This morning we’re continuing our study of the first four chapters of the Gospel of John.  Which is a study that we anticipate will take us through the summer and beyond - maybe farther.  God knows.  The big idea of what we’re focusing on is why we believe what we believe about Jesus and what difference that makes in our lives.

John wrote his Gospel around 85 AD.  Unlike the other 3 Gospels - Matthew, Mark, and Luke - John is writing to the Roman Empire at large.  The Gospel has been out there for several decades and has been getting push back from other philosophies and religions - some of which has been having an effect on the teaching and life of the Christians.

Which is not unlike today.  We live in a time and place where there is a cultural understanding of Jesus - or not.  Misunderstandings and ignorance that’s out there in our society.  And also impacting the church in America.  Which has become more about the American version of who Jesus is and what it means to follow Him - more cultural than Biblical.

So - like today - in John’s day - there are questions.  There are issues.  John is writing to reinforce the foundation - to clarify why we believe what we believe about Jesus and what difference that makes in our lives.

John’s theme verse for his Gospel - he’s explanation for why he’s writing - comes in 20:31.  Let’s read this together:  “but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.”

I strongly suggest that you might want to memorize that verse for next Sunday.

Last Sunday we looked at 1:1-18.  John began by declaring that Jesus is the Word - meaning THE eternally existing God - Who is the Creator of all that exists.  Jesus is the Word - THE eternally existing God who has chosen to take on all of what it means to be human - minus the sin part - meaning that Jesus is both fully God and fully human.

Point being - the what does that mean for us part - meaning that God has not remained some abstract - out there - unknowable Being.  God has not remained the God who reveals Himself through burning bushes and dreams and mountain tops getting blasted off - or angels.  But God has stepped into the flesh and blood and sinew and experience of humanity.  God has come to us.  He is able to be touched and heard and even crucified.  To see Jesus is to see God.

Isn’t this a great picture?  God - the Word - has reached to us which gives us the amazing opportunity to choose to be embraced by our Creator and to go through life with Him.

This morning we’re coming to the testimony of John.  John being John the Baptist - not John the Apostle who’s writing about John the Baptist.

Verses 19-23 and Who John Is.

Let’s read these together and then we’ll do some unpacking.  Verse 19:  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.”

Luke - in his Gospel account - Luke fills in more details about John.  From Luke we learn that John was the only child of the priest Zachariah and his wife Elizabeth.  Zachariah who was really old and Elizabeth who was way beyond being able to bear children.

John’s birth was not only miraculous - a God thing - but also John was dedicated to be a Nazarite from birth.  Meaning that from birth John was not to cut his hair, couldn’t drink wine - no eating grapes or raisins - no touching dead bodies.  He had to undergo certain rituals for purity - certain offerings.  The idea of being a Nazarite was the taking of a vow - of being totally consecrated to God.

Meaning that even before his conception - John had been set apart by God to be the forerunner of the Messiah.  John was conceived to testify of Jesus.  Even in the womb - when Mary visited Elizabeth - John moved. 

John when he grew up he lived in the desert - the Judean wilderness.  This place.  Not exactly Las Vegas.  Dust and rocks and scrubby bushes.  Hot.  Even hotter than here.  Not much of anything.

In the simplicity and solitude of those days - Luke tells us that John grew up and became strong in spirit.  He grew in Godly wisdom.  He was filled with the Holy Spirit.  God’s favor was on him.

In God’s timing John emerged from that desert solitude to confront and convict God’s people.  Meaning that John was probably not the kind of religious leader that the people were used to.

Mark tells us that - while the Pharisees and Sadducees - the chief priests and scribes and Herodians - went around in the finest robes and ate the best foods - John wore the latest in camel’s hair clothing which was bound by a leather belt.  He ate locusts and wild honey.  Which actually might not be so bad.  John probably looked pretty slim and toasted from the sun.

John’s message was probably not what the people were used to.  Not a lot of flowery speech and hypocrisy and performing of rituals trying to earn some kind of righteousness.  John railed on the religious leadership - called people to repentance - called them to turn towards God.

John’s message hit home.  God’s man.  God’s message.  God’s timing.  People turned out.  By dozens.  By hundreds.  By thousands.  They headed out of the cities of Judah to the wilderness to hear John and his message.  Finally - John had become so popular - that the religious leadership of Jerusalem had to take notice.  So they sent a delegation out to the Jordan River to investigate what was up with John.

Which what’s happening in verse 19.  “Jews” was a term that people understood as meaning the religious leadership.  Their main question had to do with authority.  They were the guardians of who had a right to do ministry and to preach in Israel.  Later on - when Jesus was teaching in the Temple - they’re going to ask Jesus, “By what authority are you doing these things?”   

John is an unknown to the religious hierarchy.  He hadn’t been to their seminary.  He hadn’t come up through the ranks.  He’s never been ordained.  He’s just an ordinary man out in the wilderness with a growing following.  They’re seeing him as a threat to them - the religious establishment - and they have questions.  Ultimately the bottom line question is:  “Who do you think you are?”

The questions are a religious check list.  John answers their first question before its even asked.

“I’m not the Christ.”  “I’m not the Messiah.”  Literally the term “messiah” means “anointed one.”  Someone who is set apart by God for God.

When a king in Israel was chosen - what was suppose to be a choosing by God - without all the politics and sinful corruption - after God chose the king there was public ceremony where the priest would anoint the chosen king’s head with oil.  What Samuel did for Saul and David.  Yes?

For generations the prophets had prophesied about the rise of THE “Anointed One.”  A coming King who would please God - lead the nation to fulfill all the covenant promises - and eventually rule over the whole world - forever.  By the first century the Jews were expecting that the “anointed one” would be some kind of military political genius who would kick the Romans out of Judea and back to Rome and then usher in this amazing age of prosperity. 

John cuts to the chase.  John is making it perfectly clear.  Leaving not doubts.  He is emphatic.  “I’m not the Messiah.”  “Don’t even go there.”

Question #2 - “Okay.  If not the Messiah.  What about Elijah?”

The reason they asked about Elijah was because in Malachi - the last book of the Hebrew Bible - God had said, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.” 

An Elijah-like figure was coming that would call the nation - at its decadent core - call that nation to repentance.  Malachi prophesied that this Elijah-like figure would announce the imminent arrival of the Messiah.  (Malachi 3:1; 4:5,6).

For 400 years - since that prophecy had been given - people had been waiting.  By the first century they were waiting for the actual man Elijah - who’d been carried off to heaven in a fiery chariot - they were expecting Elijah to return.

Elijah was a rugged - fearless - prophet who called down God’s judgment on God’s people.  When people heard John - the rugged guy from the wilderness - with his fearless message calling people to repentance - they were asking, “Maybe this is finally Elijah?”

The angel Gabriel told Zachariah that Elizabeth was going to have a son and that son was to be named John.  Gabriel told Zachariah that John would go before the Lord “in the spirit and power of Elijah.”  (Luke 1:17)  Which is what Jesus told His disciples.  Elijah had come.  The prophecy had been fulfilled.  John’s ministry was like Elijah’s.  He had gone before Jesus in the Spirit and power of Elijah.  But John was not the Elijah.  (Matthew 17:12,13; Mark 9:13)

John is very clear.  “No, I’m not Elijah.”

Question #3:  “Are you the Prophet?”

There was a popular expectation in those days that one of the prophets was going to return.  Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 18:15:  “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you… it is to him you shall listen.”

While Moses had the Messiah in mind in the first century the Jews had the idea that the Prophet and the Messiah would be two different people.  Some thought that the prophet would be Jeremiah.  Others weren’t so sure so they called him “the prophet.”  John was certainly a prophet.  But he was not The Prophet.

John answers:  “No.”

Having gone down the list - still trying to answer the question of authority - they punted and asked John, “Okay.  Then who are you?  Who did we miss?  Give us a break.  We can’t go back to Jerusalem without an answer.”

John answers - verse 23 - “I’m the voice of one crying out in the wilderness according to prophet Isaiah.” 

While John is just an ordinary man, the role God has called him to is huge.  John is the forerunner.  Like a person who announced the coming of a king - clearing the road - making the way ready for the king to travel down.

John has no authority of his own.  He’s not the Messiah.  He’s not Elijah.  He’s not the Prophet.  He’s the voice who comes before.  The forerunner before Jesus - the King of kings.  Be ready.  Repent.  Make your hearts straight.

John quotes Isaiah.  Isaiah’s prophecy about the coming Messiah.  Isaiah 40 - starting at verse 3:  “A voice cries:  In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.  Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.  And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”  (Isaiah 40:3-5)

That’s how a straight road gets built going from point A to point B.  High places get leveled.  Low places get filled in.  Crooked places are made straight.  The bumpy places get flattened.

However down in the valley we are or crooked or bumpy.  Some of us are very bumpy people.  However messed up our lives are - God calls us to repentance - to turn towards Him and He will meet us there and straighten out our lives.  He’ll smooth what’s been roughed up.  He’ll fill the emptiness.

But we need to make the choice.  To listen to the voice.  To prepare our hearts to receive what Jesus desires to bring to them.

That’s who John is.  A man created and called by God to the role of preparing others - calling upon those who would listen - calling them to open their hearts to Jesus.  Not much different than any of us.

Verses 24 to 28 focus on Why John Baptizes.  Let’s read these verses together and then we’ll go back and unpack.

Verse 24:  (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.

People living in Jerusalem would have known Bethany as a town about 2 miles east of Jerusalem.  “Bethany across the Jordan” was about 23 miles away on the east side of the Jordan River.  Just a tad east of Jericho and across the River.

We don’t know the exact spot on the River where John was baptizing.  It probably was around here.  Probably looked something like this in John’s day.  For the most part a muddy stream.

Today its a tourist trap.  There just seems to be something wrong with taking such a hugely significant spot and using it as place to make money off of people seeking God.

Beyond being a muddy stream - the site was hugely important to the Jews because it was around here that tradition says the Israelites entered the Promised Land under Joshua.  John the Apostle - as he’s writing this account - identifies which Bethany he’s writing about.  The location where John the Baptist first pointed out who Jesus was.  Joshua was a type of Jesus.  Jesus Who is the true Leader - who leads His people into the Promised Land.

Point being that John the Apostle is focusing us on why John the Baptist is doing what he’s doing.  Its more than the external of the location.  Its about God.  God working His plan in the life of His people.  It all points to Jesus.

The Pharisees cared a lot about rules and regulations - rituals and acts of righteousness.  Washings and ceremonial purification for those that we ceremonially unclean or had somehow defiled themselves.  Baptism was a known thing done by those having authority to do so.

When I was in seminary we took a class and practiced doing baptisms.

(cartoon)  “That’s it!  I’m giving you and “F” on your baptism final.” / “No!  Please!  Let me try one more time.”  

John is outside the box.

In Jewish baptism someone who was converting to Judaism was immersed in water as a symbolic - once for all - cleansing from sin before becoming part of the ranks of Judaism.  That baptism was suppose to be done by priests - not a camel hair wearing - locust and honey eating - voice out in the wilderness.  Baptism was for Gentiles converting to Judaism - not Jews born into God’s covenant with Abraham.  Baptism was suppose to be done in the pure water of the Temple not in the muddy waters of the Jordan River.

Why is John baptizing people?  Notice that John’s answer for “why” is really about “Who” - the contrast between who he John is and who Jesus.

Verse 26 - John’s answer:  “I baptize with water.”  The emphasis in Greek is on the “I” not the water.  Meaning “I’m simply dealing with externals.  Water is an external.”  Notice the contrast:  “But - there is one standing among you right now Whom you do not know.”  That’s the One all these externals are pointing to.  “Why I’m doing what I’m doing.”

Its pretty clear that Jesus is standing in the crowd.  Which means it helps to know the timing of all this.  Comparing John’s Gospel with the other Gospels is pretty certain that what’s happening here happened at least 6 weeks after Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River.  What John is going to confirm for us when we get to verse 29. 

Which means that Jesus has been baptized.  Jesus has spent 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness being tempted by Satan.  All of which went on before this delegation arrives from Jerusalem.  So Jesus has returned.  The delegation has arrived.  John is baptizing.  John - in the midst of being investigated - sees Jesus standing there and makes this statement about Jesus standing there and the “committee” from Jerusalem not knowing him.

Which if we were standing there - asking John all these questions - wouldn’t that be unnerving?  We’re all focused on John and John is saying that standing there in this crowd is someone even greater.  A claim that has Messianic implications - since that’s Who John is claiming he’s preparing the way for - the Christ.

Reading our Hebrew Bible - our Old Testament - from Adam on there’s a growing expectation - an intensifying hope - down through that record that Someone is coming.  One Who would bruise the serpent’s head.  The hope that flows through the whole prophetic record.  The promise of God that our nation is clinging to.  By the end of the record - the prophecy of Malachi - that Someone has not come.  400 years of silence from Heaven.  We’re waiting.  The Old Testament is book of unfilled promises.  Now John is saying that the Someone who is the fulfillment of all those prophetic predictions is standing among them.  And we don’t know Him.

John goes on - verse 27:  “I’m not even worth to untie His sandal.”  When a master came home the job of a servant was to remove their masters’ sandals.  John is saying he isn’t even worthy to do that for Jesus.  That’s a contrast.  Isn’t it?

There is One greater than John.  He’s here.  “Why am I baptizing?  This isn’t about me.  I’m just a voice crying in the wilderness.  This isn’t about the externals.  Its about what God is doing.  Its about the One that you need to know.  Its about your need to repent - to make straight your hearts - to receive Him Whom God has sent.”

Verses 29 to 34 focus on What John Testifies.

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.”

John’s testimony includes four declarations about Jesus.

First - Jesus is the Lamb of God.

Reading through the Old Testament there’s an ongoing series sacrifices that way too often we just tune out on.  Sacrifices without a whole lot of explanation as to why - except that God demands them.

Abel - son of Adam - sacrificed a lamb to God.  And God approves.  Abraham made sacrifices to God.  Isaac being an illustration.  The Passover Lamb is sacrificed in act of forward looking trust.  God saving us and delivering us from Egypt.  The children of Israel - at the foot of Mount Sinai - they were taught to sacrifice animals - the spilling of blood.

Every morning and evening animals were being sacrificed in the Temple in Jerusalem.  On the great feast days of Israel thousands of animals were sacrificed.

A stream of blood running through the Old Testament without a whole of explanation.  Leviticus gives us the only solid understanding of what all that blood is about.  Leviticus 17:11:  “The life of the flesh is in the blood.”   There’s no atoning for sin without the shedding of blood.  But no where in the Old Testament is there an explanation of why God demands blood.

But every sacrifice points forward to the Someone Who’s coming Who would be the explanation.  Isaac asks Abraham, “Father, where’s the lamb?”  Abraham replies, “God will supply the lamb.”  Centuries later Jesus is the Lamb.  All of what’s come before is a set-up for Jesus Who spills His blood as our sacrifice.  His life for ours.

John’s testimony:  “Behold the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world!”  Our sin.

Second:  Jesus is greater.  Jesus ranks greater.  Why?  Because Jesus was before John.

Which is confusing because John was born before Jesus.  John precedes Jesus in ministry.  But not confusing when we realize that the timing of the incarnation - the births of John and Jesus - are not random events but purposeful acts of God designed to introduce Jesus. 

John is testifying to what we looked at last Sunday.  Jesus is The eternally existing God.  John the Apostle writes that in Jesus - verse 14 - we see the glory - the testimony - of God.  In Jesus we received - verse 16 - God’s fullness.  Because - verse 18 - Jesus has made Him known.  When we see Jesus - we see… the Father - God.

That’s what John is testifying of.  Jesus is THE God.  John’s ministry is about Jesus, not John.

A.W. Tozer in The Knowledge of the Holy - Tozer writes:  “The Christian religion has to do with God and man, but its focal point is God, not man.  Man’s only claim to importance is that he was created in the divine image; in himself he is nothing...  That God exists for Himself and man for the glory of God is the emphatic teaching of the Bible.” (1)

We get ourselves in so much trouble when we get that ranking confused.  Yes?  Life is about…  God.  Our testimony is to be about…  God.  Jesus.

Third - John declares that Jesus is God’s Anointed One - the Christ - the Messiah.    

John says that he didn’t “know” Jesus.  Which is kinda strange since John was Jesus’ older cousin.  By about 6 months.  Its obvious the families knew each other.

In Greek there are two possible words for knowing something.  One word has to do with gaining knowledge by experience.  Hanging out with someone.  Which is what John probably did with Jesus when they were growing up.

Nice part was that Jesus always shared His toys.  Always let John go first.  Always cleaned up John’s stuff.  Never fought over things.  ‘Cause Jesus was without sin.  Well, God knows how all that worked out.  But the point is that John knew Jesus because they’d hung out together growing up.

The other word for “know” which is used here has to do with empirical knowledge.  Facts gained through observation and study.  What John has come to know about Jesus - is that this younger cousin he grew up with really is the Messiah - the One anointed by God. 

Which is why John’s testimony includes a description of Jesus’ baptism.  What took place 6 weeks earlier.

John is baptizing people in the Jordan River.  Jesus comes to be baptized.  Which John does.  Then when Jesus is coming up out of the water the Holy Spirit descends out of heaven in a form like a dove - rests on Jesus.  Then God speaks from heaven saying, “This is My beloved Son, with Whom I am well pleased.”  (Matthew 3:13-17)

John testifies - verse 33 - that John was told by God that when he saw that happen - the descent and remaining of the Spirit - then John would know that this was the One.

In the Old Testament the Spirit temporarily came on people - like Saul and David.  John makes it clear that the Spirit came and remained on Jesus.  That’s a huge difference.  The Spirit comes and resides permanently with a human being.  Everything Jesus did in ministry was done in obedience to the Father and by the power of the Holy Spirit.

John baptizes with water.  But because Jesus is God’s Anointed One - when we come to Him - believing in Him - when we come to Jesus as our Savior we receive the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit regenerates us - making us from those who were spiritually dead to those who are made spiritually alive.  The Holy Spirit enters into us - an indwelling that is the proof that we really do belong to God.  We’re God’s adopted sons and daughters - heirs of His eternal promises.  The Holy Spirit is our helper.  Transforming us - producing within us the “fruits of the Spirit”  The Spirit increases our knowledge of God and God’s word and what it means to live life in Jesus Christ - the life that pleases and glorifies God - testifies of Him.  The Holy Spirit supplies gifts to the Church - what is the organic unifying framework that enables the ministry of the church - so that we together can serve and glorify God.

Let’s pull that together.  What John is focusing on is Jesus’ Messianic Ministry.  Knowing Jesus - not just as a little cousin from Nazareth.  But - the Messiah - who brings the very presence of God into our lives.  Jesus is THE One that we need to know as our Messiah and personal Savior.

Fourth - John declares that Jesus is the Son of God.  Verse 34:  And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

For the Hebrews - studying the Hebrew Bible - that title “Son of God” is understood as Messianic.  John, in using that title, is pointing to Jesus as the One in Whom the true destiny of Israel is to be fulfilled.  Jesus has come to do what God promised Israel that He would do for Israel.

For the Hebrews that title “Son of God” is understood as a claim to deity.

If we say that someone is the “son of something” we mean that they have the characteristics of that thing.  A son of peace is characterized by peace.  That’s the kind of person he is.  John says that Jesus is THE Son of God.  Meaning Jesus is God Himself.

The Jews would have understood that meaning - that claim to deity.  When Jesus was on trial - the Council asked Him if He was indeed the Son of God.  Jesus told them, “I am.”  Using that statement they accused Jesus of blasphemy - condemned Jesus - called for His crucifixion.  Why?  Because by using that title of Himself Jesus was claiming to be the God - and they knew it.  (Matthew 26:63-65; Luke 22:70)

Are we tracking with John?  Jesus is THE eternally existent God Who has entered into humanity to do what we could never do for ourselves and that is to offer Himself as the perfect sacrificial Lamb - to give His life blood for us - so that we - repenting and turning our lives over to Him - believing in Him - trusting Him as our Savior - might be given life - even the very presence of the Holy Spirit within us that we might live lives in which the crooked and broken and messed up by sin places of our lives may be made straight - that our lives may be transformed and lived to the glory of God now and forever.

Three brief thoughts of application to help us process that - why we believe what we believe - and to process what difference that makes for us as we head back out there.

First:  John was created and called to an extraordinary ministry - but he was only human - like us.  John was a little out there.  Well… John was a lot out there - in terms of what he wore and ate and all.  But, he still put on his sandals one sandal at a time.  And God used Him - empowered and spoke through Him.

Point being:  That should give us hope.  The message is extraordinary.  Not the man.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ is extraordinary - counterculture - offensive.  To declare it means we’re going to be looked on as “out there” some place.  It will mean persecution and everything that comes with it.

But God uses ordinary people who will trust Him.  Have you heard that? 

In a very real sense we have the opportunity to be uncommon men and women because God has created us and called us to the same ministry and opportunities as John.  And He God will be with us in that ministry as He was with John.  We just need to step forward in faith and do what He’s created and called us to do.

Second:  John was the voice but not the Word.  What an example John is.  Thousands came out into the desert to hear him preach.  What could have very easily messed with his ego - especially when questioned by the religious leadership.  But John is about Jesus. 

Our lives need to be about Jesus - every part of our lives - testifying of Him.  Lived for His glory.  Pointing others to Him.  Is that true of you? 

Third:  What’s messed up in your life?  Maybe for some time now there’s something or a whole lot of somethings you’ve been trying to straighten out?  How’s that going?  Its time to choose to turn away from trying to level yourself out and turn to God.  Preparing your heart for Jesus means opening up your life to Him.

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1. A.W.Tozer, “The Knowledge of The Holy,” Harper & Row, 1961. page 42

General Reference for this series:  Charles R. Swindoll, “Insights On John:  Swindoll’s New Testament Insights,”  Zondervan, 2010

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®  (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.