John 1:32-37

³²Then John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on Him. ³³I 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.' ³⁴I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God." ³⁵The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. ³⁶When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!" ³⁷When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.

How does John know Jesus? The Holy Spirit descended and remained on Jesus. John the Baptist has cried out, “Look, the Lamb of God!” Any Jew paying close attention here – namely our writer, the apostle John – may have wondered how John the Baptist knew that Jesus was the Messiah. John the Baptist certainly knew Jesus; they were cousins. But we are told that John the Baptist would not have known Jesus except that God told him to watch for the Holy Spirit to descend upon and remain on the Anointed One. And John describes the Holy Spirit as being “like a dove.” John did not see a dove. The Holy Spirit is not a dove. He is Spirit, and therefore invisible. But why describe a dove?

Consider three meanings: First, in the account of creation from Genesis 1, which obviously played a major role in John’s prologue, we read that the Spirit of God hovered or brooded over the face of the deep. Can you picture a dove calming the turbulent waters of an unformed earth in that image? Second, as Noah searched for dry land after the flood, it was a dove that brought him an olive branch as a symbol of peace and comfort and safety, a symbol of the end of the raging waters of the just wrath of God. And third, when a poor person couldn’t afford a lamb or goat, they would come to the temple in need of having their sins forgiven, and they would bring two turtledoves. The image of the dove is forgiveness of sins and peace with God. Furthermore, it had long been prophesied of the Messiah that He would accomplish His work on earth by the power of the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 42:1-4; 61:1-3). The synoptic gospels make clear that these prophecies in Isaiah were fulfilled in Christ (Matthew 12:17-21; Luke 4:17-21). It was not by power, nor by might, but by His Spirit that Christ accomplished His task.

John is saying, “I didn’t realize it until I saw Him identifying Himself with all of the sinners that were coming into the wilderness to the river to be baptized, and then, all of a sudden, the dove descends and God is saying, ‘This is the One; this is My Son; this is the One in whom I am well pleased.” Many have stumbled here, because Matthew 3:13-17 seems to show that John already knew Jesus’ identity prior to His baptism (“I ought to be baptized by You, and yet You come to me!”), yet the apostle John notes that the Baptist did not know Christ until the Spirit landed and remained on Him. What do we make of this? Most say that the statement of not knowing Jesus was simply made for the audience – to confirm that God Himself revealed that Jesus is the Christ – even though John really did know earlier that Jesus was the Christ, but even his prior knowledge was a result of God’s making it known to him. Any thoughts?

John loses disciples to Jesus. Every time that John the Baptist sees Jesus, he declares, “Look, the Lamb of God!” John is trying to lose his disciples. Losing followers = success! John rightly is shrinking his own ministry for the sake of the Savior’s. John will later say, “He must become greater. I must become less” (John 3:30). Picture him saying to his two disciples, “What are you still doing with me? I am not the One you need to be following. There He is. Go follow Him. He’s the One who will forgive your sins. Not me.” And so the two disciples go to Jesus. Following meant, “to walk behind,” in this cultural of rabbis and learners; but needless to say, John has more in view here.