“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.’ So they said to him, ‘Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?’ He said, ‘I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, “Make straight the way of the Lord,” as the prophet Isaiah said.’ (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 next day he 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 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.’ 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.” And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.’”

The Prophesied New Beginning

John the Apostle begins his gospel account with the screaming declaration of Jesus’s deity, weaving together in the Spirit an almost poetic introduction that helps show the gravity of God in all His glory, entering the world to redeem His children. During this introduction he quotes the witnessing testimony of John the Baptist concerning Christ, “He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.” In today’s section he gives us greater detail on the Baptizer’s testimony and what God used his ministry to herald.

There are instances throughout the Bible where God will bless a woman who has been found barren with pregnancy, using the occurrence to draw significance to his intended purpose and future for the child. Arguably the most significant of these is Abraham and Sarah’s son Issac, who God uses to establish the covenant through which He creates His nation of Israel. However, there are three men we find in scripture that fit a similar description of miraculous conception who would also be considered Nazarites, set aside for God from birth. We first see Samson in the book of Judges, who God used to humiliate the Philistines who oppressed His people. Though Samson showed arrogance and a lack of reverence for his position as judge and a Nazarite and was humbled for this, it still can’t be denied that God used him mightily and there are valuable lessons to be learned from Samson’s life and mistakes. The second was the prophet Samuel, who God would use to transition Israel from their rebellious apostasy under the varied judges, doing “what was right in their own eyes” to being led by a human king. It is Samuel who (among many other things), anoints king David, a man who despite his flaws had a heart turned fully toward God and, despite the prosperity God granted Israel under Solomon, was the greatest human king God’s people ever had. The third man born a Nazarite was John the Baptist. Looking at Luke 1:13-17 we see from the words of Gabriel, an angel of the Lord speaking to Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist what the scope of his ministry will be before he is even conceived,

“But the angel said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.’”

Zechariah, who is struck mute after his encounter with Gabriel for doubting the words of the Lord, regains his speech after the birth of his son and, full of the Holy Spirit, begins to prophesy in Luke 1:68-79. Verses 76-79 in particular say,

“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

We see from Gabriel’s delivered message that John the Baptist “will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children” echoing Malachi 4:5-6,

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”

Jesus later attests to this Himself in Matthew 11:13-15,

“For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

And in Matthew 17:10-13,

“And the disciples asked him, ‘Then why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?’ He answered, ‘Elijah does come, and he will restore all things. But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.’ Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.”

Addressing the “spirit of Elijah” helps bring things into sharper focus by looking at the incredible work that God did through Elijah, a man who among other things was one of only two Biblical figures who never suffered bodily death but were taken directly up into heaven (the first being Enoch). Elijah, who is shown alongside Moses during the transfiguration, is also the man God used to slaughter the prophets of Baal and openly rebuke an apostate king of Jerusalem. It is with this spirit, this influence on the people’s hearts that God has marked John the Baptist with. Some may read the gospels and take John the Baptist as a footnote, but all this points to the power and significance that God gave his ministry. However, with a high view of things and taking in the picture as a whole, the thing that gives John’s ministry such authority and power is that is it the precursor, the preparer to Jesus’s – to God’s ministry on earth. Looking at Matthew’s gospel, we see that the core theme of both have identical teaching. Matthew 3:1-2,

“In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”

Matthew 4:17,

“From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”

All of John’s authority was given from the Father, who is embodied in the flesh in the Son, and it is John’s work that fulfills prophecy of Christ’s coming. It is this that God uses to herald the beginning of His new beginning and it is with this certainty of himself and his purpose that John answers those sent by the Pharisees when they question him.

“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.’”

1. John Knows who he Is – The Beginning of the New Beginning

John the Baptist’s ministry, through God’s blessing has traction. People are flocking to him to receive a baptism of repentance, which is what attracted the attention of the Pharisees in the first place. We see in Luke 3:15 that many were wondering if John could be the Christ,

“As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ…”

It makes sense that someone outside the religious institution of the day attracting such a following and speaking such profound, yet simple truths could have certainly attempted to claim or just been painted as claiming to be the Messiah, but he shuts this down immediately, clarifying before anything else that he is not the Christ. His honesty serves as a testament to his character and submission to the Lord. It’s worth noting the temptation that could have presented itself to John, to claim the worldly power and authority that would have come from falsely taking on this title. While it may be painfully obvious to us how wrong and impractical this would have been, there have been plenty of throughout Biblical history who took the blessings of God for themselves without remaining obedient to the will of the Lord. From the arrogance and rebellion of God’s people in the wilderness, to the apostasy in the time of judges to the kings of Israel and Judah who openly worshiped false gods and the countless false prophets scattered among God’s people throughout history. But if John the Baptist felt any temptation it’s not shown. All the text portrays is a sincere devotion to Truth, fitting for a man coming in the spirit of Elijah.

“And they asked him, ‘What then? Are you Elijah?’ He said, ‘I am not.’ ‘Are you the Prophet? And he answered, ‘No.’ So they said to him, ‘Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?’ He said, ‘I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, “Make straight the way of the Lord,” as the prophet Isaiah said.’ (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.)”

The questioners, who we ultimately see were sent by the Pharisees, seem to work their way down the list of prophetic figures. After his denial that he is the Christ, they move onto Elijah. While John does come by word of the Lord, in the spirit of Elijah, he is an individual, not a man come again or some reincarnation, and so he does not lie when he denies their second question. Finally, they put to him the question of whether or not he is, not a, but the Prophet. The question is whether or not he was the man Moses said would be raised up by God in Deuteronomy 18. We see in Acts 3:19-23 the role of this Prophet was fulfilled by Jesus,

“Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’”

This too, John denies. Making them ask the broader question: if he’s not one of these three, then who is he? John quotes Isaiah and in so, declares that his act is in service and obedience to the will of God.

“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.’”

2. John Knows who his Questioners Are – The Beginning of the New Teaching

A section from Matthew’s account of John the Baptist helps give us a broader perspective on the appearance of him as an individual and his ministry, in Matthew 3:4-6,

“Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.”

John the Baptist is not a pharisee, he has nothing to do with the Sanhedrin, from the accounts of him, he has no rabbinic training. He’s living in the wilderness, dressed roughly as a nomad, and living off the land by God’s provision. He’s not the Christ, Elijah, or the Prophet, but a man doing the will of the Lord. Those sent to question him on behalf of the Pharisees don’t seem to care about his aim or the spirit of his work, he lacks a title and so they immediately question his authority. Looking further at Matthew’s account we see that he wasn’t exactly friendly toward the religious elite, in Matthew 3:7-10,

“But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 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. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.’”

The movement of the people was so profound toward John’s Baptism of repentance, that even some of the Pharisees and Sadducees were caught coming to him. While we may not know the hearts of each individual man, we can assume based on what’s shown from most of their parties throughout the New Testament, and John’s response to them that they didn’t come to be baptized out of a desire to repent but to keep up appearances. This is confirmed by a conversation had by Jesus in Matthew 21:23-27,

“And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, ‘By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?’ Jesus answered them, ‘I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?’ And they discussed it among themselves, saying, ‘If we say, “From heaven,” he will say to us, “Why then did you not believe him?” But if we say, “From man,” we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.’ So they answered Jesus, ‘We do not know.’ And he said to them, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.’”

While there may have been outliers in men like Nicodemus or Joseph of Arimathea, we see that on the whole, the Pharisees and Sadducees were the hypocritical “whitewashed wall” that Paul accuses the high priest of being in Acts 23. The juxtaposition between the ministry of John the Baptist and the teachings of the Pharisees helps illustrate how we should approach our own relationship with God and our sharing of the gospel message. We know that by this time in the history of Judaism, the Sanhedrin had perverted the law that was handed down to Moses, inventing and laying down rules upon rules on what God had provided to the point that it was nearly impossible to adhere to custom. They show that their religion, convoluted as it was, was about obedience to the law, and the social superiority it gave them instead of obedience to God through the law. We see by comparison that John understands exactly who he is in God’s plan: a simple messenger, not worthy of stooping to untie the sandals of the Lord he serves. No posturing or lording his position over others, and the nature of his message (which would be expanded upon vastly in the ministry of Jesus), was wholesome, simple, and full of Truth. Luke 3:10-14,

“And the crowds asked him, ‘What then shall we do?’ And he answered them, ‘Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.’ Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, ‘Teacher, what shall we do?’ And he said to them, ‘Collect no more than you are authorized to do.’ Soldiers also asked him, ‘And we, what shall we do?’ And he said to them, ‘Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.’”

A message of empathy and compassion , which is given even more succinctly in what Jesus says in Matthew 7:12,

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

Salvation, while vast and complex beyond our understanding in so many ways, isn’t supposed to be hard. The man chosen by God to signal Christ’s arrival, John the Baptist’s preaching is perfectly in line with Jesus’s and helps point us toward the kingdom of heaven.

3. John Knows who Jesus Is – The Beginning of Jesus’s Ministry

“These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing. The next day he 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 ranks before me, because he was before me.”

We’re given a geographical point of reference here in that John was in Bethany, but “across the Jordan” tells us that this was not the Bethany near Jerusalem where Jesus was anointed, but another location on the east bank of the river. I missed the fact initially that this is not an account of Jesus’s baptism as is in the other gospel accounts. It seems that has already taken place some time before, but John upon seeing him can’t help but exclaim, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” This is presumably directed to his disciples and those he is baptizing. While it would be a mistake to read the gospels and gloss over John the Baptist, it should always be kept in plain view (as it should with any prophet, teacher, disciple, or apostle) that John was significant because God made him so. His message carried weight and authority because it was a message of truth from God. The purpose of his ministry, however successful it was, was always to prepare the way and point to Jesus. John knew this, was open and celebratory over this fact, and it should always be kept in our hearts and minds in reading about his work. John clarifies further that this is who he’s been speaking of, the man who ranks before him, because he was before him. This again speaks to Jesus’s deity. This to me is one of the most prominent features of John the apostle’s gospel, the relentlessness with which he drives home the point of Jesus’s Godship, here done by citing the words of John the Baptizer. We know from Luke’s gospel that John the Baptist was a little older than Jesus, meaning that Jesus as a man did not come before John. We know from all the gospel accounts (and prophecy) that John’s ministry began before Jesus’s. And so the declaration that Jesus is before him in authority, because He was before him speaks again to Christ’s nature as the eternal Word, present from the beginning and one with the Father.

“’I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.’ 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.” And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.’”

While John may not have had explicit knowledge that Jesus was the Christ, we know from Luke 1:41-44 that from the time he was in the womb, the Holy Spirit was delivering him information and insight concerning the nature of Jesus and their relationship,

“And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.”

We see that through faith and direction from the Lord, John began his ministry knowing that he was preparing the way for the coming Messiah without knowing exactly who the Christ was. We see his comprehension of what’s coming in Matthew 3:11-12,

“I baptize you with water for 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. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Looking on in Matthew 3:13-17 account, we see the event of God giving John the Baptist the sign he testifies to in John the apostle’s account,

“Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’ But Jesus answered him, ‘Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he consented. 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 thing I take away from John the Baptist, his character, his ministry, and his testimony is how unapologetically honest it all is. We see a man who is filled with joy at the work God has chosen him to do, a man who truly knows who he is in the Lord. He is full of accountability, but kindness. He holds a desire to see sincere and honest repentance from the people. His love for his Lord is clear and evident and his devotion to God’s perfect will seems obvious. It occurred to me recently that of all the people I love in my life, the reasons I love them are the qualities in them that somehow imitate God. Their compassion or mercy, their sense of justice or adherence to personal accountability. All the things I admire or cherish in them are just little reflections of the Creator – which makes me love and appreciate God even more as the One from whom all good and perfect things come from. John the Baptist is another example of this. A righteous and admirable servant, his character and teaching were only a reflection of the light of the Lord. As the voice crying out in the wilderness, he was only a taste of what’s to come.

Pastor Chris’s sermon on the text: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7glppgyZi0&t=4s