7033 - What A Day! - John 1:35-40

In our study in the Gospel of John we have progressed to that period of time when Jesus is early in His ministry.

The baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist in the Jordan River marked the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus when he was thirty years old. This was a special occasion for John the Baptist. because God revealed to him that Jesus was the Messiah. He did that by sending the Holy Spirit to anoint and indwell Jesus for ministry. This occurred after the immersion when Heaven opened, and the Holy Spirit came in the form of a dove and remained upon Jesus.

After being baptized, at once the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert where he was tempted by Satan for forty days.

The next recorded event occurred when Jesus came to visit the scene where John the Baptist. was baptizing and ministering to people.

That leads us to John 1, verses 35 through 40. Listen:

“The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want? They said, “Rabbi (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour. Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus.”

The last sentence we read identifies Andrew.

The identification of the second comes from study in this gospel. John, who wrote this book, was one of the first twelve apostles chosen by Jesus later in His ministry. There are many references to John’s words and actions among the twelve, but he never refers to himself in first person.

So close study affirms that these two disciples of John the Baptist, who are involved in this passage, are truly Andrew and John.

Notice the passage tells us that Jesus was passing by. He was not involved in this group. He was not conversing with them. John the Baptist, who called attention to Jesus, even as he did the day before; this incident being given in the prior passage of Scripture. John the Baptist pointed out Jesus and said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

The language in the greater passage of this chapter indicates this group of men were looking for the Messiah. They had come to this location with the hope that they might encounter Him here.

So when these two heard John the Baptist’s words they followed Jesus. We are not told how far they had traveled before Jesus turned around and saw them, and initiated conversation. He asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Teacher, where are you staying?”

We should not be surprised that Jesus extended an invitation for them to come along with Him and see. They accompanied Jesus and went to where he was staying. They were extended hospitality and ended up spending the entire day with Jesus.

The passage records that it was about the tenth hour. We can have no certainty how long they spent with Jesus because of the difference in modes of keeping time. If it was Roman time, then it was 10:00 a.m. If it was according to Jewish time, it was 4:00 p.m.

In any case, don’t you know that these two young men were thrilled to be blessed with this experience. They got to spend a good portion of the day talking and relating with Jesus Christ, the Son of God. We can only speculate what all they talked about; but we do know from later records that both of these men were selected by Jesus to be members of the chosen twelve who were called apostles.

We also can see that these two men had an active spiritual interest because they were disciples of John the Baptist. This means they had a connection and interest in the ministry of John the Baptist along the Jordan River. It would be safe to assume that these two had a hunger to know God, and an interest in what God was going to do to fulfill the many prophetic passages of the Old Testament. They were seeking to know God.