John 3:22-36

TESTIMONY OF JOHN THE BAPTIST

John 3:22-36. “And they came to John, and said to him, Master, He who is with thee beyond Jordan, and to whom thou hast borne witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all are coming unto Him.” For more than six months, John had been, not only the sensation of Israel, but of the world. But a few days ago, Jesus, having been baptized by John, has begun to preach. Whereas John wrought no miracles, Jesus, from the beginning electrified the people with his stupendous miracles. Now they are so close together that intercommunication is going on between their disciples. Some of these honest, well-disposed disciples of John wait on him, with the news that the multitudes are all pouring now to Jesus, who is preaching and baptizing (through his disciples) as well as John.

“John responded and said, A man is not able to receive anything unless it may be given unto him from heaven. You testify to me that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before Him.” Here John corrects the idea of his informants that Jesus was a rival of his, and about to supersede him in his office and ministry. “The one having the bride is the Bridegroom, but the friend of the Bridegroom, standing and hearing Him, rejoiceth with joy on account of the voice of the Bridegroom; therefore this my joy is complete.” John being an Old Testament prophet, classifies himself with the saints of the former dispensation, here, as you see, abnegating their identity with the bridehood of Christ, and only claiming to be the friends of the Bridegroom. O, how fortunate we are to live in the gospel dispensation, having access to the richest blessing this side of heaven i.e., the bridehood of Christ as here you see that Christ wooes, wins, and weds His loving bride after His incarnation, the Old Testament saints, even including John the Baptist, being friends of the Bridegroom!

“It behooves Him to increase, and me to decrease. He that cometh from above is above all; the one being from the earth is of the earth, and speaketh of the earth.” All John means here is, that he is simply a man, a member of the human race, like all others, while he is impressing the people that Jesus is Divine, having come down from heaven; thus he is illustrating the infinite difference between them. “The one coming from heaven is above all; and whatsoever He has seen and heard, this He testifies, and no one receives His testimony.” This sounds rather strange, that no one receives His testimony. It is a simple statement of a fact. Among the multitudes who are crowding in His track and thronging His ministry at this early day, we do not know that any one, except John the Baptist, entertained a correct conception of His Messiahship. They believed on Him on account of His miracles; but Elijah and Elisha had both wrought great miracles, even raised the dead. They believed on Him as a mighty prophet sent of God; but it was late in His ministry before even His apostles came out in an unequivocal confession of His Christhood.

“He that receiveth His testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.” All the revelation Which God had ever given to Israel in the Old Testament culminated in Christ. When you write a letter, last of all you seal it. So the advent of Christ sealed i.e., indubitably confirmed all the Scriptures that had ever been written. Hence, the one receiving Him has a perfect faith, sealed against all further doubt and uncertainty. Experimentally, we. receive this seal from God in entire sanctification.

“For whom God sent, speaketh the words of God; for God does not give His Spirit by measure.” Jesus, having no depravity nor infirmity to impede the fullness of the Spirit, was literally filled and flooded, soul, mind, and body, all the time. It is our privilege to be like Him. “Every one who has been made perfect shall be as his Master” (Luke 6:40) Entire sanctification removes every impediment to the incoming of the Holy Ghost. O, what a glorious privilege to receive Him without measure as an incoming flood, overmastering Niagara, and an inundating sea!

“He that believeth on the Son bath eternal life; but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.” O how clear and explicit John the Baptist here corroborates the preaching of Jesus, in this same chapter certifying most unequivocally that the one who believes on the Son already has eternal life! God help us all to believe Thy Word as here so clearly preached by Thy servant, John the Baptist! How awful the doom of the unbeliever, as he shall not so much as see life, much less enjoy it, through all eternity, while the wrath of God, which is poured out on all sinners, “abideth on him!” This verb “abideth” is the perpetual present, setting forth the fact that it will never cease through all the ages of eternity. The wrath of God is already on the sinner. Jesus came to take it off. He can not do it unless the sinner believes on Him. So here, in this verse, we have a clear and unequivocal affirmation of the endless punishment which awaits the wicked. The rapid increase of infidelity in the world is an exceedingly distressing phenomenon, ominous, with other signs, of our Lord's near coming. Thus this wicked world is fast ripening for destruction. Not only is this phenomenon fearful in heathen lands, where infidel preachers are now zealously proclaiming their soul-destroying lies, the multitudes dropping their heathen religions and espousing infidelity; but especially in gospel lands do we see, to our sorrow, a wonderfully rapid spread of infidelity within the last ten years. As I travel from ocean to ocean, I meet this sad phenomenon, to the grief of my spirit. In some of our large cities, nearly every other man I interview about his soul, avows down right infidelity; while church members and even their pastors, by millions are fearfully diluted with it, so that they openly proclaim, from pulpit and pew, their skepticism in reference to portions of God's revealed truth.