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 When Jews from Jerusalem sent a group of priests and officials to ask John who he was, he was completely honest. He didn’t evade the question. He told the plain truth: “I am not the Messiah.”

²¹ They pressed him, “Who, then? Elijah?”

“I am not.”

“The Prophet?”

“No.”

²² Exasperated, they said, “Who, then? We need an answer for those who sent us. Tell us something—anything!—about yourself.”

²³ “I’m thunder in the desert: ‘Make the road straight for God!’ I’m doing what the prophet Isaiah preached.”

^24-25 Those sent to question him were from the Pharisee party. Now they had a question of their own: “If you’re neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet, why do you baptize?”

^26-27 John answered, “I only baptize using water. A person you don’t recognize has taken his stand in your midst. He comes after me, but he is not in second place to me. I’m not even worthy to hold his coat for him.”

²⁸ These conversations took place in Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing at the time. (The Message)

In order to fulfil God’s purpose for your life, you need a clear sense both of who you are and who you are not. John knew who he was (and wasn’t), and his sense of identity was shaped by Scripture. He saw himself through God’s eyes, and this is so important for us all. We don’t want the world around us to be dictating our self-image (or, for that matter, to be constructing it for ourselves). John had a ‘positive self-image’ in that it was God-given.

As we have seen before, John never confused himself as the messenger with the Message. His message was Jesus. He humbly proclaimed the Christ and glorified Him. We are going to see this repeatedly in the early chapters of this gospel. John’s was a ministry of utter humility. No wonder Jesus described John as ”a burning and shining light” (John 5:35).

I seem to remember someone saying something like this: ‘You cannot, at one and the same time, give the impression that Jesus is a great Saviour and that you are a great preacher.’ John was a great preacher, but he wasn’t trying to impress anyone. He wasn’t great in his own eyes. His greatness lay in his resolute commitment to glorify Christ.

PRAYER: Lord, please give to all who preach your Word the same burning heart John had, for your glory.

John pointed him out and called, “This is the One! The One I told you was coming after me but in fact was ahead of me. He has always been ahead of me, has always had the first word.”

^16-18 We all live off his generous abundance,
    gift after gift after gift.
We got the basics from Moses,
    and then this exuberant giving and receiving,
This endless knowing and understanding—
    all this came through Jesus, the Messiah.
No one has ever seen God,
    not so much as a glimpse.
This one-of-a-kind God-Expression,
    who exists at the very heart of the Father,
    has made him plain as day. (The Message)

These verses point to:

• The supremacy of Jesus (15): In terms of lineage, John the Baptist was born before Jesus; but in terms of eternity, John knew that Jesus was before Him (see vv.27/30);
• The grace of Jesus (16): All who come to Jesus enter a life of sheer abundance. It’s not one based on earning (by law-keeping), but one of gift upon gift from start to finish – in other words ‘grace’;
• The divinity of Jesus (18): Jesus is to say to Philip: ”“Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” (14:9) As Michael Green said, ‘Jesus is the window into God.’ This eighteenth verse reads in the New King James Bible: ”No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” In the New International Version it says: ”No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.” I understand the idea is that Jesus is the perfect exegete of God.

The Word became flesh and blood,
    and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
    the one-of-a-kind glory,
    like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
    true from start to finish. (The Message)

This, of course, refers to the unique, unrepeatable event we call ‘the Incarnation’, in which God entered the world as a Man, in the Person of His Son, Jesus. But, inspired by Eugene Peterson’s rendering of verse 14, I do want to suggest that there is a sense (and it is a limited sense, but a real one) in which Jesus moves through our ‘neighbourhoods; in our bodies, and people can see something of His glory in us. There is a sense in which every sermon can be ‘made flesh in believers, and be walked out of church into the world in our bodies.

Why not, presuming you are able, take a prayer walk around your neighbourhood soon, praying for the homes you pass; praying by name for the people you know? Ask that your neighbours will come to see the reality of Jesus in you, and in the lives of any other Christians the Lord has planted in your area.

PRAYER: Lord, cause me to shine with your light in the place where you have set me down

The Life-Light was the real thing:
    Every person entering Life
    he brings into Light.
He was in the world,
    the world was there through him,
    and yet the world didn’t even notice.
He came to his own people,
    but they didn’t want him.
But whoever did want him,
    who believed he was who he claimed
    and would do what he said,
He made to be their true selves,
    their child-of-God selves.
These are the God-begotten,
    not blood-begotten,
    not flesh-begotten,
    not sex-begotten. (The Message)

It is ironic that the God who made the world was largely unwanted by that world when He came into it as a Man; and more specifically, that He was rejected by His own prepared people, when He came among them as a male Jew. The picture of unwantedness painted here is stark.

But, this was not true of everyone. There were those who:

”…did want him”

They got to see reality. He brought them ”into Light”. They could now see things as they really are from their new perspective as children of God. They entered ”Life”.

What is on my heart today is to pray for certain people in my orbit, that they will move from not wanting Jesus to wanting Him.

Whenever I hear someone’s conversion story, there is almost invariably a believer (or two, or more) in the wings of that testimony, faithfully praying. Oh that I might be a prayer-er in the wings of some soul’s journey to faith.

PRAYER: Lord, I bring to you ______________ (fill in the blank) and I ask specifically, definitely, that they will want Jesus. Give to them an unquenchable desire to know that truth which sets free.

There once was a man, his name John, sent by God to point out the way to the Life-Light. He came to show everyone where to look, who to believe in. John was not himself the Light; he was there to show the way to the Light.

The Life-Light was the real thing… (The Message)

”There was once a man…” He had a name. His name was ”John”. But he was not about his own name, rather the Name of another.

He ”was once”, but is no more as far as life in this world is concerned. We each of us get only one shot at life. But John’s legacy lives on. His influence still affects us. We are reading about him today, are we not? Like Abel, he:

” still speaks, even though he is dead” (Hebrews 11:4)

John demonstrated (demonstrates!) the essence of Christian witness. It is to be a signpost to Jesus. It is to point away from ourselves to our Lord. It’s in Jesus that people will find ”the real thing”. John, as a humble messenger never confused himself with the message. Our lives can endorse and authenticate the message. But we are not the message.

”For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake” (2 Cor.4:5)

Later in the chapter we will hear John adamantly asserting again that he is not the Messiah; he is merely His prophesied forerunner.

John shone like the moon at night, with reflected light, but he never thought he was the Sun.

A modern day John (Stott) prayed this prayer before he preached:

‘Heavenly Father, we bow in your presence.
May your word be our rule,
Your Spirit our teacher,
And your greater glory our supreme concern.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

PRAYER: Oh Lord, cause me to shine with your light, as John did. Enable me to be a signpost to you by life (even when I’m not aware it is happening) and by lip. Grant that ‘your greater glory’ will always be my ‘supreme concern’. For your Name’s sake. Amen.

^1-2 The Word was first,
    the Word present to God,
    God present to the Word.
The Word was God,
    in readiness for God from day one.

^3-5 Everything was created through him;
    nothing—not one thing!—
    came into being without him.
What came into existence was Life,
    and the Life was Light to live by.
The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;
    the darkness couldn’t put it out. (The Message)

It is so good to know that ”the darkness” could not overcome the ”Light” that is Christ. His resurrection demonstrates this. All the hatred in the world could not extinguish the Light of Christ. But it wanted to. It tried to. It still tries…and tries…and it will until the end of time. But it tries and fails, and will until the end of time!

We should not be surprised that persecution (often violent in nature) is the lot of the church, the body of Christ, in this world. The darkness inevitably wants to blow out the Light. This is the age old hatred of Satan for God – the God who became man in Jesus; who is the true ‘Word’ all men need to hear, and see, and believe.

But one day this persecution will end, because the ‘big picture’ Bible story is that the Light wins. The older I get, the more I see that the Bible makes sense of everything. It helps me to understand the mess I see around me, and still have hope. Jesus, and His church, though bitterly hated, and violently opposed, cannot be defeated.

Meanwhile, believers, who see in Jesus the Creator God, can sing with an old hymn:

‘Heaven above is softer blue,
Earth around is sweeter green;
Something lives in every hue
Christless eyes have never seen:
Birds with gladder songs o’erflow,
Flow’rs with deeper beauties shine,
Since I know, as now I know,
I am His, and He is mine.’ (George Wade Robinson)

Although the world, the universe, is deeply damaged by sin and evil, Jesus shines through every atom and molecule.

PRAYER: Lord, please penetrate the darkness of our lost souls with your blazing, indestructible Light

 The allotment for Joseph began at the Jordan, east of the springs of Jericho, and went up from there through the desert into the hill country of Bethel. ² It went on from Bethel (that is, Luz), crossed over to the territory of the Arkites in Ataroth, ³ descended westward to the territory of the Japhletites as far as the region of Lower Beth Horon and on to Gezer, ending at the Mediterranean Sea.

⁴ So Manasseh and Ephraim, the descendants of Joseph, received their inheritance.

⁵ This was the territory of Ephraim, according to its clans:

The boundary of their inheritance went from Ataroth Addar in the east to Upper Beth Horon ⁶ and continued to the Mediterranean Sea. From Mikmethath on the north it curved eastward to Taanath Shiloh, passing by it to Janoah on the east. ⁷ Then it went down from Janoah to Ataroth and Naarah, touched Jericho and came out at the Jordan. ⁸ From Tappuah the border went west to the Kanah Ravine and ended at the Mediterranean Sea. This was the inheritance of the tribe of the Ephraimites, according to its clans. ⁹ It also included all the towns and their villages that were set aside for the Ephraimites within the inheritance of the Manassites.

¹⁰ They did not dislodge the Canaanites living in Gezer; to this day the Canaanites live among the people of Ephraim but are required to do forced labour. (NIV)

There’s something here that speaks to me about living below the level of our privileges and possibilities. Imagine the driver of a turbo-charged car always moving at 30 mph. In Christ we have far more ‘under the bonnet’ than we realise.

Paul prayed for the Ephesians:

”…that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, ¹⁹ and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength ²⁰ he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, ²¹ far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. ²² And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, ²³ which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” (Ephesians 1:18-23)

May God open our eyes also, so that we do not settle for less than is possible in our experience of Jesus. Someone observed that the Christian has been given not so much a promised land as a promised life. May the Lord gives us eyes to see the possibilities and the desire to fully enter in.

 In accordance with the Lord’s command to him, Joshua gave to Caleb son of Jephunneh a portion in Judah—Kiriath Arba, that is, Hebron. (Arba was the forefather of Anak.) ¹⁴ From Hebron Caleb drove out the three Anakites—Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai, the sons of Anak. ¹⁵ From there he marched against the people living in Debir (formerly called Kiriath Sepher). ¹⁶ And Caleb said, “I will give my daughter Aksah in marriage to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher.” ¹⁷ Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s brother, took it; so Caleb gave his daughter Aksah to him in marriage.

¹⁸ One day when she came to Othniel, she urged him to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What can I do for you?”

¹⁹ She replied, “Do me a special favor. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me also springs of water.” So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs. (NIV)

As we saw previously, for forty five years Caleb had clung to the promise that he would be given Hebron. At the age of eighty five, he had shown willing for the fight to lay claim to his promised territory, and as we see in this little cameo in chapter 15, he did take his land. (All of this comes within a chapter about the allotment of land for Judah).

Then we have the beautiful story about Aksah’s request. I think the key to understanding this is that her father had given her land in ”the Negev”, which means ‘the dry’. It was desert land down in the hot south of the country. Therefore this daughter was coming to her willing father, asking for a supply corresponding to her need. If that was where she was to live and work she would need water. She asked. He gave

In the Bible, ‘water’ is often symbolic of the Holy Spirit, and I am reminded of these words of Jesus in Luke 11:11-13:

” “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? ¹² Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? ¹³ If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

I believe it is a fundamental principle that, by and large, in the Christian life you tend to get what you go for. So long as it is clearly in the revealed will of God (i.e. in line with His Word) you can ask your perfect Heavenly Father for His best blessings, and trust Him to give them. How we need to constantly come to the Father for the fullness of His Spirit, as He requires of us to live in this ‘desert’ of a fallen world. We can come with confidence, trusting for His supply.

I often call to mind J.Oswald Sanders’ challenging words:

”We are at this moment as close to God as we really choose to be.”

For the director of music. A maski^] of David. When Doeg the Edomite had gone to Saul and told him: “David has gone to the house of Ahimelek.”

¹ Why do you boast of evil, you mighty hero?
    Why do you boast all day long,
    you who are a disgrace in the eyes of God?
² You who practice deceit,
    your tongue plots destruction;
    it is like a sharpened razor.
³ You love evil rather than good,
    falsehood rather than speaking the truth.
⁴ You love every harmful word,
    you deceitful tongue!

⁵ Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin:
    He will snatch you up and pluck you from your tent;
    he will uproot you from the land of the living.
⁶ The righteous will see and fear;
    they will laugh at you, saying,
⁷ “Here now is the man
    who did not make God his stronghold
but trusted in his great wealth
    and grew strong by destroying others!”

⁸ But I am like an olive tree
    flourishing in the house of God;
I trust in God’s unfailing love
    for ever and ever.
⁹ For what you have done I will always praise you
    in the presence of your faithful people.
And I will hope in your name,
    for your name is good. (NIV)

I wonder, how many Doeg’s have there been in human history, and how many there are still, who grow ”strong by destroying others”? But at the end of the day, the ”righteous” have the last laugh. The Doeg’s will have their catastrophic downfalls. Let’s keep this in mind as we are troubled by the news, and maybe, more particularly, suffer at their hands personally. There is a ”Surely” about their ruin. God’s justice will prevail

There is such a contrast in verses 8,9. David can know what Doeg is up to, but just be full of confidence in God. We too can live in this wicked world with a relaxed, and happy confidence in God.

‘For his part, David expects to be blessed by God. While Doeg will be “uprooted” (Psalm 52:5), David is firmly planted in God’s will. He compares this to an olive tree, which can live a long, productive life (Psalm 1:3). Scripture does not include any resolution to Doeg’s story; we are not told if or when he suffered retribution for his crimes. Yet such judgment is inevitable—either in earthly life or in eternity (Proverbs 11:4; 2 Thessalonians 1:7–10; Hebrews 4:13; Revelation 20:11–15). Anticipating this, though it had not yet happened, David resolves to join other believers in praise and worship (Psalm 52:8–9).’ Bible Ref

‘The inscription of this psalm describes its origin. The contrast which it presents is full of instruction. The ungodly is often a mighty man in the estimation of the world. He boasts mischief; his tongue resembles the razor, which inflicts sharp and deep wounds; his words devour reputations, family-peace, and souls.

What a contrast is presented by the humble believer who trusts, not in wealth which vanishes, but in God’s mercy which abides forever! Psalms 52:1-8 . As the olives grew around the humble forest sanctuary at Nob, where the tragedy which called forth this psalm took place, and were hallowed by the shrine they encompassed, so the believer grows and is safe in loving fellowship with his Almighty Friend. Let us be among God’s evergreens, drawing our nutriment from Him, as the roots struck into the rich mold. The psalmist is so certain of vindication and so assured of the overthrow of wickedness that he celebrates God’s interposition before it takes place, and accounts it as being already accomplished.’ F.B.Meyer