29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”
32 Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33 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.’ 34 I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”
The story of the Baptist continues in verse 29 on the day after his encounter with the Pharisees, and identifies for the first time in the narrative the mysterious figure that stood anonymously in the crowd that witnessed the interrogation. Of no minor significance are the words chosen by the Baptist to identify him. And to appreciate them, another bit of history is in order.
The Messiah. Looking at this character of Jewish antiquity through the lens of modern Christianity causes most to make too much of him. The fact is, though the Jews did expect a messianic figure to rise and lead Israel along the road to vindication, he was not necessarily expected to be the one who would rule Israel once she was re-established, nor was he seen as a miracle-worker, or a prophet, or even an exceptionally godly man. This is especially true of Jewish expectation by the time we reach the first century. It is a highly relevant fact that there were multiple men, before Jesus and after, who claimed to be the Messiah. And people were always there to believe and to support him. And always, in these contexts, one’s military resistance of the pagan oppressor, Rome, evidenced one’s messiahship. In fact, it was the evidence of messiahship. Leading the children of Abraham in the quest of vindication and kingdom establishment was synonymous with being the messiah. And though it is easy to find biblical support for such an expectation the Jews of first century Palestine mainly derived it from the example they had in Judas Maccabaeus, a hundred or so years before. Remember- his overthrow of the Persian sub ruler, Antiochus Epiphanes, was so dramatic that it is celebrated annually 2,000 years later. Imagine the fire that lingered just 100 years later… The embers of revolution were everywhere, waiting only for some light breeze to transform them into flames.
And this is why the Baptist’s description/introduction of Jesus is so striking. He notices a man approaching, recognizes him as the one whom God had revealed to him by sending his Spirit to dwell in him (the indwelling of the Spirit implying messianic activity), but does not exclaim what every other Jew in the world would have exclaimed if they had the opportunity to reveal the messiah. What the Baptist should have said was, “Look, there is the Davidic king who will liberate us”. What the Baptist does say is, “Look, there is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world” (v. 29, NJB).
So where does this statement come from? It is clearly foreign to the expectations of the Baptist’s contemporaries, but it is also just as biblical as their expectations. Though the phrase chosen by the Baptist (“Lamb of God”) is a tricky one to locate, of the many possible sources there is one that fits the context of the story better than the others, and that is the lamb mentioned in Isaiah 53:7. Though the entire chapter of Isaiah 53 (go read it now so I don’t need to explain it!) is overtly messianic it was almost completely neglected, given almost no voice, in the messianic hopes of first century Israel. And it is no mystery why. The figure described in Isaiah 53 did not correspond at all to the type of figure that the circumstances of first century Palestine seemed to require in order for the kingdom of Heaven to be established. The story of the Lamb in Isaiah 53 has nothing to do with military overthrow, or national vindication, at least the type of vindication everyone was expecting. And so Israel had no room for Isaiah 53 in their theology. But the Baptist was the exception to the rule. Why was he the exception? Or how was he the exception? These are questions we can’t really know the answer to. We must be satisfied with knowing that he was just different, and not only different, but divinely accurate. Not that the Baptist had a complete understanding of the depth of Jesus’ mission, but it is safe to say he was in the ballpark, at least compared to the Pharisees.
The Baptist follows one radical statement with another by confessing another quality of the coming Lord that transcended the hopes and dreams of Israel, that is, His pre-existence. The Baptist is basically just a baller. And Jesus himself says this (more or less) in Luke 7:28. The Baptist’s confession in verse 31 is fairly self-explanatory. John, the author of this gospel, unpacks verse 31 for us in the gospel’s opening prologue. The Baptist then reveals the essence of his ministry, which has, more or less, been taken for granted up to this point in the study.
Not until verses 32-33 does John include the scene of the Baptist’s story that is central in the Synoptic accounts, that is, the actual scene of Jesus’ baptism. Heaven opens and the Spirit descends on Jesus in the form of a dove and remains in him. Remember, the Baptist is telling this story in the past tense. He baptized Jesus at least a day or two prior. And the passage climaxes in such a way that brings the story of the last 15 verses to an end while simultaneously propelling the reader into the rest of chapter 1. The Baptist, to drive the point home further in the heads of his disciples, says emphatically that Jesus of Nazareth is God’s Chosen One. The emphasis lies in the confession beginning with “I have seen and I testify”. He is being as clear as possible. After all, his purpose is to reveal Jesus of Nazareth to Israel (v. 31).
There is a tension here worth noting. Let’s not forget the commotion the Baptist’s ministry has caused. The Jews sent to question him are sent from Jerusalem, the geographic and theological center of Israel, and the hype around himself is so extravagant that he actually needs to tell people he is not the Messiah, or the eschatological prophet, or Isaiah returned from heaven. At this point I would like to make a joke about how ridiculously awesome I would have to be for anyone to ever worry about my being any of those three figures, but I’ll leave that to the imagination of my readers. The point, though, is that the Baptist’s entire purpose is to point people to someone else! And despite his efforts not everyone listens to him. In fact the giant majority do not. How do we know this? Verses 29-34 seem to be addressed to a crowd of some sort. At least to more than a couple people. But there is no evidence of anyone doing what John is implicitly telling them. By pointing his finger at Jesus and practically screaming “THAT GUY!!!” he means for them to do what the two disciples do the next day, in verse 37. But to find out you have to keep following my blog.
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