John 1:19-34 The Baptist's Testimony

John 1:19-21 “And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”

The Jews, in the gospel of John, refers mostly to the Jewish leadership of Jesus day who opposed and were hostile to Jesus.

In John 9:22 after Jesus heals a man born blind, his parents are put on trial and we are told they feared the Jews, because the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.

So the Jews, the religious and political and religious leadership of the day, sent priest and Levites from Jerusalem to find out who John the Baptist was and what exactly he was doing.

Matthew 3:5 tells us that all Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, he had a huge following.

And many people were even beginning to wonder if John the Baptist was actually the Christ (Luke 3:15).

This had political and religious ramifications for the Jews.

If there was a popular uprising among the people who declared for themselves a king and tried to separate from Rome, Rome would come in and crush the rebellion.

And they would remove the Jewish leadership from their privilege and authority (John 11:47-50).

But you also had religious ramifications as well because if there was a false prophet out there leading the people astray, away from the One, True God, that would invite God’s judgment, and a whole new exile.

They had to find out what was going on.

So they sent a delegation and they asked him, “Who are you?”

John confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

The confusing way this is worded is to emphasize definitively, without a doubt that John the Baptist was not the Christ.

He was not the Messiah Israel was waiting on.

So they asked him, What then? Are you Elijah?

In Malachi 3:1, and 4:5, the very last prophecy of the Old Testament, God had promised that He would send Elijah before the great and awesome day of the Lord.

Before the Messiah would come to establish His Kingdom.

And that Day would bring redemption for all the covenant keepers who received Christ, but judgment for the covenant breakers who rejected Him.

And John even looked like Elijah. He wore camel’s hair and a leather belt just like Elijah did (2 Kings 1:8, Mark 1:6).

And preached repentance the coming judgment just as Elijah had before him.

But John says, No. I’m not him.

You might be wondering why elsewhere Jesus says that John is the one that came in the power and spirit of Elijah (Mt. 11:14, 17:12, Mk. 9:13, Lk. 1:17).

That he is the Elijah from Malachi’s prophecy. So what’s going on here?

Remember, Elijah never died. He was taken to heaven in a chariot of fire (2 Kings 2:11).

So the Jews thought Elijah, the real Elijah, was going to come back physically to prepare the way for the Messiah.

So when John the Baptist says, No I’m not him, he’s saying I’m not him in the literal sense.

They keep going. Are you the Prophet?

The Prophet was promised in Deuteronomy 18, where Moses promised God would raise up another prophet like him (Deut. 18:15-19).

A greater Moses who would mediate a New Covenant between God and His people.

Again John says No.

You can almost hear their frustration. Verse 22. “Well then who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

And John said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.””

John quotes Isaiah and says He is forerunner who would prepare the way of the Lord, and its ironic that John telling us who he is actually tells us who Christ is.

In the context of Isaiah, the voice in the wilderness was sent to proclaim Israel’s restoration from the Babylonian captivity.

The people of God were ripped out of the Promise Land and sent into exile for disobeying God and breaking the covenant.

And Isaiah 40-66, talks about the return from Babylonian captivity as a New Exodus. A New Deliverance where God would bring His people out of exile and into the Promise Land (Is. 11:6).

But the way the New Testament takes this passage and applies it to John the Baptist and Christ tells us that the New Exodus and return from exile was just a shadow that pointed to the True and Ultimate Exodus led by Christ.

Christ delivers us from our slavery to sin, death, and the devil and brings us into the Promise Land of eternal life.

All the blessings and favor of God.

The wilderness is a symbol for death, judgment and barren wasteland, and look what Isaiah 40 says in context about John the Baptist.

Isaiah 40:1-5 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.

The idea here was for John the Baptist to prepare the way for Christ.

Remove every obstacle standing in the way so that the salvation of the Lord would rush upon the people.

And its also interesting to note that the Lord in Isaiah 40:3 is God’s covenant name Yahweh, and the New Testament applies that name explicitly to Christ.

Jesus is the LORD God.

And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

You’ll remember from last week, the glory of the Lord is all of His goodness in forgiving sin and giving us grace in Christ, and that is the glory that God ultimately revealed in Christ.

And then Isaiah says for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. Right after this in verse 8 is the famous verse the word of our God will stand forever.

God has promised comfort and salvation to His people and that promise stands forever.

Then verses 9-11.

Isaiah 40:9-11 Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.

The good news is the gospel.

And through the gospel God comes with might to deliver His people, and gather His lambs into His arms.

He carries them in his bosom…that is, in His heart and inHis love…and He leads His people into everlasting life.

That’s the highway the voice in the wilderness came to prepare .

John the baptist was getting people ready for Christ who would ultimately come in the strength of the Lord, in the strength of His might, to save His people from their sins and carry them home.

Gather them out of the wilderness and bring them into to the Promise Land.

And that’s exactly what Christ does for us.

John 10:27-28 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

Jesus is the Deliverer of the True and Greater Exodus who takes us out of the wilderness of our sin and death and the curse...and brings us home into the Promise Land of eternal life.

Into Salvation, and the fullness of joy and gladness.

True Deliverance from all of our sin.

Jesus is the Deliverer of God’s people.

Number 2...

II. Jesus is Great and Glorious

John 1:24-28 (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

The Pharisees in the group ask another question.

Ok John. So if you’re not the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet, and you’re just the voice in the wilderness preparing the way for the Lord, then why are you baptizing?

Now here’s what they were really asking. Why are you baptizing Jews?

Baptism symbolized cleansing.

And when Gentiles, who were unclean according to the Law, converted to Judaism, they would be baptized to wash away their sin and all the pollution of the Gentile world and become a part of the people of God.

But John was baptizing Jews. He was treating Jews as unclean Gentiles.

You can see how this would be so offensive to the religious leaders of the day.

Well remember why John the Baptist came. He came to prepare the way for Christ.

To show Israel their sin, and their need to be made clean.

He came preaching “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 3:2).

Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees, and the winnowing fork of Christ was in hand (Luke 3:9).

He would clear the threshing floor and gather his wheat in his barn, but the chaff he would burn with unquenchable fire (Matthew 3:12).

John’s whole ministry was to show the Jews they were not ready for Christ. They were unclean.

That’s why He came proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Luke 3:3).

Everyone because of sin was unclean and outside of the Kingdom of God, and the only thing that could save them was God’s grace and mercy.

The very grace and mercy that was about to come with Jesus Christ.

John’s whole point being a descendent of Abraham wouldn’t save you.

Matthew 3:9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.

The only thing that would save you was personal faith and repentance in Jesus Christ.

Everyone had to be cleansed of their sin to be a part of the people of God.

And that takes us to John’s answer. “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”

Why do you baptize?

To point people to the only One who can truly save. The only one who can make them clean.

The One whose strap of their sandal I am not worthy to untie.

John’s baptism was to point people to their Great and Glorious Savior.

To show them their sin and their need for cleansing and prepare the way for the Messiah.

The strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie pointed to a saying that was common among Jewish rabbis.

“Every service which a slave performs for his master shall a disciple do for his teacher except the loosing of his sandal-thong” (Morris, John, NICNT, 124).

Disciples would essentially take on the role of a servant for the rabbi they would follow.

They would take care of all of his needs.

But the one thing they would not do was untie their sandals. That was a task reserved for the lowest of slaves.

But here John says, when it comes to Jesus, I’m not even worthy to do that.

When it comes to Him, He is so Great and Glorious, that I am lower than a slave.

Now think about that for a minute.

John the Baptist was the forerunner to the Messiah.

He had a booming repentance ministry and Jesus Himself even said Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist (Matthew 11:11).

Outside of Jesus, John was the greatest man that has ever lived.

And yet, John says I am not worthy to untie His sandal.

I’m not even even worthy to be Christ’s slave.

This statement exalts Christ higher than anyone.

If the greatest man to ever live was unworthy to tie His sandal, then Jesus is infinitely higher than all of us.

He is worthy of all of our worship, adoration, and praise.

Is that Christ to us?

Is He so high and lifted up that we do not count ourselves worthy to even be His slaves?

Is He Great and Glorious? The only one who can truly cleanse us from all of our sin?

Then worship Him! Obey Him! Live for Him! Follow Him with all of your life!

Because the beauty of the gospel is not just that Christ is great and glorious. He is.

But its that He loved us so much that when we were unworthy to be called Christ’s slaves, when we were the lowest of the low, He laid down His life for us and called us His friends (John 15:13).

Jesus is Great and Glorious.

Number 3...

III. Jesus is the Lamb of God

John 1:29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

What did John the Baptist have in mind when He called Jesus the Lamb of God?

It might surprise you that there is a lot of debate about this because calling Jesus the Lamb of God is such a common expression for Christians today.

But there’s not one sacrifice you can point to in the Old Testament and say definitively, this was it.

I think rather, what John was doing, was pointing to all the sacrifices in the Old Testament and saying they all come together in Jesus Christ.

He is the perfect, once for all sacrifice. He is the true and ultimate Lamb of God.

So if we look at the sacrifices of the Old Testament and what each of them did, I think we get a full picture about what John is saying about Jesus Christ.

First, He is the Passover Lamb.

1. Jesus is the Passover Lamb

One of the first thing the Israelites would think of when they thought of a Lamb would be the Passover Lamb.

During the Exodus, when God’s people were in slavery in Egypt, God was going to bring the last plague on the Egyptians and finally deliver His people.

The firstborn in every house would die.

But to save His people, God told them to take a lamb without spot or blemish and spread its blood over their doors (Ex. 12:3-13).

When the Lord passed through the land to pour out His judgment and bring death to every house, He would see the blood on the door and passover that house saving His people from His wrath.

Exodus 12:13 The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

Jesus is the true Passover Lamb who covers us in His blood so that God’s wrath and judgment passes over us and we are saved from our sin.

This is what we celebrate every week in the Lord’s Supper.

Through the blood of Christ, God saves us from the wages of sin, which is death, and redeems us from bondage and slavery of our sin, and delivers us into the Promise Land of Eternal Life.

Second, He is the Atonement Lamb.

2. Jesus is the Atonement Lamb

Lambs were offered in sin and guilt offerings under the Old Covenant System (Lev. 5:5-7, 14:24).

There were also daily sacrifices offered every morning and evening in the Temple as a perpetual reminder of the people’s need for forgiveness and God’s grace (Ex. 29:38-46).

But Isaiah 53 says Jesus is the true Atonement Lamb.

Isaiah 53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

This is the same passage that says Isaiah 53:5-6 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Jesus is the sacrificial Lamb that bears our sin.

Through His sacrifice, God says He makes many to be accounted righteous (Is. 53:11).

Jesus is the true sacrifice that bears our sin and satisfies God’s wrath on our behalf so that God’s anger towards us turns into blessing on account of Him.

Finally, He is the Substitute Lamb.

3. Jesus is the Substitute Lamb

When God tested Abraham and commanded Him to sacrifice Isaac, the son of the promise, the one through whom all the nations of the earth to be blessed, Abraham trusted the Lord.

He took Isaac up the mountain believing God was faithful.

Genesis 22:7-8 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.

After Abraham built the altar, he took out the knife to slay his son, and at the last possible moment the Lord stopped Him and said Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me (Genesis 22:12).

And behind him, Abraham saw a ramp caught in a thicket by its horns and Abraham took the ram, and offered it up as a burn offering instead of his son (Genesis 22:13).

The Lord provided a substitute and guaranteed His promise to bless all the nations of the earth with salvation.

Well Jesus is the true substitute. The true Son of the Promise through whom all the nations will be blessed.

But God did not spare Him. He did not spare His Son, His only Son, the Son of His love.

God sent him to die with a crown of thorns to show that Jesus bore our curse, and became a curse for us (Genesis 3:18, Galatians 3:13).

Isaac’s question is really the question of all the sacrifices throughout the Old Testament. Father where is the Lamb?

Where is the Lamb who will finally and ultimately take away all of our sin?

God promised to provide the Lamb, and John the Baptist says...

John 1:29-31 Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.”

After me comes a man…a real man, a real man in human flesh…who ranks before me because he was before me.

Jesus was born after John the Baptist.

So when John says He ranks before me because He was before me, John is saying Jesus isn’t just a man. Jesus is is eternal God

Jesus is the Lamb of God because He is the GodMan.

As a man, He is a substitute that can actually die for our sins.

And as holy and sinless God he is a sacrifice that can actually pay for them.

He is the Savior every sinner needs. The only one who can take away all of our sin.

He is the Passover Lamb that saves us from the wrath we deserve.

He is the Atonement Lamb who bears our sin.

And He is the Substitute Lamb who died in our place to give us eternal life.

Jesus is the Lamb of God.

Number 4...

Jesus is the Deliverer of God’s people.

Jesus is Great and Glorious.

He is the Lamb of God.

And He is...

IV. Jesus is the Mediator of the New Covenant

John 1:32-33 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’”

How did John know Jesus was the Messiah?

God revealed it to Him.

God said John would see the Spirit descend on Christ and remain on Him.

And that happened and Jesus’ Baptism.

Matthew 3:16-17 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

The Spirit descending on the Son was the sign for John that Jesus really was the Messiah.

Really was the one who would save God’s people from their sins.

You’ll remember how Jesus said Isaiah 61 was fulfilled in Him.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (Luke 4:18-29).

And the reason the Spirit descended as a dove is because the dove represented peace.

The dove was the bird that showed Noah the flood of God’s judgment had subsided from the earth (Gen. 8:11).

And so Jesus is anointed with the Spirit as a Dove because he brings peace between a holy God and sinful man and saves everyone that believes in Him from the flood of God’s judgment.

And then John gives us his testimony. This is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.

Now there’s a lot of confusion about the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Charismatics teach that its a second infilling of the Spirit where a Christian is anointed with power for a greater spiritual life.

Something that only a few really committed Christians obtain.

Something you should seek for if you really want to know the power of the Christian life.

But that’s not what it is at all. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is the fulfillment of the New Covenant.

Ezekiel 36:25-27 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

Jeremiah promised that in the New Covenant God would write His Law on our hearts and forgive our sins to be remembered no more (Jer. 31:31-34).

That is the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Think about it. John compare his water baptism with the Holy Spirit baptism of Christ.

Remember what John’s baptism was for. It was a baptism for the forgiveness of sins (Mk. 1:4).

It was a baptism that prepared people for the Messiah, by showing them you’re unclean.

You need to repent and have your sins forgiven.

John’s baptism said you need grace and mercy, and then Jesus comes and actually gives it with the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is true cleansing. True forgiveness.

John’s water baptism only pointed to it. Christ’s baptism actually accomplishes it.

So all Christians are baptized with the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 1:13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.

When you believe, Christ baptizes and seals you with the Spirit.

He washes you clean. Gives you a new heart and forgives all your sin.

All the promises of the New Covenant.

Baptism Aside

This, by the way, is one of the reasons why, we believe baptism is only for believers.

If baptism symbolizes cleansing, and true cleansing only comes through faith and repentance in Christ, then the only people that should be baptized are the ones who have been actually made clean through the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Baptism is for believers.

But ultimately Christ is the Messiah and Mediator of the New Covenant, and He ratified it, put it into effect, and established it with His own blood.

Hebrews 9:15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

Here’s what makes this so important.

Because Christ is the mediator of the Covenant and His blood is what secured it, that means our forgiveness, our cleansing, and our salvation rests solely on Him.

The New Covenant is guaranteed because it does not rest on us and our ability to keep it.

It rests on Christ who kept it perfectly all the way to the end.

We are forgiven because of Christ.

We are cleansed because of Christ.

We are loved because of Christ.

And we are saved once and for all because of Christ, the Mediator of the New and better covenant.

Finally number 5...

V. Jesus is the Son of God

John 1:34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.

This fits right in line with John’s overall purpose statement for His book.

John 20:31 But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Jesus is the Son of God is the fundamental confession of our faith.

First it says that He reveals the Father.

1. The Son Reveals the Father

John 1:18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

In Christ we know God as He truly is and in knowing Him are able to worship Him for all He’s worth.

He shows us God’s glory in all of His goodness.

How He is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

Forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin while still upholding His holiness, justice, and righteousness because He does not clear the guilty but lays all of our punishment on Christ (Ex. 34:5-7).

Related to this, the Son also reveals God’s love.

2. The Son Reveals the Father’s Love

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

That God sent His own Son to suffer and die in our place shows us just how Great the Father’s love for us truly is.

And if God did not spare his own Son, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Rom. 8:32).

Finally Jesus being the Son of God tells us that He is the One True Mediator and Only way to the Father...

3. The Son is the One True Mediator and Only Way to the Father

1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

The Son of God took on Human flesh.

He is fully God and fully man.

As Man he is able to die as a substitute for our sin and as God he is able to pay for them.

He and He alone can stand between us and God, lay His hand on us both, and make peace by His blood (Job 9:33).

And that’s why He is the only way to the Father.

I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6).

If you want to be saved and forgiven of all your sins, all the blessings we’ve talked about all sermon, you must believe Jesus is the Son of God with all that that means and put your faith in Him.

Conclusion

John the Baptist’s testimony must be every baptists’ testimony.

Every Christian’s testimony.

If we want to be saved we must believe that...

Jesus is the Deliverer of God’s People.

He is Great and Glorious.

The Lamb of God.

The Mediator of the New Covenant.

And...the Son of God.

We must believe that...

Jesus is the Son of God who was sent to deliver His people and cleanse them from all their sin.

Is John the Baptist’s testimony your testimony?

Has Jesus delivered you from sin and death?

Is He great and glorious? The highest good in all your life? The One you live all your life for?

Is He your sacrificial lamb? Have you put your faith in His death on the cross?

Have you been forgiven? Baptized in the Holy Spirit and washed clean from all your sin?

And is He the Son of God? Is He your God and Savior?

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12-13).

But John the Baptist’s testimony doesn’t just need to be our personal testimony for personal salvation.

It must be the testimony of our church as well if we are going to be a witness to the light of the gospel as John was and shine the hope of salvation to a lost and dying world.

Where is the Lamb?

Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

Let’s Pray

Scripture Reading

Colossians 1:15-20 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”

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