John 1:32-34 PODCAST
32 And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. 33 I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.” (John 1:32-34)
Like you and me, the Bible is full of people with a deep sense of unsatisfied longings. From the very beginning of the Bible people are longing for the one thing that would satisfy. It is only when we seek after God's righteousness and holiness, do we ever get to an assemblance of satisfaction. We will never be truly right and whole until we are fully defined by Him, the One who created us.
Throughout the Bible this longing to be free from that which makes us the way we are is present in the hearts of all people. As those living in Biblical days, we all long for reality and for freedom. As the Lord Jesus says in John 8, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free."
Ah, yes, the truth, this is what we long for. It just takes most people a lifetime to discover the truth has a name: the name of the truth is Lord Jesus Christ. In reference to the truth, John the Baptist said, "I deal with the externals, baptism manifests man's desire to change his ways. That is as far as I can go. But, when I baptized Jesus, I saw the Spirit coming down like a dove and lighting on him. The one who sent me to baptize said to me, 'When you see this happen, this is the only one who can change men from the inside out, by the baptism of the Holy Spirit.' When that happened I knew who he was. My own cousin, Jesus of Nazareth, is the one who would baptize with the Holy Spirit."
The Lord Jesus came to make it possible for us to be baptized by the Holy Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 12:13, we read, "For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink." If we have believed in the Lord Jesus as the Son of God who came to take away the punishment for our sin, we have been baptized by the Holy Spirit.
In John 7:38-39 Jesus said, "38 If you believe in Me, the Hebrew Scriptures say that rivers of living water will flow from within you. 39 Jesus was referring to the realities of life in the Spirit made available to everyone who believes in Him. But the Spirit had not yet arrived because Jesus had not been glorified. That is the baptism of the Holy Spirit!"
John understood that his ministry was limited, that he could only go so far. The farthest he could go was to express, through baptism, the changed desire of a heart that wanted to be right with God. But he could not change it. This is the work of God, the Lord Jesus. From that time on, the Lord Jesus has been the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.
Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Creator, is the one who changes and fulfills us. He is the Lamb of God, the fulfiller of the sacrifices of all the Old Testament; He is the satisfier of our deepest longings for purity and freedom. Jesus Christ baptizes the believer with the Holy Spirit.
In v.34, John writes, "I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.” In biblical days, if it was said of another, "He is the son of something," that someone was characterized by that very thing. If he was called "the son of gentleness", that one would be characterized by gentleness; if the son of love, that one would be known for love. And if Jesus is the Son of God, then He is God Himself.
The Baptist is right, we must see the Lord Jesus as God for ourselves. If we see Him as a supplement or someone who has come to improve our lives in one way or another, instead of giving us new life, His life, we will fail to see reality.
Rich Mullins, long ago, described our default mode when he said, "I'd rather fight you for something I don't really want, than to take what you give that I need." The conclusion we must all come to is: Jesus is God and He is the One who fulfills me. We look to all the wrong things to give us a new genesis: a new wife or husband, a new house, a new whatever ... we must bow our knees and come to the giver of life, and receive His life on a daily basis. This is the end of the road for all of us and it is a good end. It is our home.
To help BYM, click here
