JESUS   THE   MESSIAH

His Life and Times

No. 34

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The Two-Fold Testimony of John the Baptist

For John the Baptist, the forty days which had passed since Jesus had first come to him must have been a time of having a much deeper understanding of things than he had before he had baptized Jesus.  We know these things because of his actions after that time. 

He had a more emphasized testimony to the Christ, and he now realized more and more that the Mission that he was born for was now quickly coming to an end.  He accepted this and started to take a more lowly position for himself, while pointing all those around him to Jesus and telling them that this was the true Messiah that he had been telling them would come. 

When Jesus had come to John in the wilderness to be baptized, it was to fulfill all righteousness, not because Jesus actually needed to be baptized like we do.  This was the first lesson to be learned.  The next lesson came after the Baptism.  The heavens opened and the Spirit descended upon Jesus in the form of a dove.  This told John that the work which he had begun in the obedience of faith, had now been fulfilled.  The first was a lesson about the Kingdom, and the second about the King. 

John had been in the wilderness communing with God and getting ready for the great calling on his life.  It must have been a direct call from God that brought him out of his solitude and into the task of preparing Israel to receive the Messiah.  He entered into this task not only without illusions, but with almost entire self-forgetfulness - as much as a human was capable of doing. 

John knew the people well with whom he was to share what God had given him:  they were preoccupied and burdened down with laws, spiritually dull, hypocrites, the direction of their ways had been grossly perverted, they were guilty of great sin, and their spiritual leaders had grown hollow, shallow, and were leading the people in almost the opposite direction that John and Jesus would do when their time came for ministry. 

Yes, John knew the real character of the people that he was to teach and preach to as he started his revolution.  He also knew that the price of this revolution would be terrible as the chaff was sifted from the wheat. 

Even knowing this, he still preached and baptized because of the deep conviction that God had placed in his heart.  He knew that the Kingdom and King that Israel had waited for so long was finally close at hand. 

John must have read much from The Book of Isaiah, because his speech and imagery, and much of the burden of his messages were taken from the same prophecies.  Indeed, his mind seemed saturated with them and they must have been the bulk of his own religious training, and the preparation for the mighty work that he was to carry out. 

It is no wonder that John preached so differently from the Pharisees and Essenes.  He recoiled from what they taught because he knew that they had gotten  so far off base with everything.  As John read those pages of Isaiah, he captured a picture in his mind of the Anointed, Messiah, Christ, the Representative Israelite, the Priest, King, and Prophet all in one person.  In Jesus the institution and sacramental meaning of the Priesthood, and of all the Sacrifices, found their fulfillment.  John dwelt on all this as he preached repentance. 

Jesus was the person that everything depended on.  He was the Great Personality that always stood out before the mind of John, but was also the overshadowing Figure in the background.  He was the beautiful King that mankind had so desired and prayed for down through the ages.  John knew that the Sadducees and Essenes had no conception at all of this truth, and the Pharisees had only the grossest misconception of it. 

All of the above may possibly explain how John could have become so humble, and self-forgetful.  There was no room left for self, when the true picture of who Jesus was and why He had come to earth was truly revealed to John.  The only thing that John the Baptist ever claimed to be was one who was to prepare the way for the Messiah that was to come.  John's sole purpose was to get the people started on the right road to accepting Jesus as the Messiah.  They had been fed so many lies that he would have to show them a completely different way. 

The Beginning of the End of John's Ministry

Now it would be that John would face temptation just as Jesus did.  After 3 years of having people follow him and being a great preacher, now it was time for his ministry to start being over and Jesus' ministry to start beginning.  Satan surely knew that if he could get John to falter in this, he could cause some big problems for the ministry of Jesus.  It would have made it much harder for Jesus if John had not acknowledged that He was the Messiah whom the Jews had waited for so long. 

This very temptation from Satan must have been very pressing upon John at times.  John had been born for the very reason of coming into popularity as a preacher who proclaimed the coming of the Messiah.  Then he was to fade into the background as the time came for the Messiah to start ministering to the people.  This was the very ground of his whole life and purpose. 

 John had seen personally the Holy Spirit come down upon Jesus like a dove, for God had told Him of the sign that would come where he would know who the right person was.  It must have been very lonely and depressing, though,  when all the people left him to follow Jesus.  This might be why he asked his disciples to go to Jesus and ask the question:  'Art Thou He that should come, or do we look for another?'  This may have been a temporary pause in which he was wrestling with making the right decision.  Yet once again, he did not let his flesh win.  He overcame every temptation that Satan had thrown at him and came out the victor. 

After Jesus' victorious contest with Satan, angels had come to minister to Him.  But more than that, John had also had a victorious contest with Satan.  On the very day of the Baptist's temptation is when Jesus had left the wilderness. 

The Bible says that on the very next day, 'John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God, Which taketh away the sin of the world!' 

The temptation for both of them was finished, and they had both come out the huge victors over Satan. 

For more information from this book, go to the Archives Page at my site    www.cathydeaton.com       There are other articles of interest there also. 

This text is taken from the book Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah written by Alfred Edersheim.  Permission has been given to use this book.