Anchor My Faith

A Testimony Conclusion

Scripture: John 1:32-34

With this lesson, we will finish looking at the testimony of John the Baptist. “And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 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.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”’ (John 1:32 – 34 ESV). These three verses are essentially a review of what we have already covered.

In lesson H079, we covered the event of the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and resting on Jesus. This dove was a sign of the divine anointing of Jesus. This points back to the Old Testament, when the Spirit came upon a person to enable that one to accomplish a particular task assigned by God. From Isaiah we learn that the Spirit remained on Jesus to accomplish a particular work: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound” (Isaiah 61:1 ESV). In Luke 4:1, we learned that Jesus was filled with the Spirit at the time of his baptism.

In lesson H090, we covered the meaning of John not personally knowing Jesus. We saw the importance of this in insuring that there was no agreement or conspiracy between them to mislead the people. It provided additional credibility to the testimony of John. God sent John to baptize with water and in the process the dove pointed out who Jesus clearly was. The dove was a sign to John of what God said to look for. When that happens you will know who it is who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. He is the Son of God as witnessed by the dove and the voice from the Father.

There are two baptisms mentioned here: water baptism and Spirit baptism. What is the difference? A good article on this is found here. In Acts 1:5 we are given two different elements: “John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” One is with water and the other is the Spirit himself. Any disciple of Jesus Christ can administer water baptism, but only Jesus can baptize with the Holy Spirit. Water baptism was associated with one’s salvation as a witness, while Spirit baptism marked one as a member of the kingdom of God. Water baptism was involuntary as the one being baptized made the choice to be baptized and when and where, while Spirit baptism was determined by God. Water baptism is a sign, while Spirit baptism associates one with the kingdom of God forever.

Prayer

Father, we have reached the end of another section of travel along the gospel path and considered the testimony of John the Baptist as he introduced Jesus to those around him. We are now ready for Jesus to start gathering together a group of disciples that would walk with him as Jesus did the work his Father asked him to do.