Good morning! Today we are continuing our look into the first chapter of the Gospel of John. We focus on verses 19 to 34; most of this passage involves John the Baptist, whom John-the-gospel-writer simply calls John. I think a good place to start is back in Luke chapter 1, where the angel of the Lord appears to Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, back before John is even born. Here is the passage:
Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” – Luke 1:11-17
As you can see, John the Baptist was to be a pretty special person. Just the fact that his birth was announced by an angel limits him to one of only a few people in all of history. This small list includes Isaac, Samson, and of course Jesus. Furthermore, it says that many people would rejoice because of him, and that he would be great in the sight of the Lord. Few have such things said about them. It says that he would be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. I cannot think of any other person for whom this was said. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit would come upon someone for a special moment, for a time, for example on a leader in the book of Judges right before going off to battle, or on a prophet for the duration that he would prophecy.
And it further described what John the Baptist would do – he would cause many to repent, to turn back to God, to turn back to basing what they believed and what they did on the truths of God’s word. It would soften their hearts, make them care about God, even caring about teaching the next generation about God (turning the hearts of the fathers to their children), and it would make them eager, hungry, for God – as it says, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
This passage also describes what John the Baptist would do as going before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah. This and the part about the hearts of the fathers clearly refer back to a passage in Malachi:
“Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel. See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.” – Mal. 4:4-6
Recall that Elijah had a similar role – King Ahab encouraged worship of foreign gods even building a temple for Baal and allowing Jezebel to bring a large group of priests and prophets of Baal into Israel. Elijah is introduced in I Kings 17:1 as a Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, and of telling Ahab that, due to his terrible behavior, there would be neither dew nor rain for several years except at God’s word. Three years later, after severe famine had resulted from the drought, Elijah confronted Ahab and a great assembly was held on Mount Carmel. Ahab was there, hundreds of false prophets of Baal and Asherah were there, countless Israelites were there, and Elijah was there. Elijah challenged the false prophets to make their god set fire to an altar they made, and although they tried earnestly all day long, nothing happened. Then Elijah made a simple altar from 12 stones, symbolizing the 12 tribes of Israel, with wood on top and a sacrifice on top of that. Elijah made them soak everything again and again with water so that it could not possibly burn. Then Elijah prayed and God answered, burning up the sacrifice, the wood, and even the stones and the water. And, the people of Israel, coming face to face with the reality that the God of Israel was real, fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!” Shortly after this the heavens opened and the drought was ended. Elijah did other important and amazing things including raising a widow’s son from the dead, and he went up to heaven in a whirlwind without tasting death, but I think the greatest impact Elijah had on the nation of Israel was this event on Mount Carmel. He truly brought the Israelites on a grand scale to a place of repentance towards God.
This passage in Malachi is basically saying that something like this would happen again – either Elijah himself, or someone else in his roll, would again bring people to a place of repentance. And in this case it was tied in with the coming of the Messiah, the “great and dreadful day of the Lord.”
The Jews took this passage literally to mean that Elijah, the prophet himself, would return someday right before the Messiah would come. Even today, traditionally at the end of the Sabbath, there is a ceremony that includes singing a song called Eliyahu Hanavithat that has the words “Eliyahu Hanavi, Eliyahu HaTishbi, Eliyahu HaGiladi, Bi’mehera Yavo Elaynu, im Mashiach ben David,” which means “Elijah the Prophet, Elijah the Tishbite, Elijah the Gileadite, may he soon come to us, accompanying the Messiah, Son of David.” This song is also sung at circumcisions and at Passover. In addition, a traditional part of the Passover ceremony is also to leave an empty chair and an untaken cup of wine and open the door of your house at a certain point to let Elijah in, in case it is on this day he comes. I find it very sad that religious Jews do these things and yet reject Jesus as their messiah.
But returning to the Luke 1 passage, the angel told Zechariah that his son would be like this – that his son would go on before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, and that he would bring many back to the Lord their God, that he would bring many to a place of repentance much as Elijah had done all those centuries ago.
And then, when John the Baptist was born, and his father Zechariah was again able to speak, he was filled with Holy Spirit and prophesied about Jesus and about his son. With regards to his son, he said this:
And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for Him. – Luke 1:76
And a few verses later, we have this:
And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel. – Luke 1:80
Now, John’s father Zechariah was a priest, so this means that John was also a priest. Did John perform the roles of priest, going up to the Temple several times a year for a week at a time? The Bible is silent on this – we aren’t told about this or about what happened to Zechariah, if anything, as John the Baptist grew up. But at some point, when John was an adult, he began to preach and take up the role the angel and his father had prophesied. We have the following account in Luke:
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert. He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: - Luke 3:1-4a
“A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all mankind will see God’s salvation.’” – Luke 3:4b-6
This passage is a quote from Isaiah 40:3-5.
John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” – Luke 3:7-9
“What should we do then?” the crowd asked. John answered, “The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.” Tax collectors also came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?” “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them. Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?” He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.” – Luke 3:10-14
The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ. John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” And with many other words John exhorted the people and preached the good news to them. – Luke 3:15-18
One other aspect to John the Baptist we should talk about is his reputation today for being “strange.” This comes from a description we find in Matthew and Mark. Here is the version from Matthew:
John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. – Matthew 3:4
Sounds sticky – and crunchy! By the way, locusts were perfectly kosher – see Leviticus 11:22. Actually, though these items of food and clothing were not something unique to John, but were what the poorest people who lived in the more remote parts of the land ate and wore. John did not do these things to stand out, but to fit in. He lived among the poorest people and was one of them. And yet it seems that people from all walks of life came to him, rich and poor, even including soldiers and tax collectors. And he called all to repentance, to hungering after God, and many did indeed turn to God. Although the details of what they did was different, John had an effect on the people much like Elijah had centuries ago.
John was also baptizing the people who wanted to declare that they had repented, that they had turned back to God. John used this baptism as a symbol of their earnestness, of their desire to be ready for Messiah, when He was to come. By the way, this baptism was not the same as the baptism we undergo as new believers, which is a baptism symbolizing the union with Christ in His death and resurrection. Note that twelve of John the Baptist’s disciples were later re-baptized by the Apostles.
With this context and background, let’s look at John 1 beginning at verse 19.
Now this was John’s testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Christ.” They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.” – John 1:19-21
John had been traveling around preaching in the remote places of Israel in the style Luke describes, gathering bigger and bigger crowds, and his “fame” spread throughout Israel. Eventually, the news reached Jerusalem, so a group of priests and Levites was sent to talk to him.
They asked him who he was, and John immediately made it clear that he was not the Christ, or Messiah. Then they asked if he was Elijah, and what they meant was that they wanted to know if he was the Elijah, come back down from heaven. John again said no.
Then they asked “Are you the Prophet?” Although some commentators are unsure of what this refers to, I think it refers to the following passage in Deuteronomy:
The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him. For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.” The Lord said to me: “What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account. – Deut. 18:15-19
Like many of the passages we have talked about the last two weeks from the Old Testament, this passage was a mystery to the Rabbis over the ages. They would discuss and argue their various theories about who this “the Prophet” was. I would say that this points to Christ Himself. Later in John, Jesus describes Himself as only saying what the Father wanted Him to say. Now there is a sense in which John the Baptist serves this kind of role, just as there is a sense in which he came “in the spirit and power of Elijah,” but again, taking things literally, John says no.
By the way, I think it is very interesting that, if “the prophet” does refer to someone like Moses, they are basically asking John if he is an Elijah guy or a Moses guy. And who appears with Jesus in the transfiguration? Moses and Elijah!
Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”– John 1:22-23
I so love John’s answer! These guys are obviously getting frustrated. They are confused. They want an answer. Now John could have said, I’m John, son of Zechariah the priest, of the priestly division of Abijah; my mother Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. My birth was pronounced by an angel who said I would be great in the sight of the Lord; I was filled with the Holy Spirit from birth. But John said none of these things. Instead, he says, “I am the one telling people, including you, make straight the way for the Lord – that is, prepare yourselves, repent, turn your hearts back to God.” John refuses to give a direct answer to their question because it puts the focus on John rather than on his message. John shows great humility combined with a steadfast dedication to his purpose, to continue his calling to call people to the Lord. This is a humility and dedication that we also are called to have. Jesus says the following:
So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty. – Luke 17:10
Is this tough to do? Is this a tough attitude to maintain? It’s impossible unless your eyes are on Jesus, if you really see Him in His greatness and love and mercy. When your eyes are on Him like this, when someone asks you about yourself, your response naturally becomes, “Why are you even asking me about myself? Look at Him!!” This is exactly the heart of John the Baptist.
There is something else in John 1:23 that I really love. In Greek, it is Ego phone which means “I am the voice.” From phone we get phonics, which are sounds, and phonograph, which is a record player, a sound producer, and of course telephone. Ego phone. The last two weeks we saw the Word, the Logos, and the incredible richness associated with this term. Here John says he is the phone, the one that gives voice to the Word.
Now some Pharisees who had been sent questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” “I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.” This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing. – John 1:24-28
The Pharisees’ question is an interesting one. “If you are not the Messiah guy, or the Elijah guy, or the Moses guy, what are you doing baptizing people?” For me, the reason the question is interesting is because I wonder why they thought it was OK if John was the Messiah guy, the Elijah guy, or the Moses guy.
This led me to think about whether there ever was a Moses baptism, and whether there ever was an Elijah baptism. Well, let’s start with Moses, as this one is, I think, more obvious. Yes, there was a kind of Moses baptism – all of the Israelites crossed the Red Sea. It was a kind of deliverance; through it their enemies the Egyptians were utterly defeated. As the waters closed back up and drowned their enemies it also signified a point of no turning back. At this point they were free. From this point on, the Sea also blocked their return. Paul refers to this:
For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. – I Cor. 10:1-2
By the way, the cloud refers to the great cloud that was present:
During the last watch of the night the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. – Ex. 14:24
I believe that cloud was also “baptizing” them by pouring down rain, because this is the description we are given in Psalm 77:
The waters saw You, O God, the waters saw You and writhed; the very depths were convulsed. The clouds poured down water, the skies resounded with thunder; Your arrows flashed back and forth. Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind, Your lightning lit up the world; the earth trembled and quaked. Your path led through the sea, Your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen. You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. – Psalm 77:16-20
Was there an Elijah baptism? I think so. Remember, pretty much all of Israel had gathered to see the big showdown between the one prophet of God and the hundreds of prophets of Baal and Ashtoreth. This is a huge event, a historic event. And remember that prior to this had been 3 years of no rain. What happened at the conclusion, after everyone shouted, “The Lord, He is God”? The heavens opened and rain poured down on everyone. An Elijah baptism!
So what about the Messiah? Would there be a Messiah baptism? Was this predicted? Yes! Here are just two examples tying water and baptism to the Messiah:
For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit in you and move you to follow My decrees and be careful to keep My laws. – Ezek. 36:24-28
And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on Me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son…On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity. – Zech. 13:10, 14:1
All this is to say that those who really studied the Scriptures saw some association of baptism with Moses, with Elijah, and with the coming Messiah. And so, back to John 1, their question was, “If you are none of these guys, why are you baptizing?”
Once again, I love John’s answer. Just as with the last answer, John minimized himself and pointed to Christ, this time he does so even more. “I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.” John minimizes the importance of his own baptism, and again points them to Christ. “I’m not even worthy to untie His shoes or wash His feet,” John was saying. That would be a job for the lowest servant of all in a household. Absolutely anyone could do that. And it’s not particularly pleasant work, is it?
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know Him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that He might be revealed to Israel.” – John 1:29-31
The theme of Jesus as Lamb is found many places in Scripture. I first think of Abraham and Isaac. The symbolism of those events is just so powerful! God stopped Abraham from sacrificing his son, his only son, whom he loved, and said that He would provide a Lamb. And God did. His Lamb was His Son, His only Son, whom He loved. And God sacrificed that Lamb for the sins of all mankind.
I also think of the Passover lamb whose blood was shed and sprinkled on the door to keep away the angel of death, and I think of the symbolism of Christ as our Passover Lamb, and that, through His work, if we believe, through faith in Him, we instead look ultimately look forward to the opposite of the curse of death, to eternal life in Him and with Him.
I also think of the daily sacrifices of lambs for sin, every morning and every evening, for the burnt offering for sin.
And I think of Isaiah 53, which says:
Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. – Isaiah 53:4-6
He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away. And who can speak of His descendants? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people He was stricken. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death, though He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth. – Isaiah 53:7-9
Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer, and though the Lord makes His life a guilt offering, He will see His offspring and prolong His days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in His hand. After the suffering of His soul, He will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by His knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and He will bear their iniquities. – Isaiah 53:10-11
Therefore I will give Him a portion among the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong, because He poured out His life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors.
For He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. – Isaiah 53:12
Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on Him. I would not have known Him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is He who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.” – John 1:32-34
LOGOS dot SON. Not just a Lamb, but the Son. In fact, in some of the other gospel accounts, we see that God Himself spoke of Jesus as His Son:
At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” – Mark 1:9-11
There is much mystery in the relationship between God the Father and God the Son, much that we cannot understand this side of heaven. But I believe God has instituted the family, that we can have family relationships and experience the love of such relationships, so that we can get an inkling, a hint, of what it means that God the Father loves God the Son. We have looked at LOGOS dot God and LOGOS dot MAN – Jesus was the Word, and He was God and yet God became flesh and “pitched His tent” among us. And we can marvel at the kind of love that would send the LOGOS to do that, to give up so much to be here on our cursed world among people that are filled with sin (as we all are, apart from Christ).
I debated about whether to call this message LOGOS dot SON or LOGOS dot LAMB, since both are equally major themes here. But the most shocking thing of all, the thing none of us can really understand, if we are honest, is how both could be true. Given the unlimited love between Father and Son, how could Father send His Son to become Lamb? How could Son love His father so much as to agree? How could both Father and Son plan and carry out such a scheme simply to rescue us? We know the answer in our heads – it is because God loved us, as John 3:16 says. But that doesn’t mean we can understand it, that we can comprehend it. To look squarely at such love is to be undone. It is to admit we don’t really understand anything about love. It is to admit that there is very little love in us, maybe an atom’s worth, compared to the unbounded ocean of love of God.
I am reminded of this passage from I Peter:
Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things. – I Peter 1:10-12
As we wrap up today and wrap up this three-week series from John 1, my desire and prayer is not that you would have just received some new head knowledge, but that you would be more in awe of God, more amazed at His love, more ready to fall on your knees and worship Him. In our Christian culture today there is sometimes a mistaken overemphasis on “practical application” of messages. Sometimes I fear we sound too much like Judas, who complained when the woman poured that expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet and washed them with her tears and her hair. Worship Christ! Worship God! These are glorious mysteries we have seen in John 1. May they drive you ever deeper, ever closer, ever higher, in Him.
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