John 1:29-34 John 's testimony

John 1:29-34 The next day, after John had discussed his ministry with the priests and Levites, Jesus arrives and John recognizes Him. One would think that because they were relatives (as revealed in Luke 1:36) John would have known Jesus. But perhaps he did not recognize until this event that Jesus was in fact the Messiah. It seems odd in view of all that is recorded in Luke 1 that John's mother Elizabeth hailed Mary as the mother of her Savior. Surely she would have shared with John during his childhood. And yet, perhaps John didn't really accept that until he saw the Holy Spirit descending in bodily form, as a dove, on John. The gospel of John does not actually record Jesus' baptism. The key action recorded in this gospel is that John the Baptist identifies Jesus as the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world; and that the one who commissioned him to baptize people in water had told him that the one on whom the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form and remained is the One who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. John alludes to the Passover Lamb that was first introduced in Exodus 12, that was a foreshadowing of Jesus who has now arrived as the fulfillment of that prophetic type. Except that in the Jewish Passover, a lamb was to be offered for a family. Jesus had come to be offered to take away the sin of the whole world. The statement that Jesus would baptize in the Holy Spirit is also recorded in Luke 3:16. This was to contrast with the water baptism of John. As Luke 3:16 records, the Holy Spirit baptism would be a baptism of fire, not of water.

          John the Baptist closes his testimony with his summary statement that he has borne witness that Jesus is the Son of God.