Odd verse, unspeakable tragedy

Talking about John the Baptist, John 1 reports, [6] There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
[7] The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
[8] He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

"Notice the word Light there is with a capital 'l'. There are 10 different proper names given to the Lord Jesus Christ in John 1. This is one of the names the Old Testament assigns to the Messiah.

"To me this (verse 8) is an odd verse," says Richard Jordan. "It's too bad you'd have to have a verse like that in the Bible. The idea that John had to tell them, 'I'm not the Messiah,' means they didn't recognize who the Messiah was and who He wasn't.

"What goes on in Israel is what goes on in religion. They had mistaken the leaders of the nation--they had made gods out of them. They put them in the position of deification, making them the supreme authority in their life.

"John is pointing out to them what they've missed. Verse 9: [9] That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

"Here's where it gets a little dicey. Verse 10: [10] He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

"That's the spiritual condemnation that the world is under. Jesus Christ, He's God from eternity past, He creates the world and then He became flesh. He's the maker who came into the world and what did He find?

"Well, He only found darkness. The world didn't recognize it's Creator. The world was made by Him and yet the world knew Him not. That's an unspeakable tragedy. The blindness where they can't even see and recognize their own Creator and that's where the world was.

"By the way, that's the condition of the Gentile world all through Israel's history. If you go back to Acts 14 when Paul's talking to the heathen there at Lystra, they mistook him and Barnabas for some of the gods of Jupiter and Mercury.

"The passage reads, [12] And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker.

[13] Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people.
[14] Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out,
[15] And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:

"You see, they'd done exactly what Israel had done. Paul's telling these heathen what John had to tell Israel: 'I'm not the Messiah; we're not God. You've missed it; you've made God into something made by man's hands.' "

(new article tomorrow)