John 1:29-34 (NIV): The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.” Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.”
John’s mission was not only to prepare the hearts of the people for the Messiah. He was also to identify the Messiah when He came.
John baptized, not because this was a “normal” thing for prophets to do, but because the One who had sent him (God) had told him to baptize. And God had also told him that He would use the baptizing of the people as the way in which He would point out to him who the Messiah was. And when he knew who He was, his job was then to point out this man to all the rest.
John had seen the sign that God had given him, immediately after he baptized Jesus. As Jesus went up out of the water, John saw heaven opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus like a dove and remained on Him. Then God’s voice was heard saying, “This is my Son whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16-17)
All of that fulfilled everything that God had told John, and proved to Him that Jesus was the Messiah, the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world, and the very Son of God. And, of course, once he knew, he couldn’t help testifying about Him. It was what he had been born to do.
Father, the thing that strikes me most strongly about John was his obedience. He never got full of himself; he never tried to build his own kingdom. He simply bided his time out of the public eye in the wilderness (Luke 1:80) until You called him (Luke 3:1-3). And then he went and did all that You called him to do. When Jesus showed up, there was no resentment, no trying to protect his own turf. There was only excitement and joy as he realized that his purpose in life had now been accomplished. Father, may I have that same passion for your calling on my own life; that same single-minded devotion to You and to Your calling, so that all else falls away until it is accomplished. Amen.