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John 1 - Devotion · The Five Minute Bible Podcast

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  Welcome to Five Minute Bible in our journey through the New
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  Testament. In each episode, we take just a
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  few minutes to focus on one chapter of the New Testament,
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  exploring the truths God is teaching us through His Word and
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  expanding our view of who He is. Before you listen, make sure
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  you've gone straight to the source, either by reading
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  today's chapter of the Bible yourself or listening to today's
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  read along episode in this podcast feed.
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  If you haven't done that yet, feel free to pause and do that
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  now. When you're ready, let's dive
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  into God's Word together. As we enter the Gospel of John,
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  it's important that we understand the purpose for which
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  this gospel is written. Toward the end of the book, the
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  human author John makes it extremely clear.
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  Listen to John 20, verses 30 and 31.
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  Therefore, many other signs Jesus also performed in the
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  presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book,
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  but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus
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  is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have
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  life in his name. In other words, John writes the
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  book as a demonstration that Jesus is who he says he is, the
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  Christ, the Son of God, and so that we the readers might
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  believe in Jesus and have life in Him.
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  Knowing that purpose of the book in its entirety, John chapter 1
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  serves as an introduction before we get to the signs of Jesus,
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  the demonstration or proof of who He is.
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  The Holy Spirit through John is making it extremely clear to us
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  exactly who this Jesus is. Just in this chapter we are told
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  that Jesus is God himself, He is Creator, He is light and life.
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  He is the Word made flesh, the one through whom sinful man can
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  have the right to be called children of God.
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  He is the Lamb of God, sent to take away the sins of the world.
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  He is the Christ, the long-awaited Messiah, the
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  Saviour. And from this chapter on we will
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  see Jesus demonstrating, proving the reality of all these titles
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  through His teaching, His miracles and ultimately His
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  death and resurrection. The case will be made that Jesus
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  is the Christ, the Son of God, and we will be invited and
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  exhorted to believe on Him for eternal life.
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  So hang on tight as we explore this chapter together.
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  I want us to pause here in chapter 1 though to see one
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  particular reality about Jesus. At the end of the chapter Jesus
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  meets Nathaniel who becomes one of Jesus disciples.
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  As Nathaniel approaches, Jesus speaks as though he knows him
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  and when Nathaniel questions this, Jesus tells him that he
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  saw him even before they met, though he was not there to see
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  him. Nathaniel wonders at this
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  demonstration of Jesus power and says, Rabbi, you are the Son of
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  God, you are the king of Israel. This is a bold declaration for
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  someone you've just met. Jesus answers Nathaniel and
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  says, because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do
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  you believe you will see greater things than these?
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  And he said to him, truly, truly, I say to you, you will
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  see the heavens open and the angels of God ascending and
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  descending on the Son of man. Now what is Jesus saying here?
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  Angels ascending and descending on the Son of man?
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  What is that all about? You have to go back to the Old
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  Testament to get your answer. Back in Genesis, when Jacob was
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  on the run from his brother Esau, after stealing his
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  birthright and blessing, he stopped to sleep at a place
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  which would become known as Bethel.
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  There he had a dream where he saw a ladder coming down from
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  heaven to earth and angels ascending and descending the
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  ladder. He called that place the gate of
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  heaven where heaven and earth touched.
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  So catch what Jesus is saying here, that ladder that connected
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  heaven and earth, It's Jesus Himself.
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  He is the bridge. He is Emmanuel, God with us.
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  To put it another way, listen to First Timothy 2 verse 5.
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  For there is one God and one mediator also between God and
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  men, the man Christ Jesus. Jesus Christ is the mediator
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  between God and man. He is bringing the Kingdom of
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  heaven to earth, and He is making sinful man whole and
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  worthy by His blood to enter the Kingdom of heaven.
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  What a picture. And we're only in chapter 1.
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  So remember today who it is that you serve.
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  Remember that in Christ we have access to heaven itself and obey
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  the command of this book. Believe on His name and
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  experience the real life that He gives.