with them
too as we will see when we discuss verse 24.
Just a quick not on the priests and Levites as the priests were the ones
who were to be the human intermediaries between God and man and they were also
the ones who officiated at the religious ceremonies as seen in Luke 1:8-9 “8 Now it happened that while he was performing
his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division, 9 according to the custom of the priestly
office, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.” MacArthur writes “The Levites assisted the
priests in the temple rituals (cf. Num. 3:6-10; 18:2-4). Since the temple police force was made up of
Levites (cf. 7:32; Luke 22:4; Acts 4:1; 5:24), they likely served as a security
detachment to protect the priests in the delegation.”
I
want to look at one more section in this SD and then we will stop for
today. “Who are you” is the question
that first was asked to John the Baptist and this has to reflect on the Jewish
leaders’ confusion regarding him. (Note their
questions in verses 21-22), since he did not fit into any of their messianic
expectations. Yes we can see the confusion
that these men had, as they wondered exactly who John was, and one of the
reasons was that John had a great following as was expected since he was doing
the work of the Lord in preparing the people for the coming Messiah. The question that they had “who are you”
implied that they thought that he thought that he was the Messiah, and I am
sure that they were prepared to deal with him if he said that was who he was,
but now they are probably even more confused, for after all they were the
religious leaders who were suppose to know everything about who the Messiah
would be, if not in appearance but in action as we will see later on in our
study of John’s gospel. John MacArthur
write about this: “The question implied
that John might consider himself the Messiah, as his emphatic (cf. his use of
the emphatic pronoun ego) reply, ‘I
am not the Christ’ (the Greek word for Messiah) indicates. Messiah had come, John insisted, but he
disavowed any thought that he might be Him.
In fact, the apostle John’s threefold declaration, ‘he confessed and did
not deny, but confessed’ emphasizes the vehemence of the Baptist’s denial.
Unlike some of his followers, he clearly understood his subordinate role as the
forerunner of Christ (cf. 3:25-30).” “25
Therefore there arose a discussion on the part of John’s disciples with a Jew
about purification. 26 And they came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, He
who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, He is
baptizing and all are coming to Him." 27 John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing unless
it has been given him from heaven. 28 “You yourselves are my witnesses
that I said, ’I am not the
Christ,’ but,
’I have been sent ahead of
Him.’ 29 “He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the
bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the
bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full. 30 “He must increase, but I must
decrease.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: “He must increase, but I must decrease” are
some great words to follow in my life as Christ must be seen in and through me,
not me seen in and through me.
My Steps of Faith
for Today:
Learn from the humble John the Baptist.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “David” (1 Samuel 16:1-13).
Today’s Bible question: “Which Pauline epistle was a masterpiece of
Christian courtesy and intercession?”
Answer in our next SD.
12/16/2015 11:02 AM
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