King James Version, with Nii Okai's journal notes · 17 notes
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2The same was in the beginning with God.
3All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
4In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
In him was life and light — why need him except that there is death ☠ and darkness?
And indeed this world is full of death and darkness.
5And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
6There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
8He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
9That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
10He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
11He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
We claim to be the sons of God, and this claim is mere words if not backed by power...
Anyone can claim to be a son of royalty 👑, but till you prove it with wealth, riches and a kingdom,
you are speaking mere words...
Same thing: we can claim to be the sons of deities. But do we have divine power to back it?
If not, all would just laugh 😂 and mock at us till we prove it.
14And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, ( and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
15John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.
This was John; he and Jesus were cousins, and yet the divine reverence he had for him.
This was because John walked by revelation and the Spirit.
It is just like James and Jude. The brothers of Jesus, yet they called themselves servants of the Lord.
They knew Jesus by the Spirit.
16And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
17For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
18No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
19And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou?
20And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ.
21And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No.
These questions asked of John go to show that
1. they were expecting the Messiah, the Christ
2. the signs of the Christ were known to them, for instance that Elijah must come first
They were a colony of Rome at this time and needed to know if their salvation was here.
22Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?
The religious leaders and power-drunk leaders of the time sent to quiz John and to find out his true intent.
They did not seek the truth; they sought to protect their influence at all cost...
If John had claimed he was Messiah, he would be a threat, and only a matter of time they would have killed him.
See what they did to Jesus, their Messiah.
23He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.
24And they which were sent were of the Pharisees.
25And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?
Why? What was there about baptism that it was the reserve of prophets or the Christ?
I ran a test and Elijah did not baptize; indeed there is no mention of baptism in the Old Testament.
So what were these people talking about?
And where did John know how to baptize from?
Will need further studies.
In reality they were saying, you are too successful for our liking.
Why do you baptise successfully when we cannot, because we are not that influential?
We are actually harboring some jealousy.
What is there about these three people that makes baptism their preserve?
Is there a prophecy that said that the Christ will baptize?
I don't remember Elijah baptizing anyone.
Will search 🔎
26John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not;
Who was that prophet referring to?
27He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose.
28These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.
29The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
30This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me.
31And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.
So all this was to wait for Jesus.
How long had he been baptising... Jesus was the climax of his ministry; indeed, baptizing Jesus was the fulfillment of his ministry.
But they were cousins, so how come he says he knew him not?
That could likely be because they did not grow up together nor meet each other till this moment in time.
From the records we have, the babies 🤱 last met each other when they were in the womb.
32And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.
33And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.
Two ✌️ things: upon whom the Spirit descends and remains.
Does that imply that for some, the Spirit descends and lifts back up, maybe as a sign to them of God's approval...?
But for the Christ the Spirit stayed with him forever.
What in the world did he mean? They were cousins.
But this is understandable; they did not live or grow together.
So he knew him not, except by the Spirit, which is reality.
34And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.
35Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples;
36And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!
These two were eyewitnesses and probably helped give this information for the gospel story.
I'm sure Mary the mother of Jesus and his family, who later became believers, also gave some account of their elder brother.
37And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.
38Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, ( which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou?
39He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour.
40One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.
41He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.
42And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.
43The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me.
How was the relationship built earlier for him to go looking for and finding him?
44Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.
45Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
How did they know Joseph? Or because Joseph was more or less his surname, it was just a way of calling his full name...
not necessarily that they knew Joseph.
46And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.
47Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!
48Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.
49Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.
50Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these.
51And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.
When did he see this? We don't know, or maybe it was in reference to his future coming.