The Living Bible (331 page)

John

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John
1

Before anything else existed,
*
there was Christ,
*
with God. He has always been alive and is himself God.
³
 He created everything there is—nothing exists that he didn’t make.
⁴
 Eternal life is in him, and this life gives light to all mankind.
⁵
 His life is the light that shines through the darkness—and the darkness can never extinguish it.

    
^6-7
 God sent John the Baptist as a witness to the fact that Jesus Christ is the true Light.
⁸
 John himself was not the Light; he was only a witness to identify it.

    
⁹
 Later on, the one who is the true Light arrived to shine on everyone coming into the world.

    
¹⁰
 But although he made the world, the world didn’t recognize him when he came.
^11-12
 Even in his own land and among his own people, the Jews, he was not accepted. Only a few would welcome and receive him. But to all who received him, he gave the right to become children of God. All they needed to do was to trust him to save them.
*
¹³
 All those who believe this are reborn!—not a physical rebirth
*
resulting from human passion or plan—but from the will of God.

    
¹⁴
 And Christ
*
became a human being and lived here on earth among us and was full of loving forgiveness
*
and truth. And some of us have seen his glory
*
—the glory of the only Son of the heavenly Father!
*

    
¹⁵
 John pointed him out to the people, telling the crowds, “This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘Someone is coming who is greater by far than I am—for he existed long before I did!’”
¹⁶
 We have all benefited from the rich blessings he brought to us—blessing upon blessing heaped upon us!
¹⁷
 For Moses gave us only the Law with its rigid demands and merciless justice, while Jesus Christ brought us loving forgiveness as well.
¹⁸
 No one has ever actually seen God, but, of course, his only Son has, for he is the companion of the Father and has told us all about him.

    
¹⁹
 The Jewish leaders
*
sent priests and assistant priests from Jerusalem to ask John whether he claimed to be the Messiah.

    
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 He denied it flatly. “I am not the Christ,” he said.

    
²¹
 “Well then, who are you?” they asked. “Are you Elijah?”

    
“No,” he replied.

    
“Are you the Prophet?”
*

    
“No.”

    
²²
 “Then who are you? Tell us, so we can give an answer to those who sent us. What do you have to say for yourself?”

    
²³
 He replied, “I am a voice from the barren wilderness, shouting as Isaiah prophesied, ‘Get ready for the coming of the Lord!’”

    
^24-25
 Then those who were sent by the Pharisees asked him, “If you aren’t the Messiah or Elijah or the Prophet, what right do you have to baptize?”

    
²⁶
 John told them, “I merely baptize with
*
water, but right here in the crowd is someone you have never met,
²⁷
 who will soon begin his ministry among you, and I am not even fit to be his slave.”

    
²⁸
 This incident took place at Bethany, a village on the other side of the Jordan River where John was baptizing.

    
²⁹
 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! There is the Lamb of God who takes away the world’s sin!
³⁰
 He is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘Soon a man far greater than I am is coming, who existed long before me!’
³¹
 I didn’t know he was the one, but I am here baptizing with water in order to point him out to the nation of Israel.”

    
³²
 Then John told about seeing the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove descending from heaven and resting upon Jesus.

    
³³
 “I didn’t know he was the one,” John said again, “but at the time God sent me to baptize he told me, ‘When you see the Holy Spirit descending and resting upon someone—he is the one you are looking for. He is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’
³⁴
 I saw it happen to this man, and I therefore testify that he is the Son of God.”

    
³⁵
 The following day as John was standing with two of his disciples,
³⁶
 Jesus walked by. John looked at him intently and then declared, “See! There is the Lamb of God!”

    
³⁷
 Then John’s two disciples turned and followed Jesus.

    
³⁸
 Jesus looked around and saw them following.
“What do you want?”
he asked them.

    
“Sir,” they replied, “where do you live?”

    
³⁹
 
“Come and see,”
he said. So they went with him to the place where he was staying and were with him from about four o’clock that afternoon until the evening.
⁴⁰
 (One of these men was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.)

    
⁴¹
 Andrew then went to find his brother Peter and told him, “We have found the Messiah!”
⁴²
 And he brought Peter to meet Jesus.

    
Jesus looked intently at Peter for a moment and then said,
“You are Simon, John’s son—but you shall be called Peter, the rock!”

    
⁴³
 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and told him,
“Come with me.”
⁴⁴
 (Philip was from Bethsaida, Andrew and Peter’s hometown.)

    
⁴⁵
 Philip now went off to look for Nathanael and told him, “We have found the Messiah!—the very person Moses and the prophets told about! His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth!”

    
⁴⁶
 “Nazareth!” exclaimed Nathanael. “Can anything good come from there?”

    
“Just come and see for yourself,” Philip declared.

    
⁴⁷
 As they approached, Jesus said,
“Here comes an honest man—a true son of Israel.”

    
⁴⁸
 “How do you know what I am like?” Nathanael demanded.

    
And Jesus replied,
“I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you.”

    
⁴⁹
 Nathanael replied, “Sir, you are the Son of God—the King of Israel!”

    
⁵⁰
 Jesus asked him,
“Do you believe all this just because I told you I had seen you under the fig tree? You will see greater proofs than this.
⁵¹
 
You will even see heaven open and the angels of God coming back and forth to me, the Messiah.”
*

John
2

Two days later Jesus’ mother was a guest at a wedding in the village of Cana in Galilee,
²
 and Jesus and his disciples were invited too.
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 The wine supply ran out during the festivities, and Jesus’ mother came to him with the problem.

    
⁴
 
“I can’t help you now,”
he said.
*
“It isn’t yet my time for miracles.”

    
⁵
 But his mother told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you to.”

    
⁶
 Six stone waterpots were standing there; they were used for Jewish ceremonial purposes and held perhaps twenty to thirty gallons each.
^7-8
 Then Jesus told the servants to fill them to the brim with water. When this was done he said,
“Dip some out and take it to the master of ceremonies.”

    
⁹
 When the master of ceremonies tasted the water that was now wine, not knowing where it had come from (though, of course, the servants did), he called the bridegroom over.

    
¹⁰
 “This is wonderful stuff!” he said. “You’re different from most. Usually a host uses the best wine first, and afterwards, when everyone is full and doesn’t care, then he brings out the less expensive brands. But you have kept the best for the last!”

    
¹¹
 This miracle at Cana in Galilee was Jesus’ first public demonstration of his heaven-sent power. And his disciples believed that he really was the Messiah.
*

    
¹²
 After the wedding he left for Capernaum for a few days with his mother, brothers, and disciples.

    
¹³
 Then it was time for the annual Jewish Passover celebration, and Jesus went to Jerusalem.

    
¹⁴
 In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices, and moneychangers behind their counters.
¹⁵
 Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out, and drove out the sheep and oxen, scattering the moneychangers’ coins over the floor and turning over their tables!
¹⁶
 Then, going over to the men selling doves, he told them,
“Get these things out of here. Don’t turn my Father’s House into a market!”

    
¹⁷
 Then his disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures: “Concern for God’s House will be my undoing.”

    
¹⁸
 “What right have you to order them out?” the Jewish leaders
*
demanded. “If you have this authority from God, show us a miracle to prove it.”

    
¹⁹
 
“All right,”
Jesus replied,
“this is the miracle I will do for you: Destroy this sanctuary and in three days I will raise it up!”

    
²⁰
 “What!” they exclaimed. “It took forty-six years to build this Temple, and you can do it in three days?”
²¹
 But by “this sanctuary” he meant his body.
²²
 After he came back to life again, the disciples remembered his saying this and realized that what he had quoted from the Scriptures really did refer to him, and had all come true!

    
²³
 Because of the miracles he did in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many people were convinced that he was indeed the Messiah.
^24-25
 But Jesus didn’t trust them, for he knew mankind to the core. No one needed to tell him how changeable human nature is!