Being Revealed

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

BEING REVEALED

John 1:29-31

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I meant when I said, 'A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.' 31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel."

NIV

Again, unless the Spirit had revealed this information to John, he would not have known that his cousin Jesus, the son of Mary and Joseph the carpenter born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth, was actually the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. John was seeing, not with his physical eyes, but with his spirit, the one who was filled with the Spirit while he was still in his mother’s womb. This certainly is evidence enough of the presence of the Holy Spirit in the world before Jesus made that proclamation of him sending the Spirit into the world which happened on that Day of Pentecost when the disciples were baptized with fire. It would seem that although the Spirit was present in John, and had been present at other moments throughout the history of mankind, He was not on the same mission as after Jesus ascended and sent the Spirit into the world. It does seem strange that Jesus sent the Spirit as both are members of the triune God, yet the Father has given Jesus all authority in heaven and on earth. He told his disciples that fact when he sent his disciples to go out into the world, as recorded by Matthew. Nevertheless, John introduces Jesus to the world here at the Jordan River, where he was baptizing with water. He makes that profound statement that Jesus who came onto the scene after John had already begun his ministry was actually before John. By this, he is understanding, through the power of the Spirit, the divine nature of Jesus. Again, John makes a strange statement about him not knowing Jesus. Again, in the flesh, they were cousins and we would have no reason to believe the only time there was a visit between Mary and Elizabeth was while they were both pregnant. Surely because of their relationship, they would have had some kind of continued relationship and thus as youths, John and Jesus would have known each other. But what John is saying is that he did not know until this very moment that Jesus was indeed the Lamb of God, the long-awaited Messiah. John may have also just realized the whole of his ministry was just now coming to fruition, it was at its ending moments. His purpose in life is being completed, the revealing of the Lamb of God to Israel. What do we learn from all this? Maybe that is the whole of our ministry as well, to reveal the Lamb of God to the world. Maybe we get so busy with church programs, with serving one another, in a sense keeping Jesus locked up with the walls of our churches, that we have forgotten our calling to be the light of the world, the salt of the earth, declaring the praises of him who have called us out of darkness into his wonderful light. That is not to say we should forfeit serving one another, or baptizing with water, so to speak. Surely there is enough evidence within scripture that we should be about service to each other as we love the Lord with our whole being and love our neighbor as ourselves. But still, we have also been called to be that light unto the world, as Jerusalem was a city on a hill, standing as a beacon with the temple, for the people of Israel. We are now that temple, and we should be that beacon for the world, so they can see the light of Jesus. That seems to be the fullness of our ministry, the purpose of our lives. It is Jesus we need to reveal.