7th January 2026

7th January 2026


Pray (ACts)


Read (John 1:19-28 focus v19-23)


Message (Alan Burke)


"Who Do You Think You Are?" is a British documentary series that started in 2004, where celebrities explore their family history and ancestry, uncovering hidden stories and connections. The show has gained popularity for its engaging storytelling and has inspired international versions in various countries. Here John faces the question “who do you think you are?” He is faced with a delegation sent from Jerusalem to find out what he is playing at. The reason why they are being sent is because of the message that John was proclaiming, and the outworking of this message is that he was baptising people and that people were in their droves going to hear him and were responding to the message he proclaimed. 


John was proclaiming a message of repentance; for the kingdom of heaven was at hand (Mt 3:2). This, though, wasn’t only John’s message; this was the message Jesus proclaimed. He likewise called people to repentance (see Mk 1:15). This is a message that is just as relevant now as it was then. This land needs to be called to repentance.


To these religious leaders, the delegation sent from Jerusalem, they asked him who he was, and he made it doubly clear to them that he is not the Christ. He emphatically denies that he is the Christ. Now we know he is the witness to the Christ, but they didn’t. At the time in Judea, there was a growing Messianic hope, a growing expectation of the people of God that the Christ would come, that the promised one would come, that David’s greater son would come. It had been four hundred years of silence since Malachi, and the people believed that the LORD was going to act. The only problem was that those expectations varied widely. 


These religious leaders move from asking him if he was the Christ to asking him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?” And John said, “I am not.” The reason why they ask him is that Elijah is the one Malachi prophesied that Elijah would come. The LORD said through Malachi, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes” (Mal 4:5). As a result, the expectation was that Elijah, who had gone to be with the Lord and never died, would return. They were looking for Elijah, not a figurative fulfilment of this prophecy, but a literal fulfilment. 


While John made no claim to be Elijah, he even denied it, Jesus made it clear that John was the fulfilment of the prophecy of Malachi (Matt. 11:14; 17:12; Mark 9:13). With John’s denial of being Elijah, they then ask, “Are you the prophet?” They are asking in light of how the LORD promised in Deuteronomy of how he would raise up a prophet like Moses (Deut 18:15-18). John’s answer is No and they then press him on who he is. 


He tells them that he is a voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’ 


John was telling them who he is and what he has come to do; he is the one that has come to prepare the way for the Lord; he is the precursor to the coming of the Christ that they have been waiting for. John is telling them that the Christ that they have been waiting for has come. John had been open to them and their questioning, but they are closed; they have the understanding but lack understanding and openness of the wonder of what is taking place in their day. Their attitude to what is going on is indifference. 


The Lord has sent his Christ, the one who came, the one for all who will receive him, who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God (Jn 1:12–13). The has come, he calls us to repent and believe in him. It is a call that demands the entirety of our lives, have you responded to that call? Are you responding to that call daily in every aspect of your life? Repent and believe in the Christ who has come.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q65 What is forbidden in the fifth commandment?
A. The fifth commandment forbiddeth the neglecting of, or doing anything against, the honour and duty which belongeth to every one in their several places and relations.
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