THE CHOSEN ONE
Play Audio
If you prefer listening to today’s Bible guide reading, play this audio file.
If the audio bar is not appearing, click here to play the audio.
Opening Prayer
Lord God, thank you for the gift of the Bible that teaches me who you are, offers me salvation in your Son Jesus, and, as your Spirit speaks to me through it, transforms me into his likeness.
Read JOHN 1:29–34
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
John Testifies About Jesus
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”
32 Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33 And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”[a]
Footnotes
- John 1:34 See Isaiah 42:1; many manuscripts is the Son of God.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Which title for Jesus resonates with you more—the Lamb of God or the Lion of Judah?
Today’s passage includes two titles of Jesus: ‘Lamb of God’ (v. 29) and ‘God’s Chosen One’ (v. 34). ‘Chosen’ usually signifies privilege. As ‘God’s Chosen One,’ Jesus fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy: ‘Here is my servant … my chosen one in whom I delight.’1 Being chosen entails more than prestige, position, or power. Those chosen by God are also chosen for God’s purposes. Isaiah’s prophecy continues, ‘he will bring justice to the nations’; this justice, however, was not accomplished by a warrior king striding forth in might and majesty—‘He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets’2—but by the blood, sweat, and tears of the man John the Baptist introduced as ‘the Lamb of God.’
John the Baptist cried, ‘Look, the Lamb of God’ (v. 29). Several decades later, the apostle John was given a vision from God in which he was invited to see that ‘the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed’; yet when John looked, he saw no majestic lion, only ‘a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain’ yet triumphant ‘at the center of the throne.’3 God’s Chosen One bore the intolerable burden of ‘the sin of the world’ (v. 29) to make available to us, his chosen ones, the immeasurable blessings of salvation. Jesus is both Lamb and Lion, meekness and majesty, Servant and Savior.
As God’s chosen people, we are richly blessed in Christ, who ‘takes us to the high places of blessing in him’4 but, like our Master, we are also chosen to suffer—allowing his refining fire to perfect us in holiness and his potter’s wheel to mold us into Christlikeness—and called to step out of our comfort zones and make sacrifices for God’s kingdom.
Apply
‘… you are the ones chosen by God … God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him.’5 How well are you doing? How boldly are you speaking out?
Closing prayer
Lamb of God, you shouldered the weight of my sin so that I could enjoy the gift of your peace. Lion of Judah, help me to stand with hope and confidence as I look to your power, your justice, and victory.
1 Isa 42:1 2 Isa 42:2 3 Rev 5:5, 6 4 Eph 1:3, The Message 5 1 Pet 2:9, The Message
Book and Author Intros
Extras
Click here to sign up to receive the EXTRAs via email each quarter.
© 2025 Scripture Union U.S.A. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited.
Encounter with God is published in the USA under license from Scripture Union England and Wales, Trinity House, Opal Court, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DF.