John the Baptist is not the Messiah
19 The Jewish leaders sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask John, ‘Who are you?’
1:19A Jew was someone who belonged to the Israelite kingdom of Judah. The name was first used at the time of their exile in Babylon. The people of Israel who still remain after that time are called Jews. Levites belonged to the tribe of Levi, one of the 12 tribes of Israel. God chose the Levites to do special work for him in his temple. They helped the priests in the temple.
20 John did not refuse to answer. He said, ‘I am not the Messiah.’
21 So they asked him, ‘So who are you? Are you Elijah?’
John said, ‘No, I am not.’
They asked, ‘Are you the Prophet?’
John answered, ‘No.’
1:21The Jews believed that God would send his prophet Elijah and another great prophet to them. They believed that these prophets must come before God would send his Messiah.
22 Then they said, ‘Tell us who you are. We must say something to the people who sent us. What do you say about yourself?’
23 He said, ‘I am the voice of somebody shouting in the wilderness:
“The Lord will come soon.
Make a straight path for him.”
That is what the prophet Isaiah said a long time ago.’
24 The men who came to ask these questions were Pharisees. 25 They said to John, ‘You say that you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet. So why do you baptize people?’
26 John replied, ‘I baptize people with water. But there is someone here among you that you do not know. 27 He is the one who comes after me. I am not good enough even to undo his shoes for him.’
28 All these things happened at a place on the east side of the Jordan River. It was a village called Bethany. John was baptizing people there.
1:28The Jordan River went from Galilee in the north to the Salt Sea (Dead Sea) in the south.
John the Baptist says that Jesus is God's Son
29 The next day, John saw Jesus, who was coming towards him. John said, ‘Look! Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of people in the world. 30 This is the man that I told you about. I told you, “He comes after me, but he is greater than I am. He was already there before I was born.” 31 I did not know him. But I had to show Israel's people who he was. That is why I am baptizing people with water.’
1:29John the Baptist called Jesus ‘the Lamb of God’. The people would remember the lambs that they killed for the Passover meal. Jesus Christ was the Lamb of God who came to die on our behalf, to save us from sin.
1:31At the time of Jesus, Israel was the country where the Jews lived. Israel's people were descendants of Jacob. God gave Jacob a new name, ‘Israel’. See Genesis 35. 32 Then John told them, ‘I saw God's Spirit come down from heaven. He came down like a dove and he stayed on Jesus. 33 I would not have known who Jesus was. But God had sent me to baptize people with water. And God told me, “You will see the Spirit come down. He will stay on someone. That is the person who will baptize people with my Holy Spirit.” 34 Now I have seen this. So I can tell you that this is God's Son.’
