Who Is This Jesus? Part II

John’s Witness: The True Light

⁶ There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷ This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light,  that all through him might believe. ⁸ He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. ⁹ That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.
¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. ¹¹ He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. ¹² But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: ¹³ who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

The Word Becomes Flesh

¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
¹⁵ John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’”
¹⁶ And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

A Voice in the Wilderness

¹⁹ Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”
²⁰ He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”
²¹ And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.”
“Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” ²² Then they said to him, “Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”
²³ He said: “I am  ‘ The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “ Make straight the way of the LORD,”’

   as the prophet Isaiah said.”
²⁴ Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees. ²⁵ And they asked him, saying, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
²⁶ John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. ²⁷ It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.”
²⁸ These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

The Lamb of God

²⁹ The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! ³⁰ This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ ³¹ I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.”
³² And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. ³³ I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴ And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”

³⁵ Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples. ³⁶ And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God!”

John the Baptist was the cousin of Jesus and no doubt he knew Jesus. What I find interesting is that John did not know Jesus was the long awaited Messiah until this point. Why did God not reveal this to John earlier?

My thoughts tell me if John had known his cousin was the Messiah, he would not have preached the way he did but would have sought to be a disciple of Jesus from the beginning.

God had a purpose for John preaching: “I am  ‘ The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “ Make straight the way of the LORD,”’

John knew what God wanted him to know, he preached what God wanted him to preach, he recognized Jesus when God wanted him to. Sometimes God does His will contrary to the way we think He should. I wonder if John thought about the years he could have spent learning from Jesus. Maybe he had more than what is mentioned in the scriptures, but the bottom line is, The Spirit revealed this to John in His timing.

John’s whole life was about preparing the way of the Lord.

Is ours?

Do You Ever Doubt? Part I

² And when John (the Baptist) had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples ³ and said to Him, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?”

Have you ever struggled with doubt? Even John the Baptist had second thoughts despite his declaration when he baptized Jesus (John 1:29-34;John 3:25-36). Satan is very cunning; he is the master of deception and the father of lies. He can do much damage by casting an ounce of doubt. John knew what he witnessed at the beginning but when things didn’t work out as he thought they would, he began to question if he was mistaken.

He, like all the others, thought the Messiah would come like His forefather David; A mighty, conquering King. They believed He would set up His kingdom in Jerusalem and overthrow the oppressive Roman government. Jesus came meek and lowly; as a servant.

Is Jesus what you expect? Can you accept Him just the way He is?                   
If you, like I, have ever struggled with this, don’t worry; there is hope. If we truly want to know and believe, God is faithful and will reveal Himself to us. All we need do is pray and step out in faith. He loves you enough that “He sent His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16).”  If He loves us that much, even the craftiness of the Devil himself can’t stop the love relationship between Almighty God and His child.                                         

Struggling with Doubt

Greg Laurie

And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to Him, "Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?"
— Matthew 11:2

It may surprise you to know that some of the greatest men and women of God whom we read about in the pages of Scripture have had their moments of doubt. Even the greatest of the Old Testament prophets, John the Baptist, struggled with doubt.
In John's case, we might say that his doubt was due to confusion. He had a certain concept of what the Christ was supposed to do that Jesus simply was not doing. It is not that Jesus was failing to do what He was supposed to do; it was that John misunderstood what God was going to do.
Scripture clearly taught that before the Messiah would establish His kingdom, He would suffer and die. Before Jesus would sit on a throne, He first would be nailed to a cross. This is what the Scripture taught. Passages like Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 spoke extensively about the suffering of the Messiah. But His role had been misunderstood. So John the Baptist sent word from prison to ask Jesus, "Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?" (Matthew 11:2). Yet everything was going exactly as it was supposed to go. It is just that John misunderstood.
That can happen to us as well. Sometimes we misunderstand God and His Word. Something happens that wasn't part of our plan for our lives, and we wonder why God allowed it. We wonder whether He is paying attention. The problem is that we interpret God in light of the tragedy instead of the other way around. Many times, our doubt is due to our confusion about what we think God ought to be doing.
Are you entertaining doubts today? Take heart. God is in control, and He has His purposes in the circumstances of your life.