Reading: John 1:19-28

In case you didn’t know, the John who wrote this book and John the Baptist are not the same people. This author, known as John the Evangelist or Apostle John, was one of the twelve disciples with Jesus and he was a fisherman. There is some argument as to whether this John also wrote Revelation but it is in fact the same person.

This section of John begins the “Book of Signs” that tell of Jesus and his signs. This book is different than Matthew, Mark, and Luke because they tell what Jesus did and John tells of who Jesus was. This book allows people to connect more with Jesus.

In John 1:19, John the Baptist is confronted by pharisees who are questioning whether he is the Messiah. He denies that he is Christ and uses references to Old Testament to demonstrate his knowledge of scripture. “I am the voice of the one calling in the wilderness” comes from Isaiah 40:3.

Keep in mind that the pharisees thought that the King and Messiah would be two different people. They thought there was no way a King would suffer for sins of Israel. In reality, there is one Messiah with two comings. Christ’s first coming is as a prophet to serve as the Lamb of God and the second coming is to rule over His Kingdom as King.

Even after John the Baptist explained who he was and who he was not, the pharisees could not understand. If they didn’t see John the Baptist the right way, they would not see Jesus the right way either.

John the Baptist doesn’t focus on himself and talk about him, because his job was to announce Christ, which he did.

John told these men that they did not know the Messiah and the Messiah was so great that John was not even worthy to untie his sandals.

Do we all know Jesus in this way? Are we aware of His authority? Are we prepared to see His light and hear His truth? Are we ready to know Him more?

ENJOY READING THE NEXT SECTION, JOHN 1:29-34. WRITE DOWN YOUR QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS AS YOU READ THROUGH THE VERSES.