‘There Came a Man Sent From God, John.’ Today's Three-minute Bible Study Print, Study and Apply Title: ‘There Came a Man Sent From God, John.’ ------------------------------- Date: 6/2/2003 Keywords: “believe" "witness” Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation. The beginning of the Gospel of John is "shallow enough for the beginner to wade in and deep enough for the experienced to never touch bottom." Let's explore John's Prologue (John 1:1-18) for a few days and see what we might discover about God and Jesus, grace and forgiveness, and the life-changing power of God. Passage: John 1:1-8* 1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2. He was in the beginning with God. 3. All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. 6. There came a man, sent from God, whose name was John. 7. He came for a witness, that he might bear witness of the light, that all might believe through him. 8. He was not the light, but came that he might bear witness of the light. Questions 1. All of a sudden, John (the author of the Gospel, the apostle John) becomes more concrete than he was in the first five verses of his Prologue. Notice the grand scale of verses 1-5 above as opposed to the historical reference in verses 6-8.   2. What do you learn about the man called "John" from these verses?   Practical help "John" is (as we will soon learn) "John the Baptist." John the Baptist was Jesus' contemporary. They likely knew each other growing up. John's purpose in life had been defined for him from the very beginning. As John affirms, John was to bear testimony to "the light." "The light" is another way to refer to "the Word" (verses 1-5) — God, personal, eternal, creator, life. The Word is the passion of John's life. He was not out to take center stage. He was content to prepare the way for the light, which is the Lord Jesus. John's passion for Jesus resulted from knowing who Jesus really was. He was the Word. John wanted everyone to hear his testimony (just like a witness gives testimony during a trial, John testified to the truth of Jesus!) and believe in Jesus/the Word. Notice what John did not passionately long for people to do. He was not concerned that they clean up their acts. He was not out to improve attendance at weekly synagogue services. He was not passionate about people thinking highly of Jesus. Nor was he interested in seeing people join a movement to restore society to the way things were in "the good 'ol days." John's life-controlling passion was that people would believe in Jesus. There is more to come in tomorrow's eXXit study as we continue to look at John's Prologue. But here is a question to ponder, "Do you believe in/trust/rely on/have faith in Jesus?" eXXit homepage Index of three-minute studies Copyright 2003 by eXXit *"Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission." ---