Finishing up John 3 this morning (vv. 22-36) . . . and as I reflect on today’s reading and the readings of the past couple of mornings I’m struck by a contrast. You probably couldn’t have encountered two more opposite dudes than Nicodemus and John the Baptizer. One a Pharisee . . . among the elite . . . dressing each morning in finery . . . accustomed to the place of honor and privilege . . . a somebody by anybodies account. The other a . . . ah . . . ah . . . a wild man . . . some (like Erwin McManus) would call him a barbarian . . . anything but civilized . . . dressing in animal skins . . . a stranger to deodorant I imagine . . . accustomed to eating whatever the wilderness would provide . . . a nobody who was all about Somebody else. The one came to Jesus at night . . . the other proclaimed the Lamb of God day after day. And here’s the contrast that really grabs me this morning . . . the one was a man schooled in the law . . . learned . . . a teacher of Israel . . . yet clueless as to the dynamics of the kingdom of God. The other . . . oh, the other! What he knew . . . what he discerned . . . what he understood! What privilege is given to those who are the friend of the Bridegroom.

John’s disciples come to John a bit bent out of shape that John’s ministry is starting to lose steam as the crowds are instead flocking to Jesus. John’s response? “He must increase, but I must decrease.” John had known his was about pointing to another . . . he had been very clear that he was not the “main event” but the preparer of the way. John understood that he was of the earth, but Jesus was from heaven . . . Jesus had come from above . . . and as such Jesus was above all. John understood that Jesus was the Son of God . . . that the Father loves the Son and had given all things into the Son’s hand . . . that Jesus uttered the very words of God . . . that Jesus would give the Spirit without measure . . . and that whoever believed in the Son would have eternal life.

How did John know all this? Did he and cousin Jesus hang out while they were growing up planning the day when the “Jesus Tour” would kick off with the “Wilderness Warning” as the opening act? No record of it. My sense is that John was the recipient of some heavenly sourced illumination . . . the benefit of being the friend of the Bridegroom.

“A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before Him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete.” — John the Baptizer (John 3:27-29 ESV)

There’s nothing John knew, regardless of whatever earthy mechanics may have been used, that wasn’t given him from heaven. He was a friend of the Bridegroom who had set his heart to stand with Him and to listen to Him. He had heard the Bridegroom’s voice . . . for years by faith and through the Spirit and now in real time as Jesus revealed the ways of the kingdom. And in hearing that voice, now as always, he rejoiced . . . his joy was complete.

And while I’m no John the Baptizer . . . by the grace of God and through the work of the cross I am a friend of the Bridegroom. He has made a way for me to stand in His presence . . . He has given me His word that I might know His ways . . . He has indwelt me with His Spirit that I might hear His voice . . . the same dynamic of illumination that allowed John to behold the Lamb of God works in me today. It’s the privilege of being a friend of the Bridegroom.

Nicodemus would eventually be brought into the same privilege. The equalizer between a Pharisee and a barbarian being their relationship with the living Christ.

That I would rejoice in such favor . . . that my joy might be made complete . . . not by my smarts but by His grace . . . not for my glory but for His glory alone!