John’s (the Baptist) Last Testimony

“He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30

John 3:22-30

John the Baptist’s ministry was to proclaim the Lord Jesus as the Christ. He was known as His forerunner. Now that Christ’s ministry has begun, John’s ministry comes to a close. This fact is somewhat difficult for John’s disciples to understand and in this last testimony he seeks to help them understand his purpose and his position.

I’m impressed with his final words “He must increase, but I must decrease.” That is the attitude we all should have and project toward our relationship with Jesus. It is easy when God gives one success in ministry, or any other aspect in life, to think more highly of himself than he should. As Christians, we should realize that any success we have belongs to the Lord and we should give Him the glory.

One of the areas in which Satan attacks us frequently is the attitude of pride. The Lord realized this was going to be a problem and gives us some help in Scripture. Proverbs 16:18-19 says “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling. It is better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.” I John 2:16 reminds us “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”

Just as God gave John the Baptist special abilities and special responsibilities, He does the same for us. He gives us gifts and expects us to use them to honor Him. When we do that He blesses us and we can rejoice that we have been able to serve Him. We must be careful to remember that He has given us His Spirit to work through us and any glory we gain must be given to Him.

Nicodemus

John 3:1-21

John uses the story of Nicodemus to introduce us to probably the most well-known verse in the Bible: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (3:16). It is a verse we all should memorize and be eager to share with others.

Nicodemus was a religious intellectual and was well respected in the Jewish community. As he listened to Jesus teach, he did not completely understand what Jesus was saying and he approached Him with questions. We are not sure about his attitude, but the important thing is that he came to Jesus, willing to listen to Him. He apparently did not understand the statement in v. 3 “unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

We shouldn’t be surprised that Nicodemus didn’t understand Jesus. Paul says in I Corinthians 2:14 “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.” One of the valuable ministries of the Holy Spirit in the believer is to give him understanding of the Scriptures as it applies to his life. As Christians, we still may not comprehend everything in the Bible, but we can understand those things we need to know when we need to know them. As we study God’s Word He gives us understanding and, interestingly, we can read a passage many times during our lives and continue to increase in knowledge. That is because we are growing in our faith.

Notice in verse seventeen Jesus carefully explains why He came to the earth: “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through Him.” Jesus purpose in His first coming was to bring eternal salvation to wicked man. He will come again to judge the world after He has taken the believers to heaven with Him (I Thes. 4:13-17).

Jesus then helps Nicodemus understand that man can’t sit on a fence. We must either actively choose to trust Him as our Savior, or we will choose to live life without Him. If we reject Him, we have chosen to live without Him for eternity, not for just our life on earth.

If you have placed your faith in Jesus as Your Savior, thank Him again today for your salvation. If you have not made that decision I urge you to do it today. If I may be of any help, please let me know.

The Resurrection

John 2:22

“When therefore He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture, and the word which Jesus had spoken.”

One commentator said of this verse ““It is in the light of the resurrection that we can understand the Bible, and can interpret and believe the words and claims of Christ.”

In my opinion, the resurrection is the single most important event in the Bible. Jesus appeared many times to many people in His resurrected body so that no one could prove that the resurrection did not occur. From that day forward, continuing to today, people have tried to prove that His resurrection did not occur.

During Jesus time on earth many saw Him as a great healer but they were unwilling to trust Him as their personal Savior. We still hear that same thing from many today. He was a great person, they say, but they deny He was God.

We are also told that as His disciples witnessed the resurrection and believed on Him as their Savior, they truly began to understand much of His teaching and the Old Testament Scriptures. They understood to the point of believing His words and claims. Those He poured His life into began to share that good news with others.

Now we, as believers, accept by faith His resurrection. The Bible predicts it, documents it, and provides witnesses testifying to it so that we may trust Him as our Savior. Because of His resurrection some two thousand years ago we can be totally assured of our eternity with Him.

We should thank God daily for His great love for us as manifested by sending His Son to take on human form, die for our sins, and for raising Him to eternal life so that we too might enjoy eternity with Him.