Last words

Last words.  John 3.30-36

‘This is the last will and testament of John Doe.’  You have heard the words read aloud--in courtroom dramas and in movies; you have read them in books, perhaps heard them with regard to one of your loved ones … ‘this is the last will and testament of George Washington’, for instance.*   Instantly, the words become the last known words of an individual, forever to live on, attached to that person.  Sometimes, the words shock and shake loved ones to the core; other times, they are just routine, and nothing noteworthy whatever. 

Here at the close of John 3, we hear the last from John the Baptist, before he is imprisoned by Herod, and soon after, executed.  

If your last words were to be uttered today, would they point others to Jesus?

Before we read, though … “Dear Father, would you open the eyes of our hearts and minds as we read the Scripture, that we might comprehend … that we might partake and apply it to our wanting lives?  Amen and Amen” 

John writes of Jesus:  “He must increase, but I must decrease.

The One who comes from above is above all.

The one who is from the earth is earthly and speaks in earthly terms.

The One who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what He has seen and heard, yet no one accepts His testimony. The one who has accepted His testimony has affirmed that God is true.

For God sent Him, and He speaks God’s words, since He gives the Spirit without measure.

The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hands.

The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who refuses to believe in the Son will not see life; instead, the wrath of God remains on him.”  John 3.30-36, HCSB

Let us simply look at what John says about our Lord, and why he is great … why he is set apart, why he is God incarnate—John gives us several reasons. Jesus testifies to what he has seen and heard—first hand!  This is really interesting, because we never think of Jesus giving a ‘testimony’ per se, but his whole ministry was really a testimony, if you stop and think about it.  He testified of what he knew to be true--of what he had seen, heard, and experienced firsthand of God the Father, his father.  No one else could give this testimony either; no wonder people wanted to put him to death.

The One who comes from heaven is above all because God sent him—besides the fact that he tells us what he has seen and heard, we also know that God sent him because Jesus speaks God’s words, (John 12.49-50), and only his Father’s words.  Again, none of us could ever make that claim—that we only speak the words our Father gives us to speak--or even, realistically set it as a goal.  Can you imagine?  ‘From now on, I am only going to say the things God would have me say…’ Sure. 

John says of Jesus that ‘God gives him the Spirit without measure’ … Before Jesus came in the flesh, the Holy Spirit was given to individuals by God for specific tasks, but on earth, Jesus always had the Holy Spirit upon him and within him.  And the Father entrusted his divine plan into the hands of his beloved Son, our Lord Jesus.

Right here, God might stop and say as he did after each of six days of Creation, ‘it was good’.  Because Jesus Christ, God Incarnate, working out God’s divine plan, was indeed very good… that through believing in Jesus, came the offer of eternal life—life everlasting—life abundant—life to the full. Very good indeed.

If John had been stopped right there, his last words would have pointed to Jesus.  His last will and testament would have been a rich one indeed.  Yours?

Christine