John 1:19-34

Review & Intro

Last week we started the Gospel of John

Written by the apostle John (one of the original 12 disciples)

The message is to show us the divinity of Jesus (Jesus is God)

Centered around 7 miracles & 7 “I Am” statements

We looked at the big concept that John threw out last week, that Jesus is the “Word”

Word = Logos = ultimate reason for everything

And that Word, the Logos, the ultimate reason that everything exists, became flesh and dwelt among us

And we get to see that through what is written in this gospel

And if anyone receives Him (Jesus), they are born again and get to become children of God

We learned that we’re all created (by Jesus) w/ a void in our soul, looking for something to permanently fill it up

People will try all kinds of things, but the only thing that will truly satisfy our souls is the light of mankind - Jesus

Last week we also briefly touched on this other dude named John - John the Baptist

John the Baptist was the cousin of Jesus. He was only 6 months older than Jesus, and he started his ministry before Jesus made His ministry public (when He was ~ 30 years old - He worked as a carpenter before then)

John came from the family of a priest (a Levite), so his job was supposed to be a priest

A priest’s job, very simply put, is to represent God to the people - to tell people what God is like and how to follow Him

But instead of working at the temple like his dad did, or working at the local synagogue (church to the Jews back then), he decided to move out into the middle of nowhere, live by himself, wear camel skins and eat grasshoppers, and start preaching that the Messiah that had been promised since the time of Adam and Eve was coming and so people should repent of their sin and turn their lives around.

I’ve started to watch this new show on Netflix called “Alone” - tell background of show and how it relates to John

And as crazy as John’s idea sounded, people started to come out to listen to him. They would come from town out into the wilderness and listen to John preach, and it was making such an impact on people that all kinds of people wanted to get baptized in the river

The religious leaders of the times, the Pharisees, started to feel threatened by John

The Pharisees were a sect of priests/Levites [like John] that were the ruling class of the day.

While Rome was the official government in charge, the Pharisees ran the moral side of the country, and effectively ran the courts and the law

The people listened and obeyed what the Pharisees said, and if you didn’t, it wasn’t good for you or your family.

The Pharisees loved their power, so when John started teaching about God (the Pharisee’s job) and got people to follow him (instead of the Pharisees), they were not happy

So that’s where we pick up tonight, with the Pharisees sending some of their people out to interrogate John

Verses 19-22

So these religious leaders go to interrogate John, and they ask him, “Who are you? What are you all about? Do you think you’re the Messiah (Christ) or something?”

John says no

They ramble off a few other things, “Do you think you’re Elijah (OT reference to the prophet who would come right before the Messiah), or the Prophet (another OT reference from Deut 18:15-19)?”

John again replies no

So they ask him again, “Who are you so we can tell our bosses? What do you say about yourself?”

What a cool question to be asked!!

Have you ever been asked that question before b/c of your faith? “Who do you think you are? Why do you do the things you do? Why do you say the things that you say? What are you all about?”

My prayer is that your life would shine for Jesus so brightly that the people around you would be asking you the same questions.

Verse 23

The answer John gives is a quote from the OT - Is 40:3 to be exact. His job was to prepare the way for the Lord

His job was to tell others about Jesus

I love his response!

It wasn’t “Do you know who I am? I’m the son of a priest! My dad found out that I was going to be born b/c the archangel Gabriel told him in person! I’m the cousin of Jesus, God Himself!”

There was zero focus on self, just a focus on the Lord and His mission to make God more known to others

“I’m just a voice who wants to tell you about Jesus”

Verses 24-28

The religious leaders find out who John is (a messenger for God) and they ask him, “Well if you’re a nobody, why are you baptizing people then? Why are you serving God if you’re not a priest or a prophet?”

The same question could be asked of you today. “Why are you living like this or saying these words for God? Do you think you’re a pastor or something? Your just a teenager, you don’t work at a church or as a missionary?”

And John’s response again is not about himself, it’s all about his Lord

“Look, I’m giving people a chance to be baptized in water. People come and hear what I have to say, and they want to get right with God, and they’re getting baptized in the river here to show the world that they’re serious about following after God. But I’m just a messenger. There’s someone else coming who is so much greater than me. I’m not even worthy to tie His shoes. That’s who you should focus on.”

So when people ask “Why do you live like that, why do you go to church and read your Bible at school and talk about God?”, the response is “because of Jesus. He is so much greater than me, I’m not even worthy to tie His shoelaces if He asked me. But yet He loves me and I’m a part of His family, and you can be too.”

Verses 29-31

So the next day John is out preaching and baptizing again, not scarred or shaken by the interrogation of the Pharisees, and He sees Jesus headed his way.

Immediately he cries out, “This is the Guy I was telling you about, the one who can take away your sin!”

Take away = to erase, remove completely

He doesn’t remember it, hold it against us, He forgives and forgets it

What a relief!

He tells the people to “Behold” Jesus

Behold = to study

John again puts all the focus on Jesus and not on Himself.

Then something crazy happens, Jesus asks John to baptize Him

The other gospels tell us that John’s initial response was, “no way! I’m not worthy. You should be baptizing me!”

But Jesus insists, and John baptizes Him and as He comes up out of the water, the Holy Spirit (trinity) in the form of a dove comes down from heaven over Jesus, and God the Father (trinity) speaks from heaven saying “This is my beloved Son, I am pleased with You!”

John gives a summary of that, kind of like an interview after everything had happened

Verses 32-34

Why did Jesus have to get baptized? I have a couple of reasons

It was a sign to John that Jesus really was the promised Messiah

I’m sure he had doubts, especially when the one who was promised was his cousin. Families.

But God promised John that the One who he baptized that the Holy Spirit descends like a dove over, that’s the Messiah

And it happened, so it confirmed it to John

You don’t really hear about John much after this other than b/c of his execution for his faith

And I think that’s b/c at this moment, after Jesus shows up, John tells the people to follow after Jesus

Jesus wanted to identify with us.

He tells us we should get baptized (not to get saved, but as a public declaration that you are saved), and He did the same thing to relate to us

It was a public submission to God.

Jesus rarely talked about baptism, but when He did He spoke of the baptism of death.

We know that baptism symbolizes our old sinful self being put to death and put in the grave (into the water), then being raised up as a new creation (out of the water) according to Romans 6.

So when Jesus walks down to the river to be baptized here, He’s publically committing Himself to the cross

He’s in it to die. Remember that the rest of the book. With everything else that happens, His mission is to go to the cross to die so that He could take away the sins of the world

Sample Small Group Questions

Why do people enjoy boasting about themselves and their accomplishments?

Why is it hard to be humble?

Have you ever been asked questions about your faith and why do act/talk the way you do like John did? Give an example if you have one to share? (Leaders - give an example if you have one either from your time in high school/college or more recently).

John’s response to the Pharisee’s interrogation was to point them to Jesus. Why should our answer to questions like this be about Jesus and not about us?

In what ways can you be a voice for Jesus? What special or unique abilities has God given you to share His word?

Name a specific person, or a specific scenario that you can share about Jesus this week. How are you going to share?

Why did Jesus chose to get baptized?

What does it mean to you that we can have our sins taken away (for good, erased!) because of what Jesus did for us?

Prayer Requests and Group Prayer