Eyewitnesses of his Majesty John 1:29-49 (Five Descriptions)

In this passage our Lord said nothing about himself, and yet he was described so perfectly by those who saw him.

First we have John the Baptist descriptions. John was sent to make straight the way of the Lord. John prepared the way by preparing people, and he prepared those people by telling them who Jesus was. When he saw Jesus coming he said, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." John directed the people to the great hope that can only be found in Christ: the forgiveness of sins. This is why he came. Jesus came to deal with man's greatest problem. For all people as individuals, and for the human race as a whole sin is our greatest problem and the greatest enemy we face. Sin is the enemy of all life and good. Sin destroys lives, families, hope and joy. More tragic still sin separates man from God. And man corrupted as he is by sin can not offer anything to God to take the separation away. The offering has to come from God "The Lamb of God." This is what John points to: he has come; the one who takes away the sins of the world.

John also called him the one "who baptizes with the Holy Spirit". Through Jesus we can come into a unity with the Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit lives within the hearts of Christ's followers. As Jesus would say later "The water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (John 4:14) and, " Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water" (John 7:38).

John further described Christ by saying "I have seen and borne witness that this is the Son of God". John refers to what he himself had witnessed. He had heard the Father from Heaven say, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." (Matt 3:17) Jesus had come with the authority of God. This was John's profession. This would later be Peter's great profession that Jesus was the Christ the Son of the Living God. This the profession of the Church through the ages: "[I believe] in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made" (Nicene creed).

After John the disciples come into the picture. They describe Christ as "the Messiah" and "him whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote." The terms Messiah and Christ are synonymous. The disciple mentioned in our passage knew the Old Testament prophecies about the coming King. When Andrew & Philip said that they had found him they knew what the Old Testament said about him: "his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end,on the throne of David and over his kingdom,to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. " (Isaiah 9:6-7)

Having come to believe this Nathanael said, "You are the King of Israel!" The Israelites were under Roman rule at the time, but Philip saw in Jesus who his allegiance really belonged to. Jesus is the one who will reign on the throne of David forever. He is also the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

I plan to write more about these first disciples in a future posts, but for now let us note that they believed and they followed. In this passage we see the majesty of Christ. He is a wonderful savior and a wonderful Lord. If we believe that these words are true: that he has been sacrificed to take away our sins, that in him we can have the Holy Spirit in us, that he is the Son of God, that he has fulfilled the great prophecies, and that he is King. Then let us like the disciples give our lives to following him.

"that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow" Philippians 2:10