Series Theme:   Short meditations in John's Gospel

This Page: CHAPTER 3, verses 20-36

Short Meditations in John 3: 19. Exposed

Jn 3:20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

Oil and water don't mix, light and darkness don't mix, good and evil don't mix. There are some things that just don't go together. When we come to the human being we find a person with a heart, and when we say that we aren't just talking about the organ that pumps blood around the body. No, when we talk about the heart in this way, we are talking about a combination of their will and their mind and their emotions; all these things together combine to form what we refer to as the heart of a person. We use heart in a variety of ways:

•  We speak of people being half-hearted and we mean that they have decided (will) for a combination of reasons (mind) to take life easily so they feel good (emotions).

•  Or we speak of someone losing heart , meaning that they have ultimately decided (will) to give up for a variety of reasons (mind) to take the easy way out (emotions).

•  Then there are people who are ‘ hard hearted' , those who have decided (will) for a variety of reasons (mind) to dig in an be non-responsive (emotions).

Now in all of these cases we see the heart expression in the forms of actions or words. The actions or words flow because of what has already gone on within the person; the person isn't what they are because of what they say or do, those are only the outworkings of what has already gone on inside that person. That is why Jesus emphasised the importance of more what went on inside a person than what they did.

Now the danger, in the context of our verse above is that we see evil deeds and condemn them – everyone who does evil – and that is right, but it doesn't stop there. They do evil because of what has gone on, on the inside and because of what has gone on inside they now have a series of behaviours, one of which is to shy away from ‘the light'. These people know what they are like and they know that what they do is not acceptable to others and so they know that if they come into ‘the light' they will be exposed for what they are. They know that it is not merely a matter of their actions, bad as they are, but also they as people will be written off because on the inside they have chosen (will), for a variety of reasons (mind), to take the self-centred path that pleases them (emotions) even though that may be to the detriment of others.

Of course Jesus is ‘the light' that John is referring to and so in the light of these things, it is not surprising that those who have set their mind (act of will and mind) to go this self-centred way (emotions) will reject Jesus, not for any intellectual challenging of who he is, but simply because of who they are!

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Short Meditations in John 3: 20. Revealed

Jn 3:21   But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.

What a package of truths in this verse! “Whoever lives by the truth.” There is within this an assumption that there is something called ‘the truth'. Trying to be spiritual be might say it is Jesus, but there may be an even bigger meaning of it. The truth, The reality must surely be existence as God designed it, not as sinful human beings perceive it and distort it by wrong living. Coming to a place of total integrity, total honesty is what coming to God is about, for in Him there is nothing false, nothing pretend, nothing artificial, just utter goodness.

The person who is seen to live like this with this outlook on life, comes to Jesus, comes to God and allows the searchlight of His knowledge to reveal; this person “comes into the light”. They are revealed, they are displayed for what they really are, warts and all as they say, and yet redeemed, for it is only such a person who can do this. Without the knowledge of redemption, of God's incredible love-directed work through Jesus on the Cross, each and every one of us would scuttle into the shade, under cover, into the darkness, as we saw in the previous verse. Knowing what we are like, if there was no saving grace, we would run and hide. It is only because we have come to realise the wonder of His love, working through the Cross, that we dare come to the One who is The Light, and allow his light to shine on us and reveal us for what we are.

Now when this happens something becomes clear: sinful men and women cannot be something ‘other' unless it is a work of God, hence, “so that it may be plainly seen that what has been done has been done through God.” This is it, when we live in the truth and come to the light, others will see and know the truth – we are what we are because of God, because there is no other explanation. Which is why Jesus taught, “ let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Mt 5:16)

Truth and light go together which is why John was to write in his first letter, “If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” (1 Jn 1:6,7) If we live by the truth and the light of Jesus shines on us, in us and through us, then that light will be one of the things that knit us together and enables us to fellowship together. In the absence of truth and light, real fellowship cannot happen.

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Short Meditations in John 3: 21. With his disciples

Jn 3:22 After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized.

Now this verse doesn't say what I expected it to say. I expected it to say that Jesus went into the Judean countryside and preached and taught the crowds – but it doesn't! Now we do find something similar to that in Matthew: “ After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee ,” (Mt 11:1) but even there, in that quote, we see first of all Jesus instructing his disciples.

It is easy to forget, as we observe all the teaching ministry of Jesus and then his healing and deliverance ministry that attracted great crowds, that one of his primary roles to was draw to him “disciples”, those who he would teach to be like him (for that is what a disciple is, one who is taught and becomes like the master). To achieve this he had to spend time with them. So Jesus spent much of his time with these men (although women did accompany him) and during the course of their time together they would get to know Jesus, and get to know how he thought and how he worked.

We see his thinking, for instance, in the time when the disciples were arguing who was the greatest: “They left that place and passed through Galilee . Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise." But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it. They came to Capernaum . When he was in the house, he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the road?" But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all." (Mk 9:30-35)

Do you see in that passage Jesus shares his future with them and shares the nature of discipleship – servant-heartedness and humility. But note he does it privately with them and not with the crowd. This was the benefit of being a disciple who traveled with him all the time. So we find, “ he spent some time with them, and baptized.” Now the context is clearly Jesus just with his disciples so I would suggest that the reference to baptizing must have meant baptizing the disciples.

If part of their future ministry was to be teaching and baptizing people, then it would be essential for them to have each been baptized. Thus on these times away together, one of the things Jesus picked up on with them was that each one had been baptized.

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Short Meditations in John 3: 22. Water Baptism

Jn 3:23 Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were constantly coming to be baptized.

Perhaps the train of thought has been the subject of baptism. Jesus had baptised his own disciples and that takes John the writer to think again of John the Baptist. Note in passing the place where John was baptising was a place where “there was plenty of water.” The conclusion is inescapable that baptism for them was clearly immersion in the river where it was deep enough for a person to be immersed.

We would mention that baptism in the New Testament was clearly an expression of repentance (Acts 2:38,41), a symbol of the washing of rebirth (Titus 3:5), a symbolic picture of us dying to the old life, being buried with Christ and being raised to new life (Rom 6:4). For this latter to be meaningful, it must indeed be baptism by immersion, baptism of repenting adults.

Now John had mentioned John the Baptist early on in chapter 1 and even there had made the point (probably for those at the time of John's writing who were a cult following John the Baptist rather than Jesus) that he was NOT the light: “ There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.” (Jn 1:6-8) John was there to point TO the light. John had denied he was the Christ (1:20) but testified that Jesus was the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (1:29), the Son of God (1:34).

Now all this needs saying because of what follows, a division or even sense of competition in John's disciples and in our verse above we see that “people were constantly coming to be baptized” and we might add – by John. It is early days for Jesus and John is still continuing his ministry so that people are still going to him to be baptized. Something drastic is going to happen that will terminate John's ministry, and one cannot help wondering if the Lord allowed that because John didn't know when to stop.

It is a challenge to consider. God gives us something to do but it may only be part of His plan, it may only be a preparation for something that is to follow on, or it may only be for a limited time. But here we are in successful ministry and people continue to be blessed. At that point it is difficult to stop and bury the ministry. Ministry isn't ministry for the sake of it; it must always be seen in the light of God's overall strategy. John knew this as we will see: “He must become greater; I must become less.” (Jn 3:30) May that also be our dictum.

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Short Meditations in John 3: 23. John's End

Jn 3:24 (This was before John was put in prison.)

This little aside comes in this form because John the writer knows that all that had happened to John the Baptist had been common knowledge. His reason for writing about John, as we noted previously, was to counter the cult that followed John in those latter days of the first century. John simply makes this aside, therefore, in this brief manner simply to place the present circumstances in context, into a time framework. These competitive rumblings that were coming from John's disciples were coming while he was still with them and before he had been put in prison. To see details of that we have to go to the Synoptic Gospels that had adequately recorded what happened. Let's remind ourselves.

In Matthew's Gospel, the events concerning John came in the context of Herod's superstitious wonderings about Jesus: “ At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the reports about Jesus, and he said to his attendants, "This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead! That is why miraculous powers are at work in him." (Mt 14:1,2) It was because of this that Matthew goes on to explain how John ended up in prison: “Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, for John had been saying to him: "It is not lawful for you to have her." Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because they considered him a prophet.” (Mt 14:3-5)

Mark focuses more on Herodias, Herod's brother's wife, as the eventual cause of John's death: “So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him.” (Mk 6:19,20)

Thus we find Herod was torn in two. One part of him wanted John killed because of the pressure Herodias was putting on him, but the other side was intrigued by John and wanted to hear him. Thus the situation might have continued if Herod had not spoken so foolishly on the night of his birthday party (Mk 6:21-29)

Although Luke records John being put in prison he does not give Herod the respect of even mentioning the terrible events that led to John's death. The point is made in all the Gospels that John came as one pointing to Jesus. Jesus was the Messiah, not John, but while these events were still unrolling, there was disharmony, at least on the side of John's disciples who had not realised that the one they were with was only there to point towards the Messiah, not be him.

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Short Meditations in John 3: 24. Religious Argument

Jn 3:25   An argument developed between some of John's disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing.

And now we come to the main reason that John the writer is mentioning John the Baptist again. The starting point is an argument or point of dispute that arose. Now what is interesting is that this argument wasn't between John's disciples and Jesus' disciples, but between John's disciples and some other Jews (see alternative rendering in your Bible).

For certain Jewish sects of that day, purification and holiness were big issues and some how or other they got into a debate with John's disciples. Now whether John the writer includes this to show that John was affiliated to these other cults is not clear but we are shown that in that day there were varieties of opinion over ritualistic issues.

Perhaps what this should do is help us realise that for the authorities in Jerusalem , when they thought about Jesus, they might well have thought that he was just the leader of yet another of these often off-the-wall groups who did not submit to Jerusalem 's authority and generally caused upset and dissension among the general populace.

In more general terms, whenever we find ourselves holding any particular ‘position' in terms of ideology we are always vulnerable to defending that position and ending up arguing with those of contrary positions. The Christian (book) world is full of those defending positions and so often their defensiveness appears as attacking others for what they see as less than orthodoxy, and division is the obvious outcome.

The question has to arise, therefore, how can we disagree with others when it comes to matters of doctrine or even practice (say, for example over baptism and what form it should take, or of the person and role of the Holy Spirit today) but not cause division. As a reader of Dr. Francis Schaeffer in the latter part of the last century, I was struck by his concern for the church over these matters, especially because he had experienced this sort of argument leading to division earlier in the century in the USA . His cry was for disagreement with grace so that disharmony and division would not ensue (as it had done in that period.)

It is indeed difficult to disagree harmoniously as the case of Paul and Barnabas (Acts 15:36-41) where they had a “sharp disagreement” that ended in their apostolic partnership ending. The good news was that their ministry doubled as “ Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus , but Paul chose Silas and left….. He went through Syria and Cilicia .” May we pray that disagreements do not degenerate into disharmony and division for there we must grieve the Lord's heart (see Jn 17:11,21)

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Short Meditations in John 3: 25. Misguided Jealousy

Jn 3:26 They came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan--the one you testified about--well, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him."

We usually assume that the ‘They' that starts this verse were John's disciples. An alternative might be the ‘other Jews' who had come disputing with John's disciples. When it spoke previously about ‘ceremonial washing' we take it to mean baptism and if that is so then the dispute that arose would have been about the efficacy or effect of the rite depending upon the one who carried it out. John had clearly come as a prophet in the wilderness and the fact that large numbers came to him, clearly indicated that he was God's man for the hour. However, now there was this other Rabbi, Jesus, who had come and the crowds were now following him and fewer people were coming to John. The trouble was that Jesus was moving around the country and put more emphasis on teaching and healing rather then on baptism. Both those who came and argued and John's disciples who argued with them, had a problem with this. They were into ritual and saw it as all important.

So his disciples, those still with him, come to him to ask him about these things. They focus their question on Jesus, “ that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan--the one you testified about.” Now that is interesting! They had been with John when Jesus came and they had clearly heard John teach about Jesus – and yet they had not gone and followed Jesus, even though John had clearly made Jesus out to be one who was much greater than he.

These disciples had clearly heard the teaching but had got stuck in the ministry which had run its time and had been for the past. The word had clearly gone around the countryside about Jesus and he was there for all to go and hear if they wanted, and yet these disciples of John preferred to remain loyal to the man they had been with; they were after all John's disciples.

Do you see the immense danger here? You can be a part of a move of God but when He moves on you can fail to move on with Him because you want to hang on to the past experience. There are those who refer back to the “Toronto Blessing” even though it was a move of God well over ten years ago. There are older people who tell the stories of the blessings they have received through the charismatic renewal at the back end of the 20 th century, or talk about the days of blessing with John Wimber, but the truth is that the Lord has moved on and our call is to go with Him and enter into whatever it is He is doing TODAY, otherwise we will miss the blessing He desires to bring us.

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Short Meditations in John 3: 26. The Origin of all gifting

Jn 3:27 To this John replied, "A man can receive only what is given him from heaven.

John understands his ministry and, to be more precise, he understands where it has come from. He was called by God and anointed by God to be the forerunner of the Messiah – and that's all. He has done what he was given to do and any ‘success' that he had had came from the Lord. So when his disciples, or maybe even other Jews starting to stir up competition with Jesus and his ministry, come with questions about his ministry, his basic answer is, I have got what I have from God and do what He gives me to do – and the same is true of the Messiah!

In many ways this is the clearest statement of this principle in the Bible: we do what God calls us to do, and no more. Other people have different ministries and we are not in competition. The apostle Paul wrote in respect of gifts, “ Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?” (1 Cor 12:27-30). In this he makes clear various important things. First, it is God who appointed these ministries. Second, the ministries are quite clear and distinct. Third, there are only limited numbers of them and not everyone is the same. This sounds very obvious but in practice it is not. Suppose I am called to be a teacher, say. That means I am a teacher and not a prophet and if I have not been given the prophet's gifting, I should neither hanker after it nor pretend I have it (even if I have the gift of prophecy).

The key to being at peace in serving God, is knowing what He has called you to and what He has gifted you with. This avoids all temptation to envy or jealousy and enables us to be blessed by other people's ministry and blessed in exercising our own gifting. This may all sound very obvious but I wonder how many square pegs there are in round holes in the church – men or women ‘performing' tasks that they have not been given by the head of the church, but just because they think it is expected of them or wrong ambition pushed them to it? It is a vital subject in the kingdom of God, knowing the calling and the gifting of God and not going beyond it, recognising that real gifting comes from God alone and is not something we stir up. John the Baptist rested in this knowledge, it was his disciples who were slow to come to understanding of it.

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Short Meditations in John 3: 27. Right Perspective

Jn 3:28 You yourselves can testify that I said, `I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him

When God blesses a ministry, the great temptation is to begin to thing we are Someone. When God uses us and uses us, how easy it is to fall into deception and think we are really someone great. Yes, of course it was the Lord but He has used Me because I am someone special, I have got it right, I saw the truth as others didn't, and I stepped out as others didn't and so, yes, I am someone special! My ministry proves it.

Moses had to warn Israel against this pride: “ The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers.” (Deut 7:7,8) They were who they were, not because they were great in number but because God had chosen Abram and then Isaac and then Jacob and set His love on them.

Similarly Jesus had to pick his disciples up over this issue: “They came to Capernaum . When he was in the house, he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the road?" But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.” (Mk 9:33,34) This competitive spirit – for that is what it is, setting yourself up against others – was seen more than once in the disciples, for instance it had been there in John himself: “Master," said John, "we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us." (Lk 9:49) It is a basic insecurity in not realizing who you are and who it is who has called you and the measure and extent of your calling.

When it came to John, when his disciples came with this same insecurity, and this same sort of competitive spirit that flowed out of it, John was able to say to them, “ You yourselves can testify that I said….” i.e. you will remember and you know the truth of this, that I told you beforehand that I am not the Christ, I am not the one for whom Israel has been waiting al these past centuries. I told you that and made it clear, so you don't have to bang the drum on my behalf, I don't need defending. I am not the Messiah, that is not my role. My role was simply to go ahead of him and prepare people to receive him. I am resting in that and so should you (implied).

This principle of knowing who you are and knowing the extent of your calling by God is absolutely vital for anyone called to a public ministry in the body of Christ. Only in this confidence can we minister and expect to be fruitful and be resourced by him. Going beyond our boundaries takes us outside that resourcing and invites weakness.

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Short Meditations in John 3: 28. The Bridegroom

Jn 3:29 The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.

What a nice little picture John paints to convey the truth of himself and Jesus. It like he says, you know what it's like with a wedding day. There's the bride who belongs to the bridegroom and she waits for him to come. There's also the friend of the bridegroom, or best man we would say, and he too waits for the bridegroom to come. They are the main players in the wedding and when the best man hears the voice of his bridegroom coming, he is full of joy. Implied in this is that the bride doesn't belong to the best man; he's just there to facilitate the coming together of the two of them.

John the Baptist paints this picture and then, speaking of the pleasure or joy that the best man has when he hears his friend the bridegroom coming, simply says. “That joy is mine, and it is now complete.” How lovely, how simple, what a good way of illustrating that he knows his place and he is really happy in it.

Remember, this is all happening because John's disciples, and maybe others, have come indirectly grumbling about Jesus' ministry which is detracting from theirs. The bridegroom is obviously Jesus and the bride is clearly all the people who respond to Him. John himself is simply the best man or the friend of the bridegroom and he's simply there to herald the bridegroom and once he hears his voice, sees Jesus in the full flow of exercising his ministry, John is happy and in fact is delighted because his role is now completed.

Again we see that John is quite clear about his role, about his ministry. When, later on we find, “ When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples to ask him, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” (Mt 11:2,3) it leads us to suppose that either the negative circumstances of being in prison had dented John's assurance of their respective roles, or he was simply sending his disciples to encounter Jesus. Jesus' response is to either reassure John or provide these disciples with grounds for them to believe in him as well: “Jesus replied, "Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.” (11:4,5)

John's present assessment of himself and Jesus is spot on accurate for his ministry had simply been one of proclamation whereas Jesus' ministry was one of demonstrating the presence of the kingdom of God and in that sense was radically different.

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Short Meditations in John 3: 29. Principle of Ministry

Jn 3:30   He must become greater; I must become less.

In this conversation of John with his questioning disciples we have already heard him saying, "A man can receive only what is given him from heaven,” and in that he acknowledged that he was what he was because of his calling and what he had been given by God in his ministry, i.e. the people who flocked to him came because God drew them. Then he referred to himself as the friend of the bridegroom, Jesus, and implied that at the wedding (and the bride is the people), the emphasis is on the coming of the bridegroom and he is the important one, not the best man!

It is thus in this context that he brings us what must be a perfect summary of any ministry that God might give us: “He must become greater; I must become less.” In other words any ministry that we have in the body of Christ has one primary goal: to draw people to Christ – and that's it! Christ is the end goal for every believer and anything we do in whatever ministry it is, it is to present people to Christ and leave them with him.

We need to examine this a bit more. Consider the ministry gifts of Ephesians 4: “It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Eph 4:11-13) First of all note that the giver of these gifts is Christ himself.

Now look at the ministries: apostles – church planters, church builders. Who is the head of the body, the church? (Eph 4:15) It is Christ, it is his church. Then prophets – speakers of God's now word revealing the purpose and direction of God's will. Where does it come from? Christ. Where does it end up directing people – to Christ! Evangelists, those gifted with bringing people into the kingdom. His kingdom! They simply lead people into it and then walk away and leave people with him. Pastors, those gifting with a caring ability. What are they doing? Looking after the flock so the flock can better know and experience Christ. Teachers, those who impart truth and understanding of God's word, His will and His ways. Why? So the body can be built up ‘in Christ', strong in faith, hearing and knowing him and experiencing him more and more. It's all about him!

So in my ministry, yes, I may initially be the one the believers focuses on as they listen to me and receive me, but my goal is to take them closer to Christ and leave them with him. I can then walk away and I am little or nothing to them. He is everything!

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Short Meditations in John 3: 30. Origins

Jn 3:31 "The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all

When you look at this chapter it seems to be formed of blocks. The first ten verses are clearly a conversation with Nicodemus. This merges into a block of truths about Jesus (v.11-21) which start with “ we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen.” Remember that. Then we moved into a narrative bit (v.22-24) which develops into a block about an argument about Jesus' disciples versus John's disciples (v.25- present) which appears to start with John the Baptist's words, but may then develop into John the writer's words, based on what he had heard Jesus say and knew of him.

Verse 30 is clearly John the Baptist with his “I must become less”, but from this present verse on it could be either John. He is about to refer to testimony which reflects back to verse 11 and also about Jesus having come from heaven which Jesus clearly claims in his words about being the bread that comes down from heaven in chapter 6.

It may be more likely that it is John the Baptist because it does continue the comparison between he and Jesus. Back in verse 27 he had said, "A man can receive only what is given him from heaven,” and then in verse 28, “I said, `I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him,” and then in verse 29 he had made the comparison between himself and Jesus using the picture of the best man and bridegroom, and finally in verse 30 declared that, “He must become greater; I must become less.” Again and again we have had these distinctions between the two.

Now that is continued as he obviously refers to Jesus when he speaks of, "The one who comes from above” who, he says “is above all.” He surely refers to himself (the Baptist) when he speaks of “the one who is from the earth,” who, he says , “belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth.” Then he refers back to Jesus when he says, “The one who comes from heaven is above all.”

There is this constant differentiating between the two of them. John knows his origins are on the earth; he is a mere man. Yes, his calling and ministry are from heaven but that calling was by God of a man who was simply part of the human race. When it came to Jesus (and this may be a revelation beyond John the Baptist and only picked up by John the writer) his origin was heaven in every sense. He was (and is) the unique Son of God, part of the godhead trinity, who had existed in heaven alongside his heavenly Father from before the origins of all things. In this he is unique.

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Short Meditations in John 3: 31. A Valid Testimony

Jn 3:32 He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony.

John, the apostle, is strong on this idea of witnesses. He lived in a period where probably all of the other twelve had now passed away and he was a lone witness to exactly what had happened with Jesus. Hence in his letter we have this sort of language of John's own testimony: “ That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched --this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it.” (1 Jn 1:1,2) He goes to great lengths to say, ‘This happened in time-space history and I saw it! This is not made up.'

When he came to speak about John the Baptist, he said, “He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light,” (Jn 1:7,8) and later, “Now this was John's testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was,” (Jn 1:19) and then, “Then John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him.” (Jn 1:32)

When it came to Jesus, as he spoke with Nicodemus, he said, “ I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven--the Son of Man. ” (Jn 3:11-13)

Now we have just seen, “The one who comes from above is above all.” (Jn 3:31) Referring to Jesus, now the writer (or John the Baptist) declares, “He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony.” (Jn 3:32) We have already just seen Jesus chiding Nicodemus for not accepting his testimony. In the general passage following we saw, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” (Jn 3:19).

Again and again we get this same thing. We should have listened to Jesus because he had come from heaven and knew what he was saying but instead, “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.” (Jn 1:10,11) We'll see later in the gospel, when Jesus speaks about being the bread of life that came down from heaven, the listening Jews rejected what he was saying.

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Short Meditations in John 3: 32. Backup

Jn 3:33    The man who has accepted it has certified that God is truthful.

We move in this verse into an area of slight uncertainty. Let's take the fairly easy bit first, the word, ‘it'. The man who accepted what? The testimony of Jesus referred to in the previous verse, the testimony of the one who has come from heaven and therefore is qualified to testify to spiritual realities. Yes, this is Jesus.

But who is ‘the man'? Is it John the Baptist or is it John the apostle or does it refer to someone else? Well what do we know about this man? They have accepted Jesus' testimony and so they certify that God is truthful and what Jesus says is true. How do they certify this?

Well some suggest this refers to John the Baptist and he certifies that this is true by his proclamations about Jesus, as we have been seeing in earlier verses. Others suggest that this refers to all believers who once they have accepted Jesus' testimony ‘certify' its truth by their lives being transformed. Others suggest that the man is John the apostle, the writer, who certifies this by actually writing about it here in the Gospel.

Whatever the truth, each one of these possibilities hold truth. John the Baptist was certifying that Jesus' testimony was true by his proclamations. Every believer now they have come to believe in Jesus' testimony certifies to its truth by having their lives transformed. And John the Gospel writer has certainly testified to its truth by writing this Gospel in the way he does.

Isn't it interesting that we have been provoked to consider a variety of possibilities by the uncertainty of the writing, and yet every possibility has truth within it and all point to the key point – that Jesus testified to his Father because he had come from heaven where he had spent eternity with his Father and thus his testimony on the earth was unique.

The challenge to each one of us, I suggest, is to hunt down the truth by examining possibilities and weighing them against the evidence. Moreover once we have weighed that evidence and found the truth, to give ourselves whole heartedly to it. What danger there is in simply holding the truth up to the light and examining it and simply treating it as a piece of evidence to be put under a microscope – and be left there! The Gospels were written that we read, investigate, take in, come to belief and then submit to him and are changed. The testimonies of John, John and Jesus should be sufficient – if we come with open minds and open hearts – to create belief in us that enables to be born again and to then enter in to the wonderful life of God.

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Short Meditations in John 3: 33. Words of God

Jn 3:34   "For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.

Again there is a possible ambiguity in this verse that can make it have various possible meanings. If you are like me you will probably have read this verse many times and passed over it without giving it serious thought before. The most likely meaning is that “the one” who is referred to is Jesus. Ultimately this paragraph that starts with verse 31 and ends with verse 36 is really all about the Son. Verses 31 and 32 are clearly about Jesus as are 35 and 36, but sandwiched between those two pairs of verses are another pair that may be about another or others.

Let's take it first of all as basic testimony about Jesus. He has been sent by the Father and so he speaks the words of the Father. Later on in chapter 14 Jesus says, “ Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. ……… The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.” (Jn 14:9,10) Jesus speaks the words his Father gives him and, because he is the Son, he has the Spirit without limit. Again and again, thus the text would appear to be confirming that Jesus words and ministry in general is both valid and unique because he alone has come from heaven and he alone has the words of his Father in heaven, and he alone speaks with the Spirit without limit. That is possibly the most likely understanding.

A second less strong possibility is that this refers to John the Baptist for he had certainly been sent by God and his words about Jesus could thus be trusted because he too had been filled with the Spirit even from before birth. He too was a good witness to Jesus. Even if these words do not apply, this truth does apply.

Unlike the previous verse it would be more difficult to apply this to John the apostle because although he may well be sent by God to write this Gospel, essentially he is collecting together things he knew about and the words are not so much his. Nevertheless he is a good and trusted witness to Jesus and the way he writes with such thought and such insight says that we may trust him as a reliable witness.

Finally there are those who suggest that these words apply to any believer who God has called, for although on one hand we have been called, on the other we are also sent into the world (see Matt 28:19,20) to proclaim the truth about Jesus, and when we have been filled with the Spirit, the Spirit in Himself is unlimited and Christians, not only by their words but by the actions can be considered good witnesses to the truth about Jesus. Skeptics often forget this. This is all about valid testimony about Jesus. He can be believed. He is the Son.

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Short Meditations in John 3: 34. The Father's Love

Jn 3:35 The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.

The subject of Father and Son comes up a number of times in this Gospel. This verse obviously follows on from the previous one. Jesus speaks the Father's words, the Son has come from heaven where he had dwelt in eternity with the Father and within that relationship, in respect of the kingdom, the Father has placed all authority on earth in the hands of the Son. The following verse shows us that He has also made him the focus and means of all salvation, the way of receiving eternal life.

In chapter 5 we are shown Jesus' closeness to the Father: “ Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.” (Jn 5:17-20) Such closeness riled the religious Jews for it was clear that he was equating himself with the Father, God. That unity was in the work that Father and Son did.

A few verses on Jesus pushes the point even more: “Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him,”( Jn 5:22,23) and then a few verses on adds, “And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. ” (Jn 5:27) Unity, honour, respect and authority are the same for both Father and Son according to Jesus. It is a powerful claim!

In response to the grumbling Jews, Jesus declared, “Stop grumbling among yourselves," Jesus answered. "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets: `They will all be taught by God.' Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father.” (Jn 6:43-46) Again this closeness, harmony and unity between Father and Son is displayed.

We find more of this sort of declaration from Jesus about the Father in 8:16-18, 27-29,38, 54, 10:14-18,29,30,37,38, 12:26-28,49, 13:1,3, 14:6-13, 28-31, 15:15,16, 16:26-28,32, 20:17. Without doubt this Gospel is the Gospel of the Father and Son relationship.

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Short Meditations in John 3: 35. Life or Wrath

Jn 3:36   Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him.

As we come to the end of this chapter, having passed through a number of verses speaking of Jesus as the unique Son of God who had come down from heaven, now the one true witness because he had come from the Father, we now come to the purpose of that coming: to create believers who can inherit eternal life in harmony with God.

Note how it starts: “whoever believes”. Now this is very important. Life with God starts with belief but it is a belief that has actions. The apostle James understood this when he wrote, “ You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder.” (Jas 2:19) Demons believe in God but they don't have a loving relationship with Him. They know about Him but they don't interact with Him. No, this ‘believing' is a believing that creates a response, i.e. creates action.

This believing is of the sort that when it hears of Christ, finds something inside reaching out for more but realises it is in a state of need and so falls before God in surrender and receives His forgiveness and His cleansing and His adoption and His Holy Spirit's presence to dwell within. This believing creates action than enables God to see our heart is true and reaching out for Him and so He gives us His Spirit and thus He gives us eternal life.

The word ‘believe' occurs over fifty times in John's Gospel. It is the Gospel all about believing and John is very candid about that: “Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (Jn 20:30,31) This Gospel, says John, should act as a foundation of belief in Jesus and when you see him as he is and believe you will receive a new life as you give yourself over to the Father.

But every coin has two sides and so on this particular one, on one side is belief and eternal life, and on the other unbelief and God's anger. Please distinguish angers from hostility or revenge. Righteous anger is simply an objective emotion that responds rightly to wrong. Anger is instinctive. Anger is passionate displeasure that rises up in the face of something awful, something wrong. So what is so wrong about unbelief? Well unbelief is always wilful. If we wanted we could respond to that thing within us (see Eccles 3:11) that wants to seek for the truth – but we don't. The evidence is all there but we either refuse to go looking for it or we refuse to believe it, as obvious as it is. This wilfulness is wrong, stupidly wrong and incurs God's anger. Rightly!