The Witness of John the Baptist
John the Baptist came to bear witness to Jesus. He rightly understood that Christ did not begin to exist at his incarnation, and that his preexistence made him worthy of honor. So when the religious leaders came to question John, he was careful to direct them away from himself and to the Lord Jesus. The Gospel writer says, “Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, ‘I am not the Christ.’ And they asked him, ‘What then? Are you Elijah?’ He said, ‘I am not.’ “Are you the Prophet?’ And he answered, ‘No.’ Then they said to him, ‘Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?’” (John 1:19-22)
John was first and foremost characterized by a spirit of humility. The other Gospels reveal that John’s ministry included calling the Jewish people to repent for the kingdom of heaven was near. He lived in the wilderness, eating strange things and dressing in a strange way, but he never sought attention. John did not go to the Jewish leaders looking for recognition, When they came to him, he pointed away from himself and toward Jesus. These men saw John’s ministry and must have concluded that he was presenting himself as the Messiah. It wasn’t entirely unusual for someone to come along claiming to be the Christ, gather a crowd of followers, and even conspire to overthrow the government. This always ended in violence, and the leaders in Jerusalem wanted to stop things before they got out of hand.
John the Baptist was a model of humility. He never sought to glorify himself.
When they asked John who he was, they were really asking something like, “Just who do you think you are?” They wanted to know on whose authority was he doing these things. His answers must have frustrated them. They asked, “Who are you?” and he said, “I am not the Christ.” Ok. You’re not the Christ. So they thought some more and asked, “Are you Elijah?” and he said, “I am not.” Now where did they get that from? They remembered the prophecy which said, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible Day of the LORD” (Malachi 4:5). But John wasn’t taking credit for that, so they thought some more and asked, “Are you the Prophet?” and he said, “No.” The Prophet was first mentioned by Moses when he said, “The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren” (Deut. 18:15). John was not going to take credit for being the famous prophet predicted by Moses; he was a model of humility. Elsewhere in the NT he is compared to Elijah, and Jesus said there was no one on earth as godly as John. But he never claimed this for himself; John never sought to glorify himself.
John’s Prophetic Pronouncement
I imagine after hearing his responses, the men were more frustrated than ever. What would they tell their masters about John? So they asked him once more to identify himself, and he replied by quoting the prophet Isaiah, downplaying his role, and pointed to Jesus, the true Christ. “He said, ‘I am “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Make straight the way of the LORD,’” as the prophet Isaiah said” (John 1:23). This verse is Isaiah 40:3, and the message of that chapter is one of peace and encouragement. Judgment is past, and the glory of the Lord is soon to be revealed to all mankind. The Lord is coming as a victorious king, received by a people who are looking for his return. When the announcement is made, they move quickly to prepare the road over which he will ride so his journey will be swift and smooth. A major restructuring is in view; the road is smoothed out and leveled to make a highway through the rough desert. By quoting this verse, John was identifying himself as the lone voice that cries out in the wilderness to prepare the people for the coming of their God.
He may have only quoted one verse, but John knew the religious leaders would recognize the context of the prophet’s message. In the verses which follow v.3, Isaiah speaks of the glory of the Lord being revealed to all men. But who is the Lord whose glory will be revealed? He is none other than Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who keeps his covenant and is always present with his people. By quoting Isaiah and identifying himself as the king’s herald, John equates Jesus with Yahweh. To put it another way: Jesus is the great I Am.
John, the author of this Gospel, has already written about the glory of the Word: “glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (v.14). He has spoken of the one and only Son, “who is in the bosom of the Father” and is uniquely qualified to reveal him (v.18). Everything he has written about the Word speaks of his glory. He is the Creator, the Light, the eternal Word, the Lord who saves his people, and the God who became man. We can rightly say Jesus is Yahweh who promised that the Seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head, put his rainbow in the sky as a reminder of his mercy, and swore an oath to give Abraham a multitude of descendants when he had no children. He is Yahweh who met with Moses on Mt. Sinai to give him the law and swore to David that his son would sit on his throne and rule over his kingdom forever. And Jesus is Yahweh who promised to make a new covenant with Israel, writing God’s law on their hearts and filling them with his Spirit. Jesus is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who keeps his covenant and is always present with his people.
The Blindness of Religion
You would think these men would get the point that Yahweh is coming, and they’d better start preparing, but they didn’t. They were not satisfied with the answers John gave, so they questioned him further about his practice of baptism. “Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees. And they asked him, saying, ‘Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?’ John answered them, saying, ‘I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.’ These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing” (John 1:24-28).
Their question was actually a good one: Why was John immersing Jews in the Jordan? John’s baptism was meant to be a sign of repentance for sin. This differed from the way the Jews typically practiced baptism. They immersed themselves for ritual purification and made Gentiles, who wanted to convert to Judaism, immerse themselves. Then along comes this strange prophet, calling God’s chosen people to submit to baptism as a sign of repentance. If John wasn’t the Christ, Elijah, or the Prophet, then what gave him the authority to baptize the children of Abraham?
We need to return to the context of Isaiah 40 in order to answer the question. By citing this passage, John was telling the people to prepare to see God’s glory which would soon be revealed. The fact that they were confused about his baptism reveals that they did not think they needed to repent. The Jewish religious leaders did not realize they were spiritually blind. John, not being timid, pointed this out to them: “there stands One among you whom you do not know. It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to lose” (v.26-27). These self-righteous religious people did not even know that the glory of God was already visible among them! But they could not recognize God’s glory in the person of Jesus. It is possible that Jesus was standing in the crowd that day, right there in their midst, yet they had no idea.
John’s baptism was intended to prepare the people by calling them to repentance, but it was not just a forward-looking act. Jesus was already there in the crowd. The Jewish leaders are a sad example of spiritual blindness: they could not see God’s glory, even when it was right in front of them. They were very religious, but they were profoundly blind, just like so many today who read the Bible and fail to recognize Jesus as the great I Am. There are many who think of him merely as a good example or kind teacher. If that is all you see, then you are blind. Jesus is the great I Am, the One whose sandal strap none of us is worthy to loose.
