Well then, come and see, and therefore the two disciples heard and followed. John 1:36-42.

 Previously we learned that a primary function of John the baptizer’s mission served was to announce that Jesus was manifested to Israel.

Did that happen?

Yes, but from a human standpoint, many looked at the baptizer as a crazy man; after all, look at what he wore and ate.

When the Jewish leaders showed up, he challenged them, calling them vipers – a term that gave them an association with the serpent that Moses raised up on the pole; it represented evil, poison, and death. It is challenging to perceive John as a live-screen billboard declaring that the Messiah is here. With a rant like this, you might be inclined to say that God was unfair toward the Jewish leadership, seeing as the voice doing the announcing, though a son of a priest himself, was, at best, peculiar. But never forget that at Jesus’ birth, in Bethlehem, there was, what we assume, an astrological alignment of stars that effectively pointed right to the spot where the Messiah was born.

Did the Jewish leadership accept that fact even though it was declared through the Torah and the Tenach, books that are the foundations of our faith and lead us to Yahshua, the Messiah?

No, those same leaders were quickly brought before Herod because he became alarmed that a relatively large entourage was coming their way and may have been a threat to Herod’s rule. So he asked the Jews if they knew what was going on; they did, and they quoted the words. Ah, but the Jews refused to accept this baby as the Messiah.

Approximately thirty years later, they are no less inclined to accept Jesus as the Messiah.

“Again the next day, John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as He walked and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 
(John 1:35-36 NASB)

I began looking for a translation that would solidify this statement with a Jewish feel and perhaps give us a blast of clarity. Look at what I found; I prefer something else to this translation, but with three words, it dominates the reality of why Jesus was here. 

“He looked up, saw Jesus walking nearby, and said, “Here he is, God’s Passover Lamb.”
(John 1:36 MSG)

“He” is referring to John, the baptizer.

Serving as the Passover lamb is one of the functions of Jesus as the Messiah.

What do we have that bears witness to this statement? 

“And Abraham said, My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they both went together.”
(Genesis 22:8 MKJV)

Statements such as John’s and what we see in Genesis 22:8 could be interpreted in at least two ways. One would be that God would arrange to have a sacrifice provided, which is precisely what God did in the case of Abraham and Isaac. The other way of reading this passage conveys that God would provide Himself as the lamb, which is precisely what God did for those who believe and follow.

John the baptizer said of Jesus, Behold the Lamb of God. Every Jew hearing this bold assertion made a prompt association with: 

• The forgiveness of sin; 

• The faithful actions of Abraham as he made the substitutionary sacrifice and, therefore, did not kill Issac, his firstborn – according to the promise; 

• The lamb that was slain on the night of the Passover. The blood of that lamb was painted on the doorposts and the lentil as a symbol of God's possession, and it became protection from the wrath that was to come upon the firstborn of everyone not covered by the blood that night.

If they had been willing to see, (This simple phrase carries a broad meaning as the “they” would have been inclusive of any in Egypt, whether they followed the lead of God's people that night. It is not likely that they would have painted the blood because there was more to it than that, but there was nothing that prevented a scared Egyptian from seeking shelter from the wrath, which, if you follow that logic through, speaks volumes about a God of mercy that is beyond my comprehension.) they would have seen that the Messiah would be the substitutionary sacrifice, removing the penalty for all sin and all humanity. Like the Jews that day, we all have to apply some faith and trust in Him, receiving Him as the King over our lives.

“The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.” 
(John 1:37 NASB)

Context! The Apostle John refers to John – the baptizer, as the speaker. 

The Apostle John (and yes, I am aware that John was not given this title until much later, but it helps, especially here, to identify who is talking), when talking about events that included himself, never inserted his own name. This could be what is happening here in John 1:37. And that is the story I am going to hold to unless there is a historical account that details who this other disciple was.

Does the Apostle John's intentionally vague acknowledgment of himself affect the message and our perception? 

Not as long as we pay attention to the context.

An example of context that gave me trouble occurred as I looked at Matthew’s account of the briefing initiated in Matthew 24:1 that Jesus gave to the disciples on the Mount of Olives. 

“Now when Yeshua went out and was going away from the Temple, His disciples came up to point out to Him the Temple buildings.”
(Matthew 24:1 TLV)

Assuming you realize that none of the disciples understood that Jesus was to be the substitutionary sacrifice because they were looking for Him to be the military rescuer of Israel that would relieve them from Roman rule and oppression. As I read Matthew 24:1, the disciples come across as traumatized war veterans, and the fact that they had to defer to alluding to the megalithic stones that were part of the temple’s construction, which was well-known to all, was nothing less than bizarre and obviously, embedded in some previous action or conversation. I returned to Matthew 22 to find the context surrounding the question and Jesus’ response. The point here is that you must be willing to do your appropriate homework.

We are told these two disciples followed the Messiah, whether or not they fully understood or believed. 

Follow is the Greek word akolouthéō, and means to attend, accompany, go with, or follow a teacher.

Isn’t this what He desires from us today - To attend, accompany, and stay close by His side as we follow Him?

“Yeshua turned around and saw them following. He said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to Him, “Rabbi” (which is translated as Teacher), “where are you staying?”
(John 1:38 TLV)

The Modern King James Version indicates that He said, “what do you seek?” Whether Jesus rudely asked, “What are you looking for?” is irrelevant and improper because He would not have been blatantly rude. I find it easier to believe that He said, “what do you seek?” Both versions of the question are rather open-ended and could imply a variety of responses. What the Jews sought was Jesus, a rabbi that could and would teach them and lead them; regrettably, they did not fully realize that.

Just the day before, Jesus had been baptized by John and had not only the Holy Spirit come upon Him, but the Father acknowledged Him as the Son in whom He was well pleased. In a sense, we did not see Him leave.

Strangely, Matthew records this as though there is a precise chronological timeline.

“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry.”
(Matthew 4:1-2 NASB)

Where did John the baptizer do most of his baptizing?

“Now in those days John the Baptist *came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying,”
(Matthew 3:1 NASB)

It was south of Jerusalem and Bethlehem. That is approximately 87 long miles by foot between Capernaum and Judea. So Jesus did not make any overnight round trips between these two points.

It is Matthew that tells us that Jesus had just come from Galilee.

Then Jesus *arrived from Galilee at the Jordan, coming to John to be baptized by him.
(Matthew 3:13 NASB)

For them to ask Him where He was staying, especially when He doesn't live around the area, tends to indicate that they were looking for permanence in their relationship with Him.

“Come and see,” Yeshua tells them. So they came and saw where He was staying, and they spent that day with Him. It was about the tenth hour.”
(John 1:39 TLV)

The series, “The Chosen,” initiated their series with these very words, Come and See. Those words still ring true in contrast to I don't believe, well then, come and see.

The Lamb of God willingly proved who He was and still is today, consistent.

“Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard John speak and followed Yeshua.”
(John 1:40 TLV)

All this proves is that Andrew, the brother of Simon, the fisherman, became one of Jesus' first disciples based upon what he heard from Jesus and a drive to follow Him.

“First he finds his own brother Simon and tells him, “We’ve found the Messiah!” (which is translated Anointed One).”
(John 1:41 TLV)

So Andrew goes and finds his brother Simon. He tells him, “we have found the Messiah!” The Complete Jewish Bible states, (CJB)  "We've found the Mashiach!" (The word means "one who has been anointed.")

The word Mashiach is the Greek word Messias. It is a proper noun transliterated from the Hebrew term Māshı̄ach. It corresponds with the Greek word Christós. The words are meant to indicate a consecrated or anointed person. In ancient times not only the king, but also the priest and the prophet were consecrated to their calling by being anointed. In the OT, the word is used in its literal sense, meaning one who has been anointed. This understanding of the OT is the manner in which those hearing Andrew's exclamation would have been directed. [Word Study Dictionary]

“Andrew brought him to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which is translated as Peter).”
(John 1:42 BSB)

In just a matter of hours, Peter is standing before Jesus/Yahshua.

Did he realize that this was the Mashiach that they longed for?

I doubt it, but then there was the Holy Spirit coming upon Jesus and that voice that called Him the beloved Son.

Nonetheless, Jesus, in the process of introducing Himself, immediately designates Peter as Cephas, or, as the Tree of Life version, which was written for Messianic church groups, indicates that Peter was to be called Kefa (which is translated as Peter).” We have been told over the years that this name applied to Peter, meaning the rock - an indication that he was to be solid, steadfast, and dependable.

If you watch The Chosen, they show Peter's frailties. While scripture does show us those things, it does show us Peter's reactionary actions in the garden when cutting off Malchus' ear, and we are shown his denial and how it affected Peter. After Jesus' death, Peter seems to have reverted back to being a fisherman, and a few others joined him. The fascinating end to this story was Jesus' way of handling Peter by calling him back into the game, eating lunch with the men, and directly reaffirming Peter, just as He does with us.

John didn't refuse to answer. He told them clearly. John 1:19-23.

 I am writing to people who have been taught poorly or were taught falsehoods, and some errors are intentional. I will include myself in this next weakness within the Christian community, and that is that WE do not nor will not pick up the Bible and read it. I can speak bluntly about this because I had to make a hard decision to fix this weakness in myself. In 2007 I started a job with early work hours, so I would give myself an extra hour before work to go to McDonald's, eat breakfast and read my Bible. So many people whimper about where they should start reading; I have suggestions, but there is a better time or place. I needed to know who God was and what His character was like, so I started with Matthew's gospel, where I saw His Son, Jesus, and slowly worked my way through the New Testament. Every day brought questions and challenges, and I wrote them down as I asked God my hard questions, all of which got answered.

I never spent a tremendous amount of time focused on John the Baptist.

The NASB entitles this next section, The Testimony of John the Baptist.

We covered a couple of details about John the Baptist in my previous post. In terms of teIn my previous post, we covered some details about John the Baptist. In terms of temperament, and I am imagining here, I perceive a touch of sanguine because he is outgoing and, to a degree, social. The other trait that I see is choleric. I say this because John comes across as short-tempered and irritable, much like the Apostle Paul (who may well be one of those being sent to verbally accost him.) He had, by the way, called them a den of vipers. 

Now apply the personality traits that we can only assume to the following few verses where we see John in action.

“This was John’s answer when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?””
(John 1:19 GW)

• “The Jews sent priests.”

We are not told who did the sending as even within the priests and council members, there was a hierarchy. I can see leaders sending lower-ranking members to go and challenge the man they obviously perceive as acting as though he is replacing them. However, John may not have felt that way.

If what I said seemed odd to you, think about this incident.

“Very early, while it was still night, Yeshua got up, left, and went away to a place in the wilderness; and there He was praying. Then Simon and those with him hunted for Yeshua. And when they found Him, they said to Him, “Everybody’s looking for You.” He said to them, “Let’s go somewhere else, to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also—this is what I came for.” And He went throughout all the Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and driving out demons. A man suffering from a dreaded skin disease came to Jesus, knelt down, and begged him for help. "If you want to," he said, "you can make me clean."(GNB) .” Moved with compassion, Yeshua stretched out His hand and touched him. He said, “I am willing. Be cleansed.”
(Mark 1:35-41 TLV & GNB)

There was no doubt that Jesus could heal, but to be cleansed was what the priests did, and apparently, religion was corrupt enough to demand payment for the procedure where you were reintroduced back into the community. So this man asked Jesus to heal him and pronounce him cleansed. But, if you follow the narrative, Jesus sternly warned the man to keep his mouth shut about Jesus pronouncing him clean. He knew this was a boundary that would feed into a deadly fight with the Pharisees. Considering that John's daddy was a priest, they knew who John was.

“When Herod was king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the division of priests named after Abijah. Zechariah’s wife Elizabeth was a descendant of Aaron.”
(Luke 1:5 GW)

Their question had no politeness connected to it. It is more of a challenge, similar to who do you think you are. The other side of this coin is that Jesus' own disciples, and several of them left John to join Jesus, did not understand that He was the Messiah, as they were looking for a warring messiah that would free them from Roman oppression, etc. This misconception stayed with them until they were filled with the Holy Spirit in the upper room after Jesus left the earth.

“John didn’t refuse to answer. He told them clearly, “I’m not the Messiah.”
(John 1:20 GW)

Adam Clarke wrote: “John renounces himself, that Jesus may be all in all.” Really, at this point, John is enjoying some freedom, but the day is coming after denouncing the actions of Herod."

“For Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip,”
(Matthew 14:3 TLV)

John is close to death, so he sends some of his disciples to Jesus to do what?

“Now when John heard in prison about the works of the Messiah, he sent word through his disciples and said to Yeshua, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?”
(Matthew 11:2-3 TLV)

““What then? Are you Elijah?” they asked him. “I am not,” said John. “Are you the Prophet?” “No,” he answered.”
(John 1:21 TLV)

• Are you Elijah?

  The answer is NO.

• Are you the prophet?

  Just a touch on the repetitious side. Wasn't Elijah a prophet? Yes, he was, and NO he never died because God took him, and this piece of evidence sort of mandates that Elijah must physically die. 

John told them straight out, I am not Elijah. Then who is this other prophet? Adam Clarke says this is the prophet spoken of by Moses, Deuteronomy 18:15,18.

“Instead, he will send you a prophet like me (Moses) from among your own people, and you are to obey him.”
(Deuteronomy 18:15 GNB)

I had no idea that Moses was a prophet.

“I will send them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will tell him what to say, and he will tell the people everything I command.”
(Deuteronomy 18:18 GNB)

This line, “I will tell him what to say, and he will tell the people everything I command,” says much about the character of Jesus.

“He will speak in my name, and I will punish anyone who refuses to obey him.” (Deuteronomy 18:19 GNB)

Every word that Jesus spoke was focused on the instructions of the Father, no matter how random those words may have seemed.

“So they said to him, “Who are you? Give us an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
(John 1:22 TLV)

I am not sure it mattered what the answer was; no matter how ridiculous, it just needed to quell the angst of the Jewish leadership. 

“He said, “I am ‘the voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Make straight the way of Adonai,”’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”
(John 1:23 TLV)

The words that stand out in my mind are the same that I chose for my blog.” Why did I choose that? Because I felt, and still feel, like I am sharing God's voice and no one is listening. Someday soon, they will hear. 

It is never too late to make straight the way of Adonai, as long as you have breath in your lungs.

Is it possible that the image causes those who do not worship the image to be killed. Rev 13:15.

 A recent internet post attempted to make the argument that the image of the beast, that has been given breath, causes those who do not worship the image to be killed. My immediate reaction is that this is not right; I have never heard that the slaughter of Christ-followers is due to a direct command of the image of the beast.

If you have followed my posts for any length of time, then you know that I am willing to tell you that growing up in church I have heard many things that are wrong, but at least I am willing to tell you, and, at the same time make myself vulnerable to criticism.

In this rapidly changing world, we live in, the only way I can see an image come to life and order people to their death would be through artificial intelligence; you know, something along the lines of the Mr. Lincoln attraction at Disneyland (I say this as though most of know that the Disney engineers, built a metal frame, put a flexible skin on it that looks like images we have of President Lincoln and made it talk. It was, for a time, quite impressive.) Well, we are practically there, and the engineering is much more elaborate.

Keep in mind that if the governments are allowing you to see any aspect of advanced technology like this, then they are already years ahead of what you are seeing. I say this because, for years, we did not know there was a plane like the U2, flying at classified speeds until they had already replaced the U2 with the SR71 spy plane that could fly even faster. By the time we were aware that we had the SR71, it was on the verge of being replaced with spy satellites; at least that is what we were told. As far as the world is concerned, we, the masses, are out of the loop when it comes to the evil plans our rulers have made. Fortunately, God has shown us what they are doing in the dark.

One more thing before we jump into the passage at hand. If someone says to me, I have an image, my mind immediately thinks of a picture, perhaps even a sketch. Think about the practicality of making a sketch breath; it doesn't really work does it. So it has to be something more elaborate than a mere picture. That kind of thinking moves us into the realm of a bust of a head. Madame Tussaud's wax museum takes multiple measurements of the real person in order to make the wax image. The problem here is that the bust is of whom Allah, or perhaps the Mahdi, which Islam is expecting; then there is NOTHING on which to base this image, so the general public will be made to worship whatever they wish to make. Even Mr. Lincoln's head started as a clay bust. And thus we have things like Revelation 13.

Revelation 13:15 NASB And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.

Assuming I have nothing but verse 15 to decipher what is being said, then

• I can see immediately that it is the second beast – the false prophet that gives the image breath.

• I can also determine that someone or something else is giving the false prophet this power.

• It is the breath that allows the image to speak.

  Right here is where the difficulties begin.

  Breath is the Greek word pneuma. This is the same word used for the spirit of God and/or the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 3:16 the pneuma descended upon Jesus; and, in John 16:13 pneuma is used in reference to the Spirit of truth, and in both instances are references to the Holy Spirit.)

  The false prophet is NOT giving this image the spirit of the living God, but perhaps he is throwing some switch that gives the image a false soul, capable of making life-changing decisions about people. Since any empowerment it has seems to be from Satan, then it is a deception at best.

• And, the verse tells me the breath was given for a purpose. That purpose is to speak, and, as the NASB states, it causes those who do not worship the image to be killed.

  The passage in the NASB, with NO punctuation, does not promote an understanding which allows me to say, it is the now speaking image that kills, therefore, it could be the false prophet that is causing those that do not worship the image to die.

  Whether the CEV is a reliable translation is debatable, even to me, but they added a period that plainly changes the meaning. Take note.

  “It was allowed to put breath into the idol, so that it could speak. Everyone who refused to worship the idol of the beast was put to death.” (Revelation 13:15 CEV)

  It is the second beast, which we know to be the false prophet that is implied to be the purveyor of death. Note the period in the sentence, this allows for a pause and a redirection of thought that tells us that everyone who refuses to worship the image was put to death. There is nothing here that tells us who is doing the killing.

  The Moffatt translation is rather reliable and it maintains that “he,” the false prophet, is the one who is doing the killing.

  “and to this statue of the Beast he was allowed to impart the breath of life, so that the statue of the Beast should actually speak. He has everyone put to death who will not worship the statue of the Beast,” (Revelation 13:15 Moffatt NT)

  The Williams translation puts Revelation 13:15 this way.

  “Permission has also been given him to impart life to the statue of the wild beast so that it can speak, and to have all who do not worship the statue of the wild beast killed.”

  When it speaks of “him” it is talking about the false prophet who gives the statue the ability to speak; and, it is the false prophet who has the non-worshipers killed.

  The problem is that most of us are still struggling with the possibility that artificial intelligence could play a role in this scenario. Many translations are very definite when they indicate that the image or idol is the one who is ordering the deaths of non-worshipers.

A good deal of information about the false prophet comes from Revelation 13 starting at verse 11.

What do we see here?

Revelation 13:11 NASB Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon.

• There are two strong distinctions. For example, the harlot sits upon many waters.

  Those waters are defined as people groups, nations, rulers, and empires. In Revelation 13:1 the first beast comes up out of the sea. There is an interesting parallel between the harlot and this first beast, as the harlot rides the beast.

  And yet, the harlot has little to do with the second beast except that the second beast may play a role in the demise of the harlot, which has close ties to Israel.

• The second beast comes up out of the earth.

  I pondered this for a moment and I heard this in my spirit, this guy comes from Israel. As usual, the thought entered my head so quickly that I ignored it.

  A few minutes have passed since I started this and I decided to look at Dr. McGee's commentary. He says

"the earth is symbolic of Palestine, and it is naturally assumed that the second beast comes from Israel. He (the second beast) is a Messiah, and Israel would not accept him unless he had come from their land and was one of them."

As of 2016, the Temple Institute had such a man. His name is Rabbi Baruch Kahane and he is trained to function as the high priest in the NEW temple. He is well thought of and has no pushy ambitions of being the high priest. The most recent information on him informs us that he does not want the job.

At some point in time (1240 days into this morass called God's wrath,) a man like this will change teams and exhibit bizarre powers, just as the two witnesses had been doing.

Some examples of what the two witnesses have been doing.

“If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. They have power to shut up the heavens so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.”(Revelation 11:5-6 NIV)

Revelation 13:12 NASB He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed.

• We are told that the second beast exercises all the power of the first.

  What witnesses do we have to go on?

"There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him. And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven. It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him." (Revelation 13:5-7 NASB)

• So this person has an arrogant mouth;

• He blasphemes God and the tabernacle;

• He makes war with the saints and overcomes them;

• And, he has authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation.

These are the same things that this second beast will do. Now that means that the second beast, the false prophet, will also make war with the saints and overcome them. It doesn't matter what Islam thinks at this point, but they deem this man to be the enforcer of sharia law which is devoted to beheading infidels - those outside of Islam.

At this point, who is doing all the killing?

Well, it was the first beast but now it is the second.

This may be the time that Jesus was telling the disciples about when He said,

“For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. "If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.”
(Matthew 24:21-22 NIV)

• "And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed."

This is the same beast that we saw in Revelation 13:3. Here it tells us that it appeared to be killed.

Revelation 13:3 CJB  One of the heads of the beast appeared to have received a fatal wound, but its fatal wound was healed, and the whole earth followed after the beast in amazement.

In a previous post, I elaborated on how the Ottoman empire, which was a Muslim empire was effectively put to death in 1924. Silenced, perhaps, as the Muslim Brotherhood emerged from the ruins; and, in 1979 we witnessed the Islamic revolution in Iran. So, this beast is quite alive.