John 3:29-30

The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.  He must become greater; I must become less.

 

From Background Notes [BN] for Oct 25th & 26th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

 

Consider it a potpourri of future followers in just a few verses of John’s Gospel.

 

 

Our first introduction is to a man named John (not the writer) aka “John the Baptizer” or “John the Baptist” whom we’ll refer to as JBap! His name appears in 1:35-36 as the fellow who pointed Jesus out to others, and, in effect, worked himself out of job. He would later comment about his relationship to Jesus: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (3:30), likening himself to the “friend of the bridegroom” in his role as the one “sent ahead of him” (3:28) and as the one whose “joy has been fulfilled” by Jesus’ arrival (3:29). JBap was the pointer of the way to Jesus. He gave witness to Jesus so that others might follow him, and the essence of his message climaxes in the testimony of 1:36, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!”  [BN,4]

Join us this week in Study, Worship, Praise and Celebration at Chicago First Church of the Nazarene:

* Saturday 6:00pm
* Sunday 8:30am & 11:00am