John 1:6-9 says,....

Onto our morning devotional and diving deeper into The Gospel According to John.  We pick up in verse 6 of chapter 1.

v.6 - There came a man sent from God, whose name was John.

The Apostle John is not speaking of himself here.  He is introducing us to John the Baptist, Jesus' cousin, who came first.  He is the son of Elizabeth and Zechariah.  He is the one that Jesus called the second Elijah who was to come announcing the Messiah.  The Apostle John wants us to know that there would be an introduction from a man named John of the Word and the Light to the world.

v.7 - He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through Him.

"Witness" and "testify" are court terms.  John the Baptist is taking an official stand and putting his left hand per-say on the Bible and raising his right hand to give them, those who came to the river Jordan, and to us, the readers of these words, what he would die for.  To witness and testify was to say, "I stake my whole life on this."  We know that John the Baptist will actually do this by being killed for standing on the Word of God.  John the Baptist motive for taking this stand is that others would believe not in him but of the One he was telling them about.

v.8 -  He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.

The Apostle John helps us to keep our focus on Jesus.  We are a people who love to elevate others.  We have Hollywood worship.  We have angel worship.  We have "famous preacher on tv" worship.  It would be very easy for the people of Jesus and John the Baptist's day to start to worship John the Baptist rather than Jesus.  The Apostle John is making it clear that John the Baptist came to testify of the Word that is God and at the beginning and the Light that is the Light of the world.  The focus needs to keep on who the Word and the Light is and not the messenger.

v.9 - There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.

This Word and this Light is coming into the world.  The One who created the world was going to make an appearance.  We typically think of the Christmas creche at this point.  We have Mary and Joseph, angels and shepherds, and a manger scene.  Jesus came and every man would need to deal with the issue of who He is.  At some point, every knee would bow and every tongue would confess that Jesus is Lord.  

I think we should end there this morning because the next verses deal with how the world responded to the Word and the Light coming.  The word "world" is used three ways by the Apostle John.  The first is to refer to the physical created universe, the earth, planets, sun and stars.  The second is to refer to humanity in general, all tribes and nations.  The third is to refer to the invisible spiritual system of evil dominated by Satan signifying a division between the godly and the ungodly.  If Jesus is coming to enlighten us then what the Apostle John means by the word "world" in this verse is that Jesus came into this a spiritual system of evil dominated by Satan and darkness to bring the Light of the Gospel.  Our hearts have the default position that they are dark and need the Light.  How will they respond?  How will you respond?  Let us pray.

"Lord, our Heavenly Father, may our eyes be opened wider to the revealing of You by the words given by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit through the pen of the Apostle John.  May our focus be on You.  May the temptations to raise up something or someone who is temporal be beaten down so that what we raise up is One who is eternal and has come to bring light to a very dark world.  Thank You God for all the witnesses and the testifiers pointing to You.  Amen."

Pastor Adam