A Witness of the Light “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe” (John 1:6‑7). John the Baptist’s purpose was to be a witness. God’s people today serve the same purpose. Every man on Earth will have to receive the message of the Logos. Remember, John means “God is merciful.” It was God who gave John the Baptist his name (Luke 1:13). When we sin, how merciful God is to cover those mistakes with Christ’s blood and forgive us. He wants us to get up and move on—to go forward, putting the sin behind us and becoming a better witness to the light! That witness can be more powerful than preaching, because it is a person letting Christ live in them, and thereby letting the light shine! That is the kind of witness John was—“that all men through him might believe.” Although some don’t want to believe yet, in time our witness will have more of an effect on people. That is the strongest message of all. The word witness is grossly misunderstood in religion today. What it truly means is to have the Logos live within you—to have the mind of Jesus Christ, the Word, in you so this light shines! Christ is trying to get this light into us—this Word into us—so we will all be a witness, and we’ll all live like the Logos! That is what we must do—live as Christ did when He was on Earth. He was perfect. He was following His Father’s example. He said, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9). He was a doer of the Ten Commandments and the written Word of God, the Bible. He didn’t just parrot empty, syrupy words about loving God. If you have a mate who doesn’t believe as you do, your example can be a wonderful light and have a dramatic impact on that person’s life. The Bible says it might even change them and bring them into God’s family (1 Corinthians 7:16; 1 Peter 3:1-2). That’s how powerful this example—this light—can be! “He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (John 1:8-9). Every single person who has ever lived will sooner or later have to be lighted by this Light, or he has no future; he will go into darkness forever. There is no other hope, no other way to live, no other light. There is only one light. There will not be any other for all eternity. “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not” (verse 10). Christ created men, and men killed their Creator. “He came unto his own [the Jews], and his own received him not” (verse 11). Even the Jews, who should have recognized Him by the prophecies He fulfilled, rejected Him. Still, for a very great purpose, Christ endured the chastening of deceived men. “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (verses 12-13). It was all for the purpose of bringing human beings, upon repentance and conversion, into God’s own family! It says in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son .…” You’ve heard that so many times. God the Father loves this world, and He loves you. He loves all of us—and He has proven it by giving His only begotten Son, who was also God. Through our sins, we slaughtered Him. Something is tragically wrong with human beings. If we recognize that this includes ourselves, and bitterly repent before God, He will help us correct the problem. He will rear us, in love, as His own children. “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). He had to be full of grace and truth or He wouldn’t have allowed man to beat Him until He didn’t even look like a man before killing Him, so that we might be healed by His stripes (i Peter 2:24; Isaiah 53:5). Did God love the world? Do we need any more evidence? Now it is time for us to love God and the Word—the Father and Son—and enter into their family. “John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace” (John 1:15-16). We all have access to grace on top of grace, love on top of love! Because of what Christ did, we can have that grace—and truth (verse 17).
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 13:13:03 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015