Why did John baptize?

"The Testimony of John the Baptist"

(John 1:19-34, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, December 28, 2008)

John 1:19-34 ¹⁹ And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" ²⁰ He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ." ²¹ And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" And he answered, "No." ²² 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?" ²³ He said, "I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord,' as the prophet Isaiah said." ²⁴ (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) ²⁵ They asked him, "Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" 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." ²⁸ These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing. ²⁹ The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 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, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel." ³² And John bore witness: "I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. ³³ 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.' ³⁴ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God."

Who are you, John? (19-24)

Throughout history it has been a great temptation among religious people to make great claims about themselves and about the things that they do. If they go this way long enough, they gradually find that they think very little about the greatness of God and what He alone can do. They are much more interested in their own role in the drama of redemption. It is very refreshing to meet in John the Baptist someone who so thoroughly rejects this way of being religious.

The part that John was given to play in the revealing of the true Messiah was actually very significant. In a sense it was more significant than anything done by any prophet that came before him. After John began to attract crowds, people started to wonder about him. They may have wondered who he was, or at a minimum they wanted to know who he thought he was. Did he imagine himself to be a part of the cast of expected figures who would bring in the new Messianic kingdom that many were hoping for? Was he the prophet who would bring in a new day? Did he somehow have the spirit of Elijah in him? Could it be that he supposed that he was actually the Messiah?

The Pharisees had sent some representatives out to the desert where John was baptizing in order to get some answers. His answer is a very refreshing and sweeping denial of self, and a focus on the one essential of his divinely given role. First the denial: No. He was not the Christ. He was not Elijah back from the dead. He was not the Prophet that some were expecting who would restore Israel to independence and glory. Secondly, the simple affirmation of his call: He was the fulfillment of Isaiah 40:3. He was the one that God had appointed to go to the desert, and to preach the coming of the Lord, thus making a straight highway for Someone else to walk upon, Someone who was Himself the Lord of glory.

Why are you baptizing? (25-28)

There must have been some expectation that things would change when a new age came. There must have been some hope of the fulfillment of so many passages from the Old Testament, passages like Jeremiah 31 that spoke of a coming new covenant. To go out into the wilderness and to institute a new ceremony of washing wrapped around the preaching of repentance, what is it all about? Such a movement can be ignored if it attracted only a trickle of interest. But here is a man who should not have been popular, and large numbers of people are coming out to hear him preach about preparation for the Lord through repentance, and he is instituting a new ceremonial washing of the kind only Gentile converts had received. But now Jews are listening to what he says, and they are being baptized.

This concerns some of the more well-placed religious authorities, just as people will be concerned about what Jesus will do when He goes into the temple and overturns the tables of money-changers. John had told them that he was the person that Isaiah wrote about in Isaiah 40:3. There are many good questions that they could ask him at this point if they were sincerely interested in what God was doing through this man. Instead they seem to completely ignore his answer, as if he has just said that he has come up with all of this on his own. That is not at all what he said. He said he was the fulfillment of Isaiah 40:3, that he is the one who would prepare the way of the Lord. They apparently are not interested in that. They just want to know by what authority He is out in the desert baptizing people. His answer, or lack of an answer, is intriguing. He speaks of One who is coming, and he speaks of this one as being in every way superior to him.

John baptizes only with water; this other One apparently does something much better than that. John is known to them; this other One, though He is among them, is unknown to them at present. John, though he came before this other One in some way, he must be way behind Him in another way, because John is like one who is below the lowest slave in this Man's house, the one in charge of washing feet, lower than that one, not worthy to untie His sandal. This coming One is like the greatest of all kings. Given this response, and the fact that John had said that He was preparing the way of the Lord according to Isaiah 40:3, can there be any doubt as to who this amazing unknown Visitor is? Yet the sin of man… How slow we are to bow before God when He comes. Many people came to be baptized by John, and his ministry draws the notice of important Pharisees, yet no one seems to be particularly ready for the Lord that John will point to.

The Lamb of God (29-30)

They do not have to wait a long time to see Him. The next day John points Him out. He calls Him the Lamb of God, and he says that this Lamb takes away the sin of the world. He also states again that this One was from before Him, and that He ranks above him, though He seemed to come after John had already become famous. Look at all of the facts that are brought forward here. 1. Jesus is the Lord who came before John the Baptist. 2. Jesus is going to die as the real sacrificial offering. 3. In His death Jesus will atone for the sins of the world. These are three amazing points of central Christian doctrine boldly stated by the man who had gone into the desert to prepare for the coming of the Lord. John the Baptist tells everyone that the Lord who had come would fulfill His ministry by dying for their sins, and not only for the Jews, but for the whole world. This is a staggering affirmation of faith that would not be lived out appropriately until about twenty years later when the Council in Jerusalem, described in Acts 15, took place. Even then it was hard for Jews to believe that Gentiles could have sins forgiven without circumcision.

John reveals his purpose (31-33)

The day before, representatives from the Pharisees had asked why John was baptizing. He did not actually answer the question. He just spoke about the superiority of the One who was coming. Now he gives an answer when Jesus is revealed on the next day by a miraculous display, identifying Him as the one who is full of the Spirit of the Lord. This One who would baptize with the Holy Spirit was the reason for everything that John did, included his baptizing in the wilderness. That's why He states in verse 31, "For this purpose I came baptizing with water, that He might be revealed to Israel." God had sent John to baptize with water in order to prepare the way for the Lord, and to reveal Jesus to Israel. John baptized with water, to reveal the One who would baptize with the Holy Spirit.

What is this baptizing with the Holy Spirit? Some have equated this with an experience of great growth in holiness or Christian giftedness beyond conversion. Even though the expression, "the baptism of the Holy Spirit," has come to be used in that way, the Bible does not ever use the term precisely like that. The Scriptures do speak about being filled with the Holy Spirit. If you wonder whether You have been filled with the Holy Spirit, the clearest biblical description of this that I can find is in Ephesians 5:18-21, and I would be happy to talk to anyone further who desires to understand that passage or the kind of life that it describes. Nonetheless, that is something different than this idea of Jesus baptizing with the Holy Spirit as compared to John baptizing with water.

These same words of John are quoted in the Book of Acts related to the coming of the Age of the Gospel and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, first to the Jews, and then to the Gentiles. All this must have something to do with the New Testament sacrament of baptism, and something to do with the Holy Spirit, the promised gift of God to all who are His own. But this must not be about men baptizing with water, and then claiming to be the source of the Holy Spirit operating in the life of a person, in such a way that men receive the glory and Jesus does not. These words of John make it clear that all of our attention should be focused on Jesus as the one who baptizes His New Covenant people with the gift above all gifts, the down-payment, the earnest, the deposit, that will be received in perfect fullness upon your translation to the heavenly expression of the Lord's kingdom.

Life beyond baptism: The glorious Son of God (34)

Baptism is a sacrament of initiation into the New Covenant, just as circumcision was for the Old. However, we need to remember what the Apostle Paul said, "Neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God." And in another place, "In Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love." And finally, "Neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation." Christ the Lamb of God brings the new creation and the faith and obedience that flows from His gift of the Holy Spirit. We have no more interest than John did in exalting ministers or the sacrament of water baptism. If God uses either of them, it is only to point toward Christ. He does use them, but the key is Christ and His power. Ministers are nothing and can do nothing. Christ is everything and can save to the uttermost. It is far better for the minister to make himself nothing, than to in any way obscure the glory of Christ. What John saw with his eyes, we are affirm by faith. Jesus is the Lamb. He is the Son of God. He gives the Spirit.

Questions for meditation and discussion:

1. What seems to be the real purpose of the representatives that came to John from the Pharisees?

2. What was the purpose of John in everything that He did?

3. What is your understanding of the biblical use of the concept of the "baptism of the Holy Spirit?"

4. What might be a balanced and biblical approach concerning the importance of baptism consistent with John 1?