Self-Awareness

John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying,

"This was He of whom I said,

'He who comes after me is preferred before me,

for He was before me.'"

John 1:15

The prologue of John's gospels assumes facts not yet in evidence, chronologically. It requires a passing familiarity with the rest of the gospels, in which we will soon find the account of an old man burning incense in the temple, three angelic appearances, and a couple of miraculous births. The first of these was John, who was a forerunner of the second, which was Jesus. This John, most commonly known as John the Baptist, has already been identified by the gospel writer John as one who was sent from God to bear witness to the Light that was Jesus Christ. And bear witness is exactly what John the Baptist did.


He bore witness of the Word become flesh, crying out in a loud voice (and as a rather loud and demonstrative preacher, I appreciate that about him), "This is the One I was talking about!" John's public ministry was all about preparing his culture to receive its Christ. He came preaching repentance and baptism as a public confession of sin and profession of faith. And He came talking about the One who was coming.


John had a perfectly clear understanding of who he was and why he was here. His self-awareness was completely wrapped up in the identity of the Coming One, the promised and prophesied Christ. He understood his place in the story--the forerunner, the one who comes first to tell of the one coming after. He lived and breathed to serve this purpose, and he had no ill-conceived concept of self-importance. He had no desire to elevate himself. He was there to point to the Messiah.


And of his relationship to the Messiah, he said, "He will come after me, but he is preferred before me." In other words, He is more important than I am. And the reason He is preferred first is because He existed first. He is now and always has been the eternally existent Christ, the Son of God and second member of the triune Godhead. He was, after all, in the beginning with God, and He was God. John understood that this made the One who was coming greater than he himself.


We also need to understand who we are in Christ. I believe everything that I am needs to based upon my relationship with Christ, and that He must be preferred before Me. He is most important; He must take pre-imminence; He must be first priority in my life. That is the order of things. I am here to bear witness of Him, that He is coming, and that He may come after me, but He is always preferred before me!