John 1:19-34
The prophet John preached to the people out of doors in the plains near the Joan river. At that time all were “in expectation”, looking for the promised Messiah, as it was near the time foretold He should appear (Luke 3:15; Dan. 9:24, 25).
When the leaders in Jerusalem heard of the earnest words of John, they sent men to ask him if he were the Messiah.
John told them he was not; that he was “the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord’,” as written in Is 40:3. To “make straight the way of the Lord,” the people must be sorry for sins and be baptized, which showed to others they knew they deserved death because of sins.
God had sent John to baptize, and he was called John the Baptist, He said there was One to come far greater than he. The next day Jesus came there, and John called to the people to “Behold!”, But he did not say to behold the Messiah, he said,
“Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
It would be strange to us to hear a man called “a lamb”; we call a little child “a lamb”, meaning it is a pet or gentle as a lamb. But the men who heard. John understood: they had many times seen a lamb offered because of sin, and the man would put his hand on the lamb’s head to show it was taken in his place.
They knew “the Lamb of God”, meant One from God to take away sin. Yet they did not then understand that He, too, must die to do that, although that was written in Is. 53:6, 7. They thought He would do so by His power.
John said the Holy One Who had come was chosen and anointed by God that he saw the Spirit descend and remain on Him, and his record or report and message was that Jesus Who stood among them was the Son of God.
That was wonderful news to the people who were looking for the promised Holy One: to know He had come to earth. Next time we read of men who believed John’s words.
We must believe those same words, “Behold the Lamb of God,” for we cannot take our sins from God’s sight either; we can only trust the One God sent, His own Son; that He took our place. When we believe and think of Him as dying for us, we “behold’ Him as God’s Lamb.
What did John say he was not worthy to do? (v. 27).
How did John know Who was the Holy One? (v. 33, read also Matt. 3:13).
Did many go to hear John? (Matt 3:5).
Note: “Elias”, verse 21, is the Greek form of Elijah; “Esaias” (v. 23) the Greek for Isaiah; and “Messias” for Messiah, the anointed; in our language the Christ (v. 41).
ML 05/19/1946