“The Son of God Revealed!” – FBC Morning Light (10/16/2024)

Well, good

Wednesday morning to you. Today, in our Bible reading, we're reading something from each of the four

Gospels. We're reading in Matthew chapter 4, with the account of Jesus being led into the wilderness,

Mark chapter 1, just a couple of verses in Mark, and then Luke chapter 4, and then

John chapter 1, chapter 1 and into chapter 2. I want to focus on the reading in John's Gospel, because in chapter 1, we have this interesting announcement on the part of John regarding Jesus, by giving him two different titles.

So in verse 29, John sees Jesus coming toward him, points to him basically, and says,

Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. Of course, that title,

Lamb of God, is referencing the ultimate sacrificial work of Jesus on the cross as the sacrificial

Lamb, who takes away the sin of the world. But then, when

Jesus is baptized, or speaking of Jesus' baptism, it says in verse 33, regarding Jesus, John says,

I did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said unto me, Upon whom you see the

Spirit descending and remaining on him, this is he who baptizes with the Spirit. Now remember,

John is going to declare that he baptizes with water, but Jesus baptizes with the

Holy Spirit. But then in verse 34, John says, And I have seen and testified that this, speaking of Jesus, is the

Son of God. So earlier he spoke of him as the Lamb of God, but then he speaks of him as the

Son of God, which of course is a reference to his deity, his eternal relationship with the

Father. Jesus, the Lamb of God, is also the Son of God. Well then, the Gospel of John, at the end of chapter 1 and on into chapter 2, gives us four interesting vignettes that testify to the truthfulness of John's testimony,

John the Baptist's testimony, that Jesus is the Son of God. So the first of these is when

Philip brings Nathanael to Jesus, and Nathanael of course, you know, he hears Jesus, the

Messiah has come from Nazareth, he says any good thing come out of Nazareth, and Jesus, in verse 47 of chapter 1, sees

Nathanael coming toward him, and he says to him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit.

Well, Jesus and Nathanael had never personally met. How did he know the character of Nathanael?

That's what Nathanael wanted to know. He said, Jesus, how do you know me? And Jesus answered and said to him,

Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.

Now, Jesus was nowhere near that situation. He wasn't anywhere near the fig tree, and where Philip was when he called

Nathanael to come and see him, he was nowhere around. How did this...he's

the Son of God. That's one of them. The second occurrence is in chapter 2, in verses 6 through 11, when

Jesus turns the water to wine, you know that story, if you haven't read it yet, I encourage you to go to John 2 and read it again, but this is a manifestation, this is the first sign that Jesus did indicating who he is.

In chapter 2, verses 13 to 16, a further evidence that Jesus is the

Son of God, has this unique eternal relationship with the Father, is what he does when he drives the merchants out of the temple, these money changers and those who are taking advantage of the sojourners, the travelers, the pilgrims in the temple, he drives them out, and what he says is, my

Father's house is a house of merchandise. Don't make my Father's house a house of merchandise.

And then a fourth example of Jesus' role, a personage, as the

Son of God, is seen at the end of chapter 2, when it says Jesus did not commit himself to a bunch of people who were there, they were not there for all the, for the most noble purposes, shall we say?

They were there for selfish purposes, perhaps. Jesus didn't commit himself to them because, it says, he knew all men, and he had no need whatsoever that anyone should testify of man, for he knew what was in man.

Now, how did he know what was in man? Well, because as John said, he who is the

Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world is also the Son of God who knows what's in every man's heart.

He knows what's in my heart, he knows what's in your heart. He sees us from afar.

Jesus, the Son of God. Father, we thank you for our Savior, thank you for his deity, thank you for his equality, his oneness with the

Father. We thank you that he does know us from afar, he knows the genuineness of the heart that is trusting in him.

He knows the genuineness of the heart that is repentant. And Father, we thank you that the

Lamb of God, the Son of God, takes away the sin of repentant people in this world.

We thank you for it, in Jesus' name, amen. All right, listen, have a good rest of your