ESOCS Devotional 18 December 2024 – Witnessing For Jesus
MEMORY VERSE: ““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 1:15 KJV
TEXT: JOHN 1:15–28
John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ ”
16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
19 Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”
20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”
21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?”
He said, “I am not.”
“Are you the Prophet?”
And he answered, “No.”
22 Then they said to him, “Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”
23 He said: “I am
‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
“Make straight the way of the Lord,” ’
as the prophet Isaiah said.”
24 Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees. 25 And they asked him, saying, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
26 John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. 27 It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.”
28 These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
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Our text today focusses on John’s witness to Christ. All of John’s work was focused on promoting the person of Jesus among the people of Israel. By the expression, “He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me”, John the Baptist pointed to the divine nature of the Lord Jesus. His witness has taught us that he did not focus on himself but Christ, so that Christ would receive all the glory and attention. He came as a witness or to bear witness or to give a testimony about Jesus to aid in producing belief in those who hear Him. As a witness for Jesus, we are to tell others who Jesus is, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, according to the Bible and what He has done. We speak of His person and His work.
What does a good testimony look like? This passage shows us very clearly the components of a good testimony. It shows us what to include and what to avoid. It shows us the care we must take to not make it about us and be cautious even when briefly we come into the picture. We are to bring maximum glory to Jesus and none to ourselves. Our great need is to stop focusing on and talking about us and instead speak about Jesus Christ to others. I would encourage us to purposefully avoid speaking much at all about what He’s done for you because most often that’s a gateway to self-centred attention. In a very real sense, our witness is testifying on behalf of Christ. We tell others who Jesus is and what He’s done and for the most part, we are only the voice telling others about our Savior.
John’s witness about Jesus had sparked an interest in these religious folk. His character and his peculiarities caused them to be interested in finding out what made John thick, that and the fact that multitudes were out there and fewer and fewer were in the city and in the temple. We must have a different worldview, a different set of standards to live by. We must be getting our marching orders from God through the Bible and not from our current culture. The early Church acted so much like Jesus that those around them who did not follow Christ called them Christians.
Listen, we are just voices as well. We must be voices. We must speak of Jesus and declare His glory to the world. We must declare along with the Scriptures that all people without Jesus Christ are hell bound sinners. Listen, we must get out of the mindset that it’s mean to tell people the truth. The time for silence is over. We must be bold voices for our Lord. We must be like the watchman on the wall blasting the trumpet and giving warning to those who will die unless they listen to the warning.
So, we see John’s final thrust in his witness for Jesus and that is a call for those he spoke to, to repent. It’s important that as we speak to others about Jesus and about sin and the Gospel that we call them also to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour so that they will inherit the Kingdom of God..
- What are the setbacks you are encountering while witnessing for Jesus?
- Lord, let my manners, character and conversations show the world that I am for Christ.
Further Reading: Isaiah 7:10–17; Malachi 2:1–end; Philippians 2:5–11
ESOCS Devotional 18 December 2024
