Hold onto the memory of your first encounter with Jesus Christ! This leader did and it yielded a rich reward.
We have been reading and studying in John Chapter 1, of how God was working and moving to prepare people for the coming and appearing of Jesus Christ, His Son, the Saviour of the world, the Messiah. God decided to prepare people by sending a man with a message, and that is normally the method He uses.
If you are a man with a message from God, then bow before Him and give thanks, and deliver that message faithfully and gracefully.
God sends a man with a message here, and John the Baptist calls people to repent – to turn from their sins to God – to sort things out, and to get ready for what is about to happen, and crowds came.
They knew that God was doing something, but they were not sure exactly what, and that is often the case. We know God is doing something but we are never able to see the whole picture, but we can respond to these parts of the picture of which we are aware.
Here are two men – John the Baptist and Jesus – at the lowest point in the world – ‘down to such a world as this’ – and the real work of Jesus is about to begin – and it begins where you cannot go any lower, and with only a few people.
It is all so simple. There is no planning committee, and there is no debate. There is simple obedience on the part of the Son of God – of God the Son. And, oh how this work grew, and it is still growing, as people respond to the same loving saving healing empowering Christ.
In verse 35, John is with two of his disciples and when he sees Jesus he says, “Behold, the Lamb of God. Look, it is the Lamb of God, and these two disciples go off and follow Jesus.
John, almost there and then, begins to run down his own work in order to hand it all over to Jesus. This is the last glimpse of Jesus John has!
Jesus turns round and sees these two men following Him and asks, “What are you seeking?” “What are you looking for, or, what are you after?”
Does He ask that of us at times? What are you looking for? Are you just curious? Is this not Christ’s question to everyone?
Have you a problem, or a matter, or an issue, or some need, that you know only Jesus Christ can satisfy and resolve?
“Master, we want to know where you live. What is your address? And Jesus says, “Come and see.”
Jesus takes them at their point of curiosity. He does not really answer their question. He says, ‘Come on home with me. Come and share what I have – I have nothing to hide.’ That is really what this brief conversation is all about.
When you go and look at the Lamb of God your question can become a quest.
It was about 4 o’clock in the afternoon. John records it some 60 years later. You always remember the first time when you meet the Lord Jesus Christ, and many people remember the time when they first met the risen and living Lord Jesus Christ, and remember it in great detail.
Hold on to that memory of your first real contact with Jesus Christ, and in the difficult days, and times of pain and soreness and persecution and ostracism and ridicule, that will strengthen you and minister to you.
Sandy Shaw