The Seven Signs: A Practical Commentary on the Gospel According to John

By Rev. Michael T. Nelson

What do a headwaiter, an officer of the king, a deserted cripple, a starving crowd, twelve men in a boat, a man blind from birth, and a decaying corpse all have in common? Join Pastor Mike on a journey to discover the answer to this question. Don’t be surprised if along the way you find your own faith being strengthened and your ability and motivation to share it with others greatly enhanced.

The Seven Signs is a practical commentary written to help laypersons and ministers alike to better understand and communicate this amazing Gospel to others, especially to those who have not yet put their faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Its purpose is to bring to light the spiritual truths of John’s Gospel and their application to our lives in a clear, concise, and thought-provoking manner.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Mar 31, 2023
• ISBN: 9781664293083

Rev. Michael T. Nelson

Mike is the Founder and President of EPPIC Ministries International (eppicmissions.org). After serving for over eleven years as a senior pastor, God called Mike to international missions in 2013. EPPIC is an acronym for Equipping Pastors Planting Indigenous Churches. The mission of EPPIC is to glorify Christ by equipping local national pastors and mobilizing short-term mission teams to assist them in planting new indigenous churches. The ministry began its work in Tanzania and expanded to Zambia in 2019. Mike holds a Master of Science in Business Administration from the University of Memphis and a Master of Divinity with Biblical Languages from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

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Copyright © 2023 Rev. Michael T. Nelson.

First edition published 2010 by Tate Publishing, LLC., in two volumes titled The Seven Signs: A Spirit-filled Look at the Gospel According to John.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the Holy Bible, King James Version, Cambridge, 1769. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

All Scripture quotations unless otherwise noted are from the Authorized (King James) Version (AV) of the Bible.

ISBN: 978-1-6642-9309-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-9310-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-9308-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023903295

WestBow Press rev. date: 03/30/2023

Contents

Foreword

Introduction

Part 1: The Seven Signs

Chapter 1: Jesus Was God in the Flesh

Chapter 2: Jesus Begins His Ministry

Chapter 3: God’s Plan of Salvation

Chapter 4: Salvation Is Open to All

Chapter 5: The Warnings

Chapter 6: Jesus’s Full Ministry Is Revealed

Chapter 7: Jesus Rebukes Unrighteousness

Chapter 8: The Truth about Sin

Chapter 9: Spiritual Blindness

Chapter 10: The Good Shepherd

Chapter 11: The Resurrection and the Life

Part 2: The Final Preparation of the Disciples

Chapter 12: Good vs. Evil

Chapter 13: Humility, Forgiveness, Betrayal, and Love

Chapter 14: The Assurances of the Lord

Chapter 15: The Assurances of the Lord (Continued)

Chapter 16: The Assurances of the Lord (Continued)

Chapter 17: The Lord’s Intercessory Prayer

Part 3: The Ultimate Demonstration of His Power

Chapter 18: His Abandonment

Chapter 19: His Suffering

Chapter 20: His Victory

Part 4: The Epilogue

Chapter 21: The Reminder

Endnotes

Bibliography

Endorsements

Pastor Mike Nelson loves the Word of God and the sheep of his pasture. From a shepherd’s heart, you will discover the Chief Shepherd in a wonderful and unique way as you read and study this excellent devotional commentary. You will find it to be of great value as you are challenged by its content to walk in a manner worthy of your calling.

—Ed Ethridge

Director of Missions for the North Texas Baptist Area Association

Pastor Mike Nelson has labored intently to offer readers a commentary on the Gospel according to John penned out of the grist mill of a contemporary shepherd’s heart and ministry. Written from his understanding of Scripture, the crucible of his own experience with God, and with the convictions of the old time preacher, his field-tested study offers thought-provoking insights and illustrations guaranteed to bless and enrich preachers, teachers, and students of the Bible.

—Dr. Richard T. Vann Jr.

Professor of Christian Ministry

Graduate School of Ministry

Dallas Baptist University

… Michael Nelson serves as the preaching bridge between scholarly biblical exegesis and engaging Christian application…. You will be blessed, as I have been, when you read what this minister of the good news has to say and you will be challenged to believe, in the full sense of the word, the truths of God’s Word without any reservation whatsoever.

—Dr. Malcolm B. Yarnell III

Research Professor of Theology

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

Fort Worth, Texas

Dedication

I dedicate this book to my precious wife Sharon

who made countless sacrifices to afford me the time

necessary to write it. Her patience and loving

support is what made this possible.

Foreword

It is somewhat startling to hear an orthodox Christian preacher, who affirms that the entire Word of God is thoroughly inspired by the Holy Spirit, proclaim that the Gospel according to John is the most important book in the Bible or that the third chapter of John is the most important chapter in the Bible. However, from the perspective of an evangelistic pastor concerned for the eternal state of every human soul, Michael Nelson’s emphatic claims carry a certain relevant validity. In a day when so many Christians frantically seek ways to justify the avoidance of sharing their faith, whether through some wine-and-cheese theology or through a non-proclaiming social ministry, Nelson bucks the prevailing trends and prophetically demands Christian fidelity to the message and means specifically given by our Lord. Believers must not only recognize but also embrace and live out this truth: that a personal encounter with Jesus Christ is the most important meeting in the history of humankind. In other words, Nelson argues from Scripture and with compelling illustrations and application that it is our responsibility as Christ’s followers to present Jesus, from the Bible, to every lost man, woman, and child on the planet.

I first met Mike when he was an entering graduate student in theology at the seminary, and I knew from that point on that he would never accept anything I taught as truth unless it could be demonstrated according to the Word of God. Mike, in this book, has sought to hold himself to that same standard, and has fundamentally succeeded in doing so. Another thing I learned about Nelson during those exciting years of pleasantly boisterous give and take with an unpretentious yet precocious theologue, and have since rediscovered in these pages, is that Nelson possesses a genuine love for people. There is a pastoral sensitivity here, coupled with a rare ministerial gravitas, that accompanies God’s Word as it reaches down through the webs of personal deception that too many of us have erected in our own lives and that touches the soul where that defiled image of God is at its most crucial point in its precarious existence. Mike allows the biblical text to speak and then proceeds to explain the meaning of the text with logical clarity. With dependence upon the Holy Spirit, Nelson then illuminates the text with illustrations from Scripture, from the critical events and commonplaces of his own interesting life, and from many other places.

As you will soon see, there is much here that the reader should appreciate, but we must speak a word to the unduly squeamish: Nelson recognizes that his idiosyncrasies may not be your cup of tea, to employ a common British idiom. However, for the most part this is not germane, for Nelson’s overarching goal is to make sure that you meet and appreciate the Lord who created you and who will judge you instead. His immediate desire is to see the body of Jesus Christ incarnated before the world, so that, as a result, lost people everywhere may have opportunity to hear that Jesus Christ should be their cup of tea and, more profoundly, their Lord and Savior. And everything written here is filtered through the sieve of that principal concern. We rejoice in the fact that Nelson cares more about presenting the compelling attractiveness and inviting openness of his Savior than he cares about making a short-lived and dubious name for himself. That loving and selfless boldness—some wimpish worldly-wise ministers would dismiss it as heedless recklessness, but the wise in the ways of the God of Scripture would laud it as a holy temperament—is one of the virtues that sets Nelson apart as a minister of the Gospel and as an upcoming popular theological writer. May his tribe increase!

From a more academic methodological perspective, Michael Nelson serves as the preaching bridge between scholarly biblical exegesis and engaging Christian application. With regard to biblical exegesis, Nelson utilizes currently well-respected and quite often long-established evangelical scholars to aid him in the process of interpreting the Gospel of John. With regard to ministerial application, he provides a superb example of how theological interpretation is best done by the pastor who lives among his people, prompting them orally and demonstrating to them visually how they may and must reach out to the world with the life-giving Word of God. Though I personally might have phrased some things alternatively or presented a distinctive theological nuance or come to a slightly different conclusion, there is no doubt whatsoever that this book comes from a like heart desiring entire submission to Jesus and a keen mind dedicated to the utter reliability of Scripture. You will be blessed, as I have been, when you read what this minister of the good news has to say and you will be challenged to believe, in the full sense of the word, the truths of God’s Word without any reservation whatsoever.

In Christ,

Malcolm B. Yarnell III

Research Professor of Theology

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

Fort Worth, Texas

Introduction

In 1995, Dr. Bob Pitman, the pastor of Kirby Woods Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, taught a two-hour Bible study on the miracles contained in the Gospel according to John to the adult singles class during a weekend retreat. His Bible study introduced me to what I have come to believe is the most important book in the Bible. The Holy Spirit has never let me forget that teaching, and it served as the genesis of my desire to immerse myself in this book. I have committed a great amount of time to studying and teaching this Gospel, ¹ and as a result, the Holy Spirit has revealed to me truths and insights concerning this Gospel that I feel compelled to share with you. These truths and insights have had a major impact on my life, my teaching, and my ministry. My hope and prayer is that this commentary on the Gospel according to John may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established ² (Rom. 1:11). This was Paul’s desire toward the brethren in Rome, and it is my desire for you.

John the Author

Who was this man named John who wrote the fourth book in the New Testament? He first appears in chapter 4 of the Gospel according to Matthew where we learn he was the son of Zebedee and most likely the younger brother of James. They were probably natives of Capernaum. He and James were fishermen by trade and business partners with Simon and his brother Andrew. In chapter 5 of the Gospel according to Luke, we learn that after their second encounter with Jesus, John and his brother forsook all, and followed him. They left their business, their possessions, and their family behind and followed Jesus. What a testimony! How many of us would be willing to do what James and John did? Jesus put it this way:

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. (Matt. 10:37)

And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. (Matt. 19:29)

John, like his brother and their two business partners, was just an ordinary fisherman. He was not a college graduate. He was not a seminary graduate. He was not a priest. He was a common, ordinary, hardworking man who was trying to make a living doing probably the only thing that he thought he was capable of doing. So why did Jesus choose him? By choosing John to be an apostle, Jesus is teaching us that He ³ does not call the equipped. We see this truth throughout God’s Word. For example, when God called Moses to service, he said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? … I am not eloquent … but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue (Exod. 3:11, 4:10). Paul is another example. Acts 22:3 reveals Paul was brought up at the feet of the great teacher Gamaliel and was taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God. Even with this background, Paul had to spend three years in the desert of Arabia (Gal. 1:17–18) being taught by the Holy Spirit before the Lord sent him out on his first missionary journey.

Jesus told Simon and Andrew, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men (Matt. 4:19). Jesus does not call the equipped; He equips the called. John became a member of Jesus’s inner circle of disciples. He was known as the disciple whom Jesus loved (John 21:20). As Jesus hung on the cross, He turned the care of His mother over to John. John became a prominent leader in the early Jerusalem church. In addition to this Gospel, John also authored three of the seven General Epistles, and while in exile on the island of Patmos, he was chosen by the Lord to record His revelation, known as the book of Revelation. John lived a long and fruitful life in service to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. John’s life profoundly demonstrates what God can do with an ordinary person who is willing to surrender all and serve Him.

John’s Purpose

20:30—And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book:

20:31—But these are written, that ye might believe ⁴ that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

I made the statement in the first paragraph of this introduction that this is the most important book in the Bible. Why is it the most important? As we see from these verses, John wrote this Gospel to unbelievers. His target audience is lost people. He was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write a book with the specific purpose of converting unbelievers. John’s thesis is simple: study this book and you will come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and through that belief, you will receive eternal life. If you had to choose one book of the Bible to give to a lost person, this is the book you should choose.

A second reason why this is the most important book in the Bible is because this Gospel is God’s ordained tool for witnessing to unbelievers. Since reaching the lost is the duty and responsibility of every believer (Matt. 28:19–20, Mark 16:15, Luke 24:47, John 20:21, Acts 1:8) and this Gospel was written for that specific purpose, there is no other book of the Bible that Christians should be more concerned with learning and understanding. John informs us at the end of chapter 20 that the signs revealed in the first twenty chapters of this Gospel contain all the information needed to convince someone to believe in Jesus. This is why the Gospel according to John should serve as every soul winner’s basic operating manual.

A third reason is because this Gospel serves to strengthen our own belief. What greater way is there to strengthen and solidify our own belief in Jesus Christ than to study the very book written to convince unbelievers to put their faith in Christ? Because the study of this book prepares us to witness to others, it cannot help but strengthen our own faith in the process.

Why was John given this mission? Why was John chosen by the Lord to be the author of the book written with the specific purpose of converting unbelievers? Jesus’s purpose for coming to the earth was to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10). The name that was chosen for Him makes this fact unmistakable from the very beginning. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and informed him that his virgin fiancée Mary had conceived of the Holy Spirit and shall bring forth a son, he instructed Joseph to call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins (Matt. 1:21). Jesus made it clear that His purpose for coming to the earth was not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many (Matt. 20:28). Based on the biblical record, no one associated with Jesus’s ministry was closer to Jesus than John. Because of their special relationship, I believe that no one knew the heart and mission of Jesus better than John. Since Jesus’s purpose for coming was to save the lost and no one understood that better than John, I can think of no one better qualified than John to write a book of the Bible specifically aimed at unbelievers.

John’s Method

20:30—And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book:

20:31—But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

The purpose of John’s statement is not to highlight the fact that Jesus performed a multitude of miracles during His earthly ministry. The purpose is to draw our attention to and heighten the importance of the miracles that are recorded in this Gospel. The Holy Spirit inspired John to select and record only seven of the miracles performed by Jesus during His pre-resurrection earthly ministry. Out of all the miracles performed by our Lord and Savior during His pre-resurrection earthly ministry, which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written (John 21:25), John chose only seven of them to be included in his Gospel. He uses these seven signs to prove that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. This tells us that these seven signs must be extremely significant and that each one of them must contain an important spiritual message. Therefore, we will pay close attention to these seven signs as we encounter them. Each time we come to one of them, we need to ask ourselves a couple of questions: (1) Why did John choose this miracle? (2) What is John trying to show us about Jesus through this miracle?

It is not a coincidence that John was inspired to choose only seven signs. The number seven is symbolic of the fullness and completeness of God. ⁵, ⁶ John is saying that by studying these seven signs, we will see the fullness and completeness of Jesus Christ. These signs demonstrate that Jesus has the complete and full ability to save us and to grant us eternal life.

Today we are bombarded by infomercials. These twenty-to-thirty-minute-long product demonstrations and testimonials have the sole purpose of convincing us to buy a product. If John were alive today and wanted to use TV to reach unbelievers, he would create an infomercial that contained the dramatization of these seven signs. John’s Gospel is his written infomercial for Jesus with one major difference—he is not trying to sell anything. Instead, he is trying to give something away.

John also uses seven I am the ... statements made by Jesus to support and emphasize the message. Some of these statements relate more directly to a particular sign while others are more universal in nature. No matter which category they fall into, they serve the purpose of assuring the reader that Jesus’s words are not empty or hollow promises. Jesus backed up His words with actions that could only come from God.

John’s Organization

John organized the Gospel into four distinct parts. Part 1, which includes the first eleven chapters, is dedicated to presenting the seven signs and proving his basic thesis that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Part 2, which is comprised of chapters 12–17, contains Jesus’s final preparation of His disciples for the ultimate demonstration of His power. Part 3, which encompasses chapters 18–20, presents the ultimate demonstration of Jesus’s power and according to Romans 10:9, provides the final element of belief required to receive eternal life. This is why John waits until the end of chapter 20 to say, And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: but these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name (John 20:30–31). Part 4, consisting of only chapter 21, provides the epilogue. This chapter contains the record of Jesus’s third appearance to His disciples after His resurrection. Jesus uses the events surrounding this appearance, which includes the Gospel’s eighth and final miracle, to remind and reinforce to the disciples the responsibilities that come with the new birth. Now, let us begin our exploration of the most important book in the Bible.

Part 1

The Seven Signs

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Chapter 1

Jesus Was God in the Flesh

John wastes no time getting to the point. In verses 1–18, he clearly states his bottom line, and he does so in such a way as to leave no room for misunderstanding or misinterpretation.

1:1—In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

1:2—The same was in the beginning with God.

1:3—All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

1:4—In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

1:5—And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

1:9—That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

1:10—He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

1:11—He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

1:12—But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

1:13—Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

1:14—And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

1:16—And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.

1:17—For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

1:18—No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

The phrase the Word is a title. When people mention the White House, we know they are talking about the residence of the president of the United States and not the house on the corner down the street from their home. The name or title of the residence of the president is the White House. As evidenced by 1 John 5:7 and Revelation 19:13, one of the titles or names for God the Son is the Word. John then reveals in verse 14 that the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. He also informs us in this verse that the Word, which became incarnate in human form, came to the earth full of grace and truth. Since the Word was God when the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, He came filled with the merciful kindness (grace) and righteousness (truth) required to save his people from their sins (Matt. 1:21). John completes the revelation in verse 17 by divulging that the Word, which was God and was made flesh and dwelled among us and was full of grace and truth, was Jesus Christ.

The apostle Paul affirms John’s statement that Jesus is God in his Letter to Titus. In mathematics and logical thought, if A = C and B = C, then A = B. In Titus 1:3 Paul states, God our Saviour, which constitutes the A = C portion of our equation. The word translated God in this verse is the Greek word Theos, while the word translated Saviour is the Greek word soter. Then in the next verse Paul states, Jesus Christ our Saviour. This statement provides the B = C portion of our equation. Jesus Christ is the translation of the Greek words Iesous and Christos respectively, while as in Titus 1:3, the word translated Saviour is the Greek word soter. According to our universally accepted formula, since God (A) is (=) our Saviour (C) and Jesus Christ (B) is (=) our Saviour (C), then God (A) is (=) Jesus Christ (B).

Jesus Christ, the Word, was preexistent with God the Father before time began and was sent by God the Father in the form of a man to dwell among humankind in order to bring His grace and truth to a lost and dying world. Jesus was fully man, but He was also fully God. The apostle Paul puts it this way in Philippians 2:6–7:

Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.

Three reasons for why the Word became flesh and dwelled among us can be discerned from the first eighteen verses of this amazing Gospel. First, He came because He wanted to commune with us. The word dwelt in verse 14 is the aorist, active, indicative, third-person, singular form of the verb skenoo. This verb means to tabernacle or to pitch one’s tent. ¹ Jesus could have chosen to come as an adult to die on the cross and then quickly return to heaven, and He could have done so all within a short period of time. So why did He instead choose to be born of the virgin Mary, grow up as any human being would, and live over thirty years on this planet? Jesus chose to pitch His tent with us because He wanted to live with us and among us. He wanted to have a close and personal relationship or intimate fellowship with us. He (the Creator) wanted us (the created) to know that He understands our pains, our weaknesses, and our challenges because He chose to come here and go through them Himself: For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin (Heb. 4:15). Just as we are able to love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19), we are also able to relate to Him because He first related to us.

Second, He came because He wanted to communicate with us His glory, truth, and the way He intended humans to be. The word glory is translated from the Greek word doxa. The glory of God is defined as His unchanging essence … what He is essentially. ² To glorify God means to declare His divine character and moral attributes. Therefore, giving glory to God is ascribing to Him His full recognition. ³ God possesses two main attributes under which all of His other innumerable attributes can be placed: God is holy (1 Pet. 1:15–16), and God is love (1 John 4:8, 16). At no time in the history of humankind have these two main attributes of God been on display in a greater or more profound way than during the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ: the Word who became flesh and dwelled among us. God’s holiness demands judgment and punishment for our sins, yet His love demands forgiveness for those same sins. The substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ, as we will learn in detail in chapter 11, is where these opposing attributes collided and were reconciled, which in turn provides the ultimate manifestation of the glory of God. The cross is the cosmic intersection of God’s holiness and His love (i.e., His glory). Therefore, nothing communicates the glory of God to a greater degree than the sinless Son of God allowing Himself to be sacrificed on the tree for you and me. He also came to communicate truth by delivering the true gospel to a lost and dying world. He came to bring divine truth concerning salvation and what each individual must do to receive it. Religion, legalism, traditions, and human efforts cannot provide the true salvation that people seek. As Jesus informs us in chapter 3, the truth is that true salvation requires one to be born again, which means both born from above as well as born a second time. Since the verb received in the phrase as many as received him in verse 12 is speaking metaphorically of a teacher, to receive, acknowledge, embrace and follow his instructions, ⁴ all those who receive the divine truth that He has come to deliver are given by Him the exousia to become the sons of God. The word exousia is a unique word in the Greek because it has a dual meaning. Like the Greek word dunamis, it means power in the sense of having the might or strength to do something, but unlike dunamis, it also means power in the sense of having the authority or right to do something. ⁵ The Holy Spirit had John use exousia instead of dunamis to hammer home the point that Jesus Christ—because He is God—has the full power and authority (i.e., the right and the might) to grant salvation and adoption into His family to all those who receive Him by receiving the divine truth that He came to deliver. In addition, He came to communicate the way He intended humans to be. The phrase of his fullness have all we received in verse 16 implies our reaching the intended goal set by His example. ⁶ He came to be the personal example of what God intended people to be. Therefore, we are to strive to be like and to follow the example of the God-man Jesus Christ [t]ill we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ (Eph. 4:13); [f]or whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren (Rom. 8:29).

Third, He came because He wanted to bestow His compassion (i.e., His grace) upon us, which required two components: the flesh of a man and the righteousness of God. The word compassion not only means to have sympathy for the distress of others, but also to have a desire to do something to alleviate the distress. ⁷ Jesus could have left us in the distress of our sin and the state of spiritual death that results from it. Instead, He chose to provide the two components necessary to alleviate the cause of our distress. Since all humans must die because of sin (Rom. 5:12), either we must die or someone else must die in our place, but not just anybody could die in our place. In order to die in our place, that person would have to be perfectly sinless, else he or she would need to die for his or her own sins and would not be available or eligible to die for ours. The only way that a man could provide the perfectly sinless flesh and blood required is if that man was also God. Therefore, the Word became flesh and dwelled among us so that He could bestow His compassion upon us.

Now that John has stated who Jesus is, he devotes the remainder of this chapter, as well as the next nineteen chapters of the Gospel, to proving that statement. He proceeds by introducing us to John the Baptist in verses 6–8 and 15. He follows the introduction of John the Baptist with three of his personal testimonies concerning Jesus.

John the Baptist

1:6—There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

1:7—The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.

1:8—He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

1:15—John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.

Who was this man called John the Baptist? John tells us that he was a man sent from God to bear witness of Jesus Christ. In chapter 3 of Malachi, the last Old Testament prophet records God’s prophecy concerning John the Baptist: Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me (Mal. 3:1). Most people are not concerned with the messenger. They want the message but usually care little about the person who delivers it. For example, how many of us know the name of our mail carrier? Even if we know his or her name, how many of us know our mail carrier’s place of birth, marital status, or the number of children he or she has? This messenger was not much different. Luke is the only Gospel writer to include any details about John the Baptist. He tells us in chapter 1 of his Gospel that John the Baptist was a miracle child and the answer to the prayers of his father, who was a priest named Zacharias. He was to be born filled with the Holy Spirit, and he shall be great in the sight of the Lord (Luke 1:15). Let us take a moment and ask ourselves how someone becomes great in the eyes of the Lord. How did John the Baptist become great in the sight of the Lord? Using him as an example, I would like to share with you six characteristics of a person who is great in the sight of the Lord.

The first characteristic is that the person’s purpose in life is to prepare people to meet the Lord. We learn from Luke 1:17 that John’s purpose in life was "to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." Our mission should be no different. John the Baptist prepared the people for Christ’s first coming. Our responsibility is to make ready a people prepared for the Lord’s Rapture of His church. This should be the purpose of every individual Christian and certainly every Christian pastor and evangelist throughout the world. In many churches today, it seems that preparing people for the Rapture has taken a back seat to raising money, building buildings, and promoting the self-importance of its leaders. Making whatever compromises are necessary in order to fill pews also appears to have taken precedence over making ready a people prepared for the Lord. A person who is great in the sight of the Lord is one who devotes his or her life to helping others to be prepared for the Lord’s return.

The second characteristic is that the person openly proclaims the gospel. "In those days came John the Baptist, preaching (Matt. 3:1). The word preaching" means to proclaim openly and instruct the things that pertain to Christian salvation. ⁸ Every Christian is a preacher. As far as the requirement to preach goes, the only difference between the man standing in the pulpit on Sunday and the man or woman on the job site or in the office is the size of the audience. There is only one way to make ready a people prepared for the Lord’s Rapture of His church: So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Rom. 10:17). A person who is great in the sight of the Lord is one who shares the Word of God with others.

The third characteristic is that the person is willing to go where the sinners are. "In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea (Matt. 3:1). The wilderness is wherever the sinners are. After Jesus called Matthew the publican to come and be one of His disciples, Matthew held a dinner party in his home so that he could introduce Jesus to his friends. When the Pharisees saw Jesus sitting down to eat with publicans and sinners, they were outraged. Jesus answered, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Matt. 9:12–13). A person who is great in the sight of the Lord is one who shares the Word of God with anyone and everyone regardless of their occupation, past life, financial condition, color of skin, gender, national origin, or anything else for that matter.

The fourth characteristic is that the person’s message is one of repentance. "In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye (Matt. 3:1–2). John the Baptist’s message was simple and to the point. He understood that humankind’s problem is sin. Sin separates us from God. The prophet Isaiah writes, But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear" (Isa. 59:2). In order to receive forgiveness of sin, one must first repent. To repent means to change your mind toward sin. Repentance requires a true change of heart toward sin. It involves regret and sorrow for past sin and the turning away from it to God. ⁹ Salvation cannot occur without repentance. Jesus states in verses 3 and 5 of chapter 13 of the Gospel according to Luke, Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. He also teaches in chapter 18 of Matthew and chapter 17 of Luke that forgiveness comes only after repentance. In order to turn to God, a person must turn away from something else. The thing the individual is turning away from is sin. The act of turning from sin to God is the act of repentance.

Just as alcoholics cannot be helped until they realize and acknowledge their drinking problem and make the decision to turn from drinking to sobriety, unsaved people cannot be saved until they realize and confess their sin problem and make the decision to turn away from their life of sin and turn to God. I am sure many of you have witnessed individuals who have come to the front of the church during the altar call on Sunday morning and claim to have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior but are then seen the very next day living their same old sinful lives. These individuals rarely come to church and never produce any visible spiritual fruit. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:17, Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new. If this verse is true, then what has happened in these cases? Since God’s Word is always true, the problem must be something else, and that something else is the absence of repentance. These people wanted the gift of salvation but were unwilling to give up their sin in order to receive it. As the following passage attests, John the Baptist faced the same dilemma in his day.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: and think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. (Matt. 3:7–9)

If repentance is not required for salvation, then why did Jesus preach that it is? Chapter 1 of the Gospel according to Mark tells us that Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, "and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. The word and" means that both halves of the phrase are required. Jesus joined the two together. Therefore, belief requires repentance, and repentance requires belief. One cannot come without the other. Paul preached the same message throughout his ministry as evidenced by Acts 20:20–21 and 26:20, and according to Acts 3:13–19 and 2 Peter 3:9, so did Peter.

Repentance not only plays a major role in our salvation, but it is also essential in restoring our fellowship with God. There will be times in our life when we will take our eyes off the Lord. During these times, we will know that what we are doing is wrong in the eyes of God, but we will refuse to turn away from it. The longer we walk apart from God, the easier it will be to live in the sin. We may even start doing things that we never would have thought of doing previously. Eventually, this house of cards that we have built will crumble all around us, and we will finally wake up and realize the problem. As illustrated in Jesus’s parable of the prodigal son, we often must hit rock bottom before we can look up and realize the problem and see the solution.

I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. (Luke 15:18–20)

Once we repent, confess our sins, and ask the Lord to forgive us, He will receive us back into fellowship with Him the same way as this father did with his son. Living out of fellowship with God can extract a heavy toll on all aspects of our lives. This is why we must never forget God’s admonition to Solomon: "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land" (2 Chron. 7:14).

John’s message of repentance is not a popular one. Preaching against sin is not politically correct these days. Jesus was not concerned with being popular or politically correct and neither should we! Jesus (as we will see throughout this Gospel) never sidestepped or danced around the issue of sin. He always confronted a person’s sin. People must be made aware of why they need to repent. As stated earlier, Jesus said, For I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. The challenge is doing it in the right way, and we will examine the marvelous way in which Jesus confronted sin when we get to chapter 4. Preaching repentance will not make you popular or well-liked among those who are living in sin and who refuse to repent, but as Paul writes in his Letter to the Galatians, our job is not to please men, but rather to please God: For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ (Gal. 1:10). A person who is great in the sight of the Lord is one who helps lost people to realize that they have a sin problem, that their sin problem has them separated from God, and that they must repent by turning from their sin and turning to God the Son in order to be saved from it.

The fifth characteristic is that the person has a sense of urgency concerning the lost. "In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. 3:1–2). The kingdom of heaven is always at hand. At the very moment a person dies, either the kingdom of heaven or hell is at hand. The invitation to the kingdom of heaven has been extended to all, and the price of admission has already been paid. However, it is the responsibility of every Christian to deliver this invitation to as many people as possible before it is too late. A person who is great in the sight of the Lord is one who understands that people are dying by the thousands every day and going straight to hell and has a sense of urgency to do something about it.

The sixth characteristic is that the person has compassion for the lost. "For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness (Matt. 3:3). A person who is great in the sight of the Lord is one who has compassion for the lost. Jesus had so much compassion for lost people that He died on the cross so that a lost world might be saved. Jesus set the example for us. As He states in John 15:13, Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Our compassion should run so deep that we would be willing to go to the ends of the earth and face death if necessary in order to share the gospel with the lost people of the world. John the Baptist spent his entire adult life denying himself of everything the world had to offer so that he could be used of God to prepare the people for the first advent of His Son. Paul is another example of one who had great compassion for the lost. He writes in Philippians 3:8, I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ." If we are to become great in the sight of the Lord, as did John the Baptist and Paul, then we, too, must not only be brokenhearted over the plight that awaits the lost but also be moved to do whatever is necessary to help prevent it.

There is one other thing I want us to see about this man called John the Baptist. And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey (Matt. 3:4). Why did both Matthew and Mark (see Mark 1:6) think it important to take the time to tell us what John was wearing and eating? The first reason is to remind us of the fact that God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:19). Notice that everything John was wearing and eating was God-made, not man-made. God was supplying his needs. He had clothes to keep him warm at night and to protect his skin during the day, and he had food to eat. His needs were being met. Because John understood the difference between needs and wants, he did not fall prey to a common trap that entangles so many. One of humankind’s greatest problems stems from getting needs confused with wants and desires. It causes us to not tithe. It causes us to put work ahead of worshipping and serving God. It causes us to put family and play ahead of worshipping and serving God. Most people, especially Christians, will admit that God should be the first priority in their lives, followed by family, then work, and finally everything else. Now, let us take a moment and analyze how we spend our time. If we are like most people, the majority of our time is allocated to work, second to family, and then to sports and entertainment. Worshipping and serving God receive the smallest portion of our allocated time. We freely admit that worshipping and serving God should be the number one priority in our life, yet our actions say otherwise.

Another reason these two Gospel writers thought it important to inform us what John was wearing is to remind us that God is not concerned with what is on the outside, but rather with what is on the inside. Paul tells us in Romans 2:11, For there is no respect of persons with God, and Jesus’s half brother informs us in James 2:2–9 that neither is there to be any respect of persons with us. We as Christians need to stop being concerned with the outside appearance of people and become much more concerned with what is on the inside of individuals.

A final reason why it was important for Matthew and Mark to take the time to tell us what John was eating is to remind us that God is not concerned with what we put into our mouths, but rather with what comes out of them. Jesus taught, Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man (Matt. 15:11). James informs us in his Letter that the tongue is a deadly weapon, but used correctly, it becomes a powerful tool for God. John the Baptist is an excellent example of this, so let us take a look at what he had to say about our Lord and Savior.

John the Baptist’s First Testimony

1:19—And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask