Beyond The Basics

Transcript:

Welcome to the Gospel Thread Podcast. My name is Dan Snyder and I’ll be your host as we study the Bible to discover the story of the Gospel spread throughout the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation.

Welcome and I’m sorry it took me so long to get this next episode out. We’ve been dealing with all kinds of things here in the Snyder household. We were house hunting for the last couple months. We’ve been dealing with issues with my oldest with our three year old sleeping, having trouble falling asleep at night, sickness, all kinds of things that have been going on the last couple months that have prevented me from getting this episode out. I apologize it took so long. I know especially those of you who are on Patreon have probably been looking forward to it. I apologize. Hopefully things have started to settle down a little bit and we’ll be able to get episodes out on a little bit more consistent basis.

But if you’re not on Patreon, I highly recommend doing that. Just go on patreon.com/thegospelthread. $4 a month. You get early access to episodes, you get the full episode where I cut out some audio for the free show. That audio is all left in for the full episode. You get that on Patreon as well as you get to vote on the next book that I’m going to go through. So after John, I have not determined what book I’ll do yet because I’m waiting for you to vote. So go sign up for Patreon. You can vote. I’ve got a poll up there at the top of the page if you are a paid member.

Looking forward to seeing the results on that but with that said let’s get into the chapter. We we went through the first 18 verses of John 1 in the last episode. I’m gonna finish the first chapter of John in this episode like I mentioned last time. Typically I wouldn’t split up these chapters, but there is so much, especially in the first 18 verses of chapter 1, that I wanted to be able to do it justice. I didn’t want a two-hour long episode, so I split it up. So there you go.

Now we’re going to start in verse 19. And this particular section of John is going to be, of course, all about John the Baptist, and then Jesus is going to be gathering his disciples.

So what is a disciple?

I want to start it off that way. What is a disciple? Well, I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to learn a new skill or a trade. I did a five-year apprenticeship in the sheet metal workers union and I like to think of discipleship as an apprenticeship. The only difference being, discipleship never really ends. An apprenticeship, eventually, you finish and you go on to be a journeyman.

But in an apprenticeship, you give all your time to learn this new skill or this new trade until you master it. And likely with the help of a teacher or a mentor, of course. You spend all your time. I mean, when I was doing my apprenticeship, was every single day. I was learning every single day. I went to work and learned, went to school and learned from those who had been in the trade for years and years and years and who knew what they were doing.

This is what discipleship is like. You give your life. You give your life to follow what this teacher or mentor is teaching you. You give your life to learn this new skill, this new trade.

When it comes to Jesus, we have to give our lives to following Jesus with the Holy Spirit as our teacher. Like I said, unlike an apprenticeship, discipleship is a lifelong commitment. It doesn’t ever end. We are always disciples of Jesus Christ.

And so here in this chapter, we’re gonna see how the witness of the Holy Spirit Leads to one disciple after another. So let’s get into the chapter.

Starting in verse 19: And this is the testimony of John.

Now the testimony of John includes the verses that come before this as well as the verses that come after this statement. So it says: This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem.

So here we’re introduced to those who will be opposed to Jesus throughout the book, especially the Jews. Not so much, maybe, the Levites. I don’t know if it even mentions the Levites later on but the Jews are going to be the main antagonist of the book of John. They’re going to be the ones that oppose Jesus throughout the entire book.

And it says the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem. They sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”

Now this is an important question because people had begun, in this time period, in the first century, the early first century A.D., people were beginning to look expectantly for the Messiah. So they thought that John the Baptist might be the one that they were looking for.

Luke, in his gospel, gives us little bit more detail on this in chapter 3:15-16. It says: As the people were in expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John whether he might be the Christ, John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

People are expecting the Messiah to come at this point. They think John might be the one, so they come to him and ask, “Who are you? Are you the Messiah? Are you the one that we’re looking for?”

And here’s his response: He confessed and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

So this is a really strange sentence formation here in verse 20. It says, he confessed and did not deny. And I think what it’s saying is that it stresses John’s humility as he tells the truth about himself.

First he confesses, he confesses that he is not the Christ. And then it says he did not deny. So he did not deny who he was. He is the one sent to prepare the way of Christ, which we will see here shortly. So he’s got a confession and he’s got the truth of who he is. His confession is he is not the Christ.

They ask him, “Who are you?”

He says, “I’m not the Christ.”

But he’s also got a truth about himself that he’s going to tell us here shortly. And it says in verse 20, “I am not the Christ,” which is going to be contrasted with Jesus’ statement, with Jesus’ I am statement throughout the book. We’re going to see, of course, seven specific times when Jesus states I am throughout the book of John. I am the bread of life. I am the light of the world, etc., etc. And here, before Jesus ever says “I am,” John says, “I am not.”

That is going to be a specific and intended contrast, I believe, to show that John is not the one that they are looking for.

So in verse 21, they asked him, “What then?”

Verse 22, so they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

So they’re asking, “You’re, if you aren’t Elijah or the Prophet or the Christ, who are you? Why are you here? What do you – you’re saying all these things, you’re doing all these things, you’re giving this testimony, who are you? If you’re not anybody that has been foretold in the scripture…”

Especially considering that John’s message made it clear that he was expecting the Messiah soon. So the Jews, knowing what John’s message was, placed a sort of pre-messianic expectancy on John because of his message. So they say, “What do you say about yourself?”

And here’s John’s reply in verse 23. He says, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

This is a reference to prophecy in Isaiah talking about one who would cry out in the wilderness, “Make straight the way of the Lord.”

This is what John’s role is as herald. A herald would come and announce the coming of a king and say, “Get ready, get ready, the king’s coming.”

You know, so people would have time to prepare and make sure that the streets were cleaned up, everybody was ready and dressed nice. And so this is what John’s message was intended to be. His message was intended to clear the way for the Messiah, to prepare the way for the Messiah, to prepare the hearts of the nation of Israel to hear the Word, the Word that was about to become flesh and to get people cleaned up for the arrival of the King.

And again, we’re talking about in a spiritual sense here. Not that people need to be putting on new clothes for the arrival of Jesus. He is here, John the Baptist was here to preach repentance so that when they encounter Jesus, there is nothing getting in the way of them seeing and believing in who he is, in his mission. They want to be prepared spiritually. They want to be ready for the coming of the King.

Moving on in verse 24, it says, they had been sent from the Pharisees. Like I mentioned earlier, the Jews and the Pharisees, they’re interchangeable terms for the most part in this book.

And then in verse 25, they asked him, “Why are you baptizing?”

Baptism was supposed to be done just before the advent of the Messiah. And it was supposed to be done by one of the eschatological leaders foretold in the scriptures, whether it was the prophet or Elijah or whoever. So their question is, “If John isn’t one of these eschatological leaders, you’re not supposed to be baptizing. That’s not your role. You shouldn’t be here doing this. So why are you doing it?”

They say, “Why are you baptizing if you are neither the Christ nor Elijah nor the prophet?”

John answered in verse 26: John answered them, “I baptize with water,” as in only with water. He’s saying this is not the full or final baptism. The final baptism is yet to come.

Now, the reason this is important is because in those days, Gentiles who wanted to become Jewish would be baptized. Jews didn’t typically get baptized in those days. They didn’t need to because they had the law. But Gentiles who wanted to become Jewish would become baptized. And so they would renounce their sin and dip themselves in water as an act of repentance. The water essentially cleansing them of their sin and then they can become a proselyte, a Gentile Jew.

So John, by baptizing Jews, is actually requiring Jews to humble themselves because now they have to identify as no better than Gentiles, getting the same baptism the Gentiles do. What his baptism is saying is, “We’re all one people, we’re all marked by sin, and we all need cleansing before the King arrives.”

His baptism demonstrated repentance, and anyone who is willing to humble themselves, especially a Jew, is certainly one who would be willing to repent from their sin, but that baptism can’t keep somebody clean. That would only come through Jesus. That baptism can only come through Jesus.

So he says, “I baptized with water, but among you stands one you do not know.”

He’s saying, “You guys are so busy interrogating me, the one you think is a messiah, in essence, a false messiah.”

And I put that in air quotes, a “false messiah,” because what we think of as a false messiah would be what? Somebody who would claim to be Jesus and isn’t or somebody who would claim to be the Messiah who isn’t really. Of course, John never claimed any of those things, but they think he’s the Messiah. And they’re sitting here interrogating this Messiah figure and John is saying, “The true Messiah is already here. He’s already among you. He’s standing right here with you guys and you don’t even recognize him.”

They missed out.

I think this is a mistake that we can easily, easily make. We can spend so much time chasing the popular preacher, the popular worship band, looking for the Messiah in all these places, all these ministries, and yet the Messiah is among us already. Jesus is there, waiting to be found. We can see him in Scriptures, in the Scriptures. We can seek him in prayer. We don’t need these giant big time ministries that we need to constantly chase after, looking for the Messiah. He’s here. He’s ready to be known. And he’s ready to be known in this chapter.

So John says, “Among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”

Now this task is something that a slave would have been expected to do for his master. And what’s interesting is that a disciple could be ordered to do anything by a master that a slave would do except for this task. What’s John saying? He’s saying, “There’s one that stands among you, the Messiah, the true Messiah. I’m less than a slave before him. You come to me asking all these questions. ‘Are you the one we’re looking for? Are you the Christ? Why are you baptizing? Who are you? What are you doing?’ I’m nothing. I’m less than nothing. Less than a slave compared to the one you should be looking for, the one who stands among you.”

So in verse 28 it says, these things took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.

In verse 29, the next day he saw Jesus coming toward him. So the next day after he was questioned by the Jews, he sees Jesus coming toward him and he says, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

By stating this, John the Baptist tells us the purpose of the coming of the Word at the very beginning of his ministry. He tells everyone who would hear, “Look, this is why Jesus is here. He’s going to come to take away your sins. That’s why he’s here. That’s the purpose. You come to me for water baptism, to repent, and turn from your sin. That’s good. Jesus is going to take it all away. He’s going to wipe the slate clean. There’s hope now to stand before the Father with a clean slate.”

So he says, “This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’”

So John repeats his testimony from verse 15. This time he’s pointing directly to Jesus before he said, “Hey, there’s somebody standing among you.”

Now he’s saying, “This is who it is. This is what I’m talking about.”

And in verse 31 he says, “I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.”

So John is saying, “This is why I was baptizing with water, so that the Lamb would be revealed, the purpose of the Lamb would be revealed. My purpose was to baptize with water, his purpose is to wash away sins.”

Verse 32: And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.”t

This scene, the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, is described in all four gospels and John says this is how he knew that Jesus was the son of God. And he’s gonna explain that. He says, “I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.”

So this idea of the dove descending and remaining on him is actually a sign prophesied by Isaiah in chapter 11 verses 1 through 2. It says: There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

Then in Isaiah 42 verse 1 it says: Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.

And Isaiah 61:1 says: The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.

So John here is saying, “These signs, the sign that the Messiah would come with a Spirit upon him is right there in the book of Isaiah.”

And John says, “God showed me this. This is the one prophesied by the prophet Isaiah. He’s going to have my Spirit on him. When you see the one on whom my spirit rests, that’s the one you are looking for.”

So John sees Jesus standing there. The Holy Spirit descends and remains on him and Jesus ministry begins immediately after receiving the Spirit in all four books, in all four gospels. Jesus begins his public ministry immediately after receiving the Spirit and ours should too if we follow Christ’s example.

Now, it’s gonna look different for a baby Christian. Paul says later, I can’t remember where exactly, but he says something like, you know, those of you who are new in the faith should refrain from teaching publicly. But we can all preach the gospel. We can all preach the good news to those who are hurting, to those who need to hear it. If we have received the Spirit, we should follow Christ’s example and have some sort of ministry to those around us.

Sometimes it’s as simple as loving our families, loving our neighbor. Doesn’t mean we’re going to have a big platform ministry. Most of us probably should not have that, to be honest. But we should all have some sort of ministry. Again, sometimes it’s as simple as loving your family and taking care of your family and sacrificing yourself for your family. Giving up the things that you want for the good of your family. But we should all do something.

So John says, “This is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.”

In verse 34, John says, “And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

So this is the third time that the author tells us that John bore witness. And this is saying that this was John’s ministry’s primary function, to bear witness. The result being that hearts were prepared for the arrival of the Messiah. Like I mentioned earlier, John was a witness bearer. That is why he was here.

Verse 35: The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold the Lamb of God.!”

So here we’re in the following day again, the next day. Verse 37: The two disciples heard him say this and they followed Jesus.

So John was standing with two of his disciples. They heard him say, “Behold the Lamb of God,” and they turned from John and followed Jesus without even being asked.

So this is good because their devotion was not to John, but to the truth. And when truth passed in front of them, they couldn’t help but follow. And of course, the picture is there that John being one who baptizes with water, a baptism of repentance. These two disciples, when they see Jesus, they turn, they repent and they turn to Jesus. Again, highlighting that the true baptism is not one of water, but of the Holy Spirit.

Now, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t get baptized with water. You should. I believe that’s taught and practiced in the whole New Testament. Very important. Go do it. What I’m saying is that the baptism of water points to the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And this is signified here in the actions of these two disciples. They turn and they follow Jesus, a true baptism. I’ve beat that horse to death enough. Let’s move on from baptism.

So in verse 38, Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?”

Now we all need to answer this question. What are you seeking?

The Jews earlier, of course, were seeking the Messiah. But not that hard, because they couldn’t be bothered to go themselves. John was seeking the one on whom the Holy Spirit would descend and rest. Who are you seeking? Are you seeking somebody to help make your life better? Are you seeking someone to solve all your problems? The disciples seem to be seeking truth. Who are you seeking? Are you seeking someone who is worth laying down everything? Because that’s who Jesus is.

We need to answer this question. Anyone who does not wrestle with this question, I question if you’re alive. We all and we we all wrestle with this question. There is only one answer. There’s only one true answer, I should say. We can all seek something that’s not Jesus. We can all seek someone who’s not Jesus. But they’re never going to be a long-term answer. We’re always going to end up seeking someone else after that person. Whether it’s a boyfriend, a girlfriend, a wife, a husband, children, mentor, teacher, pastor, financial advisor.

Whatever it might be that we’re seeking, none of those people that I just listed are ever going to answer that question long term. There’s only one person who will answer the question long term. What are you seeking? Who are you seeking?

They said to him, “Rabbi” (which means teacher), “where are you staying?”

They didn’t ask him this because they wanted to know where he was sleeping, but because they wanted to go question him and learn more about him. They were seeking truth.

Verse 39: He said to them, “Come and you will see.”

And this is the same invitation that Jesus extends to anybody who wants to know him. Come. You want to know him? Come.

Matthew 11:28-30, he says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Revelation 22:17 says: The spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.

It costs nothing to come. Just come. If you’re one of those who’s listening right now who might be seeking something, not finding it. Seeking someone, not finding them. And you hear Jesus extend the invitation, come, come to me, come to me. Then don’t turn down that invitation. Come, come to Jesus. Learn from him. Rest. Hear what he has to say, especially as we go through the book of John. Hear what he has to say. Come and see what his mission is, what his mission accomplishes. Just come.

So they came and saw where he was staying. And they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. So they spent the whole day with Jesus, talking and questioning.

And then in verse 41: Of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.

So Andrew is one of John’s disciples. Now he’s with Jesus.

In verse 41, he first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah (which means Christ).

So many people think that Peter was the first one to confess that Jesus is the Messiah. Actually, it was Andrew. Peter was the first one to hear it. Andrew was the first one to recognize Jesus, the first of the 12 disciples, I should say. Obviously, as we’ve discussed so much already in this chapter, John the Baptist knew that Jesus was the Messiah. But of the 12 disciples, many people think that Peter was the first one to recognize Jesus as the Messiah. Nope, it was Andrew. Right here. Verse 41, Simon Peter was the first one to hear it. Andrew says, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ).

In verse 42, he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).

Then in verse 43, it says: The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.”

It appears that Jesus found Philip from a natural reading. However, it may have actually been Andrew that found Philip. Like I said, a natural reading in our English language, the word he would refer to the previous person indicated, which would be Jesus. So the next day, Jesus decided to go to Galilee. Jesus, found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.”

But from what I can gather, and I’m no Greek scholar, but Greek is a little less clear so it may have actually been that Andrew found Philip and brought him to Jesus. So that would be another person that Andrew found and brought to Jesus, because, of course, Andrew first found Simon and now he found Philip. It’s not clear. I don’t know that it matters one way or the other.

Either way, Philip follows. And the thread continues because in verse 44: Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. And Philip found Nathaniel.

So Andrew found Peter and Philip, even if Andrew didn’t find Philip. Philip’s from their city and Jesus was in their city and all because of Andrew. And now Philip found Nathaniel.

And this is how the gospel continues to be spread even to this day. A person meets Jesus and tells someone else to come and see. Everybody in this chapter is introduced to Jesus by someone else, assuming that our English translations are not quite perfect, and then it was actually Andrew found Philip.

But either way, it doesn’t it doesn’t matter. They were all found by somebody. Even Philip was found. If Philip was found by Jesus we can still take encouragement by that because Philip was found by Jesus. Even John the Baptist earlier in the chapter is introduced to Jesus by the Holy Spirit. Everyone in the chapter is introduced to Jesus by someone else. This is how the gospel is spread. This is why it’s so important for us to preach.

Now, Nathaniel is an interesting character because he’s not mentioned as one of the twelve in any of the other gospels, but he is probably the same person as Bartholomew. Bartholomew means son of Talmai. That name Bartholomew could be kind of like a last name of sorts. So his full name could be Nathaniel Bartholomew, Nathaniel son of Talmai.

Another piece of evidence here that would indicate that Nathaniel is the same as Bartholomew is that the other gospels connect Philip and Bartholomew the same way that John does. In Matthew 10:3 as he’s listing the 12 disciples he lists Philip and Bartholomew together there as if they would be connected through friendship the same way or in the same way that they are in this chapter.

Moving on in verse 45: Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

So Philip is saying here that Jesus, this man right here, Jesus is the fulfillment of all the Law and the prophets. He’s saying the entire scripture is fulfilled in this one man. This is incredible revelation here already by the disciples who barely know Jesus. They just met him. This is the first week of Jesus ministry and the author of this gospel is telling us that Andrew recognizes Jesus as the Messiah. Philip recognizes Jesus as the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. The entire culmination of what they were pointing to is fulfilled in Jesus.

It supports the idea that these men, that this entire generation was looking for somebody already. They expected him to be there. They expected him to come. They expected the Messiah to appear in that generation. And so they knew very well what he was going to look like. Those who truly read the scriptures and understood anyway.

Of course, we’re going to find out that many of the religious authority did not understand, did not know what to look for.

So, Philip says, “We found the fulfillment of the law and prophets.”

Nathaniel in verse 46 said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

So, how does Philip respond? He says to him, “Come and see.”

He didn’t debate Nathaniel. He just invited him to come and meet Jesus.

And this is our invitation as well, just like I’ve been talking about throughout this entire section. If you have questions about the authenticity of Jesus and his ministry, just come and see. We don’t need to debate. You’re not going to understand through intellectual means anyway. His ministry goes deeper than that. Just come and see. Come and meet him. Talk to him. See what he has to say in the Scriptures.

Verse 47: Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit.”

In other words, an Israelite indeed in whom there is no Jacob. What he’s saying here, that word deceit is the word Jacob. Jacob in Genesis was given the name Israel, Jacob was a deceiver. That’s what his name meant. And so Jesus here is saying, “Hey, we’ve got a true Israelite, a son of Israel and not a son of Jacob. You’re an honest man. I don’t see any deceit in you. You’re not going to lie to me. I’m not going lie to you.”

Nathaniel in verse 48: Nathaniel said to him, “How do you know me?”

Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”

And Nathaniel responds by saying, “Rabbi,” in verse 49, “You are the son of God, you are the king of Israel!”

So Nathaniel now is going to use Messianic names from Psalm 2. In verses 6 through 7, it says, Psalm 2, it says: “As for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.” I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.”

This is a messianic psalm written by David and now this is a third time that a new disciple has recognized Jesus as the Messiah. This is all happening very quickly within the span of a few days and in the very very very early days of Jesus ministry. These disciples know exactly who Jesus is. There is no question.

So Jesus answered him in verse 50: “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you…”

So now Jesus is addressing all the disciples. He’s not just talking to Nathaniel anymore. He’s talking to all the disciples. He says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

This is a reference to Jacob’s dream in Genesis 28 verses 10 through 12. It says: Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!

So Jesus refers to this dream here and he says, “That dream that Jacob had of the ladder set up on earth and reaching to heaven and angels ascending and descending, you’re gonna see that same ladder ascending and descending on the Son of Man. On me.”

He says, Jesus is saying, “I’m the ladder.”

See, Jesus is the ladder between heaven and earth. Jesus is the one mediator, the one who can go between heaven and earth, between God and man. In first Timothy 2:5-6 it says: For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

He is the one who can go between God and man. You ever think it’s impossible to reach God? Guess what? Come to Jesus. He is the one who can go between you and God for you. You don’t have to reach God. Come to Jesus.

So this title, Son of Man, is a messianic title from Daniel. Daniel 7:13-14 says, “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory in a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”

So in the book of Daniel, he sees one like a son of man. What that description is saying is somebody that looks like a person, somebody that looks like a human being, somebody that looks like a man, and he’s approaching God in heaven. And this man is given a kingdom. Not just any kingdom, but a kingdom over the entire earth. That every language and every people would serve him. And not only is this kingdom all encompassing of the entire earth, but it’s everlasting and never ends. It will never be destroyed. will never be conquered by another kingdom or by another king. That’s who this son of man is.

So this title, Son of Man, that Jesus calls himself is a messianic title. He’s identifying with the Son of Man. He’s identifying himself as that Son of Man who is going to receive that kingdom. Anytime you read the phrase, Son of Man, you should think to yourself, Jesus is talking about himself as the one who is going to receive an unending kingdom over the entire earth. Not only that, but he’s the only man to approach God. No other man has ever been able to approach God except for Jesus.

Now the reason Jesus uses this title, Son of Man, is because unlike other messianic titles, this one didn’t have any political or military implications. That would matter to the Romans. That’s important. They wouldn’t matter to the Romans. The Romans would have cared if he would have started calling himself something like King of Israel. That’s a messianic title, but not one that he wanted to use because Rome would have been all up on his business immediately, like yesterday, if he had started using a title like that.

The Romans would have no idea what the phrase Son of Man would mean. Because they wouldn’t have read the Scriptures. They wouldn’t know. Son of Man just means someone who is part of the human race. That’s the literal meaning of the phrase “son of man.” That’s all it means. When he calls himself “Son of Man,” he’s literally just saying, I’m somebody who’s human. I’m born human. I’m not an alien. I’m not a animal. I’m human. But scripturally, it has implications that the Romans wouldn’t catch.

Alright, so let’s get to the Gospel thread segment where I’m going to, remember, this is a new segment, of course, new title to the podcast. The old podcast, the Beyond the Basics podcast, I would call this the points to Jesus segment and it’s been retitled the Gospel thread. And what this segment, what I’m going to do in this segment is just go through the ways that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been threaded through the Old Testament into this chapter.

So of course we talked about Jesus as the Lamb of God. And I mentioned that in my opinion that phrase is referring to the suffering servant in Isaiah 53. And he was slaughtered like a lamb for our sins. In verses 4-5 It says,: Surely he is born of griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

And then in verse 7 it says: He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

Jesus is the lamb of God. He is the lamb led to the slaughter just like it’s described in Isaiah 53. And he was, he was led down that road down to the cross and he was slaughtered like a sheep. Like a lamb.

What did that accomplish? It wasn’t just a man that demonstrated his love. There’s a lot of preachers going around now saying that the cross was Jesus demonstrating his love. That he didn’t have to die, but he chose to die to demonstrate his love. Oh no. It’s so much more than that. He died. Isaiah 53 says right here, he was smitten by God and afflicted. We esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.

Later in the chapter it says that in verse 10 of Isaiah 53, it says: Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; He has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

It was God’s will to sacrifice Jesus. It was not just an act of love. It was an act of sacrifice. And God willed it. Why? To take our sin. He was pierced for our transgressions. Every cut, every nail hole that was made in his body, he took on our sin. And it was his sacrifice that brought us peace. We would not know peace if it weren’t for Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. This is the good news of the cross that through his suffering we can be made righteous.

Verse 11, it says: Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

The suffering servant, the one who is righteous. Jesus was perfectly righteous, perfectly sinless, perfect in every way, and yet he took on our punishment so that we could become righteous. We can take on his righteousness and be counted righteous just like Abraham was counted righteous. When Jesus took our sin.

That’s the beauty of the gospel. Put your trust in him. Put your faith in him. Believe in his mission, why he came to earth. He did not come to earth just to be a good man, a good example, a good teacher. That’s not enough. It won’t do it. It won’t save us. It had to be the cross. He had to go up on that cross and take that punishment and die so that we can live.

The other way that the gospel is threaded from the Old Testament through the New Testament in this chapter is that Jesus is the ladder from Jacob’s dream. Like I mentioned at the very end of the, kind of the verse by verse teaching portion of this podcast, we know that the human race has been trying to work our way back to heaven from the beginning of time. Ever since we lost direct access to God in the garden, we’ve been trying to work our way back to heaven. We built the Tower of Babel trying to get to heaven. We’ve done all kinds of things. That’s why the dream in Daniel chapter 7 was so significant because Daniel saw a man make it back to heaven.

And Jacob in Genesis 28 had a dream that showed there is a way back. He saw a ladder. We weren’t completely cut off from heaven in the garden. When we lost access to God in the garden, we weren’t completely cut off. There’s still a ladder. There’s still a way back. And in fact, that way would come through Jacob’s own family.

As we found out in Genesis, shameless plug, go back and check out the Beyond the Basics study through the book of Genesis. We’ll talk about that. I’m still working through the process of posting all those old podcast episodes to the Gospel thread feed, but you can find them all on beyondthebasics.blog as well. They’re all on there.

Now what’s interesting about this ladder in Jacob’s dream, and Nathaniel and his response to Jesus is, of course, Nathaniel is called a son of Israel rather than a son of Jacob, and then his response to Jesus mirrored Jacob’s response in his dream. So Nathaniel recognized that God is standing there with him. He says, “Rabbi, you are the son of God. You are the king of Israel.”

That was his response to Jesus. Jacob’s response was similar in Genesis 28 after he has a dream in verses 16 through 17. It says: Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

So what is that telling us? Jesus, not just a man, but fully God. As has been established by the author already in this chapter, Nathaniel recognized God is here, and then Jesus tells him that he is the ladder. In the dream, Jacob saw God at the top of the ladder, or he saw heaven at the top of the ladder, and then Jacob recognized God is here. God is in this place. Nathaniel recognized God is in this place. And then Jesus says, I am the ladder.

He is fulfilling the dream that was to be fulfilled through Jacob’s family. He is God come to earth. That ladder, that connection between heaven and earth, the connection that was lost between man and God, has now been restored. Daniel had that dream showing the son of man gaining access to heaven, like I mentioned in Daniel 7, and then, now we see that Jesus is here restoring that connection. Jesus is fulfilling the covenant promise made to Jacob.

In Genesis 28 verses 13 through 15 in the dream Jacob sees the Lord standing above the ladder and the Lord says, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and I will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Jesus has fulfilled that covenant promise made to Jacob. That’s what this whole section, these last few verses of John chapter 1, is saying. Jesus is this fulfillment. He is the covenant promise. The offspring that was promised to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob is here in the man Jesus. He is here and now he’s the only way back to heaven.

In John 14 verses 1 through 7 it says, Jesus says, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

So what Jesus is saying here is that that connection between God and man was lost in the garden, but there is still a ladder between heaven and earth. Jesus came to restore that connection. He is the ladder. The ladder is here in the man Jesus. But there’s no other way to restore that connection. It’s only through Jesus. Jesus is the only way back to the Father You want to come to the Father? Come to Jesus.

As I’ve been saying this whole time. You want to get to heaven? You want to get to the Father? There’s no other way. Jesus is the way. Jesus is the ladder. Come to Jesus. Come to Him.

So ask yourself this week, or this month, or however long it is until I get another episode out, ask yourself, what would be your answer if Jesus were to ask you, “What are you seeking?”

If he asked you the same question that he asked the two disciples of John, “What are you seeking?” What would your answer be? What would you say? What are you seeking? And will you come to Him?

Let’s pray. Lord, thank you for everything that you have spoken in your Word. Thank you for those who have come before us, the disciples that recognized who you are, those who wrote it down and have handed it down throughout the generations. Thank you. And now we today can come to you. Even still, I pray that those who hear would have soft hearts, that those who hear would understand and that they would come. Pray that we would all come to you. That we wouldn’t come to anything else. That we wouldn’t seek anything else. To try and fulfill our needs, to try and fulfill our longings. But that we would come to you and you only. Because you are the only way to the Father. So we worship you, we trust you. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Thank you once again for listening. Would always appreciate it if you can like the show or subscribe on whatever platform you’re using to help spread the word. Tell your friends, tell your family. Go sign up for the Patreon if you’d like to help support the show. That money, by the way, I’m not just taking that money and going to buy coffee at the coffee shop or whatever. It goes to take care of the costs, the production costs of the show. So, would love your support if you can help support the show. The more those production costs are covered, hopefully the more frequency I can get new episodes out. Thank you very much. Talk to you next time.

Sources:

Mounce, R. H. (2007). The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: John. Zondervan.

Guzik, D. (1996). John 1 – The Word and the Witness. Enduring Word. https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/john-1/

Music:

Ain’t No Mercy Here – Def Lev

Get Back in the Game (Instrumental Version) – Clandestyne

No Need to Fear – Will Harrison

Warm Tears (Instrumental Version) – First Timer

Interstellar Agogos – OTE

Enough This Time – Rockin’ For Decades