Chapter BY Chapter

John 1:19-34

In the previous passage, we learn about John the Baptist that this passage is about. There it says:

"There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light."

One thing that is very significant here is that God did not send us a savior or prophet that spoke of himself only without any witness from another.  This is one of the qualities of truth.  Anyone can make claims about themselves, and no truth is verified in that.  A true God would verify his truth with additional verification. Now we find the real life verification that comes from John the Baptist.

"Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.”

They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”

He said, “I am not.”

“Are you the Prophet?”

He answered, “No.”

Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”

Now the Pharisees who had been sent questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

“I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”

This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”

Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”

In this passage, we learn the following things about John:

1) He is not the Messiah.
2) He is not Elijah, the prophet.
3) He IS "the voice of one calling in the wilderness," according to the prophecy of Isaiah 40:3,

"A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
    the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
    a highway for our God."

This song in Isaiah 40, talks about the strength and power of God and how that those that hope in the Lord will be renewed as it says in verse 31,

"but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint."

The idea of John's role is that he is funneling people to God.  He seems to be doing this by preaching repentance from sins, as it says in Matthew 3:1-2, "In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

He also seems to have called people to repentance by pointing out the sins of the day. As it says in Luke 3:19, "But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of his marriage to Herodias, his brother's wife, and all the other evil things he had done."

4) He baptized followers in water. This was similar to a practice of the Essenes of that time. The Essenes baptized frequently as a purification ritual. John the Baptist baptized as a one time expression of repentance. As it says in Matthew 3:6, "Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River."
5) He said one much holier was coming after him. He said that he was not even worthy to untie his sandal.

Now this is important. A true God would reveal himself in ways that ring of truth. Having an outside witness saying this is the one is important. Anyone that claims to be a prophet, or messenger from God, or to have the truth, but does not have anything else to substantiate that claim should not be listened to. If someone claims to be from God and is verified by witnesses, miracles, and God's voice thundering out of heaven, listen to that person!

6) He was baptizing at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan. This would be on the East side.  

There are some questions about whether John the Baptist was an Essene. It has been popular among some scholars to claim that John the Baptist was an Essene. There are some similarities between John and the Essenes: 1. John was in the desert (Luke 1:80). The Essenes were in the desert. 2. Both John and the Essenes used Isaiah 40:3 to describe themselves as the voice in the wilderness. 3. The baptism (or washing) practiced by John and the Essenes required a change of heart. At the same time, there are significant differences between John the Baptist and the Essenes: 1. The Essenes hid themselves away from society in the wilderness. John was a very public figure. 2. John had a much stricter diet (Luke 7:33) than did the Essenes. 3. John preached Jesus as the Messiah. The Essenes did not recognize Jesus as Messiah, but they thought that the Teacher of Righteousness would himself be an Essene. 4. There was a strong organization among the Essenes that was missing among John the Baptist’s disciples. So, was John the Baptist an Essene? While it is possible, it is unlikely. If John was an Essene, and most of his disciples left to follow Jesus, the Essene movement would have ended when the ministry of Jesus started. It continued to 70 A.D. Furthermore, the Essene movement was centered around Ein Gedi, near the Dead Sea. John's ministry was centered around Bethany across the Jordan. See on the following map, where these locations were in ancient Israel.