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Proverbs 8:1-12
1 Does not wisdom cry out, And understanding
lift up her voice?
2 She takes her stand on the top of the high
hill, Beside the way, where the paths meet.
3 She cries out by the gates, at the entry of
the city, At the entrance of the doors:
4 "To you, O men, I call, And my voice is to the sons of men.
5 O you simple ones, understand prudence, And
you fools, be of an understanding heart.
6 Listen, for I will speak of excellent things,
And from the opening of my lips will
come right things;
7 For my mouth will speak truth; Wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
8 All the words of my mouth are with righteousness; Nothing
crooked or perverse is in them.
9 They are
all plain to him who understands, And right to those who find knowledge.
10 Receive my instruction, and not silver, And
knowledge rather than choice gold;
11 For wisdom is better than rubies, And all the things one may desire cannot
be compared with her.
12 "I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, And
find out knowledge and
discretion.
Father God, tis the season for illness and we ask that
you restore people’s health quickly that are sick with respiratory and
digestive tract ailments. Your are the great healer. In Jesus name we pray, Amen!
Gospel of John 1:29-40 NKJV
The lesson this week is the conclusion
of John the Baptist ministry. John gives testimony of who Jesus is and points
Him out of the crowd for people to follow. John’s ministry comes to a close
with him fading out and Jesus being the bright and shining Star to follow!
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!
The next day John saw Jesus coming
toward him; This is
referring to the day after John the Baptist was questioned by those from the
Sanhedrin.
And said, "Behold! The Lamb of
God who takes away the sin of the world; Jesus is the lamb for the sacrifice of our sin nature. Every
morning and evening, a lamb was sacrificed in the Temple for the sins of the
people Exodus 29:38-42.
Isaiah the Prophet prophesied that the Messiah,
God's servant, would be led to the slaughter like a lamb Isaiah
53:7. He opened not His
mouth as a lamb, showing His patience, His sufferings, and readiness to die for
man. A lamb, among the Jews, was also an emblem of patience, meekness,
gentleness. On “all” these accounts, rather than on any one of them alone,
Jesus was called “the Lamb.” To pay the penalty for sin a life had to be given and
God chose to provide the sacrifice himself. The sins of the world were removed
when Jesus died as the perfect sacrifice. This is the way our sins are forgiven
1Corinthians 5:7.
The "sin of the world" means everyone's sin, the sin of each
individual. Jesus paid the price of your sin by his death. You can
receive forgiveness by repenting, confessing your sin to him, and asking for
his forgiveness.
30 This is He of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man
who is preferred before me, for He was before me.'
This is He of whom I said; Here John the Baptist is making a
positive identification of Jesus.
After me comes a Man; What John is saying here is that Jesus
came after him in birth and ministry because John was the forerunner to
introduce the Messiah.
Who is preferred before me; Jesus was preferred over John because
the Jewish people were looking for the Messiah as scripture predicted.
For He was before me; Even though Jesus birth and ministry
was after John the Baptist, Jesus always was and always will be. This speaks of
Jesus deity.
31 I did not
know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing
with water."
I did not know Him; What John is saying here is that the
Holy Spirit hadn’t revealed Jesus true identity to him yet. John and Jesus
probably did know each other, but as distant cousins, John spent most of his
life in the wilderness while Jesus labored along side of Joseph as a carpenter.
But that He should be revealed to
Israel; Means that at
a certain time, and not before, Jesus was to be introduced to Israel as the
Messiah, which John carried out.
Therefore I came baptizing with water;
What John is saying
here in essence is that he was doing what the Holy Spirit had directed him to
do. It wasn’t until Jesus came to him to be baptized that it was revealed to
him that Jesus was the Messiah. Matthew 3:13-17
32 And John
bore witness, saying, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a
dove, and He remained upon Him.
And John bore witness; Meaning that John did exactly what he
had been told to do by the Holy Spirit.
Saying, "I saw the Spirit
descending from heaven like a dove; John
no doubt saw something descending from Heaven which appear to him like a dove.
It was the Holy Spirit; the third person of the Trinity; Luke also described it
as a bodily shape like a dove. Why a dove? The dove, among the Jews, was the
symbol of purity of heart, harmlessness, and gentleness, Matthew
10:16. The form
chosen here was no doubt an emblem of the innocence, meekness, and tenderness
of our Saviour.
And He remained upon Him; With the Holy Spirit remaining upon
Jesus signifies the beginning of His ministry.
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.'
I did not know Him; John the Baptist uses this statement
again signifying that he didn’t know that Jesus was the Messiah.
But He who sent me to baptize with
water; John is
referring to the Holy Spirit here that sent him to baptize with water.
Said to me, “Upon whom you see the
Spirit descending, and remaining on Him”; John had this message from the Holy Spirit and by this
message he would know the Messiah.
This is He who baptizes with the Holy
Spirit; He, in this
phrase is referring to Jesus that would baptize with the Holy Spirit. Jesus
would send the Holy Spirit upon all believers, empowering them to live and to
teach the message of salvation. This outpouring of the Spirit came after Jesus
had risen from the dead and ascended into heaven.
34 And I
have seen and testified that this is the Son of God."
This
verse has strong verbiage in it. First John states he has seen and then follows
up that he testifies. That of an eye-witness is the greatest testimony possible
and all of this was revealed to him by the Spirit of God and played out exactly
as he was told.
35 Again,
the next day, John stood with two of his disciples.
The next day is in
reference to the day after John the Baptist gave his testimony of Jesus.
These two disciples were
followers of John the Baptist. One of these was Andrew and most likely the
other was the writer of this gospel, John. John 1:40 One of the
two who heard John speak, and
followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. With these two being followers of John
the Baptist it shows us that they had a hunger for God already. They were
probably being prepped by John through the power of the Holy Spirit. With this
hunger it didn’t take any persuading to leave John and follow Jesus.
36 And
looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God!"
I
wonder what else John was thinking as he looked at Jesus walking. I wonder if
John fully realized at that moment that his ministry was finished. John knew
Jesus was the Messiah, so why didn’t John become a follower of Jesus or an
apostle, after all he was Spirit filled. John fades out of the scriptures here,
but continues spreading the news of the coming Messiah to those that did not
see Jesus.
I
think John was doing more than just looking at Jesus. I think his eyes were
fixed intently on Jesus and contemplating, here is the long expected Messiah
and deliverer of the world, praise God Almighty!
37 The two
disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.
These
two disciples heard John and probably seen John staring at Jesus and knew Jesus
was special, but probably didn’t know at that point how special and what effect
Jesus would have on their lives. When they took their first step toward Jesus
they became disciples.
This
is how all ministers of the Gospel should act. There is a great lesson here for
them. This shows that John was sincere; that he was not desirous of forming a
party or of building up a sect; that he was willing that all those whom he had
attracted to himself by his ministry should become followers of Christ.
The
object of ministers should not be to build up their own interests or to extend
their own fame. It is to point men to the Saviour. Ministers however popular or
successful should be willing that their disciples should look to Christ rather
than to them; they should forget them and look away from them and encourage
them to tread in the footsteps of the Son of God. The conduct of these
disciples shows us that we should forsake all and follow Jesus when he is
pointed out to us as the Messiah. We should not delay nor debate the matter, but
leave at once all our old teachers, guides, companions, practice of religious
doctrine not supported by God’s Word, and follow the Lamb of God. Have you left
all and followed him? Have you forsaken the guides of false dogma and deceit;
of sin and infidelity; and committed yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ?
38 Then
Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, "What do you
seek?" They said to Him, "Rabbi" (which is to say, when
translated, Teacher), "where are You staying?"
Then Jesus turned, and seeing them
following, said to them, “What do you seek?”; This inquiry of Jesus was not a
rebuking inquiry but one of respecting their desires; an opportunity for them
to state their wishes. Jesus turned with an open ear just as He does to all
that approach him for salvation.
Following
Christ is not enough; we must follow him for the right reasons. To follow
Christ for our own purposes would be asking Christ to follow us, to align with
us to support, and advance our cause, not His. We must examine our motives for
following Him. Are we seeking His glory or ours?
So
many people claim to be Christians, but in prayer they seek answers for their
will and not the will of God. Read the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 5:9-13) slowly
and think about what each phrase it is saying. It is all about God and asking
Him to help us to be more holy like Him. How do you pray? Do you pray for
things to glorify yourself or for God to do things in your life so you can
glorify Him?
They said to Him, "Rabbi"
(which is to say, when translated, Teacher); The key word here in this phrase is “Rabbi”, but John
gives us a definition of what is meant by the word. Without John’s translation
we would think this is all directed to the Jewish people, but that is not what
John is saying with his explanation. John is saying “teacher” that can be
substituted in place of “Rabbi.” So what John is actually saying is this is for
Jew and Gentile alike.
Where are You staying?; I find this question interesting and
the response Jesus gave in the next verse. The disciples were asking about an
earthly abode but why did they ask this question? Jesus didn’t really answer
them because if He told them His abode was in Heaven they wouldn’t have
understood at that time. Jesus was thinking eternally while the disciples were
thinking earthly.
It
is possible that whoever asked the question wanted to go get someone and tell
them they found the long awaited Messiah, and they wanted to know where to take
this person to introduce them to Jesus? It’s possible, because we see in the
upcoming verses Andrew went to get his brother Peter.
As
these two disciples followed Jesus daily they eventually came to the knowledge
of where Jesus lived.
39 He said
to them, "Come and see." They came and saw where He was staying, and
remained with Him that day (now it was about the tenth hour).
Little
did these two disciples know that they would come and see for the next 3 years,
and what they saw filled their hearts with everlasting peace and joy.
The
tenth hour has been debate for centuries whether it was Jewish time or Roman
time; Jewish time would have been 4 p.m., while Roman time would have been 10
a.m.
40 One of
the two who heard John speak,
and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.
This
verse tells us who one of the two followers of John the Baptist was that heard
John speak, "Behold
the Lamb of God!"
A
second point here is that Simon Peter was mentioned as Andrew’s brother. We
know John wrote this book quite some time after Jesus death so John is
recognizing Andrew was the brother of the great Apostle Peter.
Next
week we will finish chapter one which is about Jesus gathering His Apostles.
Colossians
1:16
For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth,
visible
and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created through Him and for
Him.
Romans
3:23 for
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans
6:23
For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal
life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, Most
assuredly, I say to you,
unless
one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
The
Lighthouse Full Gospel Church
Sinners Prayer; Pray this, and if you believe
it with your heart, Jesus will save you!
“Lord
Jesus I know I am a sinner. I confess my
sins to you; I am sorry for my sins; I repent (Meaning, desiring to turn from a
sinful lifestyle.) of all my sins, and I am asking for your forgiveness. I believe that only you can forgive sin. I commit my life to you and ask you to come
into my heart, direct, and take charge of my life. I believe that you died to set me free from
my sinful lifestyle and you rose from the dead to give me eternal life, and
right now you are seated at the Right Hand of God Almighty. I believe you are
the Son of God; the only Way, the only Truth, the only Life, and my
Savior.” I believe this and have faith
you will make a new person out of me, by sending the Holy Spirit to dwell in my
heart and lead me in a new life. In Jesus name I pray Amen.”
(John 3:16,17; Romans
3:23; 6:23; 5:8; 10:9-13; Ephesians
2:8-10; 1 John 5:11-14; 1:6-10)
(Sin: Rom. 1:22-32; Gal. 5:19-21; Eph.
5:3-7)
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