2/10/2011 Devotional Thoughts from John... John the Baptist and Jesus (John 1:19-34)

Text: John 1:19-34 (NKJV)

19 Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”
20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”
21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?”
He said, “I am not.”
“Are you the Prophet?”
And he answered, “No.”
22 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?”
23 He said: “I am
          ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
          “Make straight the way of the LORD,” ’
as the prophet Isaiah said.”
24 Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees. 25 And they asked him, saying, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
26 John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. 27 It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.”
28 These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ 31 I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.”
32 And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. 33 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.’ 34 And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”

Devotional Thoughts and Commentary:

John the Baptist claimed nothing for himself except the one who would break the way for the Messiah (Christ). This line of questioning required great humility. John the Baptist's replies do not give the sense that would have been hard for me not to convey- "Hey, I'm important too!"

Verses 26-27 are really the turning point of this narrative of John the Baptist. His prophesied purpose was not that he would be an end unto himself; rather, He was there to prepare for and announce the coming of Israel's Anointed One (Messiah). He recognized that his baptism with water was inferior to the Christ. Although it is not communicated here, it is unlikely that John the Baptist realized the irony in his statement. His baptism was inferior, and the physical act would soon come to be understood in Christianity as symbolic of the Christ's death, burial, and resurrection (Romans 6:3-4), which provide us with spiritual baptism that happens at salvation. Water baptism is inferior to spiritual baptism, in that it cannot provide salvation.

• I feel the need to parenthetically insert a note on baptism here. The English word "baptism" comes from the Greek root "baptizo." This Greek word indicates dipping, submersion, and total immersion. The idea of water baptism preceded Christianity, not exclusive to John the Baptist. It was used to initiate proselytes (converts) to Judaism prior to John, and here John the Baptist was using it to symbolize repentance from sin and begin to initiate the idea of Jews converting to following their Messiah for whom he was herald. In Christianity, immersion into water symbolized, as show in the aforementioned Romans passage, that someone, of their will, had committed to Jesus as their Savior. It was used to initiate those followers of Jesus into a local church (assembly of followers) as an institution. Note that this would require an individual choice for Jesus, so infant baptism is not of any use in Scripture. Spiritual baptism, by contrast, is not something that we see or experience physically. It is an act of God the Holy Spirit when the believer is spiritually baptized by the shed blood of Jesus Christ and initiated into the universal group of Christians from all time (1 Corinthians 12:13).

The rest of the passage is focused on the idea that Jesus (God, who was infinitely more important and existed before John the Baptist) was the Lamb of God who would cleanse the world of its sins. The imagery here could be lost on a modern reader, so let me enlighten a little bit. Judaism offered sacrifices, and probably the most highly regarded sacrifice was a spotless lamb. The Jews should have know that in order for that lamb to cover their sins in the Old Testament system, it had to die. When John the Baptist said that Jesus was the "Lamb of God" who would "take away the sins of the world," his audience should have understood that Jesus was going to die to pay for their sins. In reality, even the Apostles did not understand that Jesus was going to die until the last moment. Sin against God is so serious that it requires a sentence of death; Jesus's death paid our fair sentence.

Applications:

Thank Jesus for dying to pay for your sin. He never sinned, yet His death paid for all the sin of every single person of all time. He bore that for you. If you haven't, this is the time to accept Jesus as your Savior.

If you have been saved but not baptized by immersion, you need to find a good church that follows the Biblical pattern for baptism (immersion, not sprinkling or pouring). This should then bring you in as a member of that local church.

Work on your humility like John the Baptist. Although his prophesied, specific job was the announce Jesus as Messiah, we really actually have the same job on the other side of Jesus's life. Things are not about us or our social status. We aren't important- He is.

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