By Revelation

John 1:^31-32 “I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.” (NRSV, emphasis added)

We kick off today with our final thought from yesterday and that is, God chose the one that had known Jesus from the womb and grew up with Him not to depend on his natural knowledge of Jesus. Why? So that God can reveal Jesus to him in a supernatural way. The reality is that the people that easily disdain us are the people that know us most. The easiest people to look down on us are the people that watched us grow up. They will demand to know where you got your anointing from. Some just would never listen to you because they cannot get past what they knew about you. But you must not be like that. Paul says in 2 Cor. 5:¹⁶ “Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.” (KJV, emphasis added). Pay attention because this is the second time it is coming up in our study. We must always discern the people in our life by the Spirit of God. Do not rely on your natural or biological knowledge of their credentials, always discern by the Spirit of God. John the Baptist said, “I myself did not know Him.”

If you notice, John [the son of Salome and Zebedee] did not even talk about the event of the baptism of Jesus. He totally skipped giving an account of it. The same way there is no single parable in the Book of John. He narrated the testimony of John the Baptist in John 1:^32-34 “And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”’ John [the son of Salome], focused on Christ and left out the things extensively reported by the Synoptic Gospels. He assumed that his readers would have read Matthew, or Mark, or Luke and would have read about Jesus’ baptism. So, they would understand when he refers to it. John left out some things for the Synoptic Gospels but it is your responsibility to read them and know them.

John 1:²⁹ “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (NRSV, emphasis added). What happened the day before? The day before, there had been an enquiry to ascertain if John the Baptist was the Messiah, if he was the Lamb of God. Maybe Jesus was in the crowd on that day because sometimes He hides Himself in the crowd. But the next day, Jesus was walking by and John exclaimed, “Behold the Lamb of God.” In other words, ‘that is the One you people were asking me about.’ John was trying to get Jesus into trouble considering that the leading priests were not interested in celebrating the Lamb of God. They were interested in killing Him because of their insecurities.

Prayed: Holy Spirit, help me to discern the people in my life, that I will know no man after the flesh, in Jesus Name. Amen!