THE BOOK OF JOHN CHAPTER 1:24-28

VERSES: Isaiah 40; Daniel 9:26-27; 1st Peter 1:17-2:11; Luke 1:17

“And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elijah, neither that prophet? John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not; He it is, who coming after me is — preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose. These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.”

In an effort to… “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth”, we’ve laid in the previous lessons some foundational understanding needed to interpret this Book written by John in light of the fullness of God’s Salvation Plan. The Book is not to be seen in the narrow view of today’s accepted theology; that it was/is a Gospel of saving grace unto eternal life written for the ‘Lost.’ It speaks of God’s Salvation Plan which centered around the purpose of creating Man to take dominion, replacing fallen Lucifer, and to then rule in this restored realm comprised of Earth and its heavens. This was a work to be accomplished through the offering of the only Begotten. The Begotten = first born Son of Man/Son of God… “Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world… the Lamb of God… who tasted death for all men… in bringing many sons unto glory… appointed heir of all things… for unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak…wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus… Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into (millennial) rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. (Read the first 4 Chapters of Hebrews which paints a succinct picture of the full Salvation Plan of God, which goes beyond that of saving grace to the lost.) The heavenly calling unto the saved to be found worthy as firstborn sons unto glory with Christ is the overall theme from Genesis to Revelation; seen in its historical, present, and future prophetic perspectives.

To that end, there are purposeful underlying comparative meanings of John the Apostle’s writings who starts his account of the Gospel of Christ (primarily addressed to the Jews) with the words: “in the Beginning”. These are familiar Words for the Jews’ enlightenment in understanding the New Testament based upon the Holy Spirit’s introductory instruction which was the basis for their understanding of the Old Testament. In the first words in the Book of John, the Holy Spirt began to expound on the opening words of Moses as written in Genesis 1. The statement of Genesis’ “In the Beginning” is followed by the record of God’s 6 days of work in the re-creation of the material world (starting in Genesis 1 verse 2); which included the creation of man on the 6^th Day, culminating in the 7^th Day of Rest. So it is, in the first few words of John’s Gospels, it is written: “In the Beginning”, which should be seen correspondingly as relating with the revealing of Christ now in the ‘re-creation’ of man in the spiritual sense, to culminate in the 7^th Day (the 1000 year Day of the Millennial Kingdom of Christ). Using the typology of the Re-creation of the material world… when the original earth had become in a state of ruin, and had to be Re-created (the same earth reformed and reshaped as opposed to God destroying the original), likewise, when fallen man is born-again, he is spiritually Re-created and if he allows Him, God will shape and form him into the image of His Son.

Seeing John’s Gospel account of Christ as being solely a Message to the lost, that they may be ‘saved’ from eternal death, greatly reduces God’s Message to elementary Heaven and Hell issues. This gravely misrepresents God’s Word and cleverly removes almost all the heart of the Gospel and the meaningful inspiration and incentive for achieving spiritual maturity. The Book of John’s message is mainly to ‘saved’ Israel and its primary purpose was to reveal Jesus Christ as Messiah-King. It is essential for a Christian to understand that not only is the Gospel of John not exclusively about being ‘saved’… (not even primarily) but neither are the other 3 Gospel accounts, nor the Book of Acts, nor the Epistles. Rather, they are about the fullness of Christ in the Salvation Plan that all Scripture points towards, which culminates in God’s 7^th Day Rest (except for Revelation 21–22, which is after the Millennial kingdom). The 7th day Rest which is typed in Genesis, which comes after 6000 years of re-creation work of man spiritually. Both the entire Old Testament ‘beginning’ and New Testament ‘beginning’ have Christ’s Millennial kingdom climax in view in its meaningfulness. John uses the one to shed light on the other.

The ‘brooding of the Holy Spirit in the beginning over the dark and chaotic world poised for recreation Work ‘corresponds to the Work of the Holy Spirit now brooding over the lost souls in the World, and the continuing brooding over the ‘saved’ souls of the New Testament.

The light of the first day of Genesis 1:3-5, brought forth in the recreation of the material world, corresponds with the light brought forth in John’s Gospel here in John 1:5; that light which was manifest for the purpose of the recreation of man. The separating of the light from the dark speaks to the rebirth of man’s spirit in justification; in that Christ has separated the darkness from the light in that gracious re-creative work in the spirit of the lost soul. “And the light shineth (shining) in darkness; and the darkness comprehended (received) it not.” [Romans 8:7] It was Israel that experienced this appointed separation within them, an illuminated spirit in life versus a dark carnal soul enwrapped in irreconcilable death. And it is in this spiritual sense, in the duality of dark and light existing together, which is in the soul and enlightened spirit of the saved at the same time, that the further Word in verse 11 applies… “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” That then speaks further to their predicament than just His Jewish lineage. That also being the great internal conflict of which John the Baptist set in motion. “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.”  John spoke of an additional, further, deeper work after being ‘saved’.

Using the verses in Chapter 1 or others in the Book of John exclusively for proof texts for the promoting the Gospel of imputed Grace through Christ as the Savior to the Lost creates the imperative/vitally important matter of the need for the Gospel to be shared more perfectly, more correctly, and more effectively. This is comparative to the event of Acts 18:24. “And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him: who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace: For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ.”

These erring evangelists of today, many times full of zeal but with limited knowledge of the fullness of God’s Salvation Gospel, teach a very introductory Gospel at the best. It is a gospel of Justification without sanctification, which is only a partial salvation. The difference between Apollos and today’s teachers being; that that narrow and limited version represented as the whole of the Gospel has been taught mostly imperfectly some 1600 to 1700 years, so that the Gospel of John is seen almost entirely as a Book dedicated to ‘saving’ the lost as opposed to the Truth. But it is a Book about saving the saved; that it is a Book Written primarily about Christ’s revealing of Himself as the prophesied Messiah/King of the Jews and their rejection of Him. The modern-day secondary purposes have so obscured the primary purpose, it has become engrained in Christian fabric as unquestionable Truth and has led then to the Gospel of the gift of saving grace to the lost, and is being represented as the whole Salvation Plan of God, obscuring the whole reason for being saved, and so there no longer is room for someone “to expound unto them the way of God more perfectly”. That way being unto the reward/prize of the glorious inheritance of the heavenly Millennial Kingdom of Christ. After receiving the Blood for eternal life, many modern-day Christians have effectively rejected Jesus the Christ as King, as did the Israelites reject Him as their King; who in their case had unknowingly accepted Him only as the shed Blood sacrifice with His gift of eternal life.

John the Apostle, after having spoken of John the Baptist as being the forerunner in God’s appointed way in preparing for Christ’s Ministry, picks him back up in verses 19-34 where he turns to the testimony of John the Baptist to set forth his statements as to who he said he was and who he says Jesus the Christ is in relation to him. The Apostle John brings John the Baptist and his testimony forward to add Scriptural clarity and Scriptural validation by defining his role in fulfilling prophecy, here from Isaiah, on exactly who they were and how they were connected. (John 1:19-36)

When John the Baptist was questioned by the national council of Pharisees as to who he was, he quoted Isaiah 40:3 in response: “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah.” The 40^th Chapter of Isaiah was also quoted by Matthew, Mark and Luke as to who John the Baptist was as well… “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye; for the kingdom of heavens is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”

Interestingly (and revealingly) Christ’s testimony of John the Baptist was from Malachi 3:1 & 4:5–6 seen in Matthew 11:10,14. As was the Angel’s in Luke 1:17… “He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” The Nation of Israel always understood it of the literal Elijah. Their saying is, “Messiah must be anointed by Elijah.”

THERE ARE TWO CONSUMMATING COMINGS OF CHRIST, SO THERE MUST BE TWO COMINGS OF ELIJAH TO HERALD HIS ARRIVALS…

Jesus said of Elijah when questioned by His Disciples, “Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.” [Matthew 17:11] Even after the Transfiguration, Christ spoke of Elijah’s coming to restore all things as still future. Although He adds Elijah that had already come in a sense (in the person of John the Baptist) fulfilling the Scriptural role of Christ’s forerunner in His First Coming.

Isaiah Chapter 40 is one of those several places in Scripture that moves prophetically from the First to the Second Comings of the Lord as if there was hardly any time between them.

Isaiah 40:3 says, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God…”

The prophetic statement made in Isaiah 40:3 about John the Baptist and his ministry in preparing the way for the Lord at His First Coming and John the Baptist’s own statement of “Behold the Lamb of God” (compare with verse 9b which says, “Behold your God!”) in no way exhausts the meaning of that prophetic 40^th Chapter. Actually, the 3^rd verse which John the Baptist quotes in regard to himself can be now viewed in the contextual setting as being literally Elijah personally to be now manifest at the End Time. Note the first verse and second verses… “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” This prophetic verse is now suspended (along with Daniels 70^th week), although it could have been filled with meaning in John the Baptist’s day had the Israelites received his testimony (Isaiah 40:1-3) and their Messiah’s testimony which was validated with signs and wonders (eight of which are set forth here in John’s New Testament account) and not crucified Him. But they did not, and therefore her iniquity is not pardoned, her warfare is not accomplished, her judgments unto consummation are now exacerbated as she will now experience the fullness of “Jacob’s Trouble” at the end of this age of Grace and Mercy in the calling out of a people from the Gentiles for His Name, the one new man that brings forth works worthy/commensurate of the kingdom of heavens. This Chapter 40 of prophecy now exclusively applies to the 2^nd consummation, or point of completion, that now being at Christ’s Second Coming. (See also Isaiah 10:22–23 with Daniel 9:24,27 where Israel is in exponential judgement.)

At that future day, verse 3’s “Voice” is not to be that of resurrected John the Baptist, but that of Elijah who has not yet died (see 2nd Kings 2:11 where he was taken up into heaven), having been caught away alive some 2800 years ago, will reappear in his earthly body to prophesy and testify again to the Jews, as John the Baptist did before him, and like him, die a martyr’s death just before Christ’s Second Coming. Verses 4 & 5 of Isaiah 40 are now reflective of and in harmony with the Last Days’ great tribulation shaking of the Earth to precede Christ’s Second Coming. “Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”  (Compare Matthew 24:21-30 & Revelation 6:12-14; 16:18-21)

So it is, that the Holy Spirit combines or incorporates 2 Ages (Age of Law and Age of Mercy) and two prophets in verse 3; John the Baptist in the spirit of Elijah. (See Luke 1:17; 3:4-6, Malachi 4:5-6 and Malachi 3:1, Matthew 11:10) And had Israel received John, he would have been accounted for Elijah the prophet. (Isaiah 40:9 with Matthew 17:11-13)

And then the Holy Spirit quickly passes over 2000 years between the Lord’s First Coming in suffering and Second Coming in exaltation, which will also be preceded by the Last Days’ prophet Elijah before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. Then filling up the meaning to the fullest of this combined prophecy.

This time, in preparation for His Coming, it will be Elijah with Enoch (the only other prophet who has not yet died – Genesis 5:24) literally in their earthly bodies, dressed in sackcloth. They are the ‘Two Witnesses’ who together will be “crying out in the wilderness and in Jerusalem” in preparation of the King (Isaiah 40:5… “And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed…”) coming to take possession of His Kingdom in the heavens above the Earth first, and then extending His Kingdom to the Earth after their testimony and before the World’s rejection and the following smiting with a curse (Jacobs’ Trouble (Jeremiah 30:7) as it relates to the Jews, and the ‘great hour of temptation’ (Revelation 3:10) that relates to the rest of peoples on the Earth at that tribulation time.

It is Elijah who comes to fulfill again his mission in God’s retributive power on display for 3 ½ years. (2nd Kings 1:3, Revelation 11:1-13) This is in answer to the Jews having looked to the anti-Christ for their security in a tumultuous world in growing darkness. (See Isaiah 28:15, Daniel 9:26–27) A corresponding historical note: Israel (the Northern Tribes) looked to Baal/Baalzebub for 19 consecutive kings, which finally led them to their captivity by Assyria… typing Israel’s long rejection of Jesus Christ up to today and their soon woeful coming ‘captivity’ (grave murderous persecution) by the End Time Assyrian/the AntiChrist. (Isaiah 10:5–6)

This time and events answer to Isaiah’s further prophetic words continuing in Isaiah 40:6-8… “And the voice said Cry. What shall I (Elijah and Enoch) cry?” (Cry:) “All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of God shall stand for ever.” (Compare 1st Peter 1:17-2:11) The Lord blows on the grass with judgments in the End Time over the Nations as they are removed as stubble. Israel is downtrodden, but along with its great trouble comes Israel’s awakening and miraculous sustaining of some through the testimony of the Elijah- “Behold your God!” (Isaiah 40:9 with Revelation 7:3; 12:13-17) The ‘Two Witnesses’ declare the end time Word for 3 ½ years, turning many hearts in Israel (as John the Baptist did 2000 years earlier) back to their God and Creator… Jesus Christ. (Isaiah 40:9 with Malachi 4:5–6, Revelation 11:3)

John’s Baptism preceded by repentance can be viewed as the death and burial of Moses. The people’s acceptance of John’s baptism speaks to the acknowledgement of Moses’ ineffectiveness to perfect/mature the saved Israelites. For none could be wholly obedient to the Law’s demands, unto Kingdom inheritance; neither the Earth’s or the heaven’s inheritance. The religious leaders refused John the Baptist’s testimony, and therefore refused to humble themselves to the baptism of John… as they thought themselves not ‘sinners’ “…cursed under the Law…” (Galatians 3:10) and not in need of anything further. They therefore morally and spiritually remained in darkness, unfit for Christ’s message of the righteousness necessary unto the kingdom of heavens. They had eliminated themselves from that Calling. The receiving of the testimony of John and his baptizing was the means by which he prepared the people for God’s provision of a greater grace in the power of the Holy Spirit unto sanctification to be manifest through His Christ’s selfless offering.

If ‘saved’ men with renewed spirits and eternal life (meaning; forgiven, but only partially received by God; as Adam was, in that he was not invited back into the Garden intimacy {not fully restored}. And being yet tainted by death as a fallen living soul with a sensual body, so yet generally remaining carnal; albeit for a short time buoyant in spirit with the false sense of security in that feeling of having already overcome the carnality of the soul); and that ‘saving’ by the gift through faith in the law’s provision of substitutionary blood sacrifice with Christ’s Atonement in view. If they, being then justified under the Law of Moses, could now in themselves under the Law, without the actual Death and Blood Atonement of Christ, and the further work of the Spirit of God within the soul, overcome the carnality of the ‘flesh’ in the soul and thereby keep Moses’ Law without offense, the ‘saved’ would have obtained unto a sanctified righteousness after the order of their own soul (a type of restoration back into the Garden or an intimacy reflected in that of the Holiest place kind). If that could of then been possible, there would have been no necessity for Christ’s incarnation and selfless offering. Why was the Law of Moses ever set forth before the Blood’s Atonement of Christ? Because of the necessity of revealing that man cannot ‘save’ himself nor can he after being ‘saved’ (which is to say; merely born again in spirit and receiving eternal life through His gracious gift of the substitutionary blood of an animal) now through that blood’s atonement limited ability overcome the soul’s remaining carnality ‘yet in his flesh’ and become Christ-like unto first born sons of God with fullness of God’s Salvation intent in inheritance worthiness. The saved soul cannot now in the power of the blood of an animal alone ‘sanctify/become Christ-like/a resurrected New Creature by his own determination alone. That work of conforming the soul of man by the Holy Spirit through the renewed spirit of a man unto a glorious son could only be obtainable through the BLOOD SACRIFICE of a SINLESS MAN. It was only His shed Blood that would satisfy God’s Holiness’ and Justice’s demands in order to elevate a man into that kind of ‘union’ with the God He desired from before the foundation of the World.

The efficacy of the blood of an animal for atonement is unable to reach beyond God’s extended mercy for the rebirth of the spirit of any man who receives Atonement that ensures unto eternal life. Which changes the status and state of a man from the lost child of satan to the saved child of God. Which puts a man in the position to be tutored and be obediently responsive to God, tested in faith through His revealed Word, and thereby growing in trustworthiness, then growing in worthiness. Such as did Abram and those (such as Isaac and Jacob) who followed in his footsteps of obedient living from faith to faith (Romans 1:17), thereby becoming inheritors of the heavenly kingdom promises not through the Law, nor the energies of their own soul, but through increasing faith and strength attained in Christ. (John 8:56 with Hebrews 11:8-13) God’s trust in us grows as we go through tests and trials and are found trustworthy. It’s only by overcoming in faithful obedience that we can attain (like Abraham) God’s heavenly inheritance promises.

Though they were declared inheritors by works of faith, they have not yet received those heavenly abode promises, in that contrary to modern teaching, a saved man is not yet in that heavenly state of being after their dying (not being able to enter into the heavenly abode of God). For the state of all men after death is that their spirits return to God who gave it, and are thereby relegated to the eternal yet limited life of a soul without his ‘spirit’. Being carried by the Angels of God to the intermediate place of waiting until the time of one of the two resurrections, wherein the first catching up (first resurrection having been found worthy at the Judgment Seat of Christ) into heavens of this Earth is the manifestation of the soul’s salvation. That is to say, the transfiguration into the glory of the Lord, into His Kingdom of heavens to rule with Him over the Earth as His Bride. This is the reward exclusively of the faithful one who overcomes the carnality of the soul by the yielding of themselves unto the spirit/Spirit in putting on Christ-likeness, and putting off the flesh and the love of this world. It is only those ‘saved’ who have successfully struggled within, who then crucified the flesh, the desires of their own carnal souls, over the last 6000 years who now are found worthy to take dominion and rule. Not all ‘saved’ Jews, not all ‘saved’ Christians, will be found worthy of this Resurrection unto glory.