Witness the Glory of the Grace of God

Witness the Glory of the Grace of God
John 1:6-8


Read John 1:1-14

Introduction
A. Why John:
John, the author of this gospel, in the preface (vv. 1-14) to the gospel, introduces us to two people: 1) The first person, God: that is God the Son.

2) The second person is John the Baptist. Why Bring him up here, in the middle of one of the most powerful declarations of the divinity of Jesus Christ? Maybe it’s just a digression or an aside comment. You could probably remove the mention of John the Baptist from the text and not even notice it.

But I want to affirm that the mention of John the Baptist is vital to the point that the writer wants to make. Everything is here in the preface to set us up for what follows in the gospel.

B. Who Was John?:
Maybe, for most of you, John the Baptist does not need an introduction. But I think we should take the time here and make sure that we are all talking about the same person.

First, this John is not the same John who is narrating this gospel. This John will die shortly; but, that John, our narrator, would outlive all the other disciples and go on to write a large portion of the New Testament.

He is the John who was known as, “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (13:23; 19:26; etc.) because of his close friendship to Jesus. But this John is more then just a friend, he is Jesus’ cousin. (Look at Luke 1)

Second, John the Baptist was a prophet par excellence. He was a prophet who called the nation to repent in preparation for the coming messiah. But he wasn’t just any prophet- look at Jesus’ tribute of him after his death in Matthew 11 (Read vv. 7-15).

Third, (and we are getting closer to the heart of the matter here) John was not Jesus. Now this important because so similar were they in their manners, in their message and perhaps even in their appearance that many people confused Jesus for John and at one point they began to speculate that Jesus was actually John resurrected from the dead. You can envision the trepidation that likelihood might have put into the hearts those who murdered John.

Finally, John was not greater then Jesus! This is important because it may have been falsely assumed among many of the early Christians and non Christians that Jesus was in fact a disciple of John, his junior. Many Jews thought that, and it created even some controversy among the disciples (John 3:22ff) when some Jews came to them wondering why Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples then John. John’s response was that “He must increase and I must decrease” (3:30).

True, John did Baptize Jesus- a sign of authority over the one being baptized; true John was older then Jesus; but look at John’s own words in verse 19 (read 1:19-27)

John’s intention, I believe is twofold: First, John the Baptist represents a legal witness to corroborate and substantiate the testimony of the Apostle as to the identity of Jesus. And no one would dare question the authority of John the Baptist… well, except maybe a Pharisee.

The second reason that he is included in the preface is to lay aside any lingering doubts among Christians as to the distinction between Jesus and John. Jesus is God: Word and light. John is a man, sent to bear witness to the light. But he was not the light!

Show his glory: Read vv. 6-8
A. Sent:
1. John was sent from God. He was a voice crying in the wilderness a messenger, heralding the coming king. His duty was to point the glory to Christ. That is why he said, “He who comes after me (namely Jesus) has surpassed me because he has come before me” (John 1:15). He “must increase and I must decrease.” John’s was sent to glorify Christ!

2. We are all Sent to bring glory to Christ. Remember the catechism question: “What is the chief end of man?” “The chief end of man is to… glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” God made us to glorify Him but His true glory is not ultimately displayed in the Garden.

Rather, the ultimate display of God’s glory is on the cross. That’s why he permitted the Adam to sin… to accomplish the ultimate display his glory.

Look at what Paul says about that in Ephesians chapter 1…. Remember God, “…has saved us and called us with a holy calling… according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began” (2 Tim 1:9).

When did he call us? Before the foundations of the earth! And consequently, before Adam’s sin! God had already prepared a means for our salvation before the need for salvation even entered the universe.

Let’s read Ephesians 1:3-6….

You see, the purpose of creation is to glorify God, not just to display his glory in the work of creation, but to the praise of His glory in grace, which is found at the cross.

3. That’s what John was sent to do- to witness to the glory of the grace of God and that is an act of praise. John typifies the Christian; he is an example for us. Just as he was sent so are we.

After his death and resurrection Jesus told his disciples, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore go and may disciples of all nations… teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt 28:18-20).

That’s what he chose us in Christ before the foundations of the world to do… to the praise of his glory in grace. And he did it for His own pleasure. John was sent by God and he came as a witness to bear witness to the light… to the praise of the glory of his grace.

B- Aside: Believe Through Christ
Just as an aside, I want to take care of one grammatical issue that has profound importance on how we read verse. The last phrase says, “…that all through him might believe.” My question in reading this, and maybe it’s yours too: through whom do all believe. Through John? Because if that’s the case, then John would be doing the work of the Holy Spirit, right?

Actually, the translators left this intentionally ambiguous and I am not sure why. The Greek makes it clear by the use of the phrase ‘through him’ in the context of vv.1-14 that it is referring to Jesus, not John.

1. The Greek phrase ‘di autou’ which is translated “through him” appears three times in these 14 verse: first it appears in verse 3, “all things were made through him” referring to Jesus. The idea is then repeated in verse 10, “he was in the world and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.”

Both times it is referring to Jesus, the originator of both the original creation and the new creation- which comes through believing the gospel. Through him all things were created; through him belief comes resulting in a new creation.

The personal pronoun ‘him’ refers to Jesus without qualification because it is only used in reference to Jesus. The pronoun ‘he’ appears in verses 7 and 8 referring to John the Baptist and that is the cause of the confusion, but the confusion is unnecessary because the Greek does not use that pronoun, rather is refers to John as ‘this one’ not ‘him.’ so that verse 7 would be better translated: “this one (namely John) came as witness to testify about him who is the Light (namely Jesus), so that all through him (Jesus) might believe.”

The reason that this is important is that we can misread it and think that people come to believe the gospel and are saved as a result of our efforts. This can become a heavy burden… too heavy for anyone to carry, as if the eternal destination of lost people depends on us.

But Jesus said it himself, “No one can come to me unless the Father draws them” (John 6:44). If that’s the case what use are we in witnessing? Paul deals with that in Romans 10 (Read 10:14-15).

You see, preaching, bearing witness to the light, is God’s means of accomplishing what he purposed in Christ before the foundations of the world- namely to produce faith and justify those whom he predestined to salvation.

That’s why Paul could say to the christians in Corinth who had become proud- that “…the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved, it is the power of God… God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe” and believing comes through Jesus, right?… That’s why Paul, “…preach(ed) Christ and him crucified: a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to Greeks, but to those whom God has called… (it is) the power of God (to convert the lost)” (1 Cor 1:18-25).

That was a pretty big ‘Aside’: but if you’ve been struggling with and condemning yourself because of this unnecessary burden of thinking that you need to make your loved ones believe, breathe a sigh of relief! It has nothing to do with you. Your duty is not procure belief in unbelievers, it is to preach the word- to sow and to water good seed- but God will cause the increase.

I would rather that anyway, wouldn’t you? Isn’t better that the eternal destiny of people’s souls rests upon God who is all powerful, sovereign, loving and merciful rather then for it to rest upon you?

the text says that John was not the light. Jesus is the light that shines in the darkness, not us, we only bear witness to the light.

Conclusion:
Read Verses 9-13