Today I am looking at John 1:29-34.
In Verse 29, John sees Jesus coming and announces that the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world is here. This and verse 36 are the only places in the Bible where those words are used. To make sure people understand what he had said earlier, he reminded them that this was the one he said would come after him but has surpassed him because he came before him. John tells the people that he baptised Jesus and saw the Spirit of God descend on him like a dove. (Matthew 3:15). This was a sign that identified Jesus as the one he had spoken of. He tells the people that God, the one who sent him to baptise with water, told him that the ‘man on whom he would see the Spirit of God come down and remain’ is the one who would baptise with the Spirit. He then finished by announcing that he had seen all these things and testified that this man is the Son of God.
Remember Verse 23, which reiterates Isaiah 40:3. John is the ‘voice of one calling in the desert, make straight the way for the Lord’. John has been that voice, sent to prepare the way and be a witness and here he has witnessed and announced Jesus as the Son of God.
This passage is important in that it contains John’s announcement of who Jesus is. It is the fulfilment of John’s ministry on earth. It might not appear to give any great revelations but what revelations do we want? This passage is a crucial one for the witness to recognise the man he had come to witness about and announce him as the Son of God.
An interesting point for me is verse 33 when John states the only reason he knew who Jesus was, was because God told him. That is pretty accurate for us as well. How many things in your life do you know only because God told you?
