Last week we covered verses 1-18 which was the prologue for the Gospel of John. There were numerous ideas and words that will become themes in the Gospel of John. Today we will be seeing one of those themes. Today we will be looking at what was John the Baptist's mission and purpose. Verses 6-8 told us that John the Baptist was sent to bare testimony concerning the light. Today we see what that looks like. Verse 15 echoes that same idea.
Also, as we go along, I want us to keep in mind the theme and purpose of John's Gospel. I am going to drill this into your head. "But these things are written, that ye might believe that jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing, ye might have life through His name" (20:21). If you do not see that in these sermons, then I am not doing my job correctly.
The Questioning of John (VV. 19-28)
Men are sent from the religious authorities to see who John the Baptist is and to find out why he is baptizing men.
John the Baptist was an interesting man. There is a possibility that he was orphaned at a young age because his parents were old when he was born (Lk. 1:18) and he was raised in the wilderness. He wore camel's hair for and a leather belt for clothing and ate locusts and honey for food (Matt. 3:4). He was probably raised with a group known as the Essences.
"Who are You?" (Vv. 19-23)
Vv. 19-20. The commissioned men from the Levites and priests ask John the Baptist a series of questions. John's ministry was gathering notice from many people. He even had disciples that may have traveled with him (cf. 1:37). Therefore, these men wanted to know what was all of the commotion.
It states in verse 19 that they simply ask, "Who art thou?" However, John just simply answers with, "I am not the Christ." It could be John knew what as the foremost concern in the minds of the men that were sent to inquire of John.
The author is again making it very clear that John the Baptist never claimed to be the Christ/Logos by repetition of the word confess.
The word Christ is a transliteration of the word Χριστος. It was translated from the word messiah. This means that the word Christ is a title that is given to Jesus. Being a messiah meant that a person was anointed by God to do express purpose. The best example of this is with king David. David was anointed by God to be set forward as Israel's future king. There have been many in Israel's history that have been anointed. Therefore it is fair to say that there have been many messiahs. David was seen as a messiah because he gave Israel its establishment as a nation by conquering all of the people in the land. Israel understood that there would be the Messiah who would come to deliver them. In the mind of the Pharisees, the Messiah would be like David sit on David's throne and establish Israel as a sovereign nation again. Israel had not been a sovereign nation since its deportation in 586 B.C. to Babylon. They have always been subject to another gentile nation. They were deported by the Babylonians. They were allowed to return and rebuild under the Persians. They were subjugated under the Greeks. In the time of Jesus, they were under Roman rule. They wanted a man like David to set up Israel again (Isaiah 9:6-7).
This is not who John is.
V. 21. The questioning from the group to John continues. If John the Baptist is not the Christ, then who is He? The men need to know.
The next question is if John is Elijah/Elias? Why would they ask if John the Baptist is Elijah? The Levites and Priest taught that Elijah had to come back again a second time before the Messiah/Christ would set up His kingdom. This come from Malachi 4:5. It also did not help the fact that John the Baptist had a lot of similarities. They both came from the wilderness (1 Kings 17:4-5) and they both dressed with a leather belt (2 Kings 1:8). So the question does not seem so far fetched. John the Baptist gives a simple answer, "I am not."
There is still some debate as to how John the Baptist filled the role of Elijah. Jesus stated, "Elijah verily cometh first, and restoreth all things; and how it is written of the Son of man, that He must suffer many things, and be set at nought. But I say unto you, that Elijah is indeed come, and they have done unto him whatsoever they listed as it is written of him" (Mark 9:12-13). And when Gabriel announced John's birth he said, "And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord" (Luke 1:17). But John the Baptist denied that he was Elijah. There must be some way to reconcile this apparent contradiction. The only way I can reconcile the difficulty is that John the Baptist was not Elijah in the flesh. Malachi 4:5 speaks of a literal return of Elijah in the flesh. Yet at the same time John the Baptist came "in the spirit of Elijah." This means that John the Baptist had a similar ministry to the future ministry of Elijah. Thus Jesus could say that John was Elijah but still allow for John to deny that he was Elijah. We actually do see a physical appearance of Elijah in the transfiguration. So I still take it to mean that we will see a physical appearance of Elijah in the future.
The last question, "Art thou that prophet?" comes from when Moses wrote, "The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken" (Deut. 18:15). The Pharisees probably understood this passage to reference to a prophet of great significance that would come in the same power as Moses. John gives an even more simple answer by replying, "No."
Vv. 22-23. The men sent to question John are even more confused now than when they first started asking questions. John answered every question with a negation. The men then simply asked him, "Who art thou?" They exhausted all of their ideas of who John the Baptist might be.
John's reply was unexpected. John references Isaiah 40:3 and states that he is the voice crying in the desert. This was something that was attributed to John the Baptist in all four Gospels.
"Why do you Baptize?" (Vv. 24-28)
Vv. 24-25. The men that were sent are now even more confused. They do not understand John's ministry. If John is not the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet, then why is he baptizing people? This was strange to them. Why are you baptizing Jews? They believed that they were already children of the promise because they were descendants of Abraham (Matt. 3:9).
Vv. 26-27. The whole point of John's ministry was to prepare people for the coming of their Messiah. This is explained further when John said, "Repent ye: for the kingdom of God is at hand" (Matt. 3:2) and, "I indeed have baptized you with water: but He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost" (Mark 1:8). John baptized people who repented of their sin and pointed them to One who mightier than him. John wanted everyone to see the Christ. He wanted everyone to be ready for the Messiah. He wanted people to be prepared for that Prophet. John claimed that he was not even worthy to untie the latchet of His sandal; which was a task that was so low that only slaves would do the task.
V. 28. This verse gives a location as to where these events were taking place. The KJV however, names Bethabara as the location. This is not an issue of translation but an issue of transcription. Origen stated that the majority of the copies/manuscripts stated, "Bethany" but he felt that it was wrong should read Bethabara. He felt this way after traveling to Israel not being able to locate Bethany. Origen was obviously wrong and it should say Bethany.
"Behold the Lamb of God" (Vv. 29-34)
V. 29. John sees Jesus and points Him out to all that are near. This event probably occurred after the baptism and wilderness testings of Jesus because the next day Jesus starts gathering His disciples together (1:35). The imagery that John uses is not specific to any one special sacrifice that was performed. However, the imagery is still profitable for edification. We know what John meant. Jesus would become the lamb/sacrifice to be placed on the altar so that we could have forgiveness of sin. This was fulfilled by Jesus' death on the cross.
V. 30. The truth of Jesus being greater than John, even though John is older, is repeated again. This was something that was stated earlier in verse 15. Jesus has always existed. John was born. Jesus existed with God before John was born. Therefore Jesus is greater.
V. 31. From what we can understand from this verse it that John did not know that Jesus was the Christ that he was prophesying about. He knew that the Messiah was coming and that he was commissioned to preach repentance but he did not know who was the Messiah. This is also probably due to the possibility that the two men grew up in different areas despite being blood relatives. John probably grew up in the wilderness outside of Judea. Jesus grew up in Galilee which is north of Samaria.
V. 32. John the Baptist is referring to the time that Jesus was baptized. John the Baptist must have been telling other people how he witnessed the Holy Spirit come down as a dove and stay upon Jesus. The emphasis is that the Spirit did not just land on Jesus but it remained on Jesus. This parallels as an anointing of Jesus. This is the point in time in which all the Gospels state that Jesus began His ministry while on earth.
V. 33-34. There is some repetition in this verse probably for the sake of emphasis. John the Baptist was told by God that he would see the Spirit descend and remain on a person; that person would be the Christ. This explains why John stated that Jesus is the "Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." This is why John said that Jesus was the Son of God.
John was a witness of God's work. The word of the Lord came to him in the desert. He preached only to point people to the long expected Jesus.
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