19 And 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 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?” 23 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.”
24 (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) 25 They asked him, “Then why are you baptising, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” 26 John answered them, “I baptise with water, but among you stands one you do not know, 27 even He who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” 28 These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptising.
29 The next day he 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 ranks before me, because He was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know Him, but for this purpose I came baptising with water, that He might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on Him. 33 I myself did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptise with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is He who baptises with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”
John 3:22–36
22 After this Jesus and His disciples went into the Judean countryside, and He remained there with them and was baptising. 23 John also was baptising at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptised 24 (for John had not yet been put in prison).
25 Now a discussion arose between some of John’s disciples and a Jew over purification. 26 And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness - look, He is baptising, and all are going to Him.” 27 John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. 28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before Him.’ 29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.”
31 He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He bears witness to what He has seen and heard, yet no one receives His testimony. 33 Whoever receives His testimony sets His seal to this, that God is true. 34 For He whom God has sent utters the words of God, for He gives the Spirit without measure. 35 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
Today our focus is on the ministry of John the Baptist. He was actually the last of the Old Testament type prophets, even though he is a New Testament character. The apostle John (not the same John, remember), begins in verse 19 by saying, “This is the testimony of John.” As we know from the three other gospel accounts, John was extremely popular, but he was also completely fearless when speaking out against the hypocrisy of the religious elite. John the Baptist was what we would call a fire and brimstone preacher today. We read in Matthew 3:7-10, “When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father,” for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.’”
The Pharisees and Sadducees had never heard this kind of preaching before, so they were quite understandably annoyed with John, so they decided to find out more about him.
They were the theological watchdogs of the day, and they had tremendous influence over not only the temple and worship, but also society in general. The problem they had with John was that he didn’t fit into any of their preconceived ideas of the priesthood, but they couldn’t deny his popularity, so they sent a delegation to investigate him. Their simple question was, “Who are you?”
The backdrop to all of this was the anticipation of the promised Messiah, who generations of prophets had foretold. Now under cruel Roman oppression, the Jewish nation was desperate for God to deliver on His promise, so the first thing that John does is to say that He is not the Christ, the Messiah. He knew that he was called to prepare the way for the true Messiah, but he also knew that by making it very clear upfront that he wasn’t the Messiah, he would avoid run-ins with the Roman authorities. Had word begun to spread that the deliverer of political oppression was finally here, the Romans would have regarded him as a possible political rebel, which would have hampered John’s ministry. The Romans were determined to keep the Jews under their control, so if they suspected that John posed any threat them, they would have had no problem with executing John.
So the priests continued to question John, and they asked him if he was Elijah or “the Prophet.” In order to understand what they were asking here, we need to reach into the Old Testament. Malachi 4:5 says, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.” 2 Kings 2 tells us that the prophet Elijah did not die physically. He was taken up into heaven in a chariot of fire, and the Pharisees mistakenly thought that Malachi’s prophecy meant that Elijah himself would return as the forerunner to the Messiah. This is one of the reasons that even today at Orthodox Jewish Passover celebrations there is always an empty chair. This is called Elijah’s chair, because they are still waiting for the Messiah (Orthodox Jews reject Jesus as the Messiah), and they still take Malachi’s prophecy literally. One day Elijah will return, and that will be the sign that the Messiah will follow.
So this is why they asked John if he was Elijah. In a sense he was, but he was not literally the prophet Elijah. Elijah foreshadowed John’s coming, but the Pharisees just didn’t get it. John was a type of, but not the actual Elijah. Jesus, speaking of John, said in Matthew 11:13-14, “All the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.” When John’s mother Elizabeth fell pregnant with him, the angel said to his father Zechariah, “He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” (Luke 1:16-17)
So John said, no, he is not Elijah. The Pharisees continued to press him by asking if he was “the Prophet.” This unnamed prophet is a reference to Deuteronomy 18:15 where Moses said, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers - it is to Him you shall listen.”
By asking John if he was the prophet that Moses promised, they were once more exposing their lack of understanding of the Scriptures. They were expecting a deliverer, the Messiah who, just like Moses had led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, would lead a similar miraculous exodus from Roman oppression. Moses though, was not referring to a Messiah from Roman oppression, but a Messiah, a deliverer from sin and its consequences. Moses was talking about Jesus.
The Pharisees never did grasp the true reason for Jesus coming into our world, and that was to set us free from the condemnation of our sin. Just like us today, the greatest problem of the spiritually elite of Jesus’ day was sin, and just like us, their greatest need was a Saviour. Remember John 1:11 from last week? “He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him.”
So they asked John if he was the Messiah, Elijah, or the prophet, and each time his answer was an emphatic “no.” Verse 22 shows just how frustrated they were as they demanded an answer. “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
So John answers, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” (v23) Notice that John says he is the voice. Christ is the Word, and John is the voice, but a voice is all that John wants to be. He has a powerful message to bring to the people, but he is very clear that he himself is not the message. John 1:6-8 says, “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.”
John was a voice bringing the message, but he himself was not the message. The task of the Church today is no different. We are not the message, but the message we bring to the lost is the Gospel that saves. John’s call was a call to repentance in preparation for the first coming of Christ. Our call is the same: a call to repentance, but this time it is in preparation for the second coming of Christ. We often speak about the age of grace in which we are living, but the opportunity for repentance and forgiveness of sins will not last forever. Time is running out, and the world becomes darker with each passing day, so we cannot and must not ignore our call to share the hope which is to be found in Christ. If you have yet to confess your sins and turn to Christ, in the words of Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:20, “We are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”
There was certainly an urgency in John and his ministry, and we would do well to learn from his example.
Those questioning John were still not satisfied. If John was not the Messiah, Elijah or Moses, then just who was he, and what right did he have to go around baptising people without their authority and permission? John’s reply was, “I baptise 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.” (John 1:26-27)
When we look ahead to what John says about Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, it helps us to understand what he meant by saying he only baptised with water. The Messiah, the true light who was coming into the world, would baptise with fire and with the Holy Spirit. That fire is the baptism of judgment which is coming to those who reject Christ. This is what John was warning them against, so when the delegation from the religious leaders in Jerusalem challenged John about his right to baptise, he remained focussed on his call to preach repentance of sins in anticipation of the coming Messiah.
John says something rather cryptic in verses 31-34. “I myself did not know Him, but for this purpose I came baptising 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 baptise with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is He who baptises with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”
Twice he says that he did not know Him, and the point often raised here is that John and Jesus’ mothers were cousins, so they must have known each other while growing up, but what John meant was that it was only after Jesus’ baptism when the Spirit descended on Him like a dove, and God spoke from heaven, “You are my beloved Son. With you I am well pleased,” that he finally understood that this man was indeed the promised Messiah, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That was John’s message, and his testimony.
Now we move onto a section in the second part of chapter 3. Most English translations have sub-headings which help us to see the bigger picture of the text, and verses 22 to 36 in the ESV is titled, “John the Baptist exalts Christ.” Here we see again the passion and the humility of John the Baptist, as he clearly understands the role he has been called to play as the forerunner for the promised Messiah. These verses record John the Baptist’s last testimony in the gospel of John. As his ministry draws to an end, the public ministry of Jesus becomes the focus of John’s gospel.
For a brief period, both Jesus and John were preaching and baptising at the same time, and this created some confusion for John’s followers. They actually asked him in verse 26, “Rabbi, He who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness - look, He is baptising, and all are going to Him.” You can sense some resentment in their question, but John very quickly put them in their place.
Instead of jealousy, John showed both humility and submission to Jesus. As the sub-heading in the ESV translation puts it, John exalted Christ, and not himself. He knew who this was, so his answer in verse 27 to his disciples was, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.” John understood the absolute sovereignty of God, and that it is God alone who not only calls the saints to ministry in whatever form, but He also equips Christians to do the ministry He has prepared for them.
Look at the apostle Paul for example. This was a man who had previously persecuted the Church, and there was a lot of scepticism and doubt after his dramatic conversion. Very few trusted him at first, and even he struggled initially to accept that God had chosen him to be an instrument of God’s grace.
In 1 Corinthians 15:9-10 he writes, “I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain.”
John was quite content for Jesus receive the honour and the glory. He showed no jealousy or resentment at all. In fact, he emphasised his sub-ordinance to Jesus by using the example of a wedding ceremony. “You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before Him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:28-30)
The bridegroom is more important than the best man. His role was to be an assistant to the groom, and his joy was complete as Jesus’ prominence increased, while at the same time John’s public ministry was nearing its end. The closing verses of chapter 3 perfectly summarises his mission, and the reason for God coming into this world as one of us.
He tells us in no uncertain terms that Jesus came from heaven and spoke with a higher authority than any normal human being. Verse 31: “He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all.” This is the Word made flesh who speaks with the authority of God because He is God.
John spoke in an earthly way, but Jesus was not merely a messenger of God. He was, and is, God. He not only brought the message of hope, but He is the message of hope, and it is only by believing and accepting the Gospel message that we can be saved. There is no other.
I know we have jumped ahead in John’s gospel a bit today, as the second part of John 3 is part of the ministry of John the Baptist, but the final verse in this chapter also summarises perfectly Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus at the beginning of the chapter, which we will get to in a couple of weeks. “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
It is only those who believe in Jesus Christ who have eternal life. Outside of Christ, there is no eternal mercy, because the wrath of God remains on those who reject Him. That word “remains” is important here, because it reminds us of our natural state. Remember, as Paul says in Ephesians 2, we are by our very nature enemies of God, and children of wrath, and without the grace and mercy given to us in Christ, that wrath remains. All of our good works, and all of our well meaning efforts at being good people will count for nothing if, at the end of our lives, the wrath of God remains on us, because we have not received Christ.
R C Sproul writes, of the wrath of God, “It is the settled displeasure of God against sin. It is the divine allergy to moral evil, the reaction of righteousness to unrighteousness. God is neither easily angered nor vindictive. But by His very nature He is unalterably committed to opposing and judging all disobedience. The moral laws of the universe are as unvarying and unchangeable as its physical laws, and God cannot set aside either without violating His own nature. The rejection of His Son can be followed only by retribution.”
Verse 36 is a fitting conclusion to the public ministry of John the Baptist. “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” Here John highlights two alternatives against the backdrop of the judgment which is to come: Faith in Christ and rejection of Christ. Eternal life is the gracious promise to those who accept Jesus and who turn to Him in repentance and faith. For those who reject Him, the wrath of God remains.
Homegroup Study Notes
Read John 1:19-23
Discuss how the mission of the Church today is the same as John’s: To be a voice of one calling in the desert.
By God’s grace our eyes have been opened to the truth of who Jesus is, and we have “beheld His glory.”
There are many people whom we know and love who have not yet come to faith in Christ, so how can we follow the example of John the Baptist by calling as he did, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world?”
Read John 3:27-36
When we speak of someone “sharing their testimony,” we tend to think of someone telling others about what God has done in their lives. There are certainly times when it is appropriate to do so, but in the New Testament, sharing the testimony is nearly always the sharing of the Gospel message.
John understood this clearly (see verse 30).
What, in a sentence, is the Gospel, and how can we effectively share it? (see 2 Corinthians 5:21)