THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

John: Believing On The Christ, The Son Of God, For Eternal Life

Part XIII: Believing On Christ Due To John's Public Self-Abasement Of His God-Given Ministry Before Jesus

(John 3:22-36)

I. Introduction

A. There is no logical reason in itself for a public religious mortal with a large following publicly to perform an unpressured, self-abasement of his God-given ministry to advance the ministry of some other party.

B. However, John 3:22-30 records such a self-abasement by John the Baptizer for the sake of Jesus' ministry, and John the Evangelist explains this in John 3:31-36, giving us great cause to believe that Jesus Christ is GOD:

II. Believing On Christ Due To John's Public Self-Abasement Of His God-Given Ministry Before Jesus.

A. John 3:22-36 reveals how John the Baptizer REMARKABLY refused to promote his ministry from God in the face of Jesus' ministry, but that he even advanced Jesus' ministry at the loss of his own (as follows):

1. John the Baptizer and Jesus with His disciples at one point were baptizing at the same time, John 3:22-23.

2. Israel's religious leaders saw this as an opportunity to discredit both men: they disliked Jesus' cleansing of the temple and doing miracles at the Jerusalem Passover (John 2:13-25), and they did not like John the Baptizer's announcement that Jesus was Messiah and God (John 1:29-34), so they tried to undermine the reputations of both by creating a competitive division between them, Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, 1993, p. 450-451. They thus argued with John's disciples on purification washings, an argument that somehow pitted Jesus' baptizing ministry against John's, Ibid., John 3:25-26.

3. John's disciples fell for the religious leaders' ruse (Ibid.), and came to John, complaining that Jesus to whom John had born good witness was competitively baptizing many more people than John, John 3:26.

4. John the Baptizer did not react by discrediting Jesus' ministry even if his own ministry from God thus seemed humanly "threatened;" rather, he remarkably abased his ministry from God in respect for Jesus:

a. John explained that one could receive nothing except it were given to him by God, so those who followed Jesus did so due to God's work, and the fewer who followed John did so due to God, John 3:27.

b. Then, John the Baptizer explained that his own disciples had previously heard him testify that he was not the Messiah, but only His Forerunner, John 3:28 with John 1:21-27. Indeed, this testimony was given to the Jerusalem religious authorities, certifying John's need to submit to Jesus as Messiah, John 1:19-20.

c. To illustrate his self-abasement before Jesus, John likened himself as the best man at a wedding who serves the groom's interests, and seeks to promote the groom, not himself, to the bride, John 3:29a. John's joy, like that of the best man's, was found in introducing the Groom, Messiah Jesus, to Israel, John 3:29b.

d. John then made his famous claim that Jesus must "increase" while he must "decrease," John 3:30 KJV. The respective New Testament Greek terms are auxano ("grow, increase," Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 121) and elattoo ("make lower, inferior; diminish," Ibid., p. 247).

B. The Apostle John then explained John the Baptizer's self-abasement before Jesus (as follows), John 3:31-36:

1. Jesus was from above in heaven, so He was over all, where John the Baptizer, or any other religious man or prophet for that matter, was limited by mortal bounds, John 3:31; Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 283.

2. Also, Jesus testified of what He Himself had seen and heard in heaven in vast superiority to any earthly teacher like John who heard messages from God, but men generally did not receive Jesus' word, John 3:32.

3. However, those who believed in Christ's testimony certified that God Who sent Him was true, John 3:33.

4. Jesus spoke God's words, and had the Holy Spirit without measure unlike mortals like John who had only a limited measure of the Holy Spirit (John 3:34), and the Father put all things under Jesus' authority versus mortals like John who functioned as God's messengers without that authority, John 3:35; Ibid., p. 283-284.

5. Thus, in vast superiority to John, he who trusted on the Son of God, Jesus, had everlasting life, and he who did not trust in Him would not see life, but the wrath of God the Father remained on him, John 3:36.

Lesson: John the Baptizer so truly believed that Jesus was the Messiah and God that he willingly, publicly abased himself and his ministry when presented the temptation to compete against Jesus. John the Apostle explained this self-abasement was based on the Supremacy of Christ as Messiah and God over John who was but a mortal man.

Application: (1) May we trust in Jesus as Messiah and God by the remarkable self-abasement of John the Baptizer before Christ. (2) May we like John the Baptizer exalt Jesus Christ in our lives and ministries instead of ourselves.