THE GOSPEL OF JOHN
John 1:19-52
INTRODUCTION
As we approach the Gospel of John, we need to bear in mind the reason that John wrote the Gospel. From last week’s study we saw that John was writing to convince Jewish Christians to remain faithful to Jesus Christ and His church. The Jews were forcing Jewish Christians to choose once and for all whether they would remain faithful to Christ and His church or else remain faithful to the synagogue. No longer could Jewish Christians have it both ways. John is writing to remind them that their choice is not just between the church and synagogue but also between Christ, who is God the Son, and no Christ, between eternal life and eternal condemnation.
As we look at the Fourth Gospel and the other 3 Gospels we need to keep in mind that although there is much biographical material about Jesus in the Gospels, the purpose of the Gospels is not primary biographical. The Gospels are attempting to persuade their readers to choose Jesus Christ. They are persuasive in nature. They are presenting compelling evidence so that you and I will decide for Jesus Christ. As a result, the Gospel of John is full of evidence to support John’s case that Jesus is truly God the Son.
In John 1:19-51 John is producing witness after witness to claims about Jesus (in fact, John uses the word "witness" or one of its cognates 6 times in the chapter 1 alone). It is as if John is in a court of law producing legal testimony to advance his claim about Jesus. In fact some of the language he uses harmonizes with this: John the Baptist “confessed and did not deny and he confessed” (John 1:20), the same kind of statements a person would have made if under oath in a court of law in that first century. The Jewish Christians have, so to speak, “put Jesus on trial”; John is presenting evidence on Jesus’ behalf.
As we reflect on John’s emphasis on witnesses, we need to understand the significance of witnesses. We have nothing from the hand of Jesus. The entire NT is based upon people who encountered the risen Jesus and then bore witness to their encounter with Him before and after the resurrection. All of Christianity is based upon their witness. The same applies to us today. In addition to having the record of these early witnesses (the NT), we also have the testimonies of millions of Christians who themselves have encountered the risen Lord. Although they have not seen Him with their eyes, they nevertheless have met Him through His Holy Spirit. As a result, just like these first followers of Jesus became powerful witnesses to what Jesus had done in their lives, so we are to pick up their mantle and to continue bearing witness to the encounters we have with Jesus Christ on a constant basis. Although this nation needs tracts to tell people how to be saved, it needs even more authentic Christians who share with a lost world their encounters with the risen Jesus.
On the surface it appears that Jesus is on trial and that John is producing witnesses to support Jesus. As the gospel unfolds though, you will come to realize that we are on the ones on trial. Jesus is God the Son regardless of our verdict about Him, either for Him or against Him. The verdict we render on Jesus is nothing less than our verdict on ourselves. If we render the verdict of "Not the Son of God," we have found ourselves condemned. If render the verdict of "God the Son," we have found ourselves saved.
THE TESTIMONY OF JOHN THE BAPTIST (1:19-34)
John the Baptist is a Nobody Compared to the Christ (1:19-28)
John the author of the gospel brings out the big guns when he presents as his first witness John the Baptist. We have been so impacted by Jesus that we have failed to appreciate the impact John the Baptist made upon his generation. In addition to the Bible, we also have Josephus, a non-Christian Jew, who wrote approximately 40 years after the time of Christ and John the Baptist. According to Josephus John was so popular that Herod felt threatened by him. He feared that John would use his popularity to stage a rebellion against himself and Rome (Antiquities Book 18, Chapter 5, Section 2). Whereas the Bible contradicts Josephus’ reason for Herod imprisoning John, both the NT and Josephus agree though that John the Baptist was both a popular and influential figure in Judea at that time.
Just who was this John and why was he so popular? 1700 years earlier God had started speaking to the Jewish people when He first called Abraham to follow Him. For the next 1300 years God repeatedly spoke to His people, through Jacob, Moses, the prophets, several of the kings, and the latter prophets. Then heaven fell silent. For the next 400 years God had stopped speaking to the Jewish people. When John burst forth upon the scene at the Jordan River, the people realized that the silence had been broken. Once more God was speaking to His people. Thousands upon thousands came to hear God’s prophet at the Jordan River.
Such a commotion naturally drew the attention of the Jewish religious leaders (throughout this Gospel, the term “Jews” normally applies to the hostile Jewish religious leaders and not to the Jewish people in general). Now the Jewish religious leaders served as a type of religious clearing house. If you wanted to have any credibility at all in religious circles, you had to go through their rabbinical schools and receive their seal of approval. Until rabbi #12 approved you, you weren’t ready to go public. Well, John the Baptist did not receive that stamp of approval from rabbi #12. He dared to go public with nothing more and yet nothing less than God’s seal of approval. As a result, the Jewish religious leaders felt it their duty to investigate this prophet; therefore, they sent priests and Levites (probably the Temple police) from Jerusalem to investigate the matter. Since the Levites were Temple police, the religious leaders sent them to intimidate the Baptist.
The representatives from the Jewish religious leaders ask John the Baptist if he claims to be the Christ. This he categorically denies. In fact the way he denies it: “he confessed and did not deny and he confessed” is almost like he took an oath in a court of law to let everybody know how serious he really was. They then ask him if he is Elijah, which he denies and then ask him if he is the prophet, which he also denies.
Just who are these figures? During the first century messianic fervor was at fever pitch. For the past 600 years the Jewish people had successively been under the Babylonian, Persian, Greek, and Roman yokes. For only a period of 100 years between the Greek and Roman empires did Israel enjoy freedom (~160 – ~60 BC). For the past 100 years though the Romans had ruled Israel with an iron fist. Based upon the OT the Jews believed that one day God would send a deliverer, the Messiah or Christ, who would free the Jews from their foreign oppressors and restore the kingdom of David. This was practically all they agreed upon.
Various beliefs about who was coming and what they were going to be like were running rampant among the Jewish people. Some believed that 2 Messiahs were actually going to come (a religious one and a political one). Some believed that the Messiah was going to be like the prophet Moses, hence the question, “Are You the prophet?” Others based upon Malachi 4:5-6 believed that the prophet Elijah was going to return to act as the forerunner for the Messiah. They could not imagine that one man could perform all these different functions; they did not consider though that God and not a mere man was coming. All these roles though John the Baptist disclaims. When the Jewish representatives ask John then just who is he, he claims: “I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of the Lord, as Isaiah the prophet said.”
What is the significance of John applying this verse to himself? The passage that John the Baptist quotes is from Isaiah 40:3, the first chapter of the second division of the book of Isaiah (40-66). In the first 39 chapters of Isaiah, the prophet laments the devastation about to come upon the nation of Judah because of her rebellion against God. Although there are glimmers of hope in these first 39 chapters, the chapters for the most part are doom and gloom. A change though occurs in chapter 40. Starting with chapter 40 Isaiah the prophet declares that a new day is going to dawn in Israel. In that day God Himself will come. He will transform the world. He will save His people Israel. Before He comes though, He will send a messenger who will announce His coming. That messenger is to prepare the people by leveling in their hearts mountains of pride and by filling up the valleys of low self-esteem so that he can prepare a highway in their hearts. None other than God Himself is to come on this highway to meet the people. As the voice in the wilderness, John’s appearance means that God Himself is about to come to Israel.
At this point a second delegation comes from the Pharisees, the religious fundamentalists of their day. They ask John why he is baptizing if he is not one of these great figures. Although the Jews were accustomed to seeing people baptized, they were not accustomed to seeing Jews baptized. In their opinion the only people who needed to be baptized were non-Jews who first needed to be circumcised and then baptized in order to become a part of the Jewish nation. John does not defend his right to baptize. What he does though is declare to them how insignificant his baptism is compared to the baptism Someone in their midst is going to perform. John is just baptizing with water; there is One in their midst who is going to baptize with the Holy Spirit. Compared to this Person, John says he is nothing. In fact he is not worthy even to untie the laces of His sandals. Now this coming one must be a great person indeed because even the lowest slaves were qualified to untie their masters’ laces. John in comparison to the Coming One is not even qualified to serve as His lowest slave.
John tries to deflect all attention off himself and put it on Jesus. John the Baptist knew that it was not about him. It is always and only about Jesus. Too many times we as ministers make it about us. We get upset if people select another church in town instead of selecting our church. I know of one minister who subtly informed another person that they should attend their church because their church financially supported something they were involved in. When we get mad at people for not attending church or for attending a “rival” church, then we betray the fact that for us it is about us and not about Jesus Christ. It is our responsibility to present Christ to others and to follow Him. Then Christ will develop our church in the way He desires to develop it.
The same applies to other areas of our lives, such as our work, our entertainment, families, etc. Our family is not about us. Nathan and Molly are not mine to develop into little Carey’s or Nancy’s. In four more years, Nathan will be out of here, returning only to visit his mom and dad. It is our responsibility to make sure that they are spiritually, emotionally, and psychologically prepared for the world when they leave home. They will need to know how to follow Christ even when they leave home. That and that alone is my ultimate responsibility to Nathan and Molly. They belong to Jesus Christ, and it is my responsibility to raise them in the manner He would have me raise them.
The Baptist Has Come to Point Out the Christ (1:29-34)
John continues the testimony of the Baptist. On the next day (notice that John is numbering the days in this first chapter, the reason we’ll see later), John the Baptist sees Jesus coming to him. At this point Jesus has already been baptized and has been tempted by Satan. He now is beginning His public ministry. When the Baptist sees Him, he cries out, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (1:29). This title first refers most likely to the Passover Lamb. On that first Passover, Moses commanded the people to smear the blood of the lamb over their door posts so that the angel of death would pass over their homes and attack only the homes of the Egyptians. Now a greater Passover lamb is going to be sacrificed who will remove forever the penalty of death from God’s people. The title next refers to the practice of the 2 goats who played a significant role at Passover time. The chief priest would name the sins of the people while placing his hands upon the head of the first goat; that goat would be sacrificed. Then he would name those same sins while placing his hands upon the head of the second goat. This second goat the chief priest would take into the wilderness and release. This was the scapegoat. The goat was expected never to return. In the same way Jesus would take our sins away from us so that they would never return. As the Lamb of God He completely removes our sins from us.
The Baptist continues by saying that although Jesus came after him, He is actually greater than the Baptist because He was before him. What does he mean by that? Ancient peoples believed that greatness resided in previous generations. For example, the Greeks never looked forward but always backwards to the golden age of Pericles. Moses was considered greater than all the other prophets because he lived before they did. Since Jesus was born six months later than the Baptist, it stood to reason that the Baptist was greater than Him. The Baptist though points to Jesus’ preexistence as to the reason He was greater than John. As God, Jesus existed eternally before the Baptist; as a result, He was greater than the Baptist.
The Baptist then remarks that he did not know or recognize Jesus but that he had come in order to point Him out to Israel. This statement seems strange in light of the fact that the Baptist and Jesus were cousins. The Baptist though does not mean that he does not know who Jesus is. He means that he is not relying upon any humanly communicated information as to the identity of the Messiah. To be sure his mother Elizabeth had probably informed him that Jesus was the Messiah; however, he did not rely upon this information. Instead he relied completely upon a divine communication.
The Baptist claimed that God had communicated to him that He would personally reveal to him the Messiah by sending a dove upon Him whenever He submitted to baptism. This Spirit would not alight upon Jesus and then flitter away. Instead this Spirit would remain permanently upon the Messiah. Whomever God sent the Spirit to dwell upon was nothing less than the One who baptized in the Holy Spirit. Well, this Spirit alighted and remained upon Jesus. This event is still vivid in John’s mind. The verb tense implies that the event is still as fresh in his mind as it was the day it happened. Moreover, he did not proclaim Jesus to be the Son of God and then quit proclaiming it. The verb tense implies that he not only proclaimed it but will always proclaim that Jesus is God the Son.
What is the significance of Jesus being the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit? Again we go back to the new day that Isaiah prophesied would come. According to the Jews there were 2 periods of history: the present evil age and the future age to come. The present evil age was characterized by the domination of Satan, sin, death, and the flesh, while the future age to come was to be dominated by God, righteousness, eternal life, and the Spirit. The Spirit was the One God would use to bring about this age that for all practical purposes you could call this future period the age of the Spirit.
Well, the Spirit was not just going to come down to earth over night and change everything. Instead, God was going to anoint a special person with His Spirit who would dispense the Spirit and bring about this new age. This person was called the Messiah which literally means “the Anointed One” [with the Spirit]. When this word was translated into Greek, it became the word “Christ.” Whenever the Bible calls Jesus “Christ,” it means He is the Messiah, the One Anointed by God’s Spirit, the fountain of God's Spirit who is to bring about the age of the Spirit. The fact that the Holy Spirit came to live in us after we confessed Jesus is proof positive He is the Messiah (at least that’s Peter’s argument in Acts 2). By resting permanently upon Jesus, the Spirit is pointing Jesus out to be the Messiah, the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and brings about the age of the Spirit. The person anointed with the Spirit of God is truly a follower of the Christ.
THE TESTIMONY OF THE DISCIPLES (1:35-2:11)
Andrew and John (1:35-42)
On day 3 of this first week of Jesus’ public ministry, the Baptist once more sees Jesus walking. Jesus is engaged in gathering disciples to Himself to launch His ministry. Where will He get His first disciples from? The natural starting point is the Baptist’s own group of disciples. Unlike most of us who would cling tightly to our own band of disciples, the Baptist points His disciples to Jesus: “Behold, the Lamb of God.” Two of the Baptist’s disciples respond positively to his summons and leave him to follow Jesus. From looking at both this Gospel and the other 3 Gospels we surmise that the first disciple to follow Jesus was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. The second disciple who remains unnamed most likely was John, the author of this Gospel. John says that these 2 disciples “followed” Jesus.
The word “followed” may be saying that the disciples were simply walking behind Jesus; however, in light of the predominant usage of this word, it is more likely that John is saying that the 2 disciples were following Jesus in the sense that they were committing themselves to be His disciples. Whatever else it means to be a disciple of Jesus, following Him is the dominant element in our being His disciple.
The idea of following Jesus has behind it the concept of the sheep following the shepherd. When my family and I were in Israel in 2000, I came to appreciate more fully what it means for the sheep to follow the shepherd. We were standing at the place overlooking what is commonly called the Valley of the Shadow of Death. This was a deep gorge which ran east to west in the depths of the Judean desert. Where we were standing we could see a little waterfall with green vegetation surrounding it. The rest of the place was nothing but barren, sandy desert. At the top of the gorge we saw this shepherd boy leading 2 or 3 sheep down the cliff of the gorge towards the waterfall. He had to negotiate his way very carefully because if he made one false step, he would have plunged to his death. Right behind him were the sheep. Now the sheep did not stand at the top of the gorge and say, “No way! I’m not going down that path. Are you crazy?” No, they just kept their eyes on the feet of the shepherd and wherever he stepped, they stepped. They all made it down safely to the waterfall. That is a vivid illustration of what it means to follow Jesus. We’re not to look at our surroundings and then determine whether or not we are going to follow Him. We’re just to look at where He is stepping so that we can go right in His footsteps. One step at a time. Somebody once wrote, “Guilt looks back, fear looks around, and faith looks up.” It is more correct to say, “Guilt looks back, fear looks around, and faith looks down, down at the feet of Jesus.”
When Jesus asks them what they are seeking, they reply, “Where are You staying?” The word translated “staying” is used elsewhere in the Gospel of John to refer to discipleship. Again, to be a disciple of Jesus means that we are to be where He is. “Abide [the same word here] in Me and I in you” (John 15:4); and Wherever I am, there My servant shall be also” (John 12:26).
God recently used two incidents to impress this upon me. A little while ago I received a letter from somebody pointing out all the things wrong with a certain situation. As I read it, I could not believe all the inaccuracies and distortions of the truth. Of everything on the 2 pages, only one comment was right. As I prepared to defend the church against all the inaccuracies, I felt like God touched me on the shoulder and told me to tell that person that he was right about that one thing. It didn’t matter that he was wrong about everything else, God just wanted me to tell him he was right about that one thing. So I approached that person and shared with him how he was right about that one thing. All the heat and friction lifted immediately from that conversation so that we were able to sit down and discuss rationally the other points as well.
A little later I ran across somebody else who had a chip on their shoulders. That person had the sourest look on his face. At first I just walked away and rolled my eyes marveling at the way people let the little things upset them. Then I felt God touch me again and tell me to compliment that person on something he had done recently. I was not to flatter that person; I was to be truthful and share with him something he had done recently that had really impressed me. When I shared that incident with him, he immediately lightened up and became happy. It was amazing. Now none of this happened because I have great insight into the way people operate. It happened because God tapped me on the shoulder and informed me of what I needed to do.
In all of life we are to ask Jesus, “Where are You in this situation?” Unfortunately many of us plough through life and then are upset whenever life disappoints us. We really expect for God to endorse any and everything we dish out in life. It just does not happen that way though. Jesus intends for us to ask Him where He is in each situation so that He can lead us and we can truly be His disciples.