John 20:31

31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

We began studying last week two of the seven names of Jesus which prove that He is indeed God. We learned that Jesus is the Word, that is, God’s expression of his thoughts and feelings about us. Jesus demonstrates that God loves us and wants us to know Him. We also saw Jesus pictured as light, that is, He is perfect and Holy, the opposite of darkness. In fulfilling his purposes for writing this book, John strives to prove that Jesus is the Christ (the Messiah) the Son of God. He continues showing us the names given Jesus that demonstrate He is God Himself, and God’s unique Son, His personal revelation to us.

Jesus, The Son of God

John 1:49 49 Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!"

John introduces us to John the Baptist, one of the most important characters in the New Testament. He is mentioned almost 90 times through the Gospels. His ministry is detailed in the other Gospels, but here is a small sample of who John the Baptist said Jesus Christ is. He knew, and testified, that Jesus was the Messiah that he had been preparing Israel to meet. He also knew that this Messiah was God’s one and only Son.

John 1:15
15 John bore witness about him, and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.'"

Jesus is the Son of God because He is eternal John the Baptist first bore witness. He testified before people about what he knew to be true. This is what we are called to do, even today. We are called to bear witness about Jesus Christ. Chronologically, John the Baptist was Jesus’ elder. But as he proclaims the Messiah here, he testifies to the fact that Jesus Christ, though younger, was before Him. He is testifying that Jesus is God, because he is eternal. He is also, despite the human constraints of eldership because of chronological age, he ‘ranks higher’ than John because He is from the beginning.

16 And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the Son of God because he is the source of grace and truth: God’s grace and truth were revealed by the coming and the sacrifice of Jesus. Grace is God’s undeserved favor towards us, God’s truth is displayed in His holy moral perfection. The law, given by Moses, demonstrated God’s demand for holiness. If we were judged by God’s truth, none of us could stand. We would all be revealed as the lying blasphemous hypocritical people that we are in truth. We would all spend an eternity in Hell, because even our best works are imperfect before a just and Holy God. Fortunately, God deals with us with both Grace and truth. He demonstrates his mercy in that when we sin, he does not strike us dead on the spot. He gives us life, and breath, and every good thing from above. But His grace and His truth were manifested in Jesus Christ, and even in an overabundant manner, especially towards Christians.

18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

Jesus Christ is the Son of God, because He reveals God to us: God is invisible, He cannot be seen by us (1 Tim 1:17). He has revealed Himself in nature (Psalm 19, Romans 1) and in mighty events in History, such as the parting of the Red Sea,, but we cannot see God Himself. Jesus Christ is God incarnate, God’s personal revelation of Himself to us. He is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15) and the express image of His person (Hebrews 1:3). Jesus Christ has made God known to us, explains God to us, interprets God for us. The word explained in the NASB is taken from the Greek word from which we get exegesis, which means to explain, to unfold, to lead the way. We simply cannot know God in truth unless we know Jesus Christ His one and only Son.

He is unique in the Godhead, and John, using the Word Son in the verse 18 for the first time as a title for Jesus Christ. He is the only begotten one, which denotes Jesus’ unique position. It suggests again Jesus’ position in the Godhead as eternal, He was not created, and he has a unique relationship (at the Fathers side, or in the Fathers’ bosom) Jesus Christ is eternal God, He has always existed. He is God the Son, but he is called the Son of God by many different people in the Gospel of John. Remember John’s purpose in writing? That we might believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He is introduced 9 times in John’s Gospel as the Son of God. John the Baptist (34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God."), Nathaniel, Peter, the blind man who was healed, Martha, and Thomas. If you add Jesus’ witness about himself, there are seven witnesses to the fact that Jesus is God’s Son.

The Testimony of John the Baptist

 19 And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" 20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ." 21 And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" And he answered, "No." 22So they said to him, "Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?" 23He said, "I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord,' as the prophet Isaiah said."
 24(Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.)

When John uses the term ‘the Jews’ here, he is speaking about leaders of the Jewish people. They sent some priests and Levites to ascertain who this John the Baptist was, where he got his authority, and what John was doing in the desert. Their first question was who are you? and John, perceiving what they were asking, said in essence, “I will tell you who I am not; I am not the Messiah”. They then went to the next logical conclusion, a reappearing of Elijah, or a modern day Prophet, in the style of Moses (Deut 18). He was in the style and power of Elijah, but he was not Elijah. He was a forerunner like Deuteronomy predicted, but he was not the great Prophet predicted. No, John had a very specific mission, and that was to work his way out of a job so to speak. He was the voice crying in the wilderness, a voice that was to bear witness to the coming of the Lord- the promised Messiah. His answer to the Jews was simple” I am but a voice, a voice pointing to the Lord Jesus. John the Baptists’ purpose should mirror our own. We are to be a voice crying out in this wilderness pointing to the Lord Jesus.

John’s authority questioned
25 They asked him,"Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" 26 John answered them, "I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, 27 even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie." 28 These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

John was then questioned regarding from where did he get his authority to baptize. The Pharisees, the Levites, and the priests were all influential in the Jewish religion, and took titles very seriously as a sign of authority. Since John did not have the title of Christ, Elijah, or the prophet, they Pharisees and others desired to know on whose authority was John baptizing. And, they rightly were curious, for John was not baptizing gentiles who wanted to convert to judaism, he was baptizing the chosen people, the Jews, for repentance of sins! The Jews were also outside God’s saving covenant as were the Gentiles! John’s Baptism, as He explained, was with water. But again, John points to Jesus as a witness, refusing to exalt or justify himself. He explains that his baptism is a physical baptism, a symbol done with water to demonstrate a cleansing from sins. John then points to Jesus, someone who the Pharisees and the others did not know, the one that John the Baptist was testifying to, who John was not even worthy of doing a slaves task of untying his shoes. He pointed to Him as the one who would baptize by the Holy Spirit (verse 33)

Jesus, the Lamb of God

John 1:29-34 
 29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.' 31I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel." 32 And John bore witness: "I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain,this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God."

John the Baptist is still being interviewed by the Pharisees the following day, and he points to Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. The Pharisees would understand very clearly this word picture. John was relating to the Jewish sacrificial system, where the blood of a lamb would cover the sin of an individual. Jesus, as God’s lamb, would remove or take away sin. Lambs were regularly sacrificed in Israel, specifically in the passover celebration. At the original passover, the blood of the lamb smeared on the doorposts allowed the angel of death to pass over for death the children of Israel. This is while the firstborn of Egypt died throughout the land. In the same way, the blood of the lamb of God takes away our sin, so that we can be passed over for death, that is, eternal death and live as His chosen people for eternity in Heaven with Him.

John the Baptist emphasizes in the following verses (again) that Jesus is the Son of God, sent from God. 1st, John repeats in verse 30 That Jesus Christ is God in that He is eternal! Even though John was physically older, Jesus has always been. He did not know Jesus, but He was given the assignment to Baptize with water to prepare the way for the Messiah. The repentance and the cleansing was the preparing the way for the Lord. The fact that He baptized Jews showed they had the same need for repentance, so that they could see the One who was coming to save the world from their sins. God graciously showed John who Jesus was by sending the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove to show who Jesus was. As a side item, this is another part of scripture which shows the triune nature of God. God the Father speaks, the Holy Spirit descends, and Jesus is being baptized.
The baptism of Jesus has been questioned as to why He had to be baptized. It certainly was not for sin! And, in this context, why did this baptism demonstrate and emphasize that Jesus was the lamb of God? This baptism, by immersion, pictures death burial and resurrection. This baptism was a foreshadowing of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus by which the Lamb of God would take the sins of the whole world. By the testimony that happened at Jesus’ baptism, John could declare with certainty that Jesus Christ was not only the Lamb of God, but the one and only begotten Son of God. God the Father and God the Holy Spirit bore witness to this at Jesus’ baptism.

Knowing Jesus in truth is all important for our salvation that is found only in Him. John has declared Jesus as the unique Son of God, fully God, and fully man, in unique relationship to the Father. He proclaims Him the Lamb of God, who gives the picture of Jesus’ purpose in coming to earth, which is to take away the sin of the whole world. Do you know Jesus as God’s one and only unique Son, or is Jesus just a great moral teacher? If you know Him only as a historical figure and great teacher, you are missing the important aspect of belief that includes a belief in who God says Jesus is. Don’t miss the significance of the name the Lamb of God, for Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. He died as the lamb of God to pay for our sins, so that we would not have to pay for them ourselves. And his death, unlike the Lambs that the Jews sacrificed do not just cover our sins, they take them away. I plead with you, that if you want your sins forgiven, place your faith in the Son of God, Jesus, who, as the lamp of God, paid the penalty for all of your sins on the cross. If you will repent and place your trust in Jesus, your sins can be forgiven, and you will become a son or daughter of God, living eternally with Him. I urge you to do this today.