I want you to notice with me verse 6 of John chapter 1, we find where John the Baptist was the forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ, God had sent him to prepare the way of our Lord, and he spoken with such authority, that in verse 19 the Jews sent Priest and Levites to ask him who art thou? Because they thought that he was the Christ, but he confessed that he was not in fact in verse 23 " He said I am the voice of the one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah." and verse 27 " He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe latchet I am not worthy to unloose." John was trying to get the people to understand that the long awaited messiah was here. He didn’t want them to look on him as anything but to look to Christ, and allow him to change their lives. I believe that is what is needed in our churches today, we have too many that have never encountered the living Christ, I say that because when we have an encounter with him it will change our lives, That is what made the early church so great and so powerful. The early followers of Jesus spoke with such authority because they knew who it was they were writeing about. You see they had seen 1st hand the Son of God, they walked with him, they saw the miracles he performed and more important they had a personall relationship with him. You know maybe that is what is needed in our churches today, to help us to stand strong in the faith, to come and see a man named Jesus.
Here in the 1st chapter of the book of Johnwe will find four men as they come into contact with Jesus, and each one will describe him in a different part of his ministry, or his reason for coming to this earth, Let me show you what I mean
#1 John the Baptist see’s him as the Lamb of God V29
But why did John describe him as the Lamb of God, Because John sees him as the SUPREME SACRIFICE, you see if there was one thing that the Jews understood it was their had to be a sacrificial lamb. God from the very beginning showed the world that their had to be a sacrifice. Remember in the garden when adam and eve disobeyed God by eating of the forbidden tree and they tried to cover it up by sewing fig leaves together, remember when God came on the scene he slew a ram and clothed them, why? because he wanted them to understand that their works were not sufficient enough, their had to be a lamb slain, and over in Exodus 12 when the Israelities who had been in egyptian bondage for over 400 years, when God was ready to deliver them, what did they have to do, they had to pick out a Lamb, not just any Lamb, no they had to watch it to make sure it did not have any blemishes and on the 14th day they had to slay that Lamb and apply the Blood to the door post and lentile of their house and what happen if they didn’t, the death angel would not pass over that house. You see this all pointed to a future time when the supreme sacrifice would come and their would not have to be any more sacrifices, turn over to HEB. 10 and read the 1st 12 verses, and the only one who could meet the demands that God had placed upon the sin question was none other than the Lord jesus Christ whom John describes in John 1:29 " Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." Heb. 9:26b " but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." You see he was the Ultimate, Supreme, Sacrifice. and that is how John describes him Now look at verses 40-41
#2 Andrew saw him as the Messiah
Why did Andrew describe him as the Messiah? 1st of all I looked up that word Messiah and it means THE ANNOINTED ONE WHO DELIVERS FROMA GREAT YOKE. Now let me say that the Jews were under heavy bondage, a great yoke which was they were under Roman rule and every jew knew and understood the scriptures and they knew that God was going to send them a messiah, one that would as they supposed deliver them from Roman rule and he would set up his own Kingdom and rule and reign from Jerusalem, but the only problem was this was not the time, you see he came as a deliver but it was not from roman rule it was to deliver the world from the yoke of sin, He came to deliver the world from the bondage of sin, and so we read in John 1:11 "He came unto his own and his own received him not." You see they wanted delivered now, but now was not the time for him to rule and reign with a rod of iron. But now turn over to John 1:44-45
#3 Phillip will see him as Jesus of Nazareth
Now John describes him as the Lamb of God, the Supreme Sacrifice, Andrew sees him as the Messiah, the Annointed One who Deliveres, now Phillip will see him in his earthly body as The Incarnate Son of God, you see in order for him to fullfil his mission as the Lamb of God, the Messiah he had to take on the form of a man, He had to come down to this earth and pay the price, the demands that a Holy and Righteous God had placed upon man’s disobedience in the garden of eden, remember when God had told Adam in Gen. 2:17 " But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." What happen, it plunged this world into sin , it broke that fellowship between God and Man, and in order for it to be restored someone had to pay the price of death, someone had to be that sacrificial lamb, someone had to take on the role of our messiah and that one was none other than the Lord Jesus Christ but in order for him to die for the sins of the world he had to become a man, he had to come down to this earth and pay the price by dieing on Calvary. Listen while Jesus was God in the flesh, he was still human, he was tempted and he suffered that he might understand our temptations and sufferings, Listen to Heb. 4:14-16 " Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, Let us hold fast our profession. For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin..." You see when Phillip saw him as Jesus of Nazareth he saw him as a man of like passions as we are yet he was without sin so he could pay the sin debt. you see he undewrstands the hurt , the pain, the lonliness he knows how we feel.
#4 Nathanael see him as the Son of God Verses 48-49
Nathanael sees him in a two fold way #1 as the Son of God, you see their has only ever been one who walked upon the face of this earth that was perfect and that was the Son of God You see he is our Lamb, the Supremem Sacrifice, He is our Messiah the Annointed one that Deliveres, He is our Great High Priest, the one who knows how we feel. But listen to me one day he will B The King Of Kings And Lord of Lords Read REV. 19:11-16 and 20:1-6
Let me ask you who may be reading this message DO YOU KNOW HIM ? I don’t mean know of him, I mean do you know him as your personal savior, Do you have a personall relationship with him, Are you allowing Him to be Lord over your life??????? Listen if you don’t know him bow your head right their and ask him to forgive you and to come into your heart and save you and then begin to build an intimate relationship with him, I promise you theres not a greater thing in this earth that you can ever do than that. Have a personell encounter with the living Christ, and allow him to change your life as he has mine. May God Bless You..
