Proclaiming the Lamb of God

John 1:19-34

A Voice in the Wilderness

19 Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?"

20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ."

21 And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?"
He said, "I am not."
"Are you the Prophet?"
And he answered, "No."

22 Then they said to him, "Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?"

23 He said: "I am
The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
"Make straight the way of the LORD,"'
as the prophet Isaiah said."

24 Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees. 25 And they asked him, saying, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?"

26 John answered them, saying, "I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. 27 It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose."

28 These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

The Lamb of God

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is He of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.' 31 I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water."

32 And John bore witness, saying, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. 33 I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' 34 And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God."

John who was sent as a witness to the Word who is God become flesh testified first of all that he was not the Christ and would not admit that he was Elijah.  Instead he claimed to be the one bearing witness to the Prophet to come (Deuteronomy 18:15, John 6:14, 7:40-42) as a testimony of Isaiah 40:3 to pave the way with repentance (Matthew 3:1-2, Mark 1:4) leading to identify Him as the Word as well (Isaiah 40:8, 10, 1 Peter 1:23-25).  The Pharisees asked how he could be baptizing people for repentance if he was not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet and he told them that he was the prelude to the One sent from God to immerse them in the Holy Spirit of God (Mark 3:11) who had far more power and authority than John who was a simple messenger of His coming.  He therefore presented the coming One as the Lamb of God when Jesus came to be baptized to bear witness of Himself to the world.  The Lamb was from the picture and type of the sacrificial lamb (Genesis 22:8, Acts 8:32) whose blood was shed to cover sin and keep the punishment of the destroyer from taking the lives of God’s people in Egypt before the exodus (Exodus 12:27, Romans 3:25, Revelation 13:8) now celebrated as the passing over of sin’s punishment by the Jewish people every year without this understanding of what and who was to come for the passing over of their sins once for all (Hebrews 9:12, 10:10) and forever.  This is the Coming One (Luke 7:19) of Micah 5:2 and Malachi 3:1-3 who forever existed before the creation as the living Word of God and the precious Lamb slain for sin’s penalty before the foundation of the world!  John testified that Jesus was this coming one who would baptize with God’s Holy Spirit because as the Son of God, the Word who is God and became a man, this one would save His people from their sin and its eternal consequences.  This is the testimony of the witness and messenger who paved the way through repentance to faith in the Redeemer who followed after John.  As Matthew 3:1-2 records for us, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”  That was John’s message to us all of the Divine Word and Son of God become a man like us (the Son of Man) to set us free from eternal suffering by His work in our place to earn our salvation which we are quite unable to do.  Are we proclaiming the Lamb of God slain for His called and chosen ones?