The Gospel of John
INTRODUCTION
"He Came Only as a Witness to the Light" (John 1:6-8)

J. Deering, AncientPath.net


THE GOSPEL OF JOHN
Chapter 1:6-8
Introduction to John The Baptist
"He came only as a witness to the Light"

John The Baptist recognizes Jesus as The Messiah who will not be recognized, as such, by God’s chosen nation of the physical descendants of Abraham, but to those who do recognize Him – Eternal Life, John 1:6-13

Translations and Paraphrases

NASB

<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.

KJV

{6} There was a man sent from God, whose name <was> John. {7} The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all <men> through him might believe. {8} He was not that Light, but <was sent> to bear witness of that Light.

New International

<6> There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. <7> He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe.  <8> He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

Class Translation and Comment

1:6
A begotten man, having been commissioned with a message from God, in alignment with the purposes of God, whose name was John.

There came a man - Not an angel or some other creation character. As a man his role was to decrease in stature so that Jesus, the very Son of God, stature could increase in those days. The man who came would be like the rest of us. He would be a "prepared" man, a "sent" (commissioned) man (Isaiah 4:3, Malachi 3:1). He would be a man who came with a specific message from God - Salvation of the Lord God was going to be offered through His Son, The Lamb of God. That message would have the authority of God behind it. It would be a simple message of special truth (Salvation is at hand). The message would be specific as to the plan and purposes of God for mankind, first to the Jew, and then to the Samaritan, and then to the world. This man's name would be specific to this plan and purpose, "Jehovah is Gracious" would be the translation of His name. He would be the herald of the Grace of God - "John."

1:7
This same man, came to be a witness and testify all about “the one who is the enlightenment” so that through Him they should have believed.

This man came as the answer to God's purposes to have a fore-runner who was to be a public witness to both the purposes and the person he would point to. He would come to speak publicly about that person as the "Light," the "Enlightened One," the "One who is enlightened," the One who would "Enlighten the minds and hearts of men and women." So that... with God's purpose and result to those, the Jew first, and then the Samaritans, and then the Gentiles... who would become The Church of God in Jesus Christ - THAT they would believe, and their belief would be through Him (the light, the word, the Son of God, Jesus - The Messiah / Christ).

1:8
This same man, was not “The one who is the enlightenment,” but, he [came] with the purpose of testifying all about “The one who is the enlightenment.”

This man, should not be confused with the one whom God would send to accomplish Salvation, He was the one who would point the way to the One who would accomplish these things. This one John was not to be "the Light" but to be the public witness to the One who was to be that Light.

John's task was to provide a remnant of the Nation of Israel that was ready for belief in their Messiah. Acts 2:41 ("So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls) would only be made possible through John's preaching in the wilderness.

John was approx. 32 years old when he was beheaded for his testimony of The Christ. He was responsible for getting the nation of Israel ready. When that was done, his mission was accomplished and he diminished.


The Visualized Text

John 1:6-8

There came a man
    sent from God
    Whose name was John.

He
came for a witness that

He
    might bear witness of the light. That
        ALL might believe through Him (the light, the word, Jesus).

He
was not the light,
   but
came that

He
    might bear witness of the light.


N  O  T  E  S

"Satan strives to keep people in the darkness, because darkness means death and hell, while light means life and heaven.  This fact helps explain the ministry of John the Baptist (John 1:6-8).  John was sent as a witness to Jesus Christ, to tell people that the Light had come into the world.  The nation of Israel, in spite of all its spiritual advantages, was blind to their own Messiah!  The word witness is a key word in this book; John uses the noun fourteen times and the verb thirty-three times.  John the Baptist bore witness to Jesus, "This is the Son of God!"   Alas John the Baptist was martyred and the Jewish leaders did nothing to prevent it.

Why did the nation reject Jesus Christ?  Because they "knew Him not."  They were spiritually ignorant.  Jesus is the "true Light" -- the original of which every other light is a copy -- but the Jews were content with the copies.  They had Moses and the Law, the temple and the sacrifices; but they did not comprehend that these "lights" pointed to the true Light who was the fulfillment, the completion, of the Old Testament religion.

Some Notes on Types of Christ

Gen 1:5
The Light - Christ, the Light of the world (John 1:4)

1 Corinthians 13:12
Without His light, we see as if in a glass darkly.

Genesis 1:9-13
Life appearing on the Third Day - Christ, in the Resurrection and Life (John 11:25; 1 Corinthians 15:4)

Genesis 3:21
Coat of Skins - Christ the Righteousness of God

Genesis 4:4
The Slain Lamb - Christ, The Lamb of God

Genesis 4:7
Cain - the Natural man
Able - the Spiritual man

Genesis 5-9
The Ark - Christ our Refuge, the Church
Enoch -  The Church translated before the terrible judgments of God
The Flood - The Great Tribulation
Noah - The Jewish Remnant

Melchizedek - The Lord Jesus in Resurrection
Melchizedek - presenting Bread and Wine - the Lord's Supper

Jacob's Ladder - Christ, as the only way to heaven

Joseph
 - Beloved son of his father
- Hated of his brothers
- Sent by his father on his brother's welfare
- Reconciled to his brethren and exalts them

Moses - Christ the deliverer

The Passover - O.T., Judgment threatened on all the firstborn,
N/T., Judgment, the lot of every man because of the sin of the firstborn (Adam)

O.T., There was a Divine plan of safety divinely revealed through Moses (Exodus 12:7)
N.T., John 3:16 announces the same fact.

O.T., They were to take a lamb as the way of safety (Exodus 12:3)
N.T., The Lamb of God (John 1:29)

O.T., The Lamb must be without spot or blemish
N.T., The Precious Blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish

O.T., The lamb was killed by the people
N.T., "His blood be upon us and our children"

O.T., The blood of the lamb as a sign of substitution and redemption, personally applied, safety in the application of the blood.
N.T., "Through faith in His blood" (Romans 3:25), Redemption through His blood (Ephesians 1:7), The blood of Jesus Christ His son cleanseth us from all sin (1 John 1:7), There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1)

O.T., The Passover as a remembrance service
N.T., The Lord's Supper

Leaven - Always and everywhere a type of evil working subtly (in the dark) gradually permeating the whole.
Manna - A type of Christ in His humiliation, come down from heaven

Amalek - Type of the flesh in the believer


The Tabernacle, the Priesthood, and the Offerings
Gold - Deity and the Glory of Divine Righteousness
Silver - Redemption and Substitution
Brass - Judgment
Wood - Humanity of our Lord (also the Believers, as in the walls of the tabernacle)
Color Blue - Heavenly color - Lord
Purple - Royal color - King
Scarlet - Blood - Savior
Fine Linen - White, purity - Sinless man
(also:      The court enclosures, the Doors, the Curtains, The Brazen Altar, The Brazen Laver, etc.)
The Bloody and Non Bloody offerings
The Sweet and Non sweet savor offerings
The Burnt offering
The Meal offering
The Peace offering
The Sin offering
The Trespass offering

Adam VS Christ
ADAM...............................CHRIST
The Earth..........................Heaven
Soulish............................Spiritual
Head of old creation...............Head of New Creation
Given Dominion.....................Dominion promised and purposed
Sin and Death......................Righteousness and Eternal Life


References

JOHN THE BAPTIST:  THE FORERUNNER OF JESUS CHRIST

Isaiah 40:3
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Malachi 3:1
Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.

FAMILY NOTES

John was of the priestly race (Levite) by both of his parents, his father, Zacharias, and his mother, Elizabeth, "was of the daughters of Aaron" (Luke 1:5).

Born by miraculous birth which was announced by an angel sent from God, and whose name was assigned.

He was born six months prior to the birth of Jesus.

MINISTRY NOTES

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar (A.D. 25), John began to preach, and attracted to himself a great multitude.

He proclaimed "The kingdom of Heaven is at hand", and administered the rite of baptism "unto repentance."  "John did no miracle (John 10:4).

Before long Jesus presented himself to John, to receive  baptism at his hand.  With this baptism John's primary office as Herald ceased.

Shortly after, his public ministry came to a violent close.  John was imprisoned by Herod Antipas who was reproved by John for marrying his brother's wife, and other sins.

At a drunken banquet Herod's daughter, Herodias, asked for John's head and Herod Antipas reluctantly granted it.


REFERENCES TO JOHN 1:6

Matthew 3:1
In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea,

REFERENCES TO JOHN 1:7

John 1:12
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:

John 1:15
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.

John 1:19
And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou?

John 1:32
And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.

John 3:26
And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all <men> come to him.

John 5:33
Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth.

Acts 19:4
Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.

Galatians 3:26
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

REFERENCES TO JOHN 1:8

John 1:20
And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ.



You may also wish to see "A visualization of Greek and English Prepositions-1," "A visualization of Greek and English Prepositions-2," by Dr. Herbert Henry Ehrenstein and "Listing of English and corresponding Greek verb tenses and moods"


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