John 1:19-34 | Title 4
Notes
Transcript
Today we are continuing in our series in John.
We will be finishing out chapter one, which I believe is potentially one of the most doctrinally intensive chapters in all of scripture.
Now the end of John 1 ends with a launching point into the story of John the Baptist.
So lets pick up where we left off here in John 1:19
Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”
We have already learned who John was and what he came to do.
He was a relative of Jesus, born just before him, and he was commissioned by God to prepare the way for Jesus.
He would travel around the land of Israel spreading the news that the savior was coming.
Because of this there were a lot of questions surrounding exactly who John the Baptist was
And in fact scripture itself would lead to some misinterpreted confusion as to who John was
So who did they think he was?
He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”
Not one time throughout John’s life do we see him claim to be the Christ, but instead he was clear that he is simply there to prepare the way for the Christ
Now..… why does he say THE Christ instead just Christ
Christ was not Jesus’s last name. His name was not Jesus Christ.
Christ was actually a title that meant anointed or chosen one
The Jews knew that a savior had been prophesied for centuries, and the Christ comes from the greek Christos, which is a title they would have used to describe this anointed one
And John was clear, he was not that anointed one that was prophesied
And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?”
He said, “I am not.”
“Are you the Prophet?”
And he answered, “No.”
Then they said to him, “Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”
Now this seems like an odd thing to say.
- Why would they think that John the Baptist was a prophet would had been dead for hundreds of years?
We looked at this recently but lets review it quickly
The last passage of scripture that was written in the Old Testament, before a 400 year period of silence was the book of Malachi.
Specifically the last scripture given to the Jews up to this point, inspired by the Holy Spirit, would have been Malachi 4:5–6 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.””
So the last inspired scripture that the jews at this time had was a promise saying that God would send Elijah the prophet.
So naturally they are looking for some reincarnation of Elijah, and when John the Baptist comes with a message of salvation and a savior coming, naturally the people thought this must be what Malachi 4:5 was talking out, it is Elijah someone in the form of John the Baptist
But this all gets thrown out when they ask him if he is Elijah, and simply says, I am not, and he even clarifies when asked again that he is not the prophet.
And so the Levite priest asks him, well the men who sent us to you want to know who you are, what do we tell them, who are you?
He said: “I am
‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
“Make straight the way of the Lord,” ’
as the prophet Isaiah said.”
So is John just poetically describing what he does? Not quite
What he is sharing here is an Old Testament prophecy of one who come to prepare the way of the Lord
Isaiah 40:3 “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God.”
So 600 years earlier it was prophesied that one would come and prepare the way for Jesus
and he says directly word for word, I am the one that was prophesied, not the Christ, but the one to prepare the way for him
Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees. And they asked him, saying, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.”
These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
Now I want to take a minute to look at baptism, what this is, and why we still do it today.
We have a couple getting baptised after the service today
So this is still something we do today, however most don’t understand what it is, and why we do it.
The first mention of baptism or water being used in a spiritual sense goes all the way back to the Old Testament priesthood.
In Leviticus 16:4, the priests were commanded to bathe before entering the Holy Place—this wasn’t a cleansing of the body as much as it was a symbolic cleansing of the soul.
He shall put the holy linen tunic and the linen trousers on his body; he shall be girded with a linen sash, and with the linen turban he shall be attired. These are holy garments. Therefore he shall wash his body in water, and put them on.
It was an outward expression of an inward need for holiness.
Over time baptism, or more specifically the act of salvation or a picture of salvation in some way with water became a very common visual…
Old Testament Event New Testament Fulfillment
Noah's Ark and Flood (Gen. 6–9) Baptism as salvation through judgment (1 Peter 3:21)
Red Sea Crossing (Ex. 14) Baptism as leaving slavery to sin (1 Cor. 10:1-2)
Priestly Washings (Lev. 16:4) Baptism as symbolic purification (Heb. 10:22)
Naaman’s Washing (2 Kings 5) Baptism as outward testimony of healing through faith
So throughout the OT we see this picture start to develop, and over time it started to become a symbol of conversion—first as a practice for those desiring to join the Jewish faith.
To become a proselyte (convert to Judaism), a Gentile had to:
Be circumcised (if male).
Offer a sacrifice.
Undergo a ritual immersion in water (called tevilah) in a mikveh (ritual bath).
This mostly happened during the intertestamental period.
So now we fast forward to John the Baptist:
It had been prophesied for centuries that one would come to prepare the way for the savior.
So John takes this picture of a baptism of repentance and conversion, but he flips it by requiring not of those desiring to be Jewish, but of all those, even Jews, who desire to follow the coming savior
It is important to understand that his baptism wasn’t about salvation—it was about repentance.
- It was symbolic.
- It pointed people toward the Messiah who was coming.
John clarifies this in Matthew 3:11
I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
So John's baptism—like the Old Testament ceremonial washing—was never meant to save anyone or even serve as a picture of salvation.
- It was a representation that showed a heart turning toward the coming savior.
Then when Christ came, baptism became a commanded act, following salvation, that identified the believer publicly with Christ, and this was an identification with Christ and a baptism of the Holy Spirit.
So this was the ministry of John the Baptist.
He traveled around, shared the message that the savior was coming, hearts needed to be prepared, and repentance needed to be made.
But everything would change for John when he would finally meet the savior he was preparing the way for.
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “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 is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.”
And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, 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.’ And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”
It was clear from the very beginning who Jesus was and what he came to do.
Now you may wonder, if John the Baptist and Jesus were related, most likely cousins.....
did he not know who Jesus was up to this point?
had he not seen Jesus up to this point?
Well this brings up a heavily debated point that is actually very important.
Let me ask this first
If John was not related to Jesus, the claim could be made that John was just tricked by some random guy.
If John knew the entirety of who Jesus was, then it could be said that John was biased and this was some inside family job.
So the best possible solution for the one to prepare the way for the savior is someone who knows of him, knows his background, but isn’t aware of the full revelation of who he is.
I think scripture implies this is the case. - That John did know Jesus as his relative, and I think he knew there was something special about Jesus, but not that he was the Messiah
Whether this information was purposefully held back from Mary and his mother Elizabeth, or there was something lacking in their understanding of the full revelation of who Jesus was.....
We do see in Matthew 3 that John the Baptist does recognize Jesus, and knows that there is something special about him, but he doesn’t know the fullness of who Jesus was
At this point Jesus had lived a perfect life, taught in the temple at a young age, so no doubt John would have known him, and understood that he was a very righteous person, but not the Messiah, yet
Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?”
But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him.
When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Now the timeline of all of these events can be difficult to keep in order, so lets just do a quick recap.
We see 3 different very important days happen back to back.
Day 1. John is questioned on who he is while he is baptising by the Jordan- John 1:19-28
All on the same day....
John is baptising by the Jordan - priests come up to him and ask who he is - after this, same day, Jesus comes to John and asks to be baptized too
We get more information on what happens in Luke 3:15-22
Now as the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not, John answered, saying to all, “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.”
And with many other exhortations he preached to the people. But Herod the tetrarch, being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, also added this, above all, that he shut John up in prison.
When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”
So we see Jesus is baptized along with the crowd John is baptising at the Jordan
In John 1 it says.…
I did not know Him, 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.’
So John is baptising crowds of people, and Jesus, this man who he knows as his relative, and a very righteous person, comes and asks him if he can be baptised too
And John says no, I need to be baptized by you (we see this in Matthew 3:14 “And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?””
So John baptises him, and this is what happens.
When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
This was the seal that John was waiting for to finally confirm who the messiah was.
Finally after all this time of waiting and preparing the way for the savior, he is standing here in the water, after having just baptized the son of God, and he sees the Holy Spirit come down and dwell in Jesus, and then the father says from Heaven, this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.
If you ever doubt the trinitarian nature of God, that he is three in one, the baptism of Jesus is the primary place to see all three in one setting.
We have the son - Jesus, being baptized, the holy spirit come down and dwell upon him, then we have the Father speak from heaven
All three, separate persons, one essence. One God separate persons.
And this act of Jesus being baptized would serve as the starting point of his ministry, but can I ask a question, why?
Why was Jesus baptised?
John’s baptism was one of repentance, and Jesus was perfect, so why was he baptised.
Well most say he just did it as an example that we should be baptised, but its actually much more than that.
There are actually three main reasons.
Jesus tells us plainly the first.
Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?”
But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him.
Some might take this to mean that Jesus is affirming salvation by baptism here.
Some would say that Jesus is saying that baptism is a requirement to fulfill all righteousness or to be saved.
But in reality it is saying the opposite, proving with certainty that the physical act of baptism does not save
And we can prove it through this question....
If the waters of baptism save, the physical act, then Jesus was participating in his own salvation.
John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance, but you might misunderstand this to think that Jesus is somehow instituting baptism here as the act of salvation, but if that is the case then Jesus, here is becoming saved of his sins through the waters of baptism, which we know that he had none to be saved from.
What Jesus is saying here, is further supporting his sinless nature to the fullest extent.
He is solidifying here the command of God for mankind upon belief to be baptised, and that those who do not are in disobedience.
So what Jesus is doing here is quite literally fulfilling all the righteousness, he is obeying every single command that God has given, and baptism was one of those.
Even though he was without sin, he had nothing to repent of, or any need of salvation to show, but to ensure he was in complete obedience to God, and at the same time showing us what full obedience to God looks like, he is baptized.
He fulfilled righteousness not to be made righteous, but because He was righteous.
It is interesting to note that there is only one act of obedience that God required of mankind, that Jesus didn’t do.
He never broke the law
He never broke a commandment
And here we see he even practiced the commanded ordinances of the church that were to come, baptism, and then later communion, which he institutes, that he practices himself too
But there was one act of obedience he didn’t do, and the was repentance
True repentance away from sin and faith in Christ instead was not needed at all, because Jesus never sinned, he had nothing to repent of and he himself was the sacrifice.
But he chose in perfect obedience to God, to be baptised, even though he didn’t need to repent.
So this is the reason that Jesus tells John as to why he needed to be baptized. But there is another that is mentioned.
I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.”
And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, 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.’
God had instructed John that the way he would know who was the messiah, is by looking to the one who the spirit of God descends on, and stays upon.
And one you see him you will know this is the one who baptizes with the holy spirit.
So God had orchestrated this miraculous scene, the initiation of Jesus’s ministry, where it would prove without a doubt who he was, and what he came to do.
And God chose the perfect place for this to happen.
As John has been preaching for months now the coming of the messiah, and at this point he has just clarified to the priest who he is, that he is not the Christ, but he is preparing the way for the Christ, he is baptizing multitudes of people who are looking for this savior too, and in the middle of all this, Jesus comes....
He steps down into the water, John puts him beneath the water, and brings him back up, as he comes up, the spirit of God comes down on him, and he stays there.
And John knew at this point, this is the savior, and everyone else there, likely even the Jewish priests, maybe even pharisees, Sadducees, religious elite, see with their own eyes, this messiah receiving the Holy Spirit, and the Father himself speaking from heaven saying that this Jesus was his son, and he is well pleased in him.
This moment of baptism, in this setting at this time, was the perfect place for Jesus to identified and publicly affirmed by the father.
So we see it was not just a need to fulfill all the obedience and righteousness, but this also served as the perfect setting for Jesus to be affirmed by the Father and to receive the holy spirit.
John even clarifies exactly what happened here in John 1:34
And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”
So these two reasons are apparent from scripture, but there is one less apparent, more implied application as to why Jesus was baptised.
We see the meaning behind it in how John references Jesus the next day after the baptism, when he sees him coming toward him.
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
Seems like an odd term, that John would call him the lamb.
But in light of Jesus just being baptized, this means so much more.
In the Jewish law, animal sacrifices were made as a picture of the substitute needed to cover their sins.
And the lamb more specifically was the ultimate expression of this
We see the picture of the lamb as a substitute being used most prominently when the Israelites were in Egpyt.
EGYPT PASSOVER: God had been delivery plague after plague on the Egyptians because Pharaoh would not let the Israelite slaves leave. and it came time to deliver the last plague.
God told them this...
‘For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord.
So what are they supposed to do? Well the Israelites had just as much of a reason to face judgement as the Egyptians, God could have rightly punished them too, but notice what he tells them to do.
Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man’s need you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it.
And if they did this, exactly as God said, here is what he said would happen
Now 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 the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
From this time on, the spotless lamb became the picture of substitutionary atonement.
The lamb became the picture of the one who stepped in the sinners place and took the punishment for them.
The lamb became the substitute, where sinful man should be, the lamb stood in his place
And John looks at Jesus coming to him, and he says look, here is the lamb of God.
Here is the substitute.
And just the day before this was exemplified in its purest form
It is our place to stand in the waters of baptism.
We are the ones who need washing, we are the ones who need repentance, and that sin cleansed.
And yet what do we find the day before.
As sinner after sinner after sinner comes and stands in the water, and in repentance is put under the water and back out again, we see the lamb of God come to where the sinners are.
And he steps down in the water, where the sinners stand
And he goes under the water, that the sinners are cleansed in
And he comes back up with the holy spirit upon him, acting in obedience to God, just like the sinners
Once again, the spotless lamb, took the place of the sinner, and stood in their place
I think that is an incredible thing to remember as we baptise today, that when we stand in the water, we are standing where our savior stood, taking our place once again, and when we go beneath the water and come back up we are not just saying publicly that we believe in Christ, we are identifying with him.
Just as he stood in sinners place in the water, one day he would stand in the sinners place on the cross, as the spotless lamb, serving as the substitute, paying for their sins.
And just as we go beneath the water and come back up, he went into the grave, and rose again.
And as we still practice baptism today, that is what we are doing, identifying ourselves with Christ and what he did for us.
His baptism was so much more than just an example for us.
And today, our baptism is so much more than just an example to others.
It is the perfect expression and personal identification with Jesus, our perfect substitute, the lamb of God.
