We Have Found the Messiah

Unlike Matthew and Luke, John starts long before the Savior’s birth, with His premortal relationship with the Father. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (1:1). All things were made by Him (1:3). The Joseph Smith Translation of verse 1, in the Bible appendix, reads, “In the beginning was the gospel preached through the Son.” Moses learned the same truth: God created worlds without number “by the word of my power,” which is His Only Begotten Son (Moses 1:32–33). A word is how a person makes their mind known, and Jesus Christ is how the Father makes Himself known to us. In Him was life, and that life is “the light of men” (1:4).

🔗 Cross-references

• Moses 1:32–33 ↗God tells Moses that He created worlds without number by His Only Begotten Son.
• Moses 4:2 ↗In the premortal council, the Beloved Son offers, “Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever.”
• Doctrine and Covenants 93:6–10 ↗Latter-day revelation restores more of John’s record: the Word, the Light and the Creator.

John the Baptist came “to bear witness of the Light” (1:7); he was not that Light himself. The true Light “lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (1:9), yet “the world knew him not” and “his own received him not” (1:10–11). Then comes the promise at the center of the chapter: “as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God” (1:12). We are already God’s spirit children, but sin separates us from Him, and Christ gives the power to be spiritually reborn and become like our Father. Finally, the stunning line: “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (1:14). The Greek word behind “dwelt” suggests pitching a tent. The Creator came to live in the neighborhood.

🔗 Cross-references

• Moroni 7:16 ↗Mormon teaches that the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil.
• Mosiah 5:7 ↗Those who covenant with Christ are spiritually begotten and become His sons and daughters.
• Romans 8:14–17 ↗Paul teaches that those led by the Spirit are children of God and joint-heirs with Christ.

Priests and Levites come from Jerusalem to ask John who he is. His answers point away from himself. He is not the Christ. He is “the voice of one crying in the wilderness” (1:23; Isaiah 40:3). He is not worthy to unloose the shoe of the One coming after him (1:27). The Joseph Smith Translation of these verses (in the Bible appendix) clarifies that John was an Elias who prepared the way, but not the Elias who was to restore all things; that title belongs to Jesus Christ (see Bible Dictionary, “Elias”). Verse 16 adds a lovely line: “of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.” John’s greatness was in how clearly he pointed to Someone greater.

🔗 Cross-references

• Isaiah 40:3 ↗The prophecy of the voice crying in the wilderness, which John applies to himself.
• Doctrine and Covenants 84:27–28 ↗Latter-day revelation describes John’s preparatory mission and priesthood.
• Doctrine and Covenants 93:12–13 ↗The Savior Himself received grace for grace and continued from grace to grace.

When John sees Jesus coming, he says, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (1:29). Every lamb in Israel’s history leaned toward this moment: the lamb Abraham promised God would provide (Genesis 22:8), the Passover lamb whose blood marked the doors (Exodus 12:3–13), the morning and evening lambs at the temple. John also testifies that he saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and remaining on Jesus, the sign he had been promised, and that “this is the Son of God” (1:32–34). The same Lamb is remembered each week in the sacrament, where the offering He now asks of us is a broken heart and a contrite spirit (3 Nephi 9:20).

🔗 Cross-references

• Genesis 22:8 ↗Abraham promises Isaac that God will provide Himself a lamb.
• 1 Nephi 11:27 ↗Nephi sees in vision the baptism of the Lamb of God and the Holy Ghost descending like a dove.
• 3 Nephi 9:20 ↗The Savior asks for the offering of a broken heart and a contrite spirit in place of animal sacrifice.

The next day John points two of his own disciples to Jesus, and they follow. Jesus turns and asks, “What seek ye?” (1:38). These are His first recorded words in John’s Gospel, and they are a question. When the disciples ask where He is staying, He answers, “Come and see” (1:39). They spend the rest of the day with Him. One of them is Andrew, and the first thing he does is find his own brother Simon: “We have found the Messias” (1:41). The other is unnamed; many believe it was John himself. Jesus looks at Simon and gives him a new name, Cephas, “A stone” (1:42), seeing in the fisherman who he would become.

🔗 Cross-references

• Matthew 16:18 ↗Later, Jesus returns to the meaning of Peter’s name, a rock.
• Ether 12:27 ↗The Lord promises to make weak things become strong for those who humble themselves and come to Him.

Jesus finds Philip in Galilee and says, “Follow me” (1:43). Philip immediately finds his friend Nathanael with a reason, “We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write” (1:45), and meets a skeptical answer: “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip doesn’t argue. He says, “Come and see” (1:46). Jesus greets Nathanael as “an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile” (1:47) and tells him He saw him under the fig tree. Nathanael, known before he was called, declares, “thou art the Son of God” (1:49). Then Jesus promises “greater things,” heaven open and angels ascending and descending (1:50–51), the image of Jacob’s dream (Genesis 28:12).

🔗 Cross-references

• Genesis 28:12 ↗Jacob’s dream of a ladder with angels ascending and descending, which Jesus echoes.
• 1 Peter 3:15 ↗Peter counsels us to be ready to give a reason for our hope, with meekness.

Return today to the key verse and read it in its setting. “He came unto his own, and his own received him not” (1:11). But to “as many as received him,” He gave “power to become the sons of God” (1:12), a birth “not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (1:13). Look back over the week and notice how people received Him: John bore witness, Andrew told his brother, Philip invited a friend, Nathanael brought his doubts and left with a testimony. Receiving Him is not a single moment; it’s coming and seeing, again and again. As you take the sacrament today, you renew your willingness to receive Him and take His name.

🔗 Cross-references

• Mosiah 5:7–8 ↗King Benjamin’s people are spiritually begotten and take upon them the name of Christ.
• Doctrine and Covenants 20:77 ↗In the sacrament we witness our willingness to take upon us the name of Christ.