FRIDAY 10th
JOHN 1:11-13
NIV – ‘He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God — children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.’
ESV – ‘He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.’
In the preceding verses 6-8 we have John the author writing about another John, John the Baptist ‘There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light but came to bear witness about the light.’ John is describing the role of John the Baptist as the forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ, he had come to bear witness concerning the Word, who was the light that had come to shine in the darkness, John the apostle is making it clear that the Baptist was not the light, but was bearing witness that the true light was about to come. It is interesting that when the Baptist does introduce Jesus later in this chapter, he does not introduce him as the light but as the Lamb! We can see the Baptists’ role in verses 19-28 (which I will not be including in my study) ‘And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who are you? He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Are you Elijah? He said, I am not. Are you the Prophet? And he answered, No. So they said to him, Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself? He said, I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said. (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) They asked him, Then, why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet? John answered them, I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie. These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing’ and then we have v29 ‘The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’
In verses 9-13 the Apostle John continues his unveiling of who the Word was. He starts by saying ‘The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.’ (v9) The world had descended into spiritual darkness as a result of the fall, darkness is used in Scripture to represent the fallenness of humanity, the depravity of man’s sinfulness,(John 3:18-19 ‘Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil’) it is used in contrast to the kingdom of God, which is a kingdom of light, but there was some good news, some much needed news, the true light was coming, to bring light into the darkness. Later in the gospel, John would show to the reader that Jesus had declared himself to be the ‘Light of the world’ (John 8:12) but at first as John continues in these verses in chapter 1 we are reminded that the true light had come, yet the world (which he had created) did not know him and those who were his own did not receive him, (Israel) but the good news that comes out of it all was that ‘. . . to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God . . .’ (verse 12) There was definitely something spectacular about the true light, and yet not all would welcome the light, not all would receive the light, but those who did, received a welcome into the family of God.
At this point we have hardly got into the first chapter of the gospel, and yet we have some incredible news, if we are willing to accept who Jesus the Word is and believe on his name, this involves coming out of darkness into the light, we will not only have life, but we will become the children of the living God. Let this sink in today if it has not already, as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, God has become your heavenly Father. I touched on this a couple of weeks ago, but sufficient to say today, we can call him ‘Our Father’ and he is pleased to call us his ‘sons and daughters’.