Christ had a Heavenly Origin (John 3:31)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/30/2016 9:00 AM

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  Christ had a Heavenly Origin

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  John 3:31

Message of the verse:  “31 “He who comes from above is above all, he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.”

We actually begin to look at the second main point from MacArthur’s outline of the last section in the book of John which includes verses 22-36.  He entitles this section which goes from verses 31-36 “Jesus and the Beginning of the New Age.”  Now believe me we are not talking about what some call in today’s world the “New age movement.”  We are talking about the New Testament and as noted John the Baptist is the last prophet of the Old Testament and not the New Testament era begins with the Lord Jesus coming to earth to become the sacrifice for all who have put their trust in Him for their salvation, including those who have trusted God in the Old Testament times to bring forth the Messiah to pay for their sins.  People in the Old Testament times looked forward to God providing salvation through the coming Messiah, and people in the New Testament times look back at the sacrifice of the Messiah to pay for their sins and be born from above.

Now as we begin this last main section it should be noted that there are some Bible scholars who do not believe that verses 31-36 were quoted by John the Baptist, but that John the Apostle is the one speaking here.  I have never thought that it was John the Apostle speaking her, but John the Baptist continually speaking to his disciples.  MacArthur writes “In his last recorded speech in the gospel, John (the Baptist) listed five reasons for his disciples (and, by extension, everyone) to accept the absolute supremacy of Jesus ChristAs we look at verse thirty-one MacArthur points out that the “adverb ‘anothen’ (from above) is the same word translated ‘born-again’ in 3:3, 7, where it reflects the heavenly origin of the new birth.  Here it refers to Christ as the One ‘who descended from heaven’ (3:13; cf. 6:33, 38, 50-51, 58; 8:42; 13:3; 16:28; 17:8; 1 Cor. 15:47; Eph. 4:10).  As such, He is above all; Christ is sovereign over the universe in general, and the world of men in particular.”

Now as we contrast John the Baptist he states that he is of the earth, that is that when John was born it was like any other birth, there was a human mother and a human father, but when Christ was born the Bible teaches that He has always existed and that His birth consisted of the Holy Spirit of God and the virgin Mary, and by this I am in no way stating that Mary was God.  Let us go back to Genesis 3:15 which is the first prophecy of the coming Messiah:  “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”  In this verse God is speaking to Satan as He declares how he will be destroyed.  We also see the phrase “between your (Satan’s) seed and her (Mary’s) seed.”  This is the only time in the Word of God that we see the seed of the woman, for all other times we see the seed coming from the man.  This is the first prophecy of the virgin birth and the necessity of it is that the sin nature is passed on through the man, not the woman so when Christ was born there was no sin nature passed on.

MacArthur writes “In contrast, John the Baptist declared himself to be ‘of the earth, from the earth, and’ one who ‘speaks of the earth.’  Unlike kosmos (‘world’), ge (earth) carries no negative moral implications; it merely refers here to human limitations.”  Now John’s ministry was the truth for he received his ministry from the Lord, but it had its limitations, while Christ ministry had no limitations for He is the Son of God, He is incarnate.

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  John ministry was a ministry of mercy given to him from the Lord.  This still goes on today as the Lord gives ministries of mercy to people today so that they can lift up the name of the Lord through their ministries.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To fulfill the ministry of mercy that God has given to me each day.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Lamb, unleavened bread, bitter herbs” (Exodus 12:8).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who is the god of this world?”

Answer in our next SD.

1/30/2016 9:37 AM