The Testimony of the Savior in John 1

This week in the Come Follow Me guide for members of the Church we have been studying John 1.  In this chapter we see the powerful witness born by both John the Beloved (and author of this chapter) and also John the Baptist whom he quoted and talked about.  John the Beloved testified of the premortal preeminence of Christ: “And the gospel was the word, and the word was with the Son, and the Son was with God, and the Son was of God” (JST John 1:1).  The apostle also bore witness that Christ was the Creator: “All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made which was made” (v3).  This John further declared that Christ is both the light and the life of men.  He wrote that “in him was the gospel, and the gospel was the life, and the life was the light of men; And the light shineth in the world, and the world perceiveth it not” (JST John 1:4-5).  John the Beloved then testified of how his teacher, John the Baptist, “came into the world for a witness, to bear witness of the light, to bear record of the gospel through the Son, unto all, that through him men might believe.”  John the Baptist, wrote the other John, “was not that light, but came to bear witness of that light, Which was the true light, which lighteth every man who cometh into the world; Even the Son of God” (v7-10).  Both of these prophets testified that Christ is the light of the world and the Son of God. 

               John the Beloved recorded the direct testimony of John the Baptist concerning the Savior as given by the Baptist to the Pharisees.  The apostle had access to “the record of John,” and in our dispensation we await a future day to have this whole account: “And John saw and bore record of the fulness of my glory, and the fulness of John’s record is hereafter to be revealed” (Doctrine and Covenants 93:6).  But we do have some of it as given by John the Beloved, and in particular we have some of the Baptist’s testimony concerning the Savior to the Jews who asked him.  He declared, “There standeth one among you, whom ye know not; He it is of whom I bear record. He is that prophet, even Elias, who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose, or whose place I am not able to fill; for he shall baptize, not only with water, but with fire, and with the Holy Ghost” (JST John 1:27-28).  John the Baptist humbly recognized and testified of the greatness of the Savior who would bring the Holy Ghost.  John also bore witness of the powerful manifestation he received when he baptized the Savior: “When he was baptized of me, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him; for he who sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me; Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he who baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God” (JST John 1:31-33).  He had seen heavenly manifestations confirming that this Jesus was indeed the Son of God, seeing even the Spirit in some form like a dove, and John bore witness that the man he baptized was indeed “the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world” (v29).  We are blessed to have the witness of Jesus Christ that these two great prophets left us, so that we too could “come and see” and know that “this is the Son of God” (v39).