John Chapter 1 Verse 18

 In Exodus Chapter 33, when Moses was speaking one on one with God,

Moses said to God in verse 18, “Please, show me Your glory.” And God

responds in verses 20-22, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see

Me, and live.” And the Lord said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall

stand on the rock. So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put

you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass

by.”

 This is not only an alignment with John chapter 1, but it is also

incredibly revelational! That God would say that no man shall see Him

and live is a statement of fact, not warning. To behold the entirety of

God is what is meant here by “seeing God,” which is not only in the

physical…

 The way this is presented in the Greek by John indicates that he is

presenting God in His nature of being rather than only or simply God in

person. ‘Deity’ is probably a better translation for what John says…,

“No one has seen deity at any time.” The meaning is that no human has

ever mentally processed the fullness of Deity. It would be like filling a

water balloon with the oceans…, that balloon would have no chance!

 But God says to Moses what John says to us in that we read in Exodus

33, “Here is a place by Me…,” or, “with Me, alongside of Me, in

fellowship with Me.” Here is a place with Me…, stand in the cleft of the

Rock, with My hand, (the hand of power, strength, action and initiative),

and it says in Exodus 19, “And I will make My Goodness pass by you.”

In other words, that is what you will see…, My goodness!

 God’s goodness is Jesus Christ. The grace and glory of God, the truth

and heart of God, the bosom of the Father! Same word used for the

“bay” of a sea. That’s where we are safe, where we can swim, where we

can set sail, where we experience the ocean without experiencing the

ocean… Jesus has declared God to the world…

 The word declared is exegeomai, where we get our word, exegesis. To

exegete the scripture is to explain it so that it becomes not only

understandable but actionable. This is Jesus. The explanation of all

things we can know about God on this side of glory such that we (and

our lives and hearts) are covered by the hand of God, in Him, the cleft of

the Rock, in a place alongside of deity…

John Chapter 1 Verses 19 – 25

 People were coming to John and John was preaching in the wilderness.

Not in the temple, or even the city, he was far away from the religious

center of the day and yet his ministry was gaining momentum… And the

implication is that it was the Jews that were going to him to be baptized,

not the gentiles… (That would have been an entirely different message

from the Pharisees) …

 They wouldn’t have had a problem if John was baptizing gentiles

because if so, he would essentially be growing support for Judaism.

During the Second Temple period, a Gentile male had to undergo three

main rites to convert to Judaism: circumcision, ritual immersion or

baptism in a mikveh, and offering a sacrifice at the Temple in Jerusalem.

For women, the process required immersion and sacrifice.

 The ritual immersion in a mikveh acted as a profound spiritual cleansing.

Rabbinic tradition viewed the newly immersed convert as a "newborn

child"—completely washed of their past pagan life and ritually pure

before God. Here’s the problem…, John was baptizing Jews, which did

happen at the time but happened at mikveh’s which were sanctified by

priests… John was baptizing in OPEN water having nothing to do with

the priests in power… This was the problem…

 So, they ask him, and these are good questions, are you the Christ?

Nope. Are you Elijah? 400 years before this, Malachi had given a

prophecy which we find in Malachi 4:5, “Behold I will send you Elijah

the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the

Lord.” Are you him? Nope.

 They ask him, are you the Prophet? Moses gave a prophesy that is found

in Deuteronomy 18:15, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a

Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall

hear.” Interesting, as this was fulfilled in the life of Jesus, with Moses

present, at the Mount of Transfiguration.

 Matthew 17:1-3, “Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John

his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was

transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes

became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to

them, talking with Him” Then we read in verse 5, “This is My beloved

Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!”

 So, John, are you the Prophet? Nope. Then who are you!? He said, “I

am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of

the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said.” Some strong words from John the

Baptist. He's saying that he is indeed fulfilled prophecy!

 This was a prophecy given by Iaiah 700 years before Christ. Isaiah 40:1-

3, ““Comfort, yes, comfort My people!” Says your God. Speak comfort

to Jerusalem, and cry out to her, that her warfare is ended, that her

iniquity is pardoned; for she has received from the Lord’s hand double

for all her sins.  The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the

way of the Lord!””

 How did John the Baptist know that it was him that Isaiah was speaking

about? Well, John's gospel doesn't tell us but Isaiah gives us a clue

regarding an interaction between John and God prior to this scene. We

find a continuance of the prophecy regarding John the Baptist in Isaiah

40:6 in which Isaiah tells of the discussion that will take place 700 years

in the future between God and John the Baptist...There it says, “The

voice said, “Cry out!” and he said, “What shall I cry?”

 Then the prophet goes on to describe God's reply as He lays out the

unrighteousness of His people and what their religion has become. God

cries out several times..., can't you see? Don't you know? Can't you

hear Me?

 The people of God had conjured up useless religion from the law (Torah,

first five books of the Bible, the Law of Moses, or more commonly, the

Law...613 dos and do nots). They had sought their own righteousness,

rather than God Himself..., and that is why John the Baptist was

preaching in the wilderness..., far away from the temple, and outside the

walls of the city...

 This also, just briefly here, presents a principal and a vital element to

public ministry. That before anyone is used greatly by God in the public,

there is always a one on one, initial interaction in private, between them

and the Lord. This is the source, the only source, and the secret to

effective, God honoring and heaven crowding public ministry. Without

this, its all just a show…

John Chapter 1 Verses 26 – 28

 I love that, in all the hoopla around John and his ministry and all the

people coming to him and all the stir he’s making and the massive

difference he’s making and the incredible success he’s having, he is

not interested at all in talking about all that or him. He points people to

Jesus in a God honoring, self-invisibilaling (my word), way! A true

ministry of God has this mark. John 3:30, “He must increase, but I must

decrease.”

 Now, can God use a donkey or a dumb rock to praise Him? Absolutely!

Can he use a blubbery bean-brained whale to carry His prophetic word?

Absolutely! But a true work of God through a true servant of God, you

may find yourself not even able to remember his/her name, and that’s a

great thing!

 Now, this statement that John makes is intricate in the Greek and this

translation is certainly good however some of the words have depth not

presented in the English. John uses words that mean this Jesus that he

speaks of, whom they do not know, meaning they cannot know…, He is

past them, past us, past human knowledge and understanding. Jesus is

FAR Beyond any thought we can think…

 And He is preferred before me, John says, which in depth means that

Jesus is preferred above John TO John… This is the mark of a true

prophet of God that has had a personal interaction with God… In their

heart of heart, they exalt God, they lift the voice of Jesus, higher than

their own! Not out of superficial obedience to get something good from

God but because they have, even for a moment, grasped or glimpsed the

grace and truth filled heavenly superiority of God!

 Shows up in how you deal. Situations, circumstance, reactions,

reflections, the mind of Christ begins to simply pervade your own mind

because you place God higher than self! This is the depth, and even the

insulting jab, in John’s statement to the representatives of the religious

elite!

John Chapter 1 Verse 29

 This statement probably deserves its own sermon! Notice first, John

was just doing what he was supposed to be doing. He was just doing

what was right in the eyes of God. And here comes Jesus! I love that for

several reasons.

 First, God has not called me to head west, find a nice unsettled area on

the side of a mountain and open up shop for baptism. That’s not my

calling, that’s John’s calling. He’s out in the wilderness doing something

that was culturally confusing…, but that is what God had called him to

do.

 I don’t have to, and shouldn’t, do what God has called you to do.

And vice versa! I should do what God has called ME to do! And when I

walk simply in whatever it is that God has called me to do…, that’s

where (and this is inevitable and the ENTIRE reason we do it) I

encounter Jesus!

 I met a guy at the conference I was at this week in Vegas, oddly enough,

in the bathroom! HA! Neither of us could get the automatic sinks to

work at this fancy facility, at an AI conference of all things! HA! So, we

talked about it and laughed… And somehow, we started talking about

Jesus! And he said to me, “Will you post this on LinkedIn.” And I

thought for a moment and said quite naturally, “Of course, if that’s what

the Lord wants me to do…”

 He said, well I certainly am! I said, that’s great! Sounds like that’s what

you’re called to do! SO, do it…! And he was overcome with how

liberating my comment was. Apparently, he has conversations where

people might feel differently but I just told him, hey, do what God tells

you to do and I’ll do the same! It was a moment… A great moment. But

that’s where Jesus comes towards you, just like John!

 And John makes an awesome statement. First, he says, “behold.” A

word in the Greek used 27 times in the scripture which 27 is a prime and

perfect number… And it means, “Look, and see!” Look hard enough at

Jesus, the red letters, the witness of John…, and you’ll have to conclude,

there’s something about this Jesus! Big old billboard in the middle of

Las Vegas… 2,000 years later and all it says is “Jesus, Returning

Soon!” What if you showed that to Jesus 2,000 years ago…? That was

my thought at that moment that I saw that…

 How is it that thousands of years later, the world is still talking about

Him, divided over Him, terribly and incredibly affected by Him…,

there’s something about Him! And then look at what He said, what He

did…, sheesh, look in the mirror… We need HIM! Look long enough,

and it doesn’t take long at all, and you will see…

 The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! The Jews

would be well familiar with this idea. It was the Passover that

commemorated a miracle while the Jews were slaves in Egypt, that all

families, houses and households that were under the protection of the

lamb slain that would survive the angel of death… And even more than

that, would find freedom in this life!

 Plus, this is a moment of fulfilled prophecy in the highest form! One of

the most powerful and important prophecies of the Bible. All the way

back to Abraham… Abraham loved the Lord but he clung to his son.

The miracle son of promise. Son of his beloved Sarah. Abraham loved

Isaac like only Isaac was in the world and nothing else….

 So, God asked Abraham to give up all that he loved for the sake of

loving God. And Abraham wept. Struggled with it. Was destroyed by

it… Destroyed himself really in the entire ordeal… But he found the

hidden truth within him that he loved God first.

 And so, he takes Isaac out of the home, out of the city and up onto

Mount Moriah. Genesis 22:1-8, “Now it came to pass after these things

that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said,

“Here I am.” Then, He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac,

whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a

burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” So

Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took

two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood

for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had

told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the

place afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the

donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come

back to you.”

 “ So, Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his

son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them

went together. But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My

father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” Then he said, “Look, the fire

and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” And

Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a

burnt offering.” So, the two of them went together.”

 Here, all the way in John chapter 1, 4,000 years ago and 2,000 years

before Jesus, the prophetic word of father Abraham is fulfilled in John’s

sight and statement. Behold, the sacrificial Lamb of God, God Himself,

His only begotten Son, His everything, that takes away the sin of the

world!

 More to come on that next week… But just a closing thought, what does

it matter that Jesus takes away the sin of the world, if He hasn’t been

received to take away YOUR sin…?