Daily Devotions
John
The significance of receiving Jesus
Text: John 3:22-36
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF RECEIVING JESUS
John the Baptizer must have been touched by the sense of love and loyalty of his disciples. They had stayed with him, even though many had turned to Jesus. While John appreciated their loyalty, nevertheless, the disciples were wrong in not giving greater thought to the significance of receiving Jesus as the Messiah. He explained,
“He who has received His testimony has certified
that God is true.”
John 3:33
Believing in Jesus and following Him was not a matter of personal preference or loyalty. Receiving the word of Jesus had greater significance than the personal element! What did it mean when a person heard and received the testimony, that is the word of Jesus?
John explained that when a person is able to understand and appreciate the word Jesus proclaimed, he was doing an important thing! The significance must not be missed! He was actually “certifying” that God was true! What does that really mean?
The word translated “certified” comes from the word “to seal”. In the ancient days, people who were important, for example, those who held high positions in the government, used seals. Instead of a signature, they used their seals to confirm and authenticate documents, for instance. They were certifying that the particular documents they had placed their seals on were indeed true and authentic!
When a person heard Jesus, and received His testimony, or His word with faith, he is in fact endorsing or certifying what Jesus taught! The believer was adding his seal to certify that he too believed that what Jesus taught was indeed true and authentic.
Even more significantly, John added that when a person truly believed in Jesus and all that He stood for, he was in fact saying, “God is true”. It was God who promised that He would send a Messiah. It was God who gave His Word that His Messiah would come and redeem His people! When people were able to see and recognize that Jesus was that Messiah, they confirmed that God was true to His Word. His promises had not been given in vain. His Word was good and true!
John himself endorsed the fact that God was true when he proclaimed loudly to the world that Jesus was indeed the Lamb of God. He had no doubt at all that Jesus was the Person who came to redeem Israel. He was glad that he had a part to play, even though that part was a small one. He was one of those who had certified that Jesus was indeed the authentic Messiah! Would not his disciples do the same thing?
RECOGNIZING JESUS AS THE MESSIAH
What problems did his disciples have that they were holding back in receiving Jesus as the Messiah-Saviour? Could they not recognize His intrinsic worth? Could they not discern who He really was? Then John would help them see and appreciate Jesus the way He deserved to be regarded!
“For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God,
For God does not give the Spirit by measure.”
John 3:34
How did the men become disciples of John in the first place? Were they not drawn to him because he preached the Word of God? Were they also not drawn to him because they recognized that the Spirit of God rested upon him?
John sought to explain that these two truths were to be applied to Jesus as well! He too proclaimed the Word of God. He not only preached the written Word of God, He actually uttered the actual words that God would have Him speak. (The contextual emphasis suggests that John was emphasizing the “spoken words” of Jesus, and not just the “written word” that Jesus cited as He taught the multitudes).
The written word had obvious power and authority. Every good Jew was brought up to respect and love the written word. However, Jesus had more than the written word to offer. His “spoken words” had the same electrifying power and authority! Didn’t the disciples of John note the power of Jesus even as He spoke?
The disciples of John must seek to go a little deeper. They must recognize that behind the ministry of Jesus was the Power of the Spirit of God! If his disciples could discern that John had the Spirit of God resting upon him, how could they not recognize that Jesus had been given the Holy Spirit without measure!
Each and every servant of God has been given the unction of the Spirit of God so that he can minister effectively. Every servant of God naturally desires to be filled with the fullness of power from the Holy Spirit. However, no matter how much a servant of God may be filled with the Spirit of God, he only has a certain measure of Him. Nobody was given the fullness of measure of the Spirit of God – not Moses, nor Elijah, nor any of the powerful prophets of old. John of course included himself here. He too did not have the full measure of the Spirit of God!
However, as far as Jesus was concerned, John proclaimed that God had given to Him the Spirit without measure. If there was One person who had the fullness of the Spirit, Jesus would be that individual!
Did not Isaiah prophesy about how the Spirit of God would come upon the Messiah? Only One Person could be so filled with the Holy Spirit.
“The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.”
Isaiah 11:2
The disciples must not adhere to John out of blind loyalty! They must try and see Jesus for who He really was! His words, and the Spirit that He displayed – they identified Him most distinctly! He was none other than the Messiah of God!
It was important that the disciples of John learn this most important lesson from their teacher. If they failed to recognize Jesus for who He was, then John would be disappointed indeed. Can we recognize Jesus for who He really is?