7. John 1:19-28 The Record of John
the Baptist.
Introduction: The Apostle
John wrote these words that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son
of God and that believing ye might have life through His name. In our text today we shall see that the
Jewish leaders wanted an official statement from John as to whom he was and by
what authority he baptized. John’s
official position is revealed leaving now doubt that Jesus is the Christ.
I. John 1:19 And
this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from
Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou?
When John the
Baptist began his ministry he went out into the wilderness and began to preach
to the people in the rural areas outside of
They sent priests
and Levites from
II. John
Their first question is not stated but from John’s answer we know
that they got right to the heart of their concern. They asked him point blank “are you the
Christ?” To this John gives an emphatic
reply. As earnestly and forthrightly as
he could speak he told them strait out ‘I am not the Christ”.
John did not fit the Old
Testament description of the Christ. He
was not born of a virgin. He was not
born in
III. John 1:21 And they asked him, What
then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou
that prophet? And he answered, No.
They now having
heard from John himself that he was not the Christ had all they needed to set
the people strait. When people would
muse that John was the Christ they could respond that according to Johns own
record he himself said he was not the Christ.
Having this burden lifted they proceeded to see who he did claim to
be. They asked him if he was Elias. Elias is the Greek transliteration of the old testament name Elijah. They are asking him if he is Elijah. This would mean that Elijah, who had been
translated, had returned to the earth.
John responds to this question with and emphatic “I am not.” A small puzzle arises here. Jesus said in Mat
The next question
refers to an un-named prophet. They
asked are you THAT Prophet. This is not
a redundant question. They are not
asking him twice if he is Elijah. The
prophet they refer to is the one referred to by Moses in Deu 18:18 I will raise them up a Prophet from among
their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he
shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. The Prophet spoken of here is a reference to
Jesus Christ. Jesus is the one whom they
will listen to for every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that
Jesus is the Christ. There was
controversy in that day as to who this prophet would be. No such controversy
need arise for as Adame Clark has well stated in his
commentary on this text concerning this prophet who would be like Moses “ a prophet, a legislator, a king, a
mediator, and the head or chief of the people of God…… Every word spoken by him
is a living infallible oracle from God himself; and must be received and obeyed
as such, on pain of the eternal displeasure of the Almighty.” John,
I believe, understood about this prophet spoken of by Moses. He knew that this prophecy spoke of the
Christ and thus he denied being “THAT Prophet”.
IV. John 1:22 Then said they unto him,
Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that
sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?
The priests and Levites
are now through with the guessing game they have been playing. They want to hear from the mouth of John who
he is. They want John to know that he
will be quoted. The thing he says will
be told to the highest authorities. If
his words are blasphemous he will be in serious trouble. John must answer carefully here. But John has no need to fear for he will
speak the truth and they will not be able to condemn him for doing so.
V. John
The response of John to
their question is wonderful indeed. When
ever men raise questions concerning us we should learn from John to give them
an answer from the scriptures. John
quotes to them from the book of Isaiah chapter 40 verse
3. John was the fulfillment of that
which was prophesied by Isaiah. He is
the fore runner of Christ the Lord God almighty. What makes this such a wonderful answer is
that he points them to his purpose which is more important than who he is. His purpose is to prepare the hearts of the
people to receive the Christ. He did
this by preaching repentance of sin. He
gave them the reason to repent that being that the
VI. John
The Apostle John tells us here a piece of information which will
be needed in order to understand the following verses. Pharisees are a group of Jews who believe in
the resurrection of the dead. The other
major sect of the Jews was the Sadducees.
The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the dead nor did
they believe in angles. They did not
believe in a life after death. The
Pharisees believe in all these things.
John preached repentance of sin.
Those who repented of their sins he would baptize. Baptism is a ceremony where by a saved person
expresses publicly that he has repented of his sin and identifies himself
publicly with Christ His savior. We know
from God’s word that baptism does not cleanse one of sin. It does not wash away sin. It pictures the burial and resurrection of
Christ. It pictures the burial and resurrection
of the believer. We Identify with
Christ’s death for us and as Christ was raised from the dead so we are to walk
as if we have been born again. Keeping
in mind that the Pharisees are very much into ceremonies and pictures, after
all the Law of Moses had and abundance of these, We
proceed to examine their next question.
VII. John 1:25 And they asked him, and
said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be
not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?
The question they now
raise is Why are you baptizing. If he was the Christ or Elias or THAT prophet
they would understand that he was authorized by God to perform the ceremony of
Baptism. The voice of one crying in the
wilderness they did not see as a specific person who would come having this
authority. They took Malachi’s prophecy
literally the Elijah would come first. They took Isaiah’s prophecy less
literally. They are questioning the
authority of John the Baptist. Jesus
will later ask them “The baptism of John, was it from heaven or of men?” They feared to say it was of men for all
believed that John was a prophet of God.
John gives the answer that these men needed.
VIII. John 1:26 John answered them, saying, I baptize with
water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know
not;
Joh 1:27 He
it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet I am
not worthy to unloose.
John responds to their
question by doing what God has called him to do. He tells these men about Jesus. First that Jesus was standing among them. They knew that the time for the messiah was
right. They knew the place was
right. They needed to prepare themselves
to accept his presence among them. The
Law of Moses required them to wash themselves and to sanctify themselves when
they were in the presence of the Lord. These
needed to realize that God was already among them and they needed to get ready. They needed to repent and believe in order
know He was among them. They did not
know Him because their hearts were not right.
Jesus will tell Nicodemus “except ye be born again you can not see the
Remember that we like
john are not worthy to be even the lowliest servant of God. We need to acknowledge His worth and deny
ours.
IX. John 1:28 These things were done in Bethabara
beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.
John went to the river
to baptize. The word Baptize is a
transliteration of the Greek verb which means to dip or immerse. It is the same word translated dip in the
story of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich
man asked Abraham to let Lazarus dip his finger in water. The proper mode of Baptism is immersion in
water. John should be known as John the
dipper. John immersed people in water he
did not sprinkle or pour water on them.
We are Baptists. We have nothing
to be ashamed of, or to apologize for.
The scriptural method of Baptism is immersion by proper authority and of
a proper candidate. This verse lets us
know that John was indeed the voice of one crying in the wilderness. He did not minister in the city where most
people lived and worked. His ministry
required people to leave those places and come out from among them and be
separated people. A people who have
repented and trusted in the lamb of God for
salvation. These were to live a
separated life. We should also leave
this world behind and live holy lives before men. Separated from their sinful
ways but in the world with them as a light to guide them to God.
Conclusion: Jesus is the
Christ the Son of God and those who believe this will have life through His
name. The wages of sin is death but the
gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.