 have started the recording for the class. Last class we looked at the prologue which is like an introduction to the rest of the Gospel of John. He touched upon John, touched upon some main themes and those will be elaborated in the rest of the Gospel. So Jesus is introduced as God, he is introduced as being equal with the Father. He's described as the light of the word and there's also a hint at what is going to come because John points out that even though Jesus has come as the light the darkness does not like him. The world or rather the people of the world are more happy with their own dark lives and they may not be open to him. So all these things are kind of implied and hinted at in this prologue. So now from the prologue we are moving into the actual beginning of Jesus' ministry and even as Jesus' ministry begins it starts off with an introduction. It starts off with the testimony of John the Baptist because it is John the Baptist who introduces who Jesus is. He tells people this is who Jesus is and immediately after the introduction we see Jesus beginning his ministry. So in this Gospel of John, John chooses to format his writing in this particular way. If you see all the four Gospel writers had their own way of presenting the facts, of arranging the facts in a particular order and here we see that John the writer of this Gospel chooses to start off by talking about before creation when Jesus was already present after talking about his divinity. Now he comes to the ministry of this Divine Jesus and John the Baptist gives an introduction and talks about who this Divine Jesus is and we will be seeing that now in the verses that follow. So today we hope to complete John chapter 1 verse 19 onwards and up to the end of the chapter and the aim, the goal is to finish chapter 2 as well. So we need to move at this speed simply because we have around 36 sessions and we need to cover all of the chapters within this time period. So hopefully today we will be able to complete both chapters 1 and 2. Now John chapter 1 verse 19 up to chapter 2 verse 12 is where you have an introduction, the beginning of Jesus ministry being described and then after that we have one slightly contradictory event taking place and that's how chapter 2 closes. So we will go into these details. So you know if you could have someone read out the verses even as I just request I would probably ask you to just read out maybe one verse or two verses at the most and you know even as we all follow in our Bibles even as one person reads it out aloud you know let's just follow the verses in in our Bibles and then we will briefly discuss each of the verses. So we'll go in this pattern. So we will begin now with John chapter 1 verses 19 and 20 and before we do that maybe we could just have a very brief word of prayer. So yeah let's just start off with a word of prayer. Lord we just thank you so much that you have given these scriptures to us so that we can study them and discover you in them and learn new things about you and be amazed and impressed by all that you are and also find very practical things that we can apply to our own lives O Lord and our ministries. So we pray O Lord that even as we dig into your scriptures we pray that your Holy Spirit would be with us you know stand by us and open up these scriptures to us O Lord. We cannot do this without your guidance and your leading so we pray O Lord that you would accompany us on this journey even as we start looking into your word and trying to find out who you are and what you have in your heart for us. Thank you O Lord in Jesus name amen. All right so John chapter 1 verses 19 to 20 if we could have one person read out please. Can I read ma'am? Oh yes please. John 1 19 and 20 I'm using NIV now this was John's testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites asked him who he was he did not fail to confess but confessed freely I am not the Messiah amen. Amen over here it says very frankly and openly he John the Baptist did not fail to confess but confessed freely you know there are some people who like to exhort themselves a bit and they try to present themselves as something superior but over here John the Baptist has no such ambitions he very plainly confesses and says no no no you're thinking that I'm the Messiah but no I'm not the Messiah I'm just the person who is pointing to the Messiah and so we see a man here who is very clear about what his purpose in life is he has been created and he has been sent into this world to point people to the coming Messiah and he has no aspirations for anything more anything extra and so we see that no other false ambitions mess up his life's purpose and this is something that we need to keep in mind you know even as we try to fulfill God's purpose for our own lives we all have been placed here for for different things that the Lord wishes to accomplish through us there is of course the things that we would be doing for the church for the ministry to evangelize and reach out to the lost but we also have been given positions and responsibilities in you know in secular jobs and in our family circles and in all of these areas there are things that God wants to accomplish and if we are always rather busy in thinking about how can I promote myself how can I exhort myself we would probably miss out on God's purpose for us so like this John the Baptist who was very clear about who he is and what he has been placed here for we should be people who abolish the fact that we have been given certain responsibilities you know whether it is towards our family circles or towards the people that we know with regard to people who do not yet know the Lord we have a purpose we have a goal that needs to be accomplished and if we could just go about doing it you know instead of wasting our time and thinking of ways to promote ourselves the Lord in his timing will promote us anyway because we see right in this in the Gospels Jesus speaks very highly of John the Baptist John the Baptist himself never speaks anything much about himself but Jesus speaks about him so if we just go about sincerely doing our work and our bit the Lord will exalt and promote us in his time you know in his own way so we do not need to do that for ourselves the Lord will do it for us and so we see over here this attitude of John which is very commendable and now if maybe we can have someone read out the 21st verse please John 1 21 John 1 10 to 1 and they asked him what then are you Elijah he said I am not are you the prophet and he answered he answered no yes so here we see that the people have begun to observe that here is a man was very different from the people whom they have known before if we see you know if you look into the history of the Old Testament and the Inter Testament period we see that for 400 years there was silence in the sense God was not speaking to the people the Lord you know says that you will be hungry for someone to speak to you and reveal to you the mind of God but there would be silence because the because of the people's attitude where they had they had no interest in the things of God and so now after this long silence here is a man who is coming and speaking in a powerful way and because the Holy Spirit's anointing is upon him the words which he is speaking is penetrating right into people's hearts and they are beginning to hear the voice of God and not just the voice of a man and so John the Baptist is being used in this powerful way so now the people start getting excited so they think maybe this is the long promised Messiah whom we have been waiting for or maybe at least it is Elijah you know it's the hope that they have now why are they thinking that he may be Elijah because in Malachi there is a promise that first Elijah will come he will prepare the way for the Messiah and then the Messiah would arrive so they are thinking maybe he is the Messiah himself or maybe at least he is Elijah and he's preparing the way and very soon the Messiah would be coming so the people are excited about this and so they ask him this question maybe we could look at the reference Malachi chapter 4 versus 5 and 6 that is where it talks about Elijah coming once again if we could have someone read out Malachi chapter 4 versus 5 and 6 could someone read out for us please Malachi chapter 4 versus 5 and 6 Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and the dreadful day of the Lord and he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers lest I come and strike the earth with a curse so we see that John the Baptist seems to have been doing some kind of ministry where he is restoring families where he is restoring relationships relationships between people and also the relationship with God because he even talks about repentance so he is preparing the hearts of the people so that when the Messiah comes and begins to speak his words their hearts will no longer be hard but they would be willing to listen they would be open to whatever the Messiah has to teach and so here we see that John the Baptist is doing a ministry of restoration by teaching people about repentance and also in teaching them to reconcile themselves with one another and so we we observe these things about him in this particular in these particular verses now coming to the second part of verse 21 where they ask are you the prophet again over here they are kind of thinking maybe it is the Messiah because Moses is the one who talks about someone named the prophet and the reference for that would be Deuteronomy chapter 18 verse 15 and also verses 18 and 19 so it would be good if we can look at these verses so if we could kindly look at Deuteronomy chapter 18 verse 15 and also verses 18 and 19 in that chapter 18 verse 15 the Lord the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers and you must listen to him and verse 18 and 19 okay I will raise up from for them a prophet like you from among their brothers I put my words in his mouth and he will tell them everything I comment him and I will hold accountable anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name and so over here we have Moses yes right thank you so we have Moses here saying that a prophet will be sent to you one day and that prophet will have God's words in his mouth and because those words will be directly from God if anyone does not listen to those words then judgment would come upon them so over here they start thinking that maybe because John the Baptist's words are penetrating their hearts and having such an impact on them they wonder maybe whether he is the prophet himself and so John the Baptist clarifies and says no I am not the prophet and over here you know he points rather to the true prophet who would be Jesus all right moving on a little bit maybe we can look at John chapter 1 verse 29 because that is where he introduces Jesus so if we could have one person read out John 1 29 John 1 29 the next day John saw Jesus coming toward toward him and said behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world all right so you know at first he clarifies their doubts about who about how he is not the Messiah and now he is pointing towards the Messiah and it's a very strange introduction that he gives regarding the Messiah he doesn't say behold your king has arrived he does not say a savior has come you know to deliver you from the bondage to the Romans he does not talk about any of those things because in the minds of the people they had been waiting and longing for this Messiah because they had been told by the prophets that when the Messiah comes you know he will re-establish the kingdom of Israel and he will they will once again be a great nation and they are looking forward to that they are eager for that and so they are mainly thinking about the Messiah in terms of liberation you know from political bondage and economic bondage and here John introduces the Messiah in a very different way he says look this is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and they were familiar with this idea of Lamb they knew that by sacrificing a Lamb you know you could seek forgiveness for your sins because that's what they did on a very regular basis the people would take a healthy you know a well-fit Lamb take it to the temple offer it over there as a sacrifice on the altar and their sins would be transferred onto the Lamb and God would grant them forgiveness so this was something that they were very very familiar with and here John is pointing to Jesus and he's saying that this is a Lamb who's going to be sacrificed and his sacrifice will be for the to take away the sins of the world and so they would have found this this kind of introduction very thought provoking now today when we think of the term Lamb of God you know we are so used to hearing this term we've kind of maybe become desensitized to the meaning of it because what is John saying over here when he says Lamb of God what is he saying you know let's just imagine a man named Josiah let us say now Josiah is taking his Lamb to the temple you know to place it on the altar and have it sacrificed so that would be Josiah's Lamb and let us say another man named I can't think of any biblical names let us say Berakiah okay so Berakiah is now taking a Lamb and going to the temple so the Lamb that he's holding in his hand that would be Berakiah's Lamb all these people are taking their lamps and going to the temple to do what to have it killed over there you know and are they sentimentally attached to these lamps most probably not they have a good flock and from the flock they try to choose the best you know so that they can give God something that will honor him and they just take it over there and it is killed and they are glad that now you know their sins have been covered and that's the end of it so you have Berakiah's Lamb being taken you have Josiah's Lamb being taken and over here God is also bringing a Lamb but this Lamb is not just an animal the Lamb that God is bringing to the altar is his own son and to understand the the intensity of this you know we would have to maybe think about the story of Abraham because even over there Abraham does not just take an animal he's literally taking his son his the son for whom he had prayed and waited for so many years you know for a greater part of his lifetime he had waited and that son that much loved son he takes him to the altar and in the same way we see over here the term Lamb of God you know which we use it so lightly but that is actually God carrying his Lamb not just an animal but his own son voluntarily willingly carrying his son to the altar to the cross to have him sacrificed so this great power in this term when we think about it God's Lamb God's son was being taken not just to be exalted but first to be sacrificed and we see the love of God in this term and so John says that this is the Lamb of God and he says that I am not worthy to even you know what's the term that he uses now which verse would that be could someone you know just point me to the verse where he says that he is not worthy to even you know open his sandals okay that would be verse 27 yes yeah if maybe one of us could read out John 1 verse 27 please John 1 27 John 1 27 he is the one who comes after me the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to and tie yes so in those days where you had teachers rabbis and their followers you know the disciples so the disciples would have to do all kinds of chores and you know all kinds of jobs for the rabbi and the rabbi would teach them he would you know allow them to stay with him and it's basically these disciples would go about doing all the odd jobs for their teacher but one thing that the rabbi was not supposed to ask of his disciples is you know to unstrap his sandals because in those days they didn't have paved roads like we do now so there would be very dusty roads and in fact the sandals would in fact be in a rather bad condition a rather dirty condition so it was considered very low to ask someone to actually unstrap your sandals for you so basically a teacher would never you know even do that go to that extent of asking his disciples to do that and here John says even that lowly task I'm not fit to do for this you know for this Messiah because he is the very Lamb of God okay so over here John is talking about how John the Baptist is talking about how great this person is that he's pointing out to the people okay so so he says in verse 31 the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel so he says I have been preparing all of you all these days to introduce him he is the Messiah that you will need you will have to follow so now coming to verse 34 John 1 34 if someone could read out you know if you if you could just read out a little faster please so that we can catch up on a little more matter John 1 34 Pastor can you read yes please John 1 34 and I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God okay so he says I have seen with my eyes something as over there I have a testimony which I am giving is something that I have seen with my own eyes and then what does he say in verses 32 and 33 you know we'll not read out the entire verse but then he talks about how what he has seen he says that with his own eyes he saw the Holy Spirit coming down upon Jesus in the form of a Tao and that was proof for him that is how he was able to identify and know that this is indeed the promised Messiah and so he says I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a Tao and remain on him and so he says therefore I know that this is the Messiah and therefore I'm pointing him out to all of you and I'm testifying that he is God's chosen one okay so in this first section you have John giving a clear testimony and an introduction saying that this the person for whom I have been preparing all of you now onwards you need to follow him now onwards you must listen to his words and be willing to believe in him and immediately in the next portion which would be John chapter 1 verses 35 to 39 you have John telling the same thing to his own disciples his own followers because John the Baptist by now probably had many followers people who are eager to learn more about the Lord people who are eager to repent of their sins and prepare themselves for this coming kingdom of the Messiah so two of these disciples are introduced to us over here in in this particular section verses 35 to 39 and you know we had talked about this in our introductory class how one of them was Andrew and the other most likely most scholars will agree that it was probably John the writer of this gospel so the two disciples of John the Baptist Andrew and John the writer these two persons John speaks to them in verse 36 okay John 1 36 and he says look the Lamb of God so again he gives the same introduction he says this is the this is God's Lamb this is God's sacrifice is how he introduces Jesus and the response of the two disciples of John the Baptist is that now they are going to start following Jesus they immediately respond and they choose to follow him we have some just a very interesting conversation over here verses 38 and 39 yeah if maybe someone could read out John 1 38 and 39 John 1 at 8 and 39 yeah turning around Jesus saw them following and asked what do you want they said Rabbi which ministeria where are you staying come he replied you will see so they went and so where he was staying and he spent that day with him it was about four in the afternoon all right oh yeah we have uh Charles Dix who has raised a hand is there any question that you would like to ask go ahead please yeah you can unmute and ask it is not a question but yeah something that I was enjoying the way Jesus John was introducing himself and telling the people the way he was knowing Jesus like in verse 31 he says I myself did not know him but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel that is so so astounding so big even in verse 30 that this is the one I meant when I said the man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me showing the people that really Jesus was before John he has been even before Abraham so it is so astounding it is so important to see the testimony that the John is giving to the people and even giving reasons like the reason as to why he is baptizing is not for his own but for the one who is coming after him to be revealed to Israel yes that was my take thank you thank you thanks for sharing um now John the Baptist would have known Jesus you know all his life because after all John the Baptist's mother and Mary you know were very close relatives I mean simply because when Mary gets to know that Elizabeth is carrying she he she immediately goes to her so they must have been close relatives so these two boys would have you know grown up knowing each other quite well but John the Baptist does not treat Jesus lightly he understands who he is through through the revelation of the Holy Spirit and he treats him with the respect and the reverence that is due to the Messiah so even though he they are just close relatives who probably would have known each other and rubbed shoulders on a day-to-day basis John addresses him with respect and he says he was before me so yes we see that very beautiful truth coming out over here all right yeah just coming back to I know what we were talking about verses 38 and 39 yeah in verses 38 and 39 Jesus says to them what do you want okay and this is their response they say you know where are you staying is what they ask and then Jesus says you know come come and see and then it says in the last part of verse 39 they went and saw where he was staying and they spent that day with him you know they have just been introduced by John the Baptist and told that this is the Messiah the Messiah is someone whom they have been waiting for since centuries someone so powerful and great and when this Messiah asks them what do you want they could have asked for any number of things but it's so beautiful all that they ask over here you know they say where are you staying their longing is to be with him to listen to his words to learn from him and not so much for any kind of material blessings because generally I mean if any world renowned preacher you know were to come into you know our church or something we will probably ask for all kinds of things and we would say you know pray that this miracle will happen for me or that but here we see these people not even asking about any such thing their main desire is to be with Jesus and to learn from him because they have that hunger in their hearts and we see that over here all right what else can be focused on so we have Andrew who goes to his brother and tells him about Jesus after spending that one entire day with Jesus probably the words which Jesus spoke would have inspired great joy in their hearts and so now he wants to go and share that good news with his brother so Andrew goes to Peter and he shares with him and he says in verse yeah in verse 41 he announces with great excitement and says we have found the Messiah you know we have found the anointed one the one who has been promised and the next two verses 43 and 44 talk about Philip also making a commitment to follow Jesus and then of course in verses 45 to 51 we have the story of Nathaniel's encounter with Jesus so in this introduction to the ministry of Jesus we see how the first followers the first disciples are getting gathered because they are going to be the team with which Jesus is going to work you know over the next three years so we have Nathaniel being mentioned here and maybe we can you know look a little bit at this passage if we could just read out verses 45 up to maybe 49 yeah 45 to 49 if we could read please 45 49 Philip found Nathaniel and told him we have found the one mothers lot about in the law and about whom the prophets also wrote Jesus of Nazareth the son of Joseph Nazareth can anything good come from there Nathaniel asked come and see said Philip when Jesus saw Nathaniel approaching he said of him here truly is an Israelite in home there is no deceit up 49 yes how do you know me Nathaniel asked Jesus answered I saw you where you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you then Nathaniel declared rabbi you are the son of God you are the king of Israel okay so it's interesting I mean the different kinds of people you know whom Jesus calls so over here we have Nathaniel who is very seems to be a very frank and very outspoken person and he knows that you know this is not a very very great place you know so Nazareth he knows is just a little town and he openly says can anything good come out of Nazareth and so when he approaches Jesus these are Jesus words Jesus says here is an Israelite who in whom there is no deceit he will frankly openly say the facts you know so Jesus says that about him and then Nathaniel asked how do you know and of course the Lord reveals Jesus reveals that he knew that earlier in the day Nathaniel had been sitting under a fig tree and scholars say that probably he was meditating upon the word of God when he was sitting over there and they say that he probably was meditating on the passage which is in Genesis chapter 28 where it talks about you know Jacob's ladder and the angels ascending and descending and they say that because we see Jesus referring to that in verses 50 and 51 so the basic scenario which the scholars draw for us is that Nathaniel was probably sitting under the fig tree earlier on in the day and meditating on the word of God and probably focusing on this particular chapter and thinking about how there's a ladder which connects heaven and earth and maybe he was thinking how wonderful it would be if he could find that and we know if he could know God in that personal way where there would be a ladder which can link him to God where he can know more of God and probably I know meditating upon all of these things as he's going through the day he is called by Philip invited by Philip to come and meet with Jesus and over here Jesus speaks these words to him which would be in verses 50 and 51 and Jesus says very truly I tell you in verse 51 he says you will see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man so over here Jesus is kind of making a reference to that Genesis passage and Jesus is saying in the same way that ladder linked heaven and earth now Jesus himself is going to be that ladder which will link heaven and earth a direct link where people will be able to now communicate with the Father because of Jesus through Jesus they will be able to do that and so they say that probably Jesus was touching upon a Bible passage which Nathaniel had been meditating upon earlier on in the day and then we have this term over here where Jesus is calling himself the Son of Man and this you might have heard about in sermons what is the significance of this term Son of Man in many places Jesus likes to refer to himself as Son of Man rather than as a king you know because this term it's directly a reference to the Messiah so we see that in Daniel chapter 7 verses 13 and 14 where we learn that this term Son of Man literally was used for the coming Messiah if you could have one person please reading out Daniel chapter 7 verses 13 and 14 Daniel 7 13 and 14 in my vision at night I looked and there before me was one like a son of man coming with a cloud of urban he approached the ancient of days and was led into his presence he was given authority glory and sovereign power all nations and people of every language worship team his dominion is an everlasting dominion that will never pass away and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed in this in these you know two verses the Son of Man is described in a very powerful way it talks about how he has been given authority glory and sovereign power it talks about how all the nations and all the peoples will worship him it talks about how his dominion will be an everlasting dominion so over here whenever Jesus you know refers to himself as Son of Man he's not talking about something low something humble he's in fact talking about something very high and he's declaring the one that Daniel spoke about that is none other than me you know so the Lord is saying that I am the Son of Man the one who will have dominion and authority over all nations and all peoples and so over here we have Jesus directly connecting himself linking himself to that prophecy which Daniel had talked about how in the end times you know when the time is right the Son of Man would come down and he would claim his authority so we see that in this introductory passage the first four disciples are gathered to Jesus flock Andrew of course Andrew and John get to know Jesus through the direction of John the Baptist Peter on the other hand he hears about it from his brother Philip on the other hand is directly called by Jesus himself Jesus comes to him and says follow me and without any you know without without any expectations or demands Philip chooses to follow Jesus and Nathaniel of course he is able to believe because he has a encounter where God reveals something to him which he would which Jesus would not have known unless he's God so because of that encounter Nathaniel is able to place his trust in him so there are different ways in which people come to Jesus but ultimately the point is that they must be willing to believe God gives everyone a chance and at that time when they are given that opportunity are they willing to place their trust in him are they willing to be open in their heart and receive him that would be the main point now all right it's 945 so we probably have about five minutes you know before we take a break are there any questions that you would like to ask you can just unmute and ask because you know I can hear you or anything that you would just like to you know comment on something that you liked anything no okay you know before we go for the break four ways that Jesus gets identified over here in this introductory passage of course he's called as God's lamb you know God's sacrifice and he is also referred to as the Messiah because that's what Andrew Kaltzemi says we have found the Messiah the one who has been promised the one whom we have been waiting for for generations we have now found him okay so he's directly referred to as the Messiah anointed one that whom the people have been waiting for and Philip when he talks to Nathaniel about Jesus he says this is the one that the Old Testament prophets had been prophesying about is what he says and Nathaniel after he tears Jesus telling about something which had happened earlier on in the day he says this is the Son of God and the King of Israel okay so we have all these different titles being given to Jesus over here so the identity of Jesus is being elaborated upon okay we are more in more details are being provided about who this Jesus is so in this in this first chapter John the writer is creating a picture for his writers of who exactly Jesus is the different aspects of his you know of his godhood so these things are all brought out in the first chapter now we would move into the second chapter and in chapter two we see two incidents and they don't they there does not seem to be any connection between the two but for some very specific reason the Holy Spirit inspired John to put down these two incidents together one of course is the water being turned into wine at a wedding and the other incident is the cleansing of the temple so we will look at that so maybe we could come back and rejoin at 10 o'clock all right so we just go for a break now yeah thank you