Joh 1:19-28 | KingComments | STEP | John’s testimony was powerful. It set people in motion. Through John, God worked in the minds of men a general expectation of the Messiah. John was the independent witness preserved by God until the right time to testify of His Son. In this Gospel, the Jews have been opponents of the Lord from the beginning and therefore also of John. It is clear from that these are Pharisees. They send priests and Levites, people who serve in the temple, so deeply religious people, to John to ask him who he is. It is not a sincere question, but a question inspired by fear for their position. John knows the background of their question. They want to know if he is the Christ. Therefore he doesn’t speak about himself, but about Christ and says that he is not. If they had known his lineage, they would have known that he could never be the Messiah. For he descended from Levi, while the Christ had to come from Judah. The leaders are partly satisfied, but not yet completely. Fortunately, he is not the Christ, but then who is he? They ask him if then he is Elijah. His clear answer is that he is not. His denial seems in contrast to what the Lord says of him in Matthew 17 ( ). The key is in Matthew 11. There the Lord says of John the baptist: “And if you are willing to accept [it], John himself is Elijah who was to come” ( ). This means that Elijah came in John, but only for those who wanted to accept what he came for. If the eyes are blind to the Messiah, they are also blind to His predecessor. That is why John tells these people that he is not, because they do not want to receive Christ. Then as far as they can see there is one possibility left for them and that is that John is the promised prophet ( ). John’s answers are getting shorter and shorter. To the last question he gives the shortest answer: “No.” It doesn’t make sense to explain his answer.

‏ John 1:19-28

John Testifies Who He Is Not

John’s testimony was powerful. It set people in motion. Through John, God worked in the minds of men a general expectation of the Messiah. John was the independent witness preserved by God until the right time to testify of His Son.

In this Gospel, the Jews have been opponents of the Lord from the beginning and therefore also of John. It is clear from Jn 1:24 that these are Pharisees. They send priests and Levites, people who serve in the temple, so deeply religious people, to John to ask him who he is. It is not a sincere question, but a question inspired by fear for their position.

John knows the background of their question. They want to know if he is the Christ. Therefore he doesn’t speak about himself, but about Christ and says that he is not. If they had known his lineage, they would have known that he could never be the Messiah. For he descended from Levi, while the Christ had to come from Judah.

The leaders are partly satisfied, but not yet completely. Fortunately, he is not the Christ, but then who is he? They ask him if then he is Elijah. His clear answer is that he is not.

His denial seems in contrast to what the Lord says of him in Matthew 17 (Mt 17:11-12). The key is in Matthew 11. There the Lord says of John the baptist: “And if you are willing to accept [it], John himself is Elijah who was to come” (Mt 11:14). This means that Elijah came in John, but only for those who wanted to accept what he came for. If the eyes are blind to the Messiah, they are also blind to His predecessor. That is why John tells these people that he is not, because they do not want to receive Christ.

Then as far as they can see there is one possibility left for them and that is that John is the promised prophet (Deu 18:15-19). John’s answers are getting shorter and shorter. To the last question he gives the shortest answer: “No.” It doesn’t make sense to explain his answer.

John’s Testimony About Himself

Now they know who John is not, but then who is he? That is what they would like to know. To go back and say that they do not know who John is, who has such a great influence among the people, that is not acceptable. So they go on asking who he is. John answers their question with a quote from the prophet Isaiah. They undoubtedly know that quote, but its meaning does not penetrate them.

The quote shows that the Christ is Yahweh and that John is no more than a voice. John the evangelist emphasizes that the people who question John the baptist have been sent “from the Pharisees”. The Pharisees are the great adversaries of the Lord. People sent “from the Pharisees” are completely alien to those born of God. ‘From the Pharisees’ or ‘from God’, that determines the difference in the appreciation of Christ.

Testimony About the Lord Jesus

The interrogators ignore John’s answer that he is the voice of one crying and points to Christ. They are concentrating exclusively on his baptism. How can he baptize if he does not have some official status? His denial that he is the Christ was already a great relief. His denial that he is Elijah means to them that he is not the forerunner who immediately precedes the kingdom in power and majesty over the earth (Mal 4:5). And if he is not the prophet who is foretold, what does his baptism mean?

Their question gives John the opportunity to make clear the difference between him and Christ. He himself baptizes with water as the symbol of repentance and forgiveness of sins. However, the baptism with which he baptizes does not stand alone. With his baptism he points to Him Who is in the midst of them, but Who they do not know. John tells them how far Christ is exalted above him in glory. He does not even feel worthy to untie the thong of the sandal of the Lord Jesus.

This testimony is given by John in Bethany, beyond the Jordan. It is not Bethany where Lazarus and Martha and Mary live, because that is near Jerusalem. Bethany means ‘house of misery’. This place here is closely connected to the Jordan and baptism. The Jordan speaks of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus and baptism speaks of His death. By connecting Bethany with this, we may think that escaping from the misery to which sin has brought a man, is only possible through the death and resurrection of Christ. The Pharisees did not find themselves miserable and therefore had no part in Christ.