John 1:15 John testified about him. He cried out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me, for he was before me.’” 16 From his fullness we all received grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time. The one and only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has declared him.
19 This is John’s testimony, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”
20 He declared, and didn’t deny, but he declared, “I am not the Christ.”
21 They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” Malachi 4:5
He said, “I am not.”
“Are you the prophet?” Deuteronomy 18:18
He answered, “No.”
22 They said therefore to him, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back 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,’ Isaiah 40:3 as Isaiah the prophet said.”
24 The ones who had been sent were from the Pharisees. 25 They asked him, “Why then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?”26 John answered them, “I baptize in water, but among you stands one whom you don’t know. 27 He is the one who comes after me, who is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I’m not worthy to loosen.” 28 These things were done in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
The Pharisees and other religious leaders of the day were curious and concerned because the people were flocking to the Jordan River to see John the Baptist. The established religious leaders had things just where they wanted them. They were honored, respected, obeyed, and financially supported. They were concerned about John’s testimony and suspicious about a prophet in their midst. They sure didn’t want anyone coming onto the scene to usurp their power or upset their control over the people.
The Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”
John explained that he was not the long-promised Messiah. For centuries the Jewish leaders had thought that Elijah and Moses would come back to life to accompany the Messiah’s appearing on the earth. Answering their questions, John explained that he was neither Elijah nor was he the prophet Moses come back to life. He instead quoted from the prophet Isaiah saying that he was the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord.’ He was preparing the people for the Messiah’s arrival by baptizing those who were looking for truth and meaning, honestly examining their lives, and repenting of their sins.
John concluded by saying that compared to the Creator of the universe, compared to the Word that spoke everything into existence, he was not worthy to be even a slave that grovels in the dust loosening the Messiah’s sandal strap. John is, like all Christians, simply a lowly messenger doing the will of God.
John 1:29 The next day, he saw Jesus coming to 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 didn’t know him, but for this reason I came baptizing in water: that he would be revealed to Israel.” 32 John testified, saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending like a dove out of heaven, and it remained on him. 33 I didn’t recognize him, but he who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘On whomever you will see the Spirit descending and remaining on him is he who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”
John was sent to prepare the way for the Lamb of God.
Why was Jesus referred to as the Lamb of God?
Although Adam and Eve had been forewarned that the wages of sin is death, Romans 6:23, Genesis 2:17, nevertheless, when tempted, they went ahead and disobeyed God. Rather than condemning and immediately carrying out the death sentence, God instead clothed Adam and Eve with animal skins. In other words, an innocent lamb lost its life to provide a covering for the couple’s shame and corruption. Why? The death of the lamb served as a place-holder looking forward to a greater Promise. God promised Adam and Eve that he would provide, at an undisclosed future time, a Redeemer, an uncorrupted second Adam, 1 Corinthians 15:45-47, the Lamb of God, John 1:29, to defeat Lucifer, the tempter, and reverse the curse of death brought on by the first Adam.
While mankind waited for the Promised Redeemer to appear, God instituted animal sacrifices as a temporary substitute for the death that all who sin against God deserve. These sacrifices did two important things.
First, these sacrifices were a constant graphic visual reminder to the human race that death was the inescapable consequence for sin.
Second, these sacrifices were a reminder that, one day the Creator would, in an act of undeserved and unimaginable grace, through self-sacrifice, defeat death. In so doing, he would provide a way for Adam’s fallen, sinful race, the sons and daughters of God, to be welcomed back into his eternal Kingdom.
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:10
From that time forward in the Bible, from Abel, to Noah, to Abraham, to Moses, to the Levitical priesthood, and to David we see an innocent lamb sacrificed to God as a temporary covering for sins, anticipating the day when the Creator himself, Jesus Christ, Colossians 1:16, would come to earth in human flesh and in death, sacrifice himself in our place as the perfect Lamb of God. Hebrews 9:26
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! …The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ…For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. Romans 5:12-21
John was able to recognize Jesus when he came to be baptized because he had been told by God,
“On whomever you will see the Spirit descending and remaining on him is he who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”
The Holy Spirit descended and rested upon Jesus testifying that Jesus is the Son of God. After his baptism Jesus began his public ministry by teaching and gathering a group of twelve disciples.