Title: John the Baptist/John 1:6-8
Contents
Subject: John the Baptist/John 1:6-8
(John 1:6) There was born a man sent from God, and his name was John.
(John 1:7) He came to bear witness, that he might testify of the light, that all might believe because of him.
(John 1:8) He is not this light, but he came to testify of this light.
In the introduction to Jesus Christ, the story of John is recorded as illustrated. Yet, the author does not record John the Baptist's baptism of Jesus. In other words, the apostle John's interest was Jesus, not John the Baptist, and he was writing about him. Then why did John come, and what was his role?
1. Biblical Evidence of John (He Is Great)
1) The last prophet of the Old Testament
Prophets are great people. They were those who had been specially called by God, and those who had courage to carry out their missions, and important prophets among them are prophesying the long-awaited Messiah.
(Luke 16:16) The law and the prophets were until the time of John, and from then on the gospel of the kingdom of God was preached, and everyone invades there.
The Law and the Prophets refer to the Old Testament, and John is the last. In other words, John is the last prophet, the one who testified of the coming Jesus Christ. We say that the Old Testament testifies of the coming Messiah, and the New Testament testifies of the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ.
2) Elijah prophesied in Malachi
Malachi, the last prophet of the Old Testament
(Mal 4:5) Behold, there is a saying that I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and dreadful day of the LORD comes.
What will be “the great and dreadful day of the Lord”?
The Day of God's Judgment is the Day of His Presence. It means the day the Messiah will come into the world to defeat the devil, the power of sin.
Then he said, "I will send you Elijah the prophet."
This Elijah, the great Elijah of the Old Testament, does not mean that he will return, but that He will send “a great prophet like that Elijah.”
So John testifies of himself.
(John 3:28) As I said, I am not the Christ, but was sent before him.
and testified of his work.
Jesus also referred to him as Elijah.
(Matthew 11:14) This is Elijah, whom he said to come, if ye are willing to receive it.
That is, John the Baptist (Matthew 11:11) ... Among those born of women there has not arisen one greater than John the Baptist...
As the saying goes, he was like the great prophet Elijah.
3) A person sent by God
(John 1:6) There was born a man sent from God, and his name was John.
Moses
(Exodus 3:10) Now I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.
lead me to do it
Isaiah
(Isaiah 6:8) And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said, Here I am; send me.
4) A person who has been notified by an angel
(Luke 1:13) And the angel spoke to him, saying, ...Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him
call him John
(Luke 1:15) For he becomes great before the Lord ... and was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb.
(Luke 1:16) I will bring many of the children of Israel back to the Lord, their God.
(Luke 1:17) And he went before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, and gave the heart of a father to his children,
I will turn the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, and I will prepare a people prepared for you.
There are some people who are told of birth in the Bible.
Jesus Christ is representative
ear,
(Genesis 18:10) And he said, "I will surely return to you when the time comes."
Your wife Sarah will have a son...
Samson,
(Judges 13:3) The angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, Behold, you
I have not conceived, so I have not produced, but now I will conceive and bear a son.
(Judges 13:4) Therefore, be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, or to eat anything unclean.
do not eat
(Judges 13:5) Behold, you will conceive and bear a son, and do not put a razor on his head, for this child is a Nazarite offered to God from the womb, and he is out of the hand of the Philistines.
I will begin to save Israel.
These were just such people.
He was also informed about his mission.
(Luke 1:15) Being filled with the Holy Spirit from the womb
(Luke 1:16) I will bring many of the children of Israel back to the Lord, their God.
(Luke 1:17) And he went before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, and gave the heart of a father to his children,
I will turn the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, and I will prepare a people prepared for you.
He was such a great person.
2. John's own evidence
1) The voice of the wilderness
(John 1:23) He said, Make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said.
The voice of one crying in the wilderness.
(Isaiah 40:3) The voice of one who cries, saying, Prepare ye the way of the LORD in the wilderness; in the desert
make straight the highways of our God
(Isa 40:4) Every valley shall be raised up, and every mountain and every hillside shall be made low; the uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain.
2) Those who are not worthy to untie the sandals
(John 1:27) He is the one who comes after me; I am not worthy to untie his sandals.
It is an expression of humility that untying the laces of the gods, i.e., the sandals, is the job of the lowest servant, but I am no better than that.
3) Those who give the baptism of repentance
(Matthew 3:11) I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who comes after me
... He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
John's baptism was a baptism given to those who had repented for repentance.
4) Groom's friend
(John 3:29) The bridegroom, but the friend who stands and hears the bridegroom's voice rejoice greatly over the one who has the bride. I was filled with such joy.
A friend of the groom says that he has joy just as there is joy at a wedding.
5) Those who need to decline
(John 3:30) He must increase, and I must decrease.
He is a humble attitude that makes the crowds who follow him recognize Jesus Christ and follow Jesus Christ by saying that he should be growing more and more and I should be getting weaker.
Even Andrew was a follower of John the Baptist and came to Jesus Christ.
(John 1:40) One of the two who listened to John and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.
3. Lessons to learn from John
1) He was clearly aware of his existence.
He knew that he was not the light, but the one who came to testify about the light.
(John 1:20) John speaks openly and does not hide; what he speaks openly
I am not the Christ
Example of [President Lee Min-woo]
We try to exalt ourselves and show off our abilities, but John the Baptist
I knew it clearly.
2) He clearly understood his mission.
① He knew that it was his mission to testify of Jesus Christ.
(John 1:34) I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.
② It made me believe in Jesus Christ.
(John 1:35) And the next day John stood with two of his disciples,
(John 1:36) When they saw Jesus walking around, they said, Behold the Lamb of God!
(John 1:37) The two disciples listened to him and followed Jesus.
The disciple who believed in this way was Andrew, who became a disciple of Jesus. The witness of John the Baptist became the making of Jesus' first disciples.
3) He was a true prophet.
(Matthew 3:4) This John was clothed in camel's hair and had a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and stone blue.
Many people at that time enjoyed wealth and authority as priests, and as Pharisees and scribes.
In his honor he ate locusts and locusts in the wilderness, clothed with camel's hair, and a leather belt.
② He gave his life to fulfill his mission.
(Matthew 14:3) Herod had previously arrested John, bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip.
(Matthew 14:4) For John said to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to marry her."
(Mark 6:22) And the daughter of Herodias herself came in and danced to please Herod and those who sat with her. And the king said to the girl, "Ask of me whatever you want, and I will give it to you." (Mark 6:24) He went out and gave her said to his mother, What shall I ask for?
Seek the head of John the Baptist.
(Mark 6:25) Immediately he went to the king and begged him, saying, Put the head of John the Baptist on a platter.
I want to give it to you soon.
(Mark 6:27) Immediately the king sent a guard and ordered them to bring John's head, and the man went out and beheaded John in prison.
(Mark 6:28) Then he put his head on a platter and gave it to the girl, who gave it to her mother. (Mark 6:29) When John's disciples heard it, they came and took the body and buried it.
As Nathan rebuked David for his sin, he rebuked Herod, but unlike Nathan, he gave his life.
## Lessons for us ##
1. Be humble
No matter how great John the Baptist was, let us humble ourselves in Christ as we humbled ourselves before Christ.
(Phil 2:3) Let nothing be done through strife or vanity.
But in lowliness of mind, let each one consider others better than himself,
2. Let's not forget our mission
As a prophet like Elijah, who came to make the way for Jesus Christ smooth, he fulfilled his mission.
What is our mission?
Isn't it like we forgot our mission of not sounding emergency sirens like the Civil Defense Headquarters in Seoul last month?
Our Mission We hope that each of us will fulfill our respective missions.
Above all
(Matthew 28:19-20) Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you...
I hope you will listen to your words.