JOHN THE BAPTIST BEARS RECORD OF JESUS
John the Baptist bore record of Jesus
John the Baptist bore a great record of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with
great acclamation that Jesus was the one about whom he spoke and he was to have
come before inasmuch as he was before John. Virgin Mary and Elizabeth were
cousins. Jesus was born of Virgin Mary, through the works of Holy Spirit, before
Joseph knew her. John the Baptist was six months elder Jesus born to Elizabeth
and Zachariah. Angel Gabriel announced the births separately of John the Baptist
and Jesus. The law in the Old Testament period was given by Moses but it was
Jesus Christ who gave us grace and truth. Jesus is the one who declared the
Father in heaven, in whose bosom was he 'in the beginning' and whoso ever has
seen him has seen the Father in heaven for no man has seen God at any time. Jews
sent priest and Levites inquiring who John was, and he confessed that he was the
Christ, but he was the voice of one crying in the neighborhood towns pleading
for making straight the way of the Lord, as prophet Isaiah cried in the
wilderness many years before, "Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in
the desert a highway for our God". (Isaiah 40:3 KJV) The inquirers pursued him
with more questions as to why he was baptizing if he was not Christ, or Elias,
or any prophet. John answered saying that he was indeed baptizing with water,
but referring to Jesus, he says, one that comes after him was before him, and,
the latchet of whose shoe he was not worthy to unloose, will baptize them with
Holy Spirit and with fire. (Luke 3:16). Then the next day, John sees Jesus
coming toward him and says, "...Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the
sin of the world". (John 1:29 KJV). John goes on saying that he knew him not but
he was baptizing with water so that the Son of God be made manifest to Israel.
John bore record that the Spirit descended from heaven like a dove and abode
upon Jesus, who shall baptize them with Holy Spirit and with fire.
Jesus the Savior of the world fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies and law
and even though such precept as baptism was not there in the Old Testament
period, Jesus chose to be baptized of water by John the baptism as an
approbation of his action of baptizing with water going ahead of the Jesus the
Savior, and also to fulfill all the righteousness before he began his earthly
ministry. Jesus knew no sin, and yet preferred to be baptized to fulfill all
the righteousness before he manifested his glory before men as the Messiah. He
was not unrighteous nor did he any sin that he needed baptism, but he chose to
give credence to the baptism of John. Such a great privilege as this one as to
baptize the savior of the world, Jesus, was in the allocated privileges, for
John the blessed one, who was six months elder to Jesus and a cousin on his
earthly relationship. John the son of Zacharias and Elizabeth, who belonged to
the tribe of Levites, went to the country of around Jordan river, preaching the
baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Looking at Pharisees, who
thought they are righteous because they were the seed of Abraham, and practiced
a set a religious tenets with the hope of getting in to heaven, and looking at
Sadducees, who said, there is no resurrection, and rejected all the tenets
except the law of Moses and Old Testament books, John called them, "O generation
of vipers", and asked them to bring forth righteous fruits to meet repentance.
John also warned them not to take airs of them that they are seed of Abraham,
and therefore, they would enter heaven, but to repent of their sins, for God is
able to raise children to Abraham from the stones. Referring to their
unfruitful life, John warns that it was the time when the axe is laid at the
root of the tree of their unfruitful life, and will be hewn down and cast in to
fire. At this point John also says that he was baptizing with water but Jesus,
who was coming after him, will baptize with water and fire.
Even when this ministry of John the Baptist was in progress, Jesus came from
Galilee to Jordan, where John was preaching and asked him to baptize him. John
was reluctant to baptize him with a humble submission saying that he was indeed
in needed to be baptized of the Savior and wondered why was Jesus going to him
for baptism. Jesus, then said to him to baptize him so that it shall be a
fulfillment of righteousness. John the Baptist then baptized Jesus, and ", lo,
the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a
dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:16b-17 KJV)
Today is the day of salvation. Please confess your sins to Jesus Christ and be
blessed. Receive Salvation and eternal life. Jesus is the Way, the truth, and
the life. If you confess your sins to Jesus, and express faith in your heart
that he died for you sins and rose from the dead, accept Him as your personal
savior, and acknowledge with your mouth that he is your Lord, you will also be
received in to Paradise immediately after your days on this earth.
God bless you,
Leslie M. John M.A. |
