John 1:24-28 says,...

Today's verses are John chapter 1 and verses 24 through 28, which read,

v.24, 25 - Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.  They asked him, and said to him, "Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?"

The Pharisees and their servants kept coming with questions for John the Baptist.  John has made it clear that he is not the Christ, not Elijah, and not the Prophet.  John is just a voice calling out from the wilderness about the Messiah coming and therefore an internal preparation is necessary of the human race.  This internal transformation was signified by an outward expression, baptism.  This type of baptism, which was a full dunking, was only done at that time by those who were not of the Jewish race but coming into the Jewish faith.  A Gentile would go through this immersion to make a public statement of denouncing what was once his god to pledging to the God of Israel.  A Jewish person would not need to do this because they were born into the race.  But John the Baptist was calling for all to be baptized, Jew and Gentile.  Those who came are asking John, "Who are you to require this if you are not the Christ, Elijah, or the Prophet?"  They are thinking that John the Baptist needed some type of status to require this outward expression that wasn't required before.  Of course, they were looking just at the outward action while John the Baptist was all concerned about what was happening on the inside.

v.26 - John answered them saying, "I baptize in water, but among you stands One whom you do not know."

John the Baptist is going to give us some very important things to know about Jesus.  The first is that Jesus would reveal Himself to the world.  God was going to turn on the Light with a capital "L."  God had already given His only begotten Son, He was already among them.  When Jesus started shining His light of whom He was, a knowing would be required.  This was a coming to Him in a way that would signify a surrender and submission to His Lordship over their lives.  Jesus is one to be known.

v.27 - It is He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie."

The second important thing about Jesus is our position to Him.  He is to be known and He is to be bowed down to.  We find ourselves at His feet, at His sandals, and even there we are not worthy to touch the straps of His footgear.  John the Baptist continues his focus on Christ rather than himself.  The slave at the door of the house was required to remove the sandals of his master on his return.  This slave was probably the lowest on the rankings of all the slaves.  Probably nobody wanted the duty of bending down to some smelly, dirty feet and unlacing these sandals and having to handle them.  Those who were performing these duties were probably looking forward to the day that they would work up to be the guy who took off his master's coat or announced his arrival.  John the Baptist describes himself as lower than the guy on the floor when it relates to his position before the Messiah of the world. 

v.28 - These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

 A little side note is that there were two towns called Bethany.  One was near Jerusalem where Martha, Mary, and Lazarus lived as identified by the Apostle John and then another that was near the region of Galilee.  The Apostle John gives us the detail here that this town of Bethany was near the Jordan River where John the Baptist was baptizing.

The outward sign of baptism is secondary to the inward transformation because you have come to know Jesus as Lord of your life.  You have found yourself at the feet of Jesus, the most Holy One, and you realize that you are a sinner and not worthy to touch Him.  The beautiful thing is that Jesus touches you.  He loves you before you love Him.  He provides the cross of salvation and the grave of resurrection and bends down to pick you up to stand with Him and to be a part of His family.  God turned on the Light, Jesus, and cleared up your eyes so that you could see Him for a spiritual birth into His family.  This will be a theme that we will come back to again and again through The Gospel According To John.  Let us pray.

"Heavenly Father, thank You for giving us the Light and turning on the Light in our lives.  Thank You for John the Baptist's humility shown to us as someone who could have made himself of importance but kept You on the throne.  May we do the same today.  Amen."

Pastor Adam