The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1917-01-13
LESSON FOR JANUARY ID
JOHN THE BAPTIST AND JESUS
LESSON TEXT-John 1.l9-3i

/ LESSON TEXT-John 1924.
. GOLDEN TENT Behold, the lamb OF
God that taketh away the SIP OF the
. world.-JOhu l."y.
/ John began his public ministry in the
summer of A. ID. 20 and the baptism of
| Jesus probably took place in January,
/ A. d. p. The delegation from Jerusa-
/ lem to interview John must have ap-
/ peared along toward the latter part of
/ February.
1. John the Witness wv. 1919.
Johns ministry created great excite
ment. The people were in expectancy.
/ All classes were reasoning as to who
/ this strange but marvelOusly fOrceful
/ man might be. Some thought perhaps
/ he was the Christ duke 3:15). To
| settle this question Il committee was
| sent 10 Jerusalem to investigate.
! Malachi, the prophet, has suggested the
| coming of Elijah (Alal. / ~ before the
/ Messiah should come, and another
| prophecy indicated that the prophet
! should be like unto Moses Oeut.
/ Is :l6-1S). John freely cOnfeSSeS to
! this delegation that he is not the
/ Christ nor Elijah nor the prophet pre-
dicted by Moses. How foolish and
! silly are those modern ones who pro-
! feSS to be the messenger of the COW
/ enant or some other fanciful title, in
dicating the return of the witness
which is to precede the coming of
| Christ. John exercises humility in the
| way he states his real position though
he does apply to himself the prophecy
of Isaiah lisa. 40 800 which sets forth
what his mission was to be. a voice
| can be heard but not seen. With our
bodily eyes we never see spirit. No
man ever saw the soul of HIS nearest
friend We do see God, however, in
his works, in his marvellous deliver
| anceS and his guidance of thf world
and his answers to prayer. We can
also see him in the only begotten Son
who has made him TO be seen. Who
ever sees Jesus as he was and Us has
seen God. Truly blessed are the('pure
in heart for they shall see God"
u. John the 6aptizer wv. 1920.
AS John had denied that he wasl the
Christ or Elijah, the priests and Jew
ties made bold to question his author
ity at later time Matt. 21-23), apd
still later the authority of the ap0s-
ties and the priests (Acts :2S). John
answers them with another display Of
his humility. His baptism in waterl
was nothing to the baptism of tha
coming one (See Matt. 3 IL; Acts :5).
Though Christ was In their midst, they
were blind and did not recognize him.
(See w. 10, IL; Oh. $40; 6:3).
Johns baptism of repentance denotes
h"ntism which a penitent submitted
to at he might receive the pledge
and assurance that his sins were for
given. Baptism meant the cleansing
of the people from past sins that they
might be fitted for entrance into the
kingdom. Baptism is not conversion.
1t is witnessing and symbol of a
spiritual truth that we are dead unto
sin, and have risen to newness of life
(Rom. 6 800. Like John, our voice
must be not only that of humility but
1t must be really voice with a mes
sage from God, one that sounds an I'M
mistakable note, one that can be heard
wherever we 90, one that will make
men happier, stronger, Drawer, more
like God, to prepare the way for Christ
In the hearts of men.
~. The Witness Of the Spirit wv.
2S-3D. The writer is very explicit,
stating the exact time that these things
occurred, for he was an eye witness.
John first teStifies that Jesus was the
Lamb of God, referring of course to
the sacrificial lamb, the atOning sacri-
flee of the Old Testament (Gen. % :7-S;
Elk. l. 81; lisa. SO -. AS the Lamb of
God, Jesus would take away the sins
of the world; thus the thought is pri-
marily that of atOnement, subStitu-
ton of another and the deliverance
from the guilt of sin. The next day
after Johns witness to the delegation
from Jerusalem, he saw Jesus coming
unto him, and said to the asseraDIed
people, Behold the Lamb of God"
ter, that of innocence, Tneekness and
patience, as 10 his office, his completed
work of atonement by the Sacrificial
death wherein he takes away the sins
of the world. On the ground of the
Precipitation Z for sin which Jesus
wrought Il John 30; Matt. 20 :2S; III
Cor. > :21; Gal. 3:13) sin is removed
from the sinner as far as the East is
!, from the West. God dealt in mercy
(with men before Christ's time because
of the lamb which was slain from the
Foundation of the world CRev. 1879.
Here John says that at first he did not
recognize Jesus as the Messiah, but he
{ does bear record that he saw the
)spirit descending at his baptism. and it
labOde upon him. Luke adds that the
heavens We're opened, and the spirit
descended in the form of a dove. There
Isl no difficulty in Johns statement, 81
knew him not" He lived in Judea +:
Jesus lived in Galilee, and il is doubt
full If they had ever met. What John
probably means is that he did not
know him as the coming Messiah, but
hei that commissioned John in the will
de1ness to be the fOrerunner Of the
Messiah had given John a sign where
by lhe should know him, the Son of
GOdl John had waited patiently until