"There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light” (John 1: 6-9). John the Baptist was the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth. John's birth was prophesied by an angle of the Lord who appeared to Zechariah saying "your prayer has been heard and Elizabeth will bear a son and you will call him John.” Zechariah also prophesied about John, saying that he will be a prophet of the Most High and he will prepare the way of the Lord. John would continue to give knowledge of salvation though the life and death of Jesus. Luke 1:80 states that he "became strong in spirit; he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel. …show more content…
He left the desert and started to preach in Israel around the Jordan River. John preached of Christ's salvation and how to receive it thorough the forgiveness of sins. People came in crowds to be baptized by him, but he could only baptize with water. His response to the crowds was "I baptize with water, but one more powerful than I will come and baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” His prophesy was about Jesus Christ. John also gave a testimony about Jesus in John chapter three. John was baptizing in Aenon and an argument broke out amongst his disciples and a Jew about ceremonial washing (baptism). the disciples were complaining of another man baptizing on the opposite side of the river. The man was Jesus, and John's heart was filled with "complete joy” as he says the words "he must become greater; I must become
The Gospel of John, the last of the four gospels in the Bible, is a radical departure from the simple style of the synoptic gospels. It is the only one that does not use parables as a way of showing how Jesus taught, and is the only account of several events, including the raising of Lazarus and Jesus turning water into wine. While essentially the gospel is written anonymously, many scholars believe that it was written by the apostle John sometime between the years 85 and 95 CE in Ephesus. The basic story is that of a testimonial of one of the Apostles and his version of Jesus' ministry. It begins by telling of the divine origins of the birth of Jesus, then goes on to prove that He is the Son of God because of the miracles he performs and finally describes Jesus' death and resurrection.
John focuses on the profound meaning of the life of Jesus, whom he saw as the
...ater baptism), and we are filled with the Holy Spirit. John then begins to consider the implications of being a child of God. For one thing we now have the gift of eternal life. Another powerful weapon we now have is prayer – John reminds us that God listens to His children! We can be confident to ask and receive of Him knowing that, when our hearts are His, what we want is what He wants. We are also told to pray for those who sin, meaning to pray on behalf of them – that God would touch them with His life. John ends with a warning though, not to let our guard down. The world is under the control of the evil one and therefore there are things that can and will definitely attempt to corrupt our relationship with God. We should be wary of anything that seems to be distancing us from God, for that means we are setting up an idol in His place.
He then heard the voice of Elisha, telling him to come through. He heard the singing of the congregation. Elisha said, “Rise up, rise up, Brother Johnny, and talk about the Lord’s deliverance” John has been saved and exaltedly claimed, “Lord, I been introduced to the Father, and the Son, and I ain’t no stranger now!”
We have seen his glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”1 John is describing the Son of God. The Son of God who will carry out the word in the proper context. He will show the world how living in the light will lead to a fulfilled life. Jesus showed the people of the time, how interacting and loving creation brings hope to the darkness, moving out of sin and impurity and into the beauty of the light of God. God kept his covenant with Noah, and instead of wiping out the earth filled with darkness, he sent Jesus to purify the sins of the earth. Jesus would be able to seek out the darkness and being a shining light in those times. John Calvin said in his commentary, “Yet the Son of God stooped so low as to take to Himself that flesh addicted to so many wretchednesses.”4 God made it a priority to enter into the darkness, and move mankind into the light. Through moving into the light, people can live a fulfilled life in the Kingdom of
The New Testament teaches about who Jesus is and what he did on the earth. John wrote the last of the four gospels which recount Jesus’ life and what is to come. The gospel of John is somewhat different from the other three gospels, in that it is more symbolic and less concrete. For example, John expresses Jesus as the Passover Lamb when Matthew, Mark, and Luke do not. This gospel is showing that Christianity is moving away from the long-practiced Jewish traditions. John’s gospel can be laid out into four parts: the prologue or the incarnate word, signs of the Messiah with teachings about life in him, the farewell teaching and the passion narrative, and the epilogue or the roles of Peter and of the disciple whom Jesus loved. The Gospel of John is arguably the most
John, the son of the priest from “By the Waters of Babylon” should have gone on his journey to the Place of the Gods. By going on his journey, John finds the truth for his people, he fulfills his quest for knowledge, and he learned about who the gods really were. Furthermore, John should have gone on his journey to finds the truth for his people. John knows that it is forbidden to go east and his dad warns him about it, but he still decides to go despite of what his dad says because of his eagerness to find the truth and many signs that were prompting him to go. He knew that this was his vocation. John feels that these signs are a blessing from God which gives him the strength to proceed on his journey. John is desperate to find the truth
The birth narrative of Luke begins with the announcement of the birth of John, whose mother was Elizabeth. An angel came to Zechariah, Elizabeth?s husband and the angel said that his son John would be in great sight of the Lord that he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even in his mother womb and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. In the sixth month the angel Gabriel...
The power of water, a meek and gracious force, as illustrated in the Bible is the source of life and fruitfulness. The prayer has different sections to articulate the overall purpose of baptism, beginning with gratitude and recognition of God’s omnipresence, the prayer then references from the Old Testament, as the church has seen in Noah’s ark a prefiguring of salvation by Baptism. As the water of baptism gives new life, the crossing of the Red Sea, the liberation of Israel from the slavery of Egypt, proclaims the liberation wrought by baptism. The final reference to the Old Testament is prefigured in the crossing of the Jordan River by which the people of God received the gift of the land promised to Abraham’s descendants, an image of eternal life. All the Old Covenants prefiguration’s find their fulfilment in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ begins his public life after being baptised by St. John the Baptist in the river of Jordan. After his resurrection Christ gives this mission to his apostles: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." To fulfil all righteousness, Jesus’ submissive baptism by John the Baptist, is a gesture of
... always preached to the Jews first (13:5), and turned to the gentiles only after his fellow Jews had rejected him. "And when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews: and they had also John to their minister."
John’s Gospel is unspeakably mission oriented. John the Baptist come out and go to the community and tell them what it means to get rid off their sin, enjoy freedom, and being justified. John the Baptist did not present the one to come (the Son) as a humble and ordinary human rather he presents him as powerful, mighty (John 1:27). But later in John Chapter 13 we see a humble and feet washer Son of God. Does Jesus came as a mighty and powerful who human being is even unworthy to untie His sandals straps (John 1: 27 NIV) or humble feet washer and fish cooker (John 13 and 21:7), came to create incredible relationship with humanity? How do we see both John the Baptist and Jesus mission to community, how much the humanity (becoming flesh) favor the mutuality between the messiah and human being. There no time when Jesus’ Divinity overshadow his humanity. Our justification is based on...
After a 20 year hiatus in the stories and teachings of the Bible, Jesus reappears for his baptism. After experiencing life as a human and witnessing how man can be tempted to evil, Jesus converted to Christianity when John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the Jordan River. The purpose of the baptism was to repent ...
John was one of the first twelve disciples of Jesus and therefore an eye-witness (John 19:35); John brings out the spiritual significance as well as recording the practical aspects of Jesus' works and words. John lived to be older than any of the other writers. It is therefore likely that he was familiar with their accounts and wanted to supplement theirs with additional teaching and miracles by Jesus which had a bearing on the situation towards the end of the first century AD.
As we read John, we see that the stories center around the concept of belief. In the second chapter of John, we are told of the miracle that Jesus did at a wedding: turning water into wine. This miracle was told so that we may believe. “Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him” (John 2:11). Through these miracles we are able to see signs of Jesus’s power and glory and how God’s presence is in him, leading many to believe in him. After this, Jesus went to Capernum, then Jerusalem to the temple, where he found people selling things
God is Light. We are light. Such dignity! As a derived metaphor for followers of Jesus, light is used in an array of contexts in scripture.