“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.’”
John 1:29-33 NIV
How could John the Baptist be so confident that Jesus was God’s sacrificial Lamb? Wasn’t he being a bit presumptuous? After all, Jesus was no different from any other man…or was He? What made Him stand out to John as the special one sent from God?
The three Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, record Jesus’ baptism as the moment when the Father affirmed Jesus as His Son. The Holy Spirit coming on Him in visible form was the sign to the onlookers of His anointing even if they didn’t believe or even remember that moment.
To John, the coming of the Holy Spirit on Jesus had special significance. It was the sign that Jesus was the one to whom he would bear witness to all Israel who would baptise people in the Holy Spirit. John would never forget that moment. God had told him it would happen.
“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.’
However, for John, this moment meant more than identifying Jesus as Messiah. Once he knew who Jesus was, he was able to do the task he was called to do…to point Him out to every Israelite whenever and wherever he could as God’s sacrificial Lamb and the baptiser in the Holy Spirit.
What did John’s witness mean to his hearers? Lamb…sacrifice…the focal point of Israel’s worship. From the moment of their deliverance from Egypt to this moment, the lamb was the symbol of God’s forgiveness, the dividing line between life and death.
Did Israel understand the message? No, they did not! How ironical…Israel killed Him for being God’s Lamb!
The baptiser in the Holy Spirit…Israel’s greatest need! Their history was the witness to their failure. They could not obey God’s covenant because of their corrupt hearts. God’s Spirit left the human race when Adam disobeyed God. Only through God’s Lamb and the forgiveness He made possible could God restore His Spirit to humanity.
So, John’s message was simple and clear. The one on whom he saw the Spirit descend was the one he was to reveal to God’s people. His constant refrain? “Look at Him!” More than that. “Look to Him!”
“The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!””
John 1:35-36 NIV
John was faithful! He went ahead of Jesus to show the way, never to get in the way. When he had accomplished his mission, he bowed out graciously, if not rather abruptly, by losing his life.
Jesus, in turn, cemented John’s place in history…the greatest of the Old Covenant prophets despite his short ministry and untimely death.
“But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written: “ ‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”
Luke 7:26-28 NIV
To believe John’s message, to look to the Lamb of God, to receive His forgiveness and His gift of the Holy Spirit, is the only way to cross the great divide between death and life.