"John The Baptist's Testimony"
John The Baptist's Testimony (John 1:19-51) Verse 19: "And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" The reference here is of John the Baptist: The Jews sent the priests and Levites to question John the Baptist because they were respected religious leaders in Jerusalem."
Verse 20-21: "He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ." 21And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" And he answered, "No." Elijah had been caught up to heaven alive, and the Jewish people anticipated his return as was predicted in Mal 4:5. Many rabbis expected that he would settle legal disputes when he returned; others expected him to perform miracles or to introduce the Messiah. John The Baptist Testimony
Verse 22-23: "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?" 23He said, "I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord,' as the prophet Isaiah said." The leaders kept pressing John to say who he was because the people were expecting the Messiah to come (Lk 3:15). John the Baptist's emphasis was not on who he was, but on why he had come - to prepare the way for the Messiah. The Pharisees wanted to know who John was, John wanted them to know who Jesus was.
Verse 24-25: "(Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) 25They asked him "Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" John's questioners were more perplexed by his baptizing than his preaching. When the Pharisees questioned John's authority to baptize they were asking who gave John the right to treat God's chosen people like Gentiles. A great cleansing had been prophesied by Ezekiel (Ez 36:25;37:23), but they could not understand why John was doing it if he was not Christ, Elijah, or the forerunner they expected to precede the Christ. They had completely missed the meaning of John's quotation (Isaiah 40:3) where he had made it clear that he was the forerunner of the Messiah, not Christ or Elijah. John The Baptist Testimony
Verse 26: "John answered them, "I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, John told them that he was helping the people perform a symbolic act of repentance, but one would soon come and truly forgive their sins; something only the Messiah, the Son of God could do.
Verse 27: "even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie." Slaves carried their master's sandals; John claims that he is not worthy to be even Christ's slave, yet Jesus said in Luke 7:28 that John was the greatest of all prophets.
Verse 28: "These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing. "Across the Jordan" was Perea, an area where John ministered and was later arrested.
Behold, the Lamb of God Verses 29-30: "The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me." God's timing is perfect. The very next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, exactly on schedule - and John said, "Behold the Lamb of God..." Thus John the Baptist introduced the long awaited Messiah of Israel, the Saviour of all mankind. The Lamb of God: Christ came to redeem people from sin. To pay the penalty for sin, a life had to be given and God chose to provide the sacrifice himself. The sins of the world were removed when Jesus, the Lamb of God, died on the cross. John The Baptist Testimony
Verse 31-32: "I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing 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. John the Baptist had baptized Jesus. At his baptism God had given John a sign to show him that Jesus was the Messiah. The sign he had seen was for the Spirit to descend from heaven and remain on Jesus, John thus declared Jesus to be the Messiah.
Verse 33-34: "I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' 34And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God." Many thought the direct prophetic endowments of the Spirit ceased when the last of the Old Testament prophets died. For some, the claim by John that the Spirit is being restored recognized that the messianic era was at hand. John as an eye-witness declared that Jesus was the Son of God. Later, Jesus Himself, confessed under oath that He was the Son of God (John 19:7) which was the very reason the Sanhedrin condemn him to death.
Jesus Calls the First Disciples Verses 35-37: "The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" 37The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus." It was as if John the Baptist had said, "There He is, I have identified him. It is now up to you." John, the apostle-to-be, and the other disciple, Andrew then followed Jesus. Teachers normally trained disciples, who then went out to teach others; to recommend disciples to a greater teacher was rare, and denoted confidence in the other teacher's superiority.John The Baptist Testimony
Verses 38-39: "Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, "What are you seeking?" And they said to him, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" 39He said to them, "Come and you will see." So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour."
Jesus rewarded the two disciples by inviting them home with him, where they spend the whole day. One of these disciples was Andrew, the other is thought to be John, the author of this Gospel. (John never refers directly to himself, only in the third person)
Verses 40-42: "One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which means Christ). 42He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas" (which means Peter." Here we see the other disciples introducing others to Christ. The best witness is to simply introduce people to Jesus and let Him do the rest. Of the four Gospels, only John used the Hebrew or Aramaic title, "Messiah." He translates it into Greek because that was the language of his Jewish readers, (outside Palestine most Jews spoke Greek) The name Cephas is equivalent to the Greek word Petros, rendered "Peter." (Petra) means a rock,(Petros) a piece of rock. Peter was the latter, (a piece of the rock). Here Jesus displayed his perfect knowledge of all persons, names, and things. John The Baptist Testimony
Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael Verse 43: "The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, "Follow me." Of the twelve disciples only Philip and Andrew had Greek names, and were the ones who took the Gospel to the Greeks. Tradition tells us that Philip died a martyr at Heirapolis.
Verse 44: "Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter." The first five of the Twelve disciples came from Bethsaida, located on Lake Galilee not far from Capernaum. (Andrew, John, Peter, Philip, Nathaniel)
Verse 45: "Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." Nathaniel, meaning the gift of God, is thought to be another name for Bartholomew, however John never uses the name Bartholomew, nor is it mentioned in the synoptic's. Nathaniel was from Cana in Galilee. Philip was right concerning Jesus in that He was the one Moses and the prophets wrote; however Jesus was the Son of God, not the son of Joseph. Joseph would have been His stepfather, not His Father. It is easy to understand how those seeing Jesus grow up in the home of Joseph the carpenter would have assumed that Joseph was His father.John The Baptist Testimony
Verse 46: "Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." Nazareth seems to have been a very traditional, orthodox town; priests later considered it ritually clean enough move there, so it is not thought that Nazareth was any more sinful than other similar places. It simply did not fit the preconceived ideas that people had about where to look for the Messiah. So Philip, answering Nathaniel's objection, says "come and see." Isn't that the way it is with Jesus, and isn't that all we need do when introducing others to Jesus? Philip was saying, just wait until you meet Him, you will change your mind!
Verses 47-49: "Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!" 48Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." 49Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" Jesus knew about Nathanael before the two ever met. Teachers often taught under tees, which were popular because of their shade, but Jesus knowing which tree Nathanael had sat under is a demonstration of genuine supernatural knowledge. Nathanael would soon learn that there are no secrets from God. All things are naked and laid open before Him. (Heb 4:13) Nathaniel expressed his amazement that Jesus would know him and where/what he had been and asked how He knew, then declared that He had to be the Son of God, the King of Israel! John The Baptist Testimony
Verses 50-51: "Jesus answered him, "Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe? You will see greater things than these." 51And he said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man." Jesus seemed amused that Nathanael was so astounded by His knowledge. "You will see heaven opened with the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man." The title "Son of man" was used at least forty times by Jesus, twelve times in this Gospel; and Stephen's use of it in (Acts 7:56). Why did Jesus prefer this title? "Son of God" as used later, was a title that carried with it; in the popular mind, the meaning King of Israel, a fact proved by Nathaniel's usage of the two together just a moment before; and it would have been disastrous for the Lord to have allowed the multitudes to crown him "king," a thing many of them were eager to do. It was clearly for the purpose of preventing such a thing that Jesus so often used the other title, 'Son of Man.'" John The Baptist Testimony
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