John 1:24-34\u00a0<\/b>–\u00a0Now the Pharisees who had been sent\u00a025\u00a0questioned him, \u201cWhy then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?\u201d\u00a0 26\u00a0\u201cI baptize with\u00a0water,\u201d\u00a0John replied, \u201cbut among you stands one you do not know.\u00a027\u00a0He is the one who comes after me,\u00a0the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.\u201d 28\u00a0This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan,\u00a0where John was baptizing. 29\u00a0The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, \u201cLook, the Lamb of God,\u00a0who takes away the sin of the world!\u00a030\u00a0This is the one I meant when I said, \u2018A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.\u2019\u00a031\u00a0I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.\u201d\u00a0 32\u00a0Then John gave this testimony: \u201cI saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him.\u00a033\u00a0And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water\u00a0told me, \u2018The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.\u2019\u00a034\u00a0I have seen and I testify that this is God\u2019s Chosen One.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cNow the Pharisees who had been sent\u00a025\u00a0questioned him, \u201cWhy then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?\u201d<\/i>\u00a0The Pharisees who had been sent were zealous to get the answers that they were sent to get.\u00a0\u00a0So after establishing that John said that he was not the Messiah, Elijah or the Prophet, they then asked him if he was not one of these, by what or whose authority was he preaching?\u00a0\u00a0After all, they thought of baptism as a ritual for gentiles to go through to become a Jew and find favor with God.\u00a0\u00a0They considered themselves children of God, natural born sons of Abraham which made God their Father through natural inheritance (John 8:39-41<\/b>) and so in their thoughts they did not need to be baptized and as John was doing as part of his ministry.\u00a0\u00a0So they were saying, who are you to baptize us, as we baptize the gentiles?<\/p>\n
Asking by what authority they did something that seems to have been what they did, after all they also asked Jesus by whose authority that He was speaking to the people. (Mark 11:27-28<\/b>) Again, the idea that anyone who had authority to speak to the people must come through their teachers was firmly entrenched with them.\u00a0\u00a0To them, a teacher must have gone through their formal training.\u00a0\u00a0Even today people are trained to think that a preacher or teacher must be formally trained at a university or seminary.\u00a0\u00a0A calling from God is all too often not what is most important, but rather a diploma from formal education.\u00a0\u00a0All too often, especially in the western world today, Jesus and John would not have been qualified to preach and teach because they had not been formally trained by recognized teachers. So, let us not look harshly on the Jews.\u00a0\u00a0After all, they, like so many today, wanted to know that a preacher\/teacher is speaking the Truth. It was and is good to make sure the person teaching is teaching God\u2019s Word.<\/p>\n
\u201cJohn replied, \u201cbut among you stands one you do not know.\u00a027\u00a0He is the one who comes after me,\u00a0the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.\u2019\u201d<\/i>\u00a0\u00a0As the New Testament reveals, the ones who were the sanctioned leaders did not even know that their long awaited Messiah was with them.\u00a0\u00a0The common people accepted John\u2019s and Jesus\u2019 ministry, but most of the leaders were blind. John told them that the Great One, the Messiah, that Emmanuel was already in the land among them.\u00a0\u00a0He was the one to be followed and honored.\u00a0\u00a0John related to them that he himself was not even worthy to untie the sandals of the Messiah.\u00a0\u00a0Family and Friends, though Jesus died for us we also are unworthy to even untie His sandals.\u00a0\u00a0How great is the love, the might and the humility of God!\u00a0\u00a0How faithful to His Master was John the Baptist!<\/p>\n
\u201cThe next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, \u201cLook, the Lamb of God,\u00a0who takes away the sin of the world!\u00a030\u00a0This is the one I meant when I said, \u2018A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.\u2019<\/i>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0The very next day, as He was coming toward them, John pointed out the Messiah Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0He told them that Jesus was greater than himself because Jesus was before him. John revealed to them that Jesus was God when He said that Jesus was before him.\u00a0\u00a0They may not have known the age of John or Jesus, but John was physically born before Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0So what did John mean when he said of Jesus \u201cbecause he was before me.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Jesus was before Him because He was God in the flesh.\u00a0\u00a0Jesus was the second person of the Trinity and as being God was always God and eternally pre-existing before all of creation, which He Himself was the Creator of.<\/p>\n
“I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.\u201d\u00a0\u00a032\u00a0Then John gave this testimony: \u201cI saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him.\u00a033\u00a0And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water\u00a0told me, \u2018The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.\u2019\u00a034\u00a0I have seen and I testify that this is God\u2019s Chosen One.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0\u00a0John told the Jews that \u201creason\u201d he came baptizing was to reveal that Jesus was the Messiah.\u00a0\u00a0When John said that He saw the Spirt of God descend from Heaven onto Jesus He knew that Jesus was the Messiah because the Father had already told Him that the Messiah would be revealed when John saw that sign.\u00a0\u00a0Not only did the Spirit settle upon Jesus, but remained with Jesus and Jesus would baptize us with the Holy Spirit (fully submerse, fully fill).<\/p>\n
Jesus gives all who are His the Holy Spirit who fills us and eternally stays with us, just as He did with Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0Jesus gives to us what He has. And we are to give others what we have.\u00a0\u00a0We tell them about Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0They receive Him and He also gives them the Spirit of God as a seal of their salvation through Jesus. (Ephesians 1:13)\u00a0<\/b>The salvation of God comes through the love of God the Father, Jesus the Son, and our guider and caretaker God the Holy Spirit.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Praise the Lord!.<\/p>\n
John 1:5<\/b>\u00a0\u201cThe light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/p>\n
Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will Hear\u00a0me.<\/p>\n
Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has\u00a0shown you, Oh man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; and what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of you, but\u00a0to do justly, to love\u00a0mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.<\/p>\n
Numbers 6:24-26<\/b>\u00a0The\u00a0Lord\u00a0bless you and keep you; 25\u00a0The\u00a0Lord\u00a0make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26\u00a0The\u00a0Lord\u00a0turn His face\u00a0toward you and give you peace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
John 1:24-34\u00a0–\u00a0Now the Pharisees who had been sent\u00a025\u00a0questioned him, \u201cWhy then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?\u201d\u00a0 26\u00a0\u201cI baptize with\u00a0water,\u201d\u00a0John replied, \u201cbut among you stands one you do not know.\u00a027\u00a0He is the one who comes after me,\u00a0the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.\u201d…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[1841,100,93,94,1874,17],"class_list":["post-2618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-ephesians","tag-john","tag-mark","tag-micah","tag-numbers","tag-psalm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2618"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2618\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2619,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2618\/revisions\/2619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}