John 1:19-34
This text gives witness to the identity of Jesus:
The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
John’s Witness to the Pharisees
There never was a man in all his life or in all the world who played a greater role as witness for Christ than did John the Baptist. A delegation of the Pharisees and of the Priests and Levites from Jerusalem came to examine John. They wanted to understand his ministry because he was really gaining some popularity and notoriety. Anytime a religious outbreak took place anywhere close to Jerusalem these special delegations (as Brother Frank Culpepper calls them, “these possies”) went out to see what was taking place.
1. The Trial Motif in the Gospel of John
They came to put John on trial so that here even in the very beginning of the Gospel of John there is the first mentioning of a sort of a trial motif. This goes all the way through the Gospel so that many will be on trial. Jesus himself will be on trial. At the same time tho se who reject and do not believe will also be on trial. When anybody comes close to the Son of God and is confronted with His light and His truth and His power; when they’re confronted with His Word and with a divine revelation of God’s Word; they are immediately put on trial because the Word tries us. The Spirit tries us. We are examined by the Lord and no one can escape being on trial. So this is one of the great motifs that runs all the way through this Gospel. Here they are, like a trial, almost like a courtroom scene, drilling this man giving him the third degree to find out what he is like. They question John even as they will later question the Lord Himself.
2. John Confessed and Denied Not
The scripture says, “And he confessed, and denied not…” (John 1:20). That’s what it takes to be a real genuine witness for Jesus Christ in this world. One who is willing to confess the Lord and never deny in any sense of the word. He confessed and denied not. They began to question him point blank and ask him in particular who was he and was he Elijah that was come. You see, among the prophets of the Old Testament, as well as the teachings of the Rabbis, there was a great amount of to do about the end time message. Great prophetic figures of the past would come on the scene and announce the day of the Lord and the coming of the kingdom of God and the end time message and set the whole world straight for the Jews once and for all. They looked forward to such prophetic figures.
The only thing is they would always be disappointed and dissatisfied with the true prophets of God such as John the Baptist, such as Jesus the Son of God and the apostles and others who would appear and announce the very message that they looked forward to being fulfilled. So they asked him, “Are you Elijah?” because the scripture has said, “…I’ll send my servant Elijah before the day of Lord.” John said, “…No I’m not Elijah.” 2 John is denying what Jesus will later confer upon him. Later Jesus will say, “…Elijah has come already and they did what they wanted to with him, and he was killed,” referring to John and that great work of his forerunning and coming before Jesus Christ and his coming in the Spirit of Elijah. They said then, “Well, are you the Christ?” “No”, he said. “I’m not the Messiah, the anointed one, the Christ of God.” “Well, what about that great prophet?” meaning Moses. “No I’m not that prophet either.” Then they said, “Who are you then?” John’s answer will leave them just as perplexed, or maybe more so, than before they came.
3. John Did Not Name Himself
John really did not answer them. He did not give himself a name or a title because he had not come to receive titles. He had come to give titles. He had not come to publish his own name, he had come to call somebody else’s na me and magnify the name of Jesus Christ the Son of God.
That’s another requirement of a true witness. He does not go with any premature great claims that have to do with himself. He’s not so much interested in titles and positions as he is in bearing the name and the message of him who has sent him. Hallelujah! Oh how wonderful it is to know the authority of God is upon us and behind us and we represent Him. His name is enough. There is something about that name of Jesus. That name is enough, hallelujah.
4. John is a “Voice”
So all that John will say is, “I am a voice! I’m just a voice crying in the wilderness. I’m not the living Word.” We’ve already talked about the eternal living Word in Jesus Christ. But he said, “I’m not the Word. I’m just a voice that brings the Word. I’m not the anointed Christ. I’m just a messenger who points to Him.”
Later on John will say, “He must increase, I must decrease.” That’s a requirement of a witness, always to magnify the Lord and let the Lord grow in the hearts and minds of people while at the same time we decrease and move out of the way so that people can see the Christ. Oh how I wish we could see Him more fully. Would you say, Amen? “I’m just a voice,” John said. The Lord in these days needs voices. He needs voices that will be trained to speak His name and glorify Him. He needs voices that will carry the beautiful sound of the message of the good news, the musical sound of the message in song. He needs voices that will open up and sound the alarm and give forth the good news. The Lord needs voices.
I know He needs people and all their abilities, but in these days when there is so much clamor and noise and confusion, how wonderful it is to have a clear sounding voice ringing out the message of hope and truth giving clear direction from God’s Word and His Spirit and power. Thank God we can be the anointed voices of Jesus Christ. Hallelujah!
Purpose of John’s Baptism
1. Preparation for the Coming of the Kingdom
They said, “Why do you baptize then?” He said, “Well, yo u use water, sacrificial water, to prepare sacrifices. I’m baptizing to prepare for the Lamb that’s to come. You 3 use water in all your ritual and ceremony; but water to me, and especially baptism, means the introduction of a new day, a new era, a new time, a new situation, the coming of the new King.” And so his baptism of repentance had great symbolic meaning as he announced the coming of the kingdom of God.
2. Warning of the Coming of Judgment
How I would like to preach on about John and his message because John used three figures of judgment: the fan, the fire, and the ax. He presented that side of God’s power and God’s judgment and he said, “the fan is in his hand – the winnowing fork is in his hand – and he will thoroughly purge his floor and he’ll take the chaff and burn it with unquenchable fire.” He said, “…the axe is laid at the unfruitful tree – at the root of the unfruitful tree – to chop it down and everything that does not bear fruit it will be hued down and cast into the fire.” It will be the fire of God’s judgment.
3. The Beginning of the Gathering Into the Kingdom
But John also used some metaphors that have to do with the positive side of the message. He will use the gathering power of the Lord to gather his wheat into the garner. Oh, hallelujah. Thank God that he has the power that moving along with judgment, moving along with the Word, there is power that gathers. While some are cast aside yet others are brought in and gathered into the garner. Thank God for the gathering power of the Lord that touched even our own lives.
4. The Announcement of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit
He said, “I baptize also just outwardly, but the one that is coming after me, he doesn’t use water. He’ll baptize with the Spirit and He has the baptism that will be inwardly. I’m concerned with outward expression of turning to God, but He will be concerned with touching men’s lives completely with the Spirit and power and fire of God that will purge them and cleanse them and equip them for His work in this world.”
John’s Baptism of Christ
The next day John saw Him as He came. I’ve often tried to live with Him and with others and the disciples and just simply walk with Jesus and think what it would be like to walk with Him and see Him for the first time. Somehow our imagination just simply falls apart and we can’t comprehend what it would be like. But John saw Him coming and there was something about Him that he recognized and understood. John had given this negative witness to Jesus and said, “I’m not the Christ! I’m not a prophet! I am not Him!” But now he gives a positive witness as to who Jesus is.
1. Jesus as the Lamb of God
The first thing he will say, he will call him the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Then he will talk about Him as being the one who came before him and was superior to him, before him in time and rank, far above him. John is willing to step into the background and has the attitude of saying He must come to the front because He is before me, He is above me. He’s superior to me because He comes walking out of the pages of the eternal past and He steps on the scene, the 4 stage of action. He is before me. He it is who is the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.
2. Jesus as the Baptizer
Then he will talk about Him as the baptizer, the one who baptizes in the Holy Ghost and with fire and I just mentioned that in a sense. Then he also gives a positive witness to the fact that He is the Son of God. You see, as John said, “I didn’t know who He was but the same one who sent me, oh hallelujah, the same one who told me to baptize said that one day you’ll baptize a man and you’ll see the heavens open up and the spirit coming down upon Him like a dove and that will be the Messiah, the Son of God.
3. Jesus as the One Baptized
When He came and Jesus was baptized and they went down into the water and came up out of the water all of a sudden the heavens opened up because Jesus was being obedient to the example that God wanted Him to fulfill. Jesus was identifying Himself with John’s message and the Word of the living God. Jesus was identifying Himself with the coming of the kingdom of God. Jesus was humbling Himself and saying, “suffer it to be so because it has to be in order for me to fulfill all righteousness.” When He, in complete obedience and humility, identified Himself with God’s work in the world and with God’s prophet, the heaven’s opened, hallelujah. Oh, anytime you obey God, anytime you move with humility, anytime you fulfill all that God wants you to do, anytime you say yes to God, the heaven’s will open unto you and the Holy Spirit will come down to your life.
4. The Example of Ezekiel
I think of that great prophet Ezekiel yonder in Babylonian captivity far away from temple and priest and homeland. But the Bible says that the Word of the Lord came to him there, even there; and the hand of the Lord was upon him there, even there; and the heavens were opened up to him there, even there in Babylon. He saw visions of God and the splendor of the glory of God.
You hear me saints of God! It does not matter where you are nor what stress or trouble you may be in – if you’re obedient to the Lord and humble before Him the heavens will open, the Spirit will descend and the glory of God will come to you. The power of the Almighty will touch your life. You’ll see visions of God and have His hand upon you, THERE. Hallelujah! The heavens are opened to any person or any church who obeys God.
The Symbolism of the Lamb
1. The Lamb as a Sacrifice
John said, “…Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.” In this Word, there are so many titles – in this first chapter of John some ten titles are given to Jesus and I’ve only touched on three or four of them tonight. But this word, this title, “Lamb”, has deep roots in the theology and the religion of the Jews. The lamb was the primary sacrifice in the daily burnt offering. The lamb was the victim that bore the sins of the people on the Day of Atonement. The lamb, that Passover 5 lamb, was the one that was slain whose blood was sprinkled over the doorposts and whose flesh was roasted and eaten with bitter herbs. That Passover lamb was symbolic of redemption and deliverance and the great redemptive acts of God when He brings His people out of Egyptian bondage. Now, as Paul says, “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us” (I Cor. 5:7).
2. The Lamb as the Suffering Servant of Isaiah
The Lamb is a symbol of the suffering servant of Isaiah who is silent as a sheep or a lamb is silent before his shearers and he does not open his mouth. So the lamb is also symbolic of that Suffering Servant who will walk through this world. He will serve and He will suffer and not be the great king at that point that they want him to be. But He will come and be the suffering servant of Isaiah and He will say, “the Son of man has come not to be ministered unto but to minister and to give His life a ransom for many.”
3. The Lamb as the Conqueror
And finally, the lamb is symbolic of that future apocalyptic prophetic lamb in Revelation chapter five when, “…they sing a new song,” and that song is a song of praise that says, “… worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive honor and glory.” It is because, “…you were slain and you have redeemed us to God out of every nation, kindred, and tongue and people and we shall reign on the earth.” And then it goes on to sing that beautiful song and give a seven- fold praise of worthiness to the Lamb. So here Johns says is the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. And He can offer a sacrifice for you day by day.
Conclusion - The Lamb of God in Our Lives Today
Whatever you need from the throne, you can get it through Him, as the Lamb of God, day by day. It does not matter how much you may have been loaded with sin, you can come and wash away all those sins in the blood of the Lamb because He bore the sins of the whole wide world. On the cross when He prayed, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do,” he was not only just praying for Roman soldiers or for hypocritical Jewish leaders. He was praying for all people of the whole world whose sins were driving Him to that cross.
Jesus came and he walked roughshod over the religious pretense and hypocrisy of His day. He laughed at the petty legalisms that held Judaism bound and put people in straight jackets. He walked roughshod over their hypocrisies and He opened the door to the house of David so that all men could come through His blood and have access to the throne. Oh, glory be to Jesus Christ.
When He prayed, “Father, forgive them,” he is saying that “through my death and through my blood there is forgiveness for every man.” So bring on any sin, bring on all sin, bring on the sins of Pilate who will try to push Him aside and get Him out of his way and try to wash off his hands and be innocent with water. Bring on the sins of a hypocritical priesthood and religious leaders of His day. Bring on the sins of a thousand people fallen into the depths of degradation and He will forgive, He will forgive. Because you see Jesus walked right past the proud hypocritical Pharisees and He forgave the ones who were unforgivable and He touched the ones who were the 6 untouchables. Jesus broke down walls and reached through and touched you and me and thank God as the Lamb He redeemed us and bought us unto Himself. My heart rejoices and magnifies His name this very day because of it. He is the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.
I love that song that says, “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; surely He bore our sorrows, and by His stripes we are healed.”
This text gives witness to the identity of Jesus: The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Denomination: Church of God
Thompson’s Chain Reference: 707 (Christ – Son Of God)
Author(s): F.J. May , D.Min.