John the Baptist’ Testimony
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2012 · 1 January 2012
We are beginning a different type of study tonight. We have studied the book of Romans in the past which is doctrine. We have studied 1 and 2 Peter recently which are doctrine in many ways as well as practical areas. And we have also been teaching doctrine in the first part of John's gospel just a few weeks ago. And now for really the first time we shall approach a narrative passage. And for the rest of the gospel of John we will be dealing with narrative.
We'll be reading the account of the life of Christ presented by John as the Son of God. John does not concern himself with Christ as man so much. He does not concern himself with Christ's relation to Israel as Matthew does. But he concerns himself with proving by the use of many witnesses that Christ is indeed the very Son of God, God in a body.
That's John's message. And now as we look at verse 19 we see the historical narrative of Christ's ministry. John did not discuss the first 30 years of the life of Christ because it had no relationship to His ministry and He did not present Himself as the Son of God until He began His ministry.
Now his purpose is stated in John 20:31 where John says he's presenting Christ as the Son of God in order that men might believe. That's John's message all through this book as we shall see. He is presenting Christ the Son of God, the salvation that He offers and men who believed and then some who rejected it.
He calls on God to witness that Christ is His Son and God does. He calls on the very words of Christ and Christ admits that He's God. He says the works of Christ prove that He's God. The disciples’ lives and testimonies prove that He's God. All believers of all times by the very life they live prove that He's God, He's God in a body.
But the first witness that John the Apostle calls is John the Baptist. And anytime you see the name "John" in the gospel of John, it does not refer to John the writer who was the Apostle, the name always refers to John the Baptist because John never names himself. He always calls himself "the disciple whom Jesus loved," or "that disciple."
And so we come this evening to the witness of John the Baptist as to who Jesus Christ is. But before we begin that let's find out first who he is. John the Baptist was 29 years of age when he began. Now he was the first prophet in Israel in 400 years and they had been looking for him for a long time. He was filled with the Holy Spirit from the time he was born and it came across when he communicated.
He had this tremendous power but he did not focus on society but he identified himself with the poor. And the poor people in those days wore camel's hair and leather belts and that's what he also wore. And they ate grasshoppers and wild honey, and so that's also what he ate. And John the Baptist did what was pretty much standard stuff for poor people living in the wilderness.
And Matthew tells us in chapter 3:5-6 that everybody in Jerusalem, Judea and all the country around went out there to see John. All of a sudden this guy comes out of the wilderness and everybody's first thought is, "Wow, this just might be the Messiah...this just might be the one we've been waiting for."
And so, John was out there close to the Jordan river at a place called Bethabara or Bethany. And he was carrying on his ministry, and preached in Matthew 3:2, “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” And when the Bible says "at hand" that means the next thing on God's agenda. It doesn't mean it's coming tomorrow, it doesn't mean it's coming in 4,000 years, it just means in terms of what God is doing in the world the next big event is the Kingdom of God.
And always in the Old Testament whenever the Jews talked about Messiah coming, they always had the Kingdom coming with Him. They never saw the rejection of the Messiah in the Old Testament, that's why they didn't know what to do with Isaiah 53. They couldn't figure that out, that's why the Jews when they read the Old Testament they skip Isaiah 53.
So the problem in their interpretation is that the Jew never wanted to see a Messiah who suffered. The Jew thought they needed a king, God knew they needed a Lamb. And that's why Christ came and John says, "Behold the Lamb of God." God says you can't reign with Me until you come into fellowship with Me. And that's where it all had to start.
So John was preaching, "Now get ready, the Messiah is coming quickly." And people heard this dynamic guy preaching and they were really getting penitent and repentant and they were saying, "Oh Lord, I want to be ready for the Messiah," and they were going through some spiritual cleansing in their lives.
And John was baptizing them as a symbol of that spiritual cleansing. It was not the same as a baptism after the cross, which is union with Christ in His burial and resurrection. It was John's baptism. And in case you don't believe it's different, twelve of John's disciples were re-baptized by the Apostles. It was different. John was baptizing as a symbol of the purification of the people of Israel preparing for Christ's arrival.
Now in his message here, in these verses 19 through verse 37, there are three different testimonies. And we're going to get three very important angles on who Christ is and what you are to do with Him and how you are related to Him by what John says.
Now let’s look at this first passage here, John is already at Bethany and Jesus is on his way up the Jordan Valley. He's finished His trial with Satan, been victorious, He's ready to begin His ministry and He begins it right there at Bethany with John. He also picks up His first two disciples right there.
First day, first group, first emphasis. Verse 19 says, “Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, `Who are you?'” Here representatives of the Jews show their opposition. They are opposing anybody who might change the spiritual religious status quo. They were so busy protecting Israel from false Messiahs; they also protected Israel from the true one.
Now look at John's reply to their question. And in verse 20 he confessed and said, "I am not the Christ," which is Messiah in Greek. Then they said in verse 21, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”
Well why did they ask him that? In Malachi 4:5 it says, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.” And so they figured if Christ is coming maybe he's Elijah the forerunner to Messiah. He says no. And then they throw in this "the Prophet," and I'm not sure what they meant. But he said, "I'm not any of those people.”
In Luke 1:17 Jesus says, "He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ “and so on. God sent one like Elijah who came in the same type of ministry, the same power and Christ Himself said of John the Baptist, "He is in that sense Elijah." And so he did fulfill the prophecy, but the Jews assumed that it had to mean that Elijah himself would be resurrected and come back.
And so in verse 22, they said if you're not all these things, who are you? Do you know what he says in verse 23? "I am the voice." Do you see the greatness of his humility? He says, "Who am I? I'm nobody, I'm nothing, and I’m just a voice. He's the Word; I'm the voice crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord.”
So the first message is that He is here now. And John says prepare your heart, I'm only the voice, the Word is coming. And so in verse 24, John the Apostle says, “Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees.” And in verse 25, “And they asked him, saying, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
Why did they ask him that? Listen, in the Old Testament associated with the coming of Christ was always some sort of cleansing. For example, in Ezekiel 36:25, "Christ is going to come," and he says, "I'll sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall be clean." Also in Ezekiel 37:23 when the Messiah comes there's going to be some kind of cleansing.
And also in Zechariah 13:1 it indicates the same thing that when Messiah comes there's going to be some kind of purification, some kind of cleansing. And so the Jew in his mind associated the coming of the Messiah with some kind of cleansing and purification. And baptism was just such a symbol.
But John really minimizes his baptism, he says in verse 26, "Oh I baptize with water," you know, no big thing, just water. And then over in verse 33 he says, "You wait till the One gets here who is going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
Every believer at the moment that he/she receives Jesus Christ is baptized with the Holy Spirit once for all. First Corinthians 12:13 says, "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body." The moment you put faith in Christ you are baptized by the Spirit of God who purifies and cleanses you and makes you acceptable to God. It's not a constant happening over and over again; it's a once-for-all thing. Baptism of the Holy Spirit takes place at when you are saved.
John was doing a symbol, but Christ was going to do the real thing and cleanse us in deed and in truth by the Holy Spirit. So John's baptism and Christ's coming were two different things. Salvation begins with recognizing who Christ is and that He is alive.
Then in verse 27 he says, “It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.” And that was the job of the lowest of the slaves in the household of untying the master's shoes. He's so great. And then in verse 28 it just says, "These things were done in Bethany beyond the Jordan."
Now watch his second message on the second day to the second group with the second emphasis, in verse 29. We know it's the second day because it says the next day. John sees Jesus coming unto him and says, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."
Notice it says sin, not sins. He doesn't take away only the symptoms of sin, He takes away the disease. You might say, "Why does he call Him the Lamb of God?" Well those Jews would have understood that, wouldn't they? They all knew that for centuries Israel had gone through sacrificing lambs.
They knew all about Abraham and Isaac and when God told Abraham that He would provide a lamb for sacrifice, they knew the Passover where a lamb's blood was shed and sprinkled on the door, the never ending slaying of the lamb for the burnt offering for sin.
And they also knew that Isaiah had prophesied that there would come a lamb who would be slaughtered, and here He is, John says. Here is the Lamb of God, the one final sacrifice. And the writer of Hebrews says that He ended sacrifice once for all by the death of Himself, the lamb.
And so God had to send a sacrifice to get rid of sin before there could be a relationship with men. Until you realize the sacrifice of Christ for your sin, there's no place for fellowship between you and God. And so God came to die on a cross as a lamb because He had to be a lamb before He could ever be a King because He'd have nobody to reign with if He didn't die for their sins.
John's first message is simple, the savior is here. His second message is: Behold Him. Do you see the difference? Here He is, now look at Him and see Him for who He really is. Do you see that this is the second step in salvation? And who is He really? And so John says behold Him, the living Word, as well as the dying lamb. And when you can see Christ as the Lamb of God, you recognize your own sin too, don't you?
And then in verse 30, "This is He of whom I said after me comes a man who is preferred before me, for He was before me." Now watch this in verse 31, "And I did not know Him." Isn't that amazing? Do you realize that John the Baptist was the cousin of Jesus? Do you realize that he must have known Him for 30 years and all this time not know who He was?
You see, Christ never expressed that He is the Messiah till after His baptism. John himself didn't know. He said, watch it in verse 31, “but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.”
Now pay attention to what it says in verse 32, "And John bore witness saying, `I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and He remained on Him.'" One day I baptized Jesus Christ, and at the time I baptized Him I didn't know who He was. And as I was baptizing Jesus then all of a sudden the Holy Spirit descended like a dove right on Him.
You might think, "Oh sure, he knows by then." No, look at verse 33, what does it say? "And I knew Him not." He still didn't know. Ah, until, watch this, “but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’”
Verse 34, “And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God." Do you know how John knew that He was the Son of God? One way, and one way only. God told him. Do you want to know how you believe that Jesus is the Son of God? One way, God tells you.
Remember Peter? Jesus said in Matthew 16:13-17, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” 14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
No man knows Christ unless God brings him to know Christ because depraved humanity cannot understand the things of God, they are beyond his grasp. They're foolishness to him. The natural man does not receive nor understands the things of God. The only way a man will ever know who Christ is, is by God's divine revelation. And so it was even with John.
Now the third testimony, verse 35, third day, third group, third emphasis, "Again the next day John stood and two of his disciples." Remember, John had built a following of all these people who had repented. And Jesus probably was seen walking somewhere at the other side and verse 36, "And looking upon Jesus as He walked, John said, `Behold, the Lamb of God.'"
“What does he mean?" Well look at verse 37 and you can tell what He meant by that. "And the two disciples heard him speak and they followed Jesus." You know what John says? Listen, John says first, He's here. And then, behold Him, make sure you really understand who He is. And testimony number three says follow Him.
John implies this, "Hey, guys, what are you doing standing around here? There is the Messiah. There He is. I'm nobody. You want to be hooked up with the Lamb of God, get over there." And they did. How about you? Let’s pray.