MILK John 1.34
July 14th 2013
Welcome and thank you for coming. May the God of Heaven supply us with an abundance of His Holy Spirit by which we learn all things.
Before going into our continued study of John 1 why don’t we pray and spend some time in personal reflection with the Lord through His Word put to music and silent corporate prayer time.
Prayer
Music
Alright, last week we talked about John the Baptist explaining to the Pharisees why He had come.
Let’s read more about him and his important work in preparing the way of the Lord starting at verse 29 and reading through to verse 36.
John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
30 This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me.
31 And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.”
32 And John bare record, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.
33 And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.
34 And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.”
So the Baptist had just (last week) expressed to the Pharisess why he was there – and that there was one coming after Him whose shoes he was not worthy to tie.
Verse 29 –
John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
“Behold the Lamb of God.”
The Baptist could have said:
Behold the King.
Behold God in flesh.
Behold the good example.
Behold the miracle worker, the prophet, the mediator between God and man.
But there they were, out in the desert and apparently surrounded by a whole bunch of Jews each bearing a fifteen hundred year history in their blood and on their back . . . which included killing lambs?
Sounds barbaric, doesn’t it?
Take a little white wooly lamb – and slit its throat? Why?
As a means to shed their blood for atonement of sin through the sacrifice of their lives.
One of the Bible’s central messages is that of atonement.
From the very first stories in Genesis to the last visions of Revelation it is apparent that God seeks to reconcile human beings, fallen people, to himself.
And he provided the means.
We call the word atonement but it is a made up word and is probably the only English theological term applied to the Bible.
The word was probably created by Tyndale. In the Hebrew the word is “Kipur” (your heard of the Jews celebrating Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement) and in the Greek the term is katallage.
When Tyndale looked around for an English term to describe the total meaning of these words he couldn’t find one (I suppose reconciliation either didn’t occur to him or it wasn’t around at the time or he didn’t like its limitations) so he took an adverb around at that time (which is the old English way of saying one – ATONEN” (in this word we see the word one) and he created atonement – literally meaning to make one.
And today we find the word used throughout the Old Testament and once in Romans 5:11 in the King James.
Today most modern translations use “reconciliation” in the three other passages in the New Testament.
Now the most frequently applied use of the term in the Old Testament is related to blood sacrifices.
And a blood sacrifice (an atonement) was made for everything from heinous crimes like idolatry to mere mistakes.
Now listen – we make a big deal between lambs and goats – partly because the Lord said he will separate the sheep from the goats in Matthew 24 and because goats have often been used by man to worship satan.
But to the Jews (also to the Chinese) there was little difference between a baby sheep and a baby goat – in fact both were considered lambs, if you will.
We discover this in Exodus when the Lord was instituting the Passover. Listen to what God tells the COI in Exodus 12:3-6:
“Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: and ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.”
With John the Baptist calling Jesus the Lamb of God we today would never depict this as anything but a little sheep but I think it is significant that the sacrifice could have been a sheep lamb or a goat lamb? Why?
A picture of Jesus being all God and all man perhaps?
A fact that God alone would never shed His blood but God becoming Man could?
In addition to the fact that they could take their “lamb” from either the little sheep or little goats, we note that God has the little animal live with the family for four days – maybe enough time for the children to learn to love the kind and playful creatures.
Then what did God command them to do?
Kill it. Just for killing sake? And would they kill it in any manner they wanted?
No, they would kill it mercifully – which means quickly and without an infliction of pain. Is this possible?
From this commandment of God to the COI they have established what are known as kosher laws where only animals that can be deemed kosher are killed in a very specific manner – slitting the throat in an exact way and across an exact location (with a extremely sharp knife) where nothing is apparently felt and the animal does not even realize something has happened with the exception of its life fading.
Why kill it?
To shed its blood.
In the Exodus passages we just read, the Lord gives further instructions for the Passover saying:
Exodus 12:7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.
8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
We know that when the Jews complied to these specific commands the spirit of death (sent by God to take the life of the firstborn in Egypt) would Passover their household – because it was protected by the shed blood of the innocent little animal.
It is also significant that God does not just tell the COI to shed the animals blood and to put it on their doorposts but to also eat the animal – a practice we commemorate when we ingest the elements of communion together.
Pretty amazing, huh?
But WHY the shedding of blood?
Hebrews 9:22 Gives us an answer saying:
“And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.”
But still, from this alone, we don’t really have any idea of why the blood must be shed. Going to the Old Testament we are given further insight that helps bring it all together for us as God says in Leviticus 17:11:
“For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.”
Between men and women, the law demands an “eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”
This is just, and fair.
Steal an apple, give an apple. Blind a man, expect to give your eyes. Not fun but equitable.
But between God and man, justice for any sin can only be the exchange of life for sin – nothing less.
And frankly, this taking of animal life was only a covering until perfect sacrificial justice could be made.
This is why the writer of Hebrews says (in 10:4)
“For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.”
Up until the sacrifice of God in the flesh, or the Lamb of God, the blood served as a temporary covering for sin – distributed to appease God until He came.
In fact we read in Hebrews that in the sacrifices of sheep and goats and bulls God had no pleasure.
And so we have the fact that when it comes to sinful Man the only means to reconcile fallen Man to Holy God is the giving of life – which in human beings, according to Leviticus) is in the blood.
And therefore blood must be shed.
God gave us life – God is life. He is holy life. And if we are to really look at it, the opposite of true life is sin.
God is life and light and love wherein no shadow dwells. He gives life. With sin being the antithesis to the life He gives, the only true justice for it being squandered and abused is loss of life.
But not just the loss of any life. We cannot shed our own blood – it is as insufficient of a sacrifice as that of an animal in making true reconciliation.
“But God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
So John the Baptist, sent from the womb to be one crying in the wilderness and to prepare for the coming Messiah sees the Lord walking toward him and says, out loud:
“Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
Now, remember two things about John’s narrative:
First, he filled in the gaps left open in the synoptic gospels and frequently left out things that were already covered. As an example we notice that John does not cover the water baptism of Jesus.
Also, we recall that his narrative is more like a movie rather than a chronological depiction.
So what we have here is John the Baptist seeming like he is calling Jesus the Lamb of God upon sight for the first time.
I don’t think so.
In fact I would strongly suggest that verse 29 is describing something John did after he baptized the Lord.
The only way for us to see this is the case is by reading verses 29-34 again and by paying careful attention to what John writes. Listen closely:
John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
30 This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me.
31 And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.”
32 And John bare record, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.
33 And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.
34 And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.”
In other words, at verse 29, John the Baptist has already baptized Jesus, and seeing Him, testifies that He is the Lamb of God. How was he able to do this since he says over and over again he did not know Him?
By the fact that the Holy Spirit fell on the Lord when John baptized Him. See, God had told John that when he went out baptizing he would baptize someone special – the Messiah – and the way he would know for certain that He is the Messiah was the Holy Spirit would fall upon Him (at that time) and John would see it.
This is why the beloved quotes John the Baptist as saying:
33 And I knew him not: but he that sent me (God) to baptize with water, the same said unto me, “Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.
34 And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.”
This is just one reason Jesus was baptized –so that John the Baptist could see the sign (the Holy Spirit falling and resting on Him) and to then be able to testify that the Messiah or Lamb of God had come.
One of the standard arguments people use who say we people must be water baptized to be saved is,
“If baptism wasn’t necessary why was Jesus baptized?”
It’s a good question. I mean, He didn’t need to repent. And he certainly didn’t need to be “born again,” so what’s up with His baptism by John the Baptist?
First, John the Baptist was sent to prepare a way for the House of Israel to meet its King. We covered this last week quoting Malachi 3:1 God said:
“Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me.”
And he came calling the Kingdom of Israel to repent and to prepare themselves to accept their King.
His was a “Baptism of Repentance” and he was preparing the Jews of Israel to repent for their failure under the system of the Law and to receive their King with their hearts and minds.
And what method did John the Baptist use to prepare them? Water baptism!
Why water baptism?
Remember who he was dealing with – the Jews.
A group of people who had a thousand years of washings, Mikvahs, and cleansings which were primary in their rituals and rites of symbolic cleansing.
Symbolic cleansing of what?
SIN! Symbolic of the cleansing of sin by the washing of the Holy Spirit.
Ezekiel 36:25-27 says
“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.
26 “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
27 “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.
All the water and washings were emblematic of the washing away of sin by the presence of the Holy Spirit.
But the Holy Spirit, which does the cleansing, was not given by John, but by Jesus.
Remember what John said to the Jews?
“I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.”
This was the whole event John was preparing the Kingdom of Israel for – the baptism of the Holy Spirit, to be born-again, and this came by Jesus.
Now these cleansing rituals of water the nation of Israel were so familiar with were especially binding on their priests.
You see, at first, way before the Law of Moses was given, every man was his own priest, and presented his own sacrifices before God.
Later on the office of priest devolved onto the head of the family, as in the cases of Noah (Genesis 8:20), Abraham (Genesis 12:7; 13:4), Isaac (Genesis 26:25), Jacob (Genesis 31:54), and Job (Job 1:5).
Then, with the Law of Moses given, God designated only men from the tribe of Levi to be His priests, specifically only those who came through Levi’s son, Aaron.
But in the end, all of these priesthood appellations were only temporarily in place and looked to the time when the true high priest would come, who was cleansed by righteousness and not water, and, shedding His own perfect blood instead of the blood of animals, entered into God’s presence once and for all with His eternal offering.
So when John the Baptist began his prophetic mission “to prepare the way for Jesus,” he was calling all of Israel to repent and prepare themselves for the King’s coming and there was no more symbolic method to prepare these people than an act that tied to the water and washing rites of purification.
Add to the fact that when a gentile converted to being a Jew they too were immersed in water and we have a solid picture of John’s baptism unto repentance and why he did it.
Now understand, this specific water baptism that John performed has nothing to do with us who have faith in Jesus and have become the recipients of His Grace.
It was a completely different baptism and had a completely different purpose than baptism has for us.
The Bible speaks of all sorts of baptisms.
Some are wet, some are dry, some are moist. There are baptisms of spirit, baptisms unto suffering, baptisms of trials.
So why was Jesus baptized by John the Baptist?
Some believe Jesus was baptized to show the world that they had to be baptized too – as a means to be righteous and to join a church.
This is such a simplistic manipulation of the event!
Remember, John’s baptism was NOT a Christian baptism.
Nor were the water baptisms Jesus disciples did (while He was alive) Christian baptisms!
Those were “baptisms unto repentance” for the House of Israel.
Listen closely.
There was no “Christianity” when Jesus was alive – no body of Christ was established – His body was still here on earth!
There was no Christian baptism until after the death, resurrection, and ascension as the New Testament economy did not even exist until then.
John’s baptism bound its subjects to repentance relative to the Law and the Messiah, and not to the faith of Christ and being buried with Him.
To support this, remember that John’s baptism was not administered in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – it was a water baptism unto repentance, AND (and this IS very IMPORTANT) – those whom John baptized were re-baptized by Paul later on! (see Acts 18:24; 19:7 for support of this).
Are you starting to get the biblical picture of the baptism John the Baptist performed and how that the purposes behind it are not tied to why we are baptized today?
(BEAT)
Now there are a number of very important reasons why Jesus was baptized but obviously, it was not for a remission of sin or an act of repentance.
Let me ask you a question, “What was the initiatory ordinance of the Mosaic dispensation?”
The old snippy snippy – circumcision. (Ouch.)
And just as Christ was submitted to circumcision, which was the initiatory ordinance of the Mosaic dispensation, it was necessary that he should submit to the initiatory ordinance of the dispensation of Grace and Truth – water baptism!
Christ was circumcised, and observed all the other ordinances of the law of Moses, but not with a view to his own justification; but to fulfil the dispensation committed to him by God.
Sometimes, when people ask, “Why was Jesus baptized?” I ask, “Why was He circumcised? Was circumcision mandatory to salvation for the Jews or to Jesus?”
No.
“So then was baptism mandatory to Jesus or Christians today?”
No.
Circumcision is best understood as an ordinance of “identity” which in and of itself had no power or ability to actually make a person part of the house of Israel.
A pagan could go out and circumcise himself and it would make him pleasing to God – it was the heart and faith.
In the Christian economy the rite of water baptism ought to be seen in the same light – as a means to identify ourselves as His . . . as Christians.
The problem is organized religions have taken the beauty and power of baptism and applied and used it to its own benefit, NOT to the benefit of the believer and his or her life of faith.
They act as if baptism actually cleanses sin. Or that it makes a person a member of the Body of Christ. And through this perfunctory approach to it, it is stripped of its pure purpose.
I mean, the LDS baptize children when they are eight years of age and make the intended purpose of it perfunctory.
Now, Jesus was also baptized for other necessary and important reasons.
The Book of Hebrews tells us plainly that Jesus is our final and last high priest, and will be this high priest for us forever and ever.
And as every high priest was initiated into his office by washing and anointing, so was Christ – by being baptized (washed) and anointed . . . (by the Holy Spirit) that descended upon Him in the form of a dove.
By this, He fulfilled the righteous ordinance of his initiation into the office of high priest, and thus was prepared to make a full and final atonement once and for all for the sins of mankind.
It was in this respect that Jesus “fulfilled all righteousness” by being baptized or washed by water.
In another respect, Jesus was baptized by water as a means to fulfill prophecy.
Jesus not only let John the Baptist baptize Him to put an end to the Mosaic dispensation and to initiate the beginning of the Christian dispensation of Grace, He at the same time affirmed the purpose of John the Baptist’s ministry as it was prophetically recorded in Malachi.
Remember what it said?
(Malachi 3:1) Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me:
And then in the Gospel of John we read the fulfillment of the Malachi reference when John the Beloved tells us the story of Jesus and John the Baptist meeting.
Listen
John 1:29 ¶ The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
30 This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me.
31 And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.
32 And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.
33 And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.
34 And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.
When John baptized the Lord, God, or the one “who sent John out to baptize,” had told Him that “when you see the spirit “descending and remaining on a certain man,” that is the one who will baptize with the Holy Ghost.”
In other words, God told John the Baptist to look for the sign of the Holy Ghost descending upon a person and when he saw it he would have a sign and know who the Messiah was.
And what would that Messiah do?
Baptize with the Holy Spirit – which is what spiritual rebirth is, and which is what we have to experience if we ever want to see the Kingdom of Heaven.
Bottom-line, Jesus being baptized has nothing to do with it being mandatory for YOUR salvation, as some religions tend to imply.
For example in Mormonism, baptism is not only requisite to enter the celestial kingdom, it is tantamount to being born-again – but this rebirth is of the spirit alone, with water baptism serving to serve in a number of other ways for the believer and church.
So then, what of water baptism in the Christian dispensation?
The words “baptize” and “baptism” are simply Greek words that have made their way into the English language.
This was done by the translators of the Scriptures and no literal translation can really express all that is implied in the Greek terms.
The mode of baptism – you know, dipping, sprinkling, immersing –
can in no way be determined from the Greek word rendered “baptize.”
Baptidzo means both to dip a thing into an element or liquid, and to put an element or liquid over or on it.
It was an industrial term for dying a fabric – which truly relates to the important overall concept of “identification.”
The word has a wide latitude of meaning as it is applied even in the Septuagint to “sprinklings, washings, pourings, and dippings.”
In the New Testament there is not one single well-authenticated instance of the occurrence of the word where it necessarily means immersion, and none of the instances of baptism recorded in the Acts of the Apostles (Ac 2:38-41; 8:26-39; 9:17,18; 22:12-16; 10:44-48; 16:32-34) favors the notion that it was by dipping, immersing, though it seems immersion was most probable.
Remember, the gospel and its elements are designed for all people over the whole world, and we cannot become so dogmatic or religiously institutionalized as to believe there is only one way to administer something that is symbolic in the first place.
A person who loves Jesus in the Arctic or the Sudan will seek identification in whatever way is available – and God honors their faithful attempt.
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are the two symbolic ordinances of the New Testament which serve to remind and identify us with Him AND those in the church.
The Communion we partake of represents – is symbolic of the work of Christ while water Baptism is symbolic of the work of the Spirit giving us new life.
We take communion because we believe and have been saved by His blood, not to believe and be saved by His blood.
We are baptized because we believe and have been saved by His blood, not to believe and be saved by His blood.
To the Christian, water baptism is an outward, public pronouncement of an inward faith, symbolic that we are willing to be buried with Christ (thus turning our back on the former things of our life) and being raised with Him unto a new life.
It is the public profession of our faith.
Perhaps one of the best verses that illustrate this order of saving faith before the public profession of water baptism is found in the second chapter of Acts.
Ironically, it is also a verse that makes the subject of baptism so controversial.
Peter stands up before a crowd of Jews on the Day of Pentecost. They believe his message surrounding Christ, and Peter cries:
“Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins . . . (see, the religionists say, FOR the remission of sins!)
Now, these Jews who came from all over believed. As a result of their faith Peter says, “Now change your minds on all you have carried with you regarding the Messiah, and be baptized for the remission of sins . . .
The key to a proper understanding of this verse is the Greek.
“Repent and be baptized every one or you in the name of Jesus Christ FOR the remission of sins . . .”
In the Greek, “for” is “eis,” a preposition that can indicate causality (like “in order to get something”) OR as a resultant preposition (as in “the result of or because of” something).
So let’s read this verse in the causal preposition sense.
“Repent and be baptized every one or you in the name of Jesus Christ IN ORDER TO GET the remission of sins . . .”
Now let’s read it with the preposition being resultant.
“Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ BECAUSE YOU HAVE RECEIVED the remission of sins . . .”
Guess what?
In Acts 2:38 the preposition sense is RESULTANT!
And it clearly states that we embrace water baptism BECAUSE we have received the remission of sin!
Baptism is not some act we take to get us into heaven. It is a sacrament like taking communion, which serves as a gift from God to Man.
Religions want you to believe you must have their respective baptism and you must take their communion to enter heaven.
Not so.
You must believe on Him whom God sent to save us from sin.
Baptisms follow them that believe.
Additionally, but I am of the opinion that as an outward expression of an inward faith, water baptism may serve as a sign to other believers that someone has publicly stood with Christ – and they are therefore accountable to each other having made the public commitment.
I’ve come to this conclusion looking at the historical applications of water baptism and circumcision.
In my opinion, cutting off the foreskin (while an act of obedience) was as much (or more) for those who could be identified by others as of the House of Israel.
Likewise, I would suggest that a person being dunked with water as a sign that they believe is more for those looking on than for God (who looks at the faith in the hearts).
When we are baptized we do it publicly – and hopefully in the presence of those we will fellowship with who live in our geographical area.
In this way a person is identified as a believer and a receiver of specific mandates of the church to which they belong – which certainly differ.
Not all agree with this point and I may be wrong in some or all of the respects but all things considered I believe water baptism serves as much of an identifier for onlookers in the community as it does a mark of obedience before God.
Questions?
PRAYER
SONG
