John 1:29-42

So John the Baptist saw his role in the divine plan being that of a person who would prepare the way for the LORD Himself. John (the Evangelist) records that the very next day – the day after John the Baptist identified himself as the LORD's forerunner – John the Baptist saw Jesus and announced that He was the one John was there to point toward. He called Jesus "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" and announced that "this is the one I meant."

 

But John said that he had not known the identity of the LORD, the one he came to point out, until now. The ironic thing is that John and Jesus may well have known each other. Luke records how both of them came to be born. We know that Jesus' mother Mary and John's mother Elizabeth were relatives (Luke 1:36). John was born only months before Jesus. But apparently John did not know that Jesus was the LORD until now.

 

How did John know? God had told the him that the Word in flesh would be identified when John saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove and remain on Him. That is precisely what John testifies that he saw. And therefore he makes this bold statement: "I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God."

 

There was a ripple effect. Some of John's disciples followed Jesus the next day. One of them was Andrew, and he told his brother Simon Peter. The ministry of John the Baptist was to prepare the way for the Word, and that he fulfilled his ministry. Because of John's testimony, John's followers became Jesus' followers. Exactly as was supposed to happen.

 

Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is the Word of God. And now that I know this, I have had to make a choice just as John's disciples did. Will I follow Jesus? Or will I cling to my own ways of doing things?