Testimony of John the Baptist
Discovering Jesus • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 3 viewsWho is John the Baptist in relation to Jesus
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Who are you?
Who are you?
My testimony accomplishments
All my accomplishments are nothing without Christ
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.
Who: John the Baptist
What: Questions from the priests and levites
When: At the beginning of Jesus Ministry ~ 26-30AD
Where: Bethany beyond the Jordan
Bethany Beyond the Jordan
Why did the priests and levites ask, “Who are you?”
They were looking for three persons. The first person they were looking for was messiah.
24 “Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. 25 Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. 26 And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed.
After 69 weeks Jesus the prince was cut off. They knew he was coming down to the day.
There are different sets, 7 sets 49 years and 62 sets 434 years. The first set was to rebuild and restore Jerusalem and the temple after the command of Artaxerxes on March 14, 445 BC. Ezra records the temple was rebuilt and Jerusalem restored around 396 BC, Ezra 9-10. He doesn’t give a date for the completion of the temple and Jerusalem, but he does give dates for dealing with those who had intermarried with pagans or those outside the Jewish faith. So roughly 49 years to rebuild and 434 until Messiah comes. (173,880 days exactly)
They wanted to know who he was because they thought he was their savior and would deliver them from Rome. They were about to crucify him instead. Where John is writing about this was approximately 3 years before Jesus was hung on the cross.
They were also looking for Elijah to return.
5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”
Jesus told the his disciples this:
12 But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.” 13 Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.
They were also looking for a prophet after 400 years of prophecy and scriptural silence. Moses wrote of a prophet who would come. They had no clue the Messiah and Prophet were the same person. When you are guided by the Holy Spirit the Word comes alive and things become much clearer.
Deuteronomy 18:18
18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.
Why ask, "Who are you?”
They want to know what his authority is. John is getting a lot of attention out there in the wilderness. He is turning the hearts of the fathers to their children and the children to their fathers. His message is simple, “Repent and be baptised for the remission of sins.”
The priests and levites needed an answer for the high priest and the Sanhedrin. They were looking and wanted to know who this guy is who is making all the noise. Once they discovered he was not messiah they wanted to know what authority he had to baptise. The priests and levites were the authority in Jerusalem for religious purposes and John was stealing their thunder.
John Answered them, Isaiah 40:3-5
3 A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
John was paving the way, healing hearts, in the spirit of Elijah.
John said to them I am not the one but He’s coming. “The strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”
Where do you stand on this?
What will you do with what you know?