Daily Devotions
John
John the indefatigable witness
Text: John 1:35-42
JOHN THE INDEFATIGABLE WITNESS
Every preacher has a favourite theme or two. John was awed by Jesus. He was also enamoured of Him. He never tired of bearing witness that Jesus was the Son of God.
Imagine being the one who was sent by God to reveal Jesus, the Son of God to Israel. Imagine again his glorious work of being the one to anoint Him as the great High Priest after the order of Melchizedek!
How John must have been impacted by the Lord. He spoke to him directly. He revealed a wonderful truth about Jesus. He identified Jesus as His only begotten Son. If you were the one who experienced all these things, would you become weary in your ministry as a servant of God?
John proclaimed Jesus as the Son of God with much vim and energy. How could he not , when he was part and parcel of a historical event? He was the prophesied forerunner of the Messiah! How could he have grown weary about his work of bearing witness for the Lord?
POINTING JESUS OUT TO HIS DISCIPLES
John had a large number of “followers”. The multitudes by and large held John in high esteem. Some of the people became his “disciples”. It is hard to win the hearts of people for God. It is harder still to make disciples. John was successful in both things.
If it was hard to make disciples, would it be easy to give them away? John knew that if he were to point Jesus out to his disciples, he might lose them. Would John be true-hearted enough to let his disciples go?
John was a true and faithful servant of God. He did not foolishly and selfishly keep his disciples for himself. John’s integrity as a good servant of the Lord showed itself very clearly when two of his disciples left him to follow Jesus.
“Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples.
And looking at Jesus as he walked, he said,
‘Behold the Lamb of God!’ “
John 1:35, 36
John had preached on this theme before. The first time round, he identified Jesus as the Lamb of God (John 1:29). This time round, John was doing more than just identifying Jesus as the Lamb of God.
John had testified that Jesus was the Son of God. His ministry was far greater, for He alone would have the power and authority to baptize people with the Holy Spirit Himself.
If his disciples had any sense at all, they would end up following Jesus. John understood his own ministry very well. He knew that his ministry was at best transient. His ministry was certainly not permanent. If he cared for his disciples at all, he would send them to follow Jesus. This was in fact what John was trying to do. He wanted people to recognize who Jesus was. If anyone was worth following, Jesus the Lamb of God was.
FROM BEING DISCIPLES OF JOHN TO BEING DISCIPLES OF JESUS
In all the Gospels, we read about Jesus gathering disciples. The synoptic Gospels featured some of the disciples Jesus chose. John also featured some of the people who became followers of Jesus.
“The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.
Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following,
Said to them, ‘What do you seek?'”
John 1:37-38
How do people become disciples of Jesus? In the synoptic Gospels, we read of how Jesus called people like Matthew to become His disciple. John offers a different perspective. It was true that one had to be called by Jesus to become His disciple. However, John chose to feature certain facts about those who became followers of Jesus.
Some of the disciples of Jesus had been disciples of John. We read about this in this text. There were two disciples who were apparently quite close to John. They stood by John as he pointed Jesus out to his disciples.
That says quite a bit about these men right from the start. They were serious about pursuing the knowledge of God. They must have been baptized by John. They had moved from just being part of the multitudes to being his disciples. They attended to John and his teachings.
They were obviously good disciples of John. Much as they must have respected the word of their teacher, John concerning Jesus, they felt that they just had to check Him out. Thus they took it upon themselves to follow Jesus. They were still not called disciples of Jesus at this point of time.
“They said to Him, ‘Rabbi (which is to say, when translated,
Teacher),’ where are You staying?”
John 1:38
We cannot help but note the formal and very polite way of speaking to Jesus. These two disciples of John had already been instructed concerning who Jesus really was. However, the strong words of John only represented his personal conviction. These two disciples had yet to be convinced of the same truth.
They addressed Jesus formally and with great respect. “Rabbi” they called Him. That was not a term that was used freely. It was used as a very respectful term for one truly skilled in the Word of God. The disciples must have been impressed by what John their teacher had said.
Jesus responded kindly and graciously. He invited them to his abode. There the disciples of John must have spoken to Jesus at great length. They must have plied Him with many questions, perhaps raising up all that John had taught them about the Lamb of God. Was this Person truly the Son of God? The two disciples just had to find out for themselves whether they too could come to the same conclusion as their teacher John.
These two disciples were convinced after a long talk with the Rabbi Jesus. Their lives were touched and the work of transformation of their lives had begun. They became the earliest disciples of Jesus the Son of God. Have you checked Jesus out too?