Today’s readings.. (Numbers 28), (Proverbs 20), (John 1)

Today we started reading the Gospel of John and saw how Jesus called his first followers.  It is evident Jesus made an immediate impact on those who met up with him starting from when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. John’s Gospel, the last one to be written, in several parts fills in the gaps left by the first 3 Gospels.  Of course some parts overlap; taken together they provide us with a multi-dimensional picture of the life on earth of the Son of God.  As the personality of Jesus opens out to us, we see the impact he made on individuals and we see why even those sent to arrest him said, in excuse of their failure, “No one ever spoke like this man.” [7 v.46]

When John the Baptist said, “Behold the Lamb of God” [1 v.36] it caused at least two to follow Jesus.  Seeing them follow Jesus perceived their character, but he also knew his Father was at work in causing this.  At the climax of his ministry he would say in prayer, “I kept them in your name, which you have given me.  I have guarded them, and not one of them is lost except the son of destruction” [17 v.12]   Judas failed to “see” who Jesus really was.

In today’s chapter we read how Philip told his friend Nathaniel, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also in the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth …” [v.45]  So they knew their Bible!  Nathaniel questions, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see’”  

We cannot go and see Jesus physically (not yet!) but we can Come to God’s word and after careful examination ‘See’ what it really means, comparing scripture with scripture: only God’s word gives us the real reason for being alive – and, wonderfully, gives us a real hope for the future.   

      An interesting example of what God’s word “inspires” us to do is in today’s chapter in the book of Numbers.  We are not living under Moses’ law with all its system of offerings, but we can take the lesson that “day by day … you shall offer in the morning and … you shall offer at twilight …” [28 v.3,4]  

      Today, God fearing people should, says Paul in the letter to the Hebrews, “Through (Christ) then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.” [13 v.15]  Do your lips bear such fruit?  Have you “come” to “see” what “the Lamb of God” means in your life? Do you offer praise as a result? The older we get the more fully we should be able to “see” this.