October 2024

Two disciples of John the Baptist were standing with him when Jesus walked by. John declared, “ ‘Behold the Lamb of God!’ ” (John 1:36, NKJV). The two disciples had listened to John’s message about the Christ, who would fulfill the Old Testament prophecies about the coming Messiah. The disciples left John to follow Jesus, recognizing that Jesus was greater than John the Baptist and that He was the fulfillment of John’s message.

Read John 1:35–39. What did these two disciples do after hearing John’s witness about Jesus?

The Hebrew nation was looking for a Messiah who would deliver them from Rome. The goal of the Gospel of John was to change their understanding of the Messiah so that they could recognize in Jesus the fulfillment of the prophecies regarding the coming King. The Messiah would not be an earthly ruler. He came to fulfill all the Old Testament promises concerning Himself, which include His self-sacrifice in behalf of the world, and to renew the relationship between God and His people.

As last week’s lesson illustrated, the Gospel of John begins with Jesus Christ, the Word, in His eternal existence before Creation. But in that same prologue, John the Baptist appears as a witness to Jesus. Some Jews in Jesus’ time expected two messiahs, one priestly and the other royal. John clearly teaches that John the Baptist did not claim to be one of these messiahs but, rather, was a witness to the one true Messiah.

Read John 1:19–23. How did John the Baptist explain his ministry and mission?

Read for This Week’s Study

John 1:19–23, Isa. 40:1–5, John 1:29–37, Rom. 5:6, John 1:35–39, John 1:43–51, John 3:1–21.

Memory Text:

Read Ellen G. White, “ ‘God With Us,’ ” pp. 19–26, in The Desire of Ages.

“The Lord Jesus Christ, the divine Son of God, existed from eternity, a distinct person, yet one with the Father. He was the surpassing glory of heaven. He was the commander of the heavenly intelligences, and the adoring homage of the angels was received by Him as His right. This was no robbery of God [Prov. 8:22–27 quoted].

Read John 17:1–5. What did Jesus mean when He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you” (ESV)?

Yesterday’s study looked at the earthly, human storyline of the Gospel of John with its clash and interplay between people, always revolving around who Jesus is and what He is doing. Today’s study focuses on the divine, cosmic storyline, also found in John.

Read John 3:16–21, John 9:35–41, and John 12:36–46. How do these texts repeat the theme of belief/unbelief found in the prologue?

In John’s Gospel, humanity seems to be divided into two overarching groups: those who believe in Jesus and accept Him as the Messiah and those who, having the opportunity to believe, choose not to.

Read John 1:9–13. What harsh reality is John depicting here about how people respond to Jesus?

Read John 1:1–3, 14. What are these verses telling us that Jesus, God Himself, did—and why is this truth the most important truth that we could ever know?

John starts his Gospel not with the name “Jesus” or His role as Messiah/Christ but with the term logos. Around the time John wrote, various philosophies used the term logos to refer to the rational structure of the universe, or to refer to the idea of logic and reason themselves.

Read John 1:1–5. What do these words reveal about the Word, Jesus Christ?

The Gospel of John begins with this amazing thought: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). This one beautiful sentence contains a depth of thought that we can barely grasp.

First, the evangelist alludes to the Creation story in Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning.” The Word was already there before the beginning of the universe. Thus, John affirms Jesus’ eternal existence.