John 1: 19-23 Who are you John the Baptist?
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Today’s Bible Reading John 1: 19-23
During the life of John the Baptist, and right after his death, many people thought that he was the Messiah. The Apostle John (the author of the gospel) recognized this and intertwined the story of John with the history of Jesus to counteract the idea that John the Baptist was the messiah.
The climax of this argument comes in John 1: 19-23:
He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely” I am not the Christ.” (v. 20)
(more questioning from priests and Levites)
John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, ” I am the voice of the one calling in the desert, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’” (v. 23)
John’s purpose was to prepare a path for the Messiah. The words of Isaiah the prophet are found in Isaiah 40:3
A voice of one calling in the desert: “Prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.”
Preparing for a Divine Messiah
In the prophecy of Isaiah, this verse uses the word YHWH (that’s why “LORD” is in all caps). This is the name of God, but a Jewish tradition/superstition had come up against actually speaking the name of God. John used a word that would be considered a title “God” much like we would have the title “Mister” or “Doctor” or “Your Majesty.”
Through John’s reference to the prophecy of Isaiah, John once again pointed to the divinity of Christ. The word used by John, kyrios, was also used in the New Testament to refer to God–the Father.
What’s the significance of Elijah?
In the Priest and Levities questioning of John the Baptist, they asked him: “Are you Elijah? Are you The Prophet?”
There is a prophecy in Malachai 4:5-6 that Elijah will walk on the Earth and bring people back to God before the day of God’s wrath.
I suspect that the Priests who were questioning John were trying to put him into a defined box. If this happened in modern days, they would probably ask, “Are you a pastor? A Sunday school teacher? Maybe you are a church planter?”
John the Baptist was squirrelly with his answers. He didn’t give a straight answer, but probably hoped that the Priests and Levites would be curious and ask more questions. You see, the interrogators weren’t there because they wanted to know who John the Baptist was, they were sent by the Jews of Jerusalem (v 19). John was probably trying to lead them into a deeper understanding of the Messiah?
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