Behold, the Lamb of God

And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.  John 1:34 

John 1:19–34 – That You May Believe
Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Life in the Spirit  – September 15, 2024 (am)    

We’ve said that John’s Gospel is written to help us see Jesus, know Him, love Him with the obedience of love. Just in case you wonder about that statement, the obedience of love, I’m actually playing with Paul’s mention of the obedience of faith (Rom.1:5; 16:26), but running it through the grid of Joh.14:15 If you love me, you will keep my commandments. There’s an obedience that’s born of faith and also reveals the authenticity of true faith. But here in John’s Gospel we see that, even though it’s not explicitly named, that same obedience both flows from love and also reveals true love of God, true love of Jesus.

This morning, we come to John’s account of the ministry of John [the Baptist (Mat.3:1)], who was mentioned a couple times in the Prologue (6-8, 15). His whole job, his calling, was to help people see Jesus and know Him. He had a special role that was pretty clearly defined in Scripture. We can read a lengthy account in Luk.1:5-25, 39-45, 57-80 of his conception and birth to Zechariah the priest and his wife Elizabeth, Mary’s relative. But there’s also a complex of other biblical characters and callings that seem to intersect in John [the Baptist] in a way can be a bit confusing. And that confusion was already present in his day. Let’s look into his life and ministry here. But let’s not lose sight of the fact that his entire aim was to help us see Jesus!

This section divides clearly into two parts.

John Identifies Himself – 19-28

19 And this is the testimony of John. We already heard that 7 he came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. So, we, the readers, already know both what John [the Baptist] was doing, and also, then, the key role he’d play in the fulfillment of the purpose in this Gospel (20:31). But that wasn’t the case with his contemporaries when he began Mat.3:1 … preaching in the wilderness of Judea (a truly desolate place), 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” and baptizing people in a way that was unfamiliar in Israel. So, that raised a lot of questions. And when the Jews (possibly leaders of the Sanhedrin [Carson 1991 142]), sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed (assertively, as part of his witness to Christ), “I am not the Christ.” We know that the hope of [Messiah] ran hot in those days, a longing for the arrival of [the One promised] in their Scriptures Whom the Jews thought would deliver them from their bondage under Rome and restore them to prominence among the nations. 21 [So] they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?”—picking up a different thread from Scripture. The last prophet who’d recorded any word from God was Malachi, 400+ years earlier, and he closed his writing (the whole OT) with a promise: Mal.4:5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers…. That surely sounded like repentance! But [John] said, “I am not.”

Now, we should pause here and draw in what Jesus told His disciples: that to discerning ears and hearts John actually was the Elijah promised by Malachi (Mat.11:13-15). So, John’s own testimony here suggests that he did not detect as much significance in his own ministry as Jesus did (Carson 1991 143). This seems important to note. And as we proceed, we’ll see even more evidence that John didn’t understand fully all that God had called him to do and say, even as he was fulfilling his calling and preparing the way for Jesus.

This delegation pressed on: 21 … “Are you the Prophet?” Yet another thread from Scripture. Some 1,400 years earlier, Moses said to Israel: Deu.18:15 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—… 18 I will… put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to [you] all that I command him. Might John be this Prophet? [But] he answered, “No.” 22 So they said to him, “Who, then, are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23 He said, introducing yet one more thread from Scripture, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said” (Isa.40:3). What Isaiah was talking about was the need to make a straight and level road for the great numbers in Israel who’d be returning to the land from exile in Babylon. But John was using this prophecy to talk about people preparing their hearts for the coming the Messiah, the Christ (20) (cf. Mounce 378).

V.24 is a hard to understand in context. But taken together with v.25, it seems best translated by neb (Carson 1991 144): 24 Some Pharisees who were in the [delegation] 25 asked him, ‘If you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet, why then are you baptizing? (neb) 26 John answered them, “I baptize 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.” Notice, John didn’t answer their question; he didn’t tell them why he was baptizing. But he did tell them his baptizing would introduce them to Someone truly great Whom they didn’t yet know but Who was already present and standing among [them]! In that day, a student was expected to do for a teacher whatever a slave would do—except take off his shoes (Carson 1991 146). So, John was saying he’s not even worthy to be the slave of this coming one who was already there! This was his calling! This is what he was doing out in the wilderness!

We can get back to v.28 later, but what we’ve seen here is John the Evangelist’s account of who John [the Baptist] understood himself to be, and to be doing. But now he moves on to [the Baptist’s] understanding of Who Jesus is.

John Identifies Jesus – 19-28

29 The next day (likely the day after this conversation [19-27] [Mounce 379]), [John, the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold (Look, See), the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! Wow, what an amazing statement to hear from the mouth of John [the Baptist]! And it’s so tempting to read into it all the great meaning it would develop as Jesus went to the cross as the suffering servant foretold by the prophet: Isa.53:15 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; … 5 … he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; … with his wounds we are healed. … 5 … like a lamb that is led to the slaughter. … All this would be realized down the road when Jesus laid down his life as a Sacrifice for sin. And that would surely become the fullest meaning of John’s words here. But much like Caiaphas the high priest later on (11:49-52), surely John spoke prophetically here using words with meaning far beyond his present understanding, because we know that, well into Jesus’ ministry, he still had doubts due to how Jesus was doing what He did (Mat.11:1-6). It’s likely, then, that John himself understood his words to be referring to the apocalyptic warrior lamb found in some ancient Jewish texts that the Apostle John picked up in [Revelation] (5:6; 7:17; 13:8; 17:14; 19:7, 9; 21:22-23; 22:1-3). And if so, then he was expecting more judgment and destruction than a [sin-cleansing] sacrifice (Carson 1991 150-1). And that’s what [the Baptist] seems to be suggesting as he continues.

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—do you hear that? He was following God’s direction in his life not even knowing fully what it was all about, or how it all worked—but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” This is not only his most direct answer so far to the question (25): Why are you baptizing? It also begins to show us what he truly understood about Jesus.

But first we have to ask, how is this possible? John and Jesus were relatives! Their mothers were intimately acquainted! Both of their pregnancies were announced from heaven! (Luk.1:5-45). But surely John [the Baptist] is not lying here! No, what he’s likely saying isn’t that he didn’t know his relative at all, but that he didn’t yet know Him as the Christ (Mounce 379). In fact, knowing Jesus, as he well may have throughout their lives, might actually have impeded John from recognizing Him as the Christ any sooner.

But then, at Jesus’ baptism, which here in the Fourth Gospel had already taken place, he put it all together! 32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. Then he said it again: 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water, namely, God Himself, said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit’.” We know from the other Gospels that this dove arrived along with Mat.3:17 … a voice from heaven that said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased”—God the Father identifying Jesus for all to see and hear, including the one who baptized Him! In that moment, then, Jesus was first unveiled even to John [the Baptist]! 34 And so, he confessed, I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God. No questions. No doubts!

Conclusion

So, what’s our takeaway today? I believe two key things are worth noting.

First, the primary message of John [the Baptist] expresses the primary aim we have in studying this Gospel: 36 … Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! Although this message was infinitely truer than he likely understood when he said it, it was precisely what God the Father wanted the world to understand about His unique Son. And it was also precisely what John the Evangelist wanted his readers to understand about Jesus in this Gospel. When we look at/behold Jesus, this is what we want/need to see! With the writer of Hebrews, we say: Heb.12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith… (niv).

Second, I believe it’s also good for us hold onto what we learn here about the prophets: that they didn’t always know or discern the full significance of what God was doing through them. That’s good to remember this because we can often find ourselves in the same place as we’re trying to see Jesus or know Him or love Him or bear witness to Him today, like we’ve also been commanded by God to do (Mat.28:19-20). We, too, have a calling to proclaim this Jesus we’ve come to know and love. And we must recognize that we don’t need to understand everything about Him before we get started in that calling. Jesus said: Mat.11:11 Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. … And yet, even he was bearing witness to Jesus without full understanding!

So, we’re in very good company! Rom.11:34 For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Isa.40:13 Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? The ways of God will forever be beyond us! Whatever we understand of Him and His salvation that feels to us like fullness, there will always and forever be infinitely more to grasp! Such is the greatness of our God, and such is the greatness of His unique Son Who has taken away [our] sin!

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Resources

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Bruce, F. F. 1983. The Gospel of John. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

                  , Gordon D. Fee, & Ned B. Stonehouse, gen. eds. 1995. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. The Gospel According to John, Revised Edition, by Leon Morris. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

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                  , R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, & G. J. Wenham, eds. 1994. New Bible Commentary 21st Century Edition. John, by Donald Guthrie, 1021-1065. Leicester, Eng.: InterVarsity.

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Morris, Leon, gen. ed. 2003. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Vol. 4, John, by Colin G. Kruse. Downers Grove: InterVarsity.

Osborne, Grant, ed. 1993. Life Application Bible Commentary. John, by Bruce B. Barton, Philip W. Comfort, David R. Veerman, & Neil Wilson. Wheaton: Tyndale.

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Tenney, Merrill C. 1976. John: The Gospel of Belief. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

NEXT SUNDAY: We Have Found the Messiah, John 1:35–51