JOHN 1:29-34 REVELATION IS THE KEY TO KNOWING

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”

32 Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33 I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.”

Even for one called by God, recognition of Jesus as the Incarnate Son and Redeemer of the world only comes through revelation. John the Baptist was quite sure about his identity and what he was called to do, but he was ignorant of the identity of the One he was to proclaim. God, the One to whom John had committed his life, told him what he was to look for in the One who was to follow him: “‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’” John remembered the sign so that when he saw it manifested with Jesus he knew that Jesus was the One.

If we are to recognize the revelation of Jesus, we too must study and remember God’s Word. Most of the time we function at the level of our own expectations and experiences with perhaps a smattering of Scripture thrown in. So, when we seek to know Jesus we tend to get it wrong. Our lack of a thorough command of Scripture causes us to take our partial knowledge, supplement it with what we would like Jesus to be like and then proclaim a corrupt version of Jesus; another “Messiah”. We need to learn to be like John in that we will only settle for or recognize Jesus as he is revealed by God.

We were born into this world not knowing Jesus. But God called us and provided us with his Word and His Spirit. The purpose for this was that through us he might be revealed to the world. Our testimony should be, “I myself did not know him, and I would still not know him except that God told me about him in the Bible and through the Church. But when he came into my life I recognized him as the one God told me is his Son. You can know him, too.”

Author of the Word, draw me to yourself and into a deeper hunger for your Word. May the priority of my life be the study of your Word so that I might have a greater knowledge of you and be able to share a more accurate picture of you with my neighbors. Transform me into a faithful vessel of your revelation. Amen.