Bad Advertisement?
Are you a Christian?
Online Store:Visit Our Store
| The Six Testimonies of the Baptist Enumerated. Jesus' “Come and See.” Significance of the Tenth Hour.
PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP 
29. The Six Testimonies of the Baptist Enumerated.
Jesus’ “Come and See.” Significance of the
Tenth Hour.
Accordingly John came to bear witness of the light, and
in his witness-bearing he cried, saying,4767
“He that cometh after me exists before me; for He was before me;
for of His fulness we have all received and grace for grace, for the
law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus
Christ. No one hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten God,
who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.”
This whole speech is from the mouth of the Baptist bearing witness to
the Christ. Some take it otherwise, and consider that the words
from “for of His fulness” to “He hath declared
Him” are from the writer, John the Apostle. The true state
of the case is that John’s first testimony begins, as we said
before, “He that cometh after me,” and ends, “He hath
declared Him,” and his second testimony is that spoken to the
priests and levites sent from Jerusalem, whom the Jews had sent.
To them he confesses and does not deny the truth, namely, that he is
not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet, but “the voice of
one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as
saith Isaiah the prophet.”4768
After
this there is another testimony of the same Baptist to Christ, still
teaching His superior nature, which goes forth into the whole world and
enters into reasonable souls. He says,4769
“There standeth One among you whom you know not, even He that
cometh after me, the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to
unloose.” Consider if, since the heart is in the middle of
the whole body, and the ruling principle in the heart, the saying,
“There standeth One among you whom you know not,” can be
understood of4770
| 4770 Reading κατἁ for καἷ. | the reason which is
in every man. John’s fourth testimony of Christ after these
points to His human sufferings. He says,4771
“Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the
world. This is He of whom I said, After me cometh a man who
exists before me, for He was before me. And I knew Him not, but
that He should be made manifest to
Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.” And the
fifth testimony is recorded in the words,4772
“I beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and it
abode upon Him, and I knew Him not, but He that sent me to baptize with
water, He said unto me, Upon whomsoever thou shalt see the Spirit
descending and abiding upon Him, the same is He that baptizeth with the
Holy Spirit. And I have seen and borne witness that this is the
Son of God.” In the sixth place John witnesses of Christ to
the two disciples:4773
“He
looked on Jesus as He walked and saith, Behold the Lamb of
God.” After this testimony the two disciples who heard it
followed Jesus; and Jesus turned and beheld them following, and saith
unto them, “What seek ye?” Perhaps it is not without
significance that after six testimonies John ceases from his
witness-bearing and Jesus brings forward in the seventh place His
“What seek ye?” Very becoming in those who have been
helped by John’s testimony is the speech in which they address
Christ as their Master, and declare their wish to see the dwelling of
the Son of God; for they say to Him, “Rabbi,” which answers
to “Master,” in our language, “where dwellest
Thou?” And since every one that seeketh findeth, when
John’s disciples seek Jesus’ dwelling, Jesus shows it to
them, saying, “Come and see.” By the word
“Come” He exhorts them perhaps to the practical part of
life, while the “see” is to suggest to them that that
speculation which comes in the train of right conduct will be
vouchsafed to those who desire it; in Jesus’ dwelling they will
have it. After they had asked where Jesus dwells, and had
followed the Master and had seen, they desired to stay with Him and to
spend that day with the Son of God. Now the number ten is a
sacred one, not a few mysteries being indicated by it; and so we are to
understand that the mention of the tenth hour as that at which these
disciples turned in with Jesus, is not without significance. Of
these disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, is one; and he
having profited by this day with Jesus and having found his own brother
Simon (perhaps he had not found him before), told him that he had found
the Messiah, which is, being interpreted, Christ. It is written
that “he that seeketh findeth.” Now he had sought
where Jesus dwelt, and had followed Him and looked upon His dwelling;
he stays with the Lord “at the tenth hour,” and finds the
Son of God, the Word, and Wisdom, and is ruled by Him as King.
That is why he says, “We have found the Messiah,” and this
a thing which every one can say who has found this Word of God and is
ruled as by a king, by His Divinity. As a fruit he at once brings
his brother to Christ, and Christ deigned to look upon Simon, that is
to say, by looking at him to visit and enlighten his ruling principle;
and Simon by Jesus’ looking at him was enabled to grow strong, so
as to earn a new name from that work of firmness and strength, and to
be called Peter.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
