Chapter # 1 Paragraph # 4 Study # 2
November 27, 2022
Broadlands, Louisiana
(No Audio Available)
Thesis: John's [the Baptizer] overpowering witness was of the "incarnate, resurrected, Word of God".
Introduction: In our studies in John's Gospel to date, we have come through the prologue of that Gospel. In that prologue we were confronted by certain "claims" which, if believed, would bring children of Adam into the new identity of "children of God". The major "claims" were that The Word of God is, Himself, also God and that the default position of men regarding Him is "rejection" in spite of the Light He shines upon them. This Word had a forerunner named John whose message was laser-focused upon the "Grace" of Yahweh, and everyone who was swayed by John's message into "faith" (in the content of his message and the God of that message) were "born of God" and have a destiny of being raised from the dead unto an eternal experience of the Life of God.
In our last study we looked into the record of the incarnation of The Word wherein He is pictured as "pitching His tent among us" so that we could recognize the amazing realities of Grace and Truth.
This morning we are going to move on into John's Gospel by looking into its record of John the Baptizer's opening "witness" by which men are swayed into "Faith".
- I. The Baptizer's Witness.
- A. Was deliberately focused upon the Incarnate and Resurrected Word.
- 1. The preceding verse (1:14) had four major claims.
- a. The Word was "incarnated" so that He became "Man".
- b. The glory of The Word was made visible to The Twelve.
- c. That glory was of The Word after He was resurrected.
- d. That glory was laser-focused upon "Grace" and "Truth".
- 2. The summary of 1:14 is that, from birth (incarnation) to resurrection (only begotten), "Grace" and "Truth" were being re-established as the pillars of The Relational Kingdom after having been seriously distorted during the time of The Historical Kingdom in this world.
- B. Was deliberately loud enough to overwhelm all "hubbub" that might keep men from being aware of what he was declaring.
- 1. The "cry" was both vocal and verbal on at least one historical occasion, but it was also a component of the entire ministry of John as the "man sent from God" (1:6).
- a. John the Baptizer actually cried aloud the words recorded by John the Author of this Gospel.
- b. But these words of John the Baptizer were also a kind of "message-summary" of all of the words which he announced throughout his ministry as "the witness" by whom all believe.
- 2. The "loudness" of the "cry" (1:15; 7:28; 7:37; and 12:44) was, likewise, an actual characteristic of John's proclamation on at least one historical occasion, but it, like the "cry" itself, also summarized John's impact as thousands upon thousands went out into the wilderness to hear his message and be baptized by him (the loud "sound" of the masses going forth to hear and respond to him was "heard" by the leaders of the nation with chagrin).
- 3. Consequently, no one escapes (martureo; Present Tense in 1:15, "John is bearing witness concerning Him...") the "loudness" of the cry.
- C. Was a declaration regarding God's Plan to send a forerunner who was essentially lesser than the One he declared "was coming" after him.
- 1. In the words, "...saying, This One was Him of Whom I said, 'The One coming after me'...", John makes it abundantly clear that he was a forerunner.
- 2. In the words, "...had been before me..." ( emprosqen ), John was declaring that the One Coming after me actually had been "before me" in that He was (in the same sense as 1:1-2) with the meaning, "His eternal existing preceded my temporal existing" so that "This One" of John's "witness" was, is, and shall be The Lord God Almighty Who has always "been before" anything created.
- 3. This declaration, coming in the text after 1:7, means that the "receiving"/"believing" of 1:12 will not, indeed can not, happen unless it is in the heart of the one hearing the witness to accept that The One of John's message is The Eternal Word, God, Himself.
- a. We are not dealing with a humanly generated "religion" of man.
- b. With the witness of John, we are being confronted by the Infinite God.
