John 1:29-42
Discovering Jesus

The next day [John the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, "Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.' I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel." And John testified, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God."

The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, "Look, here is the Lamb of God!" The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, "What are you looking for?" They said to him, "Rabbi" (which translated means Teacher), "where are you staying?" He said to them, "Come and see." They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas" (which is translated Peter).

New Revised Standard Version

John opens his gospel with the poetic verse, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John goes directly from this philosophy of Jesus as "logos", the true Word, to the testimony of John the Baptist, discovering and declaring that this Jesus was the Messiah that God had sent.

There are at least two interesting points that John (the gospel writer was) making in this testimony from John the Baptist.

The first had to do with early beliefs about John the Baptist. There were some in the first hundred years of the Christian church who believed that John the Baptist was also divine, and even those who believed that John, rather than Jesus, was truly the Messiah. We today don't know as much about the ministry of John the Baptist as we would like, but so many references indicate that he must have been a bold, powerful, influential servant of God. John's gospel wanted to be absolutely clear that John the Baptist was just the "voice crying in the wilderness" to prepare the way of the Lord -- and that the Lord, the Messiah, was Jesus Christ.

The second point is how John's gospel contrasts with the other gospels in revealing the deity of Jesus. In the other three gospels, we see over the years of Jesus' ministry how the disciples come to recognize that Jesus is God's Only Son. John's gospel pulls no punches -- from the very beginning, John was clear that Jesus is the Messiah and that this message was clear to all those around him, including Andrew and the other first disciples.

Which is correct? Are the other three gospels right that the deity of Jesus had to be uncovered over the three years of Jesus' ministry? Is John's gospel right that there was no question from the beginning?

(Dramatic pause...)

Yes to both questions. It is one thing to "know" the facts about Jesus, just as John's gospel presents them, and we can applaud ourselves as we master these facts if we choose, and it will be as hollow as Paul's descriptive clanging cymbals. It is an entirely different thing, and the goal of the scriptures, that we would "know" deep in our heart and soul that Jesus is our Lord. Knowledge at that depth is what changes our lives into those that God intends for us!