Joh 1:19-36 | 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 1:19-36

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.

The Lamb of God Is the Son of God

The next day, after his testimony to the priests and Levites about himself and Christ, John sees the Lord Jesus coming to him. In the previous testimony he spoke about Him in connection with the Jewish expectation of the Messiah. Now he gives a testimony that surpasses everything else. In it he says, in fact: ‘Here is the one, sufficient and non-repeatable Sacrifice of eternal value.’

His statement relates to the death of Christ and all its consequences. The work of taking away sin must be done, and here is He Who will do it. Based on His work as the Lamb of God, the gospel can be preached, sins can be forgiven, His kingdom can be established, creation can be delivered from the curse, Israel can be blessed, and finally there will be a new heaven and a new earth. Then the perfect result will be seen of what John says here of the Lamb of God as the One Who takes away the sin of the world.

Mind you, it does not say that the Lamb of God takes away the sins (plural) of the world. It is not about sinful deeds, but about sin as power. The Lord Jesus is the Lamb Who takes away sin as power. The Jews were familiar with the lamb from the sacrificial service. The lamb was used for the daily morning and evening burnt offering and the annual Passover. All these sacrifices are fulfilled in Christ. He takes away the sin of the world so that there will be an eternity that cannot possibly be corrupted by sin. In that eternity God will be all in all (1Cor 15:28).

When John points to the Lord Jesus and testifies of Him what He does, he again gives testimony of His personal dignity. In time He comes after John, but as far as His Person is concerned, He is before John. He is God the Son of eternity.

John was not familiar with Christ. God had given him his own service and field of action in view of the coming of His Son. He had to prepare the people for His coming. Therefore he had come to baptize with water. He called people to be baptized under a preaching of repentance and forgiveness of sins, so that they would also accept Him when He revealed Himself to Israel.

John testifies how at the baptism of the Lord Jesus he saw the Spirit descending upon Him as a dove from heaven. He says that the Spirit remained upon Him. The Spirit did not come upon Him to depart again. No, the Spirit has found complete rest in this Man. The Spirit could descend upon Him without the prior application of blood, as is the case with us. We see this in the pictures of the Old Testament, where first blood is applied and then oil (Lev 14:14-17).

Once again John declares that he did not recognize Him, but that God told him by what he could recognize Him. He declares once more that his service consisted of baptizing with water. He had not devised that service himself, but that service was commissioned to him by God. Through that service he had to prepare the way for Him Who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.

This indicates the service of the Lord, which will be nothing but a blessing. He takes away the sin of the world and instead fills the world with His blessing through the Holy Spirit. This can be seen in miniature in anyone who now believes that the Lord Jesus died for his sins and receives the Holy Spirit on that basis (Eph 1:13).

The fact that the Lord Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit is proof that He is God. No one can baptize with the Holy Spirit except God. The Holy Spirit is a Person in the Godhead, and here is a Man Who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. Then that Man can be none other than the Son of God.

Therefore, John comes to that conclusion. After seeing the Spirit descending upon Christ, he can testify that “this is the Son of God”. As the eternal Son, the Lord Jesus is the true God, one with the Father and the Spirit. John does not mention the testimony of the Father from heaven, for he relies on what God personally told him about His Son and what he saw when the Spirit descended upon Him. Therefore he can testify that “this is the Son of God”.

Behold, the Lamb of God

After the testimony of the Lord as the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, John is back at the Jordan the next day. Two of his disciples stand with him. Then John sees the Lord Jesus walking there. The Lord does not come to him, but shows Himself there.

When John sees Him, he is immediately full of admiration for that Person. He says: “Behold, the Lamb of God.” In Jn 1:29 he added what this Lamb will do. Here he is full of the Lamb Himself. That Person has taken up his whole heart. This testimony of John from a heart full of the Person of Christ has a consequence that we do not see in his previous testimony.

The two disciples who are with John hear John speak and also become full of Christ. Through the testimony of John, they look away from him and are seized by the glory of the Lord Jesus. Any service before God is only good if the servant detaches the hearers from himself as human servant and leads them to Christ. Such a servant is John. His two disciples leave him and follow the Lord.

To “follow” presupposes that we are not in the rest of God. We follow the Lamb on earth in the midst of circumstances where sin has not yet been taken away (Rev 14:4). In the Garden of Eden, Paradise, where sin was not, there was no need to follow. In heaven there will be no following either. There we will find joy and rest in the place where we are. Following the Lamb is an activity we can only do as long as we are on earth.