Session 4: June 25, 2022
Scripture Reading: John 1:19-51
Quick Personal Note: I have given much thought to how I am planning and delivering my lessons. Please keep in mind that this format of Bible study is a little unusual and figuring out the best way to do it may take a little time. I sincerely appreciate your patience. On one hand, I want to be as detailed and nuanced as possible. In my personal experience, I remember times when I felt cheated because the presenter (e.g., teacher, pastor, theologian) left out, perhaps purposefully, some key information. At the same time, I must come to terms with the fact that pacing is important—and so far we are on a zillion-year track before we are done with a single book. So, it’s a balancing act. What’s to be done? I will try not going verse by verse. Instead, I will select some of the key themes in the scripture reading, and we will dive into those. Hopefully, all the precision will be maintained—just refocused. After our fourth session, please let me know if you like it or not.
Key Themes:
I. John the Baptist’s Three Denials
John is asked whether he is the Christ, Elijah, or the Prophet. John denies all three titles. This short exchange is incredibly meaningful and enlightening. It gives as an understanding of what Jesus’ contemporaries expected in the end-time and how they interpreted the Old Testament.
(a) The Christ. (For this section on the expectation of the Christ, most of my research come from The Jewish Messianic Expectation in the Time of Jesus by Shailer Mathews.)
Jewish contemporaries had certain expectations of the Messiah (or Christ, in Greek) who was to come, as are clearly expressed in the following sources:
The Kingdom Eschatological—The righteous dead shall judge the nations.
But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to be dead ; and their departure was taken for a misfortune and their going from us annihilation ; but they are in peace. For, though they shall have experienced punishment according to the judgment of men, yet is their hope full of immortality.—Wisdom of Solomon 3:1-6.
The Kingdom on Earth—Prosperity of the Jews under the King of Peace.
Then from the sunrise God will send a king,
Who will make all earth cease from evil war,
Killing some, others binding with strong oaths.
Nor yet will he by his own counsels do
All these things, but by excellent decrees
Of God persuaded. But again the people
Of the great God with wealth will be weighed down,
With gold and silver and purple ornament,
And of good things will earth and sea be full.—Sibylline Oracles, iii : 776-784.
The Kingdom on Earth—Messiah a new Moses and Joshua.
But there shall come from heaven a wondrous man,
Whose hands were stretched out on the fruitful wood,
The noblest of the Hebrews, who once caused
The sun to stand still when he gave command
With admirable speech and hallowed lips.—Sibylline Oracles, v : 332-335.
The Kingdom on Earth—The unending reign of Messiah.
But when Rome also over Egypt rules,
Having one end in view, then shall appear
The mighty kingdom of the immortal king
Set over men. A holy man shall come
Wielding the sceptre over every land
Unto all ages of advancing time.—Sibylline Oracles, iii : 55-60.
The following themes are also present in Jewish literature:
- The triumph of the Son of Man.
- The wicked dead will not rise to join the Kingdom of God.
- The Messiah will establish his kingdom of the risen righteous.
- The Son of Man will judge the world.
- The members of the kingdom of God are to resemble the Messiah.
The Jewish expectations are correct—if interpreted correctly. Consider the prophecies in Daniel 7:13-14 and 9:24-27.
Daniel 7
13 “I was watching in the night visions,
And with the clouds of the sky,
one like a son of man was approaching.
He went up to the Ancient of Days
and was escorted before him.
14 To him was given ruling authority, honor, and sovereignty.
All peoples, nations, and language groups were serving him.
His authority is eternal and will not pass away.
His kingdom will not be destroyed.
Daniel 9
24 “Seventy weeks have been determined
concerning your people and your holy city
to put an end to rebellion,
to bring sin to completion,
to atone for iniquity,
to bring in perpetual righteousness,
to seal up the prophetic vision,
and to anoint a Most Holy Place.
25 So know and understand:
From the issuing of the command to restore and rebuild
Jerusalem until an anointed one, a prince arrives,
there will be a period of seven weeks and sixty-two weeks.
It will again be built, with plaza and moat,
but in distressful times.
26 Now after the sixty-two weeks,
an anointed one will be cut off and have nothing.
As for the city and the sanctuary,
the people of the coming prince will destroy them.
But his end will come speedily like a flood.
Until the end of the war that has been decreed
there will be destruction.
27 He will confirm a covenant with many for one week.
But in the middle of that week
he will bring sacrifices and offerings to a halt.
On the wing of abominations will come one who destroys,
until the decreed end is poured out on the one who destroys.”
(b) Elijah. The Jews expected Elijah to come before the Messiah. Consider Malachi 4:5-6.
4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, to whom at Horeb I gave rules and regulations for all Israel to obey. 5 Look, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord arrives. 6 He will encourage fathers and their children to return to me, so that I will not come and strike the earth with judgment.”
Remember, Elijah was taken up to heaven. Consider 2 Kings 2:11:
11 As they were walking along and talking, suddenly a fiery chariot pulled by fiery horses appeared. They went between Elijah and Elisha, and Elijah went up to heaven in a windstorm.
Was John the Baptist Elijah? Yes and no.
John the Baptist was not literally Elijah. We know this because literal Elijah appears in the transfiguration. Consider Mark 9:4.
Then Elijah appeared before them along with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.
However, John played the role of Elijah. Consider Jesus’ words in Matthew 11:7-15.
7 While they were going away, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 8 What did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Look, those who wear soft clothing are in the palaces of kings! 9 What did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet! 10 This is the one about whom it is written:
“‘Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way before you.’
11 “I tell you the truth, among those born of women, no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he is! 12 From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and forceful people lay hold of it. 13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John appeared. 14 And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah, who is to come. 15 The one who has ears had better listen!
(c) The Prophet. The Old Testament spoke of a great prophet who was to come. Deuteronomy 18-18-19 says:
18 I will raise up a prophet like you for them from among their fellow Israelites. I will put my words in his mouth and he will speak to them whatever I command. 19 I will personally hold responsible anyone who then pays no attention to the words that prophet speaks in my name.
II. John the Baptist’s Water Baptism
The topic of Baptism was discussed during our last session, so I will touch on this briefly. John’s water baptism would have been reminiscent of proselyte baptism—a specific, once-for-all immersion ritual by which gentiles could be initiated into Judaism. Notice, however, that John the Baptist is calling Jews to undergo this conversion. This is an extremely powerful image and message.
III. Jesus is the Lamb
What is the lamb referencing? Luckily, we hardly need to guess. We only need to look later in John’s Gospel. Consider John 19:36:
For these things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled, “Not a bone of his will be broken.”
It may not be obvious at first, but this is a reference to the Passover Lamb. Recall Exodus 12:46, which is discussing the Passover Lamb:
It must be eaten in one house; you must not bring any of the meat outside the house, and you must not break a bone of it.
To understand the great significance of the paschal lamb, we must go back to Exodus 12. I present a redacted version here (beginning with the last verses of chapter 11):
Chapter 11
9 The Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, so that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.”
10 So Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not release the Israelites from his land.
Chapter 12
1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 “This month is to be your beginning of months; it will be your first month of the year. 3 Tell the whole community of Israel, ‘On the tenth day of this month they each must take a lamb for themselves according to their families—a lamb for each household.
5 Your lamb must be perfect, a male, one year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 You must care for it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then the whole community of Israel will kill it around sundown. 7 They will take some of the blood and put it on the two side posts and top of the doorframe of the houses where they will eat it.
11 This is how you are to eat it—dressed to travel, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover.
12 “‘I will pass through the land of Egypt in the same night, and I will attack all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both of humans and of animals, and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, so that when I see the blood I will pass over you, and this plague will not fall on you to destroy you when I attack the land of Egypt.
14 “‘This day will become a memorial for you, and you will celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—you will celebrate it perpetually as a lasting ordinance.
19 For seven days yeast must not be found in your houses, for whoever eats what is made with yeast—that person will be cut off from the community of Israel, whether a resident foreigner or one born in the land.
21 Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel, and told them, “Go and select for yourselves a lamb or young goat for your families, and kill the Passover animals. 22 Take a branch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and apply to the top of the doorframe and the two side posts some of the blood that is in the basin. Not one of you is to go out the door of his house until morning. 23 For the Lord will pass through to strike Egypt, and when he sees the blood on the top of the doorframe and the two side posts, then the Lord will pass over the door, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. 24 You must observe this event as an ordinance for you and for your children forever. 25 When you enter the land that the Lord will give to you, just as he said, you must observe this ceremony. 26 When your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’— 27 then you will say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover, when he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, when he struck Egypt and delivered our households.’” The people bowed down low to the ground, 28 and the Israelites went away and did exactly as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.
29 It happened at midnight—the Lord attacked all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the prison, and all the firstborn of the cattle. 30 Pharaoh got up in the night, along with all his servants and all Egypt, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no house in which there was not someone dead. 31 Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron in the night and said, “Get up, get out from among my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, serve the Lord as you have requested! 32 Also, take your flocks and your herds, just as you have requested, and leave. But bless me also.”
33 The Egyptians were urging the people on, in order to send them out of the land quickly, for they were saying, “We are all dead!”
IV. Other Themes (I Probably Won’t Get to)
(a) The Holy Spirit Abides in Jesus. Consider the theme as it reoccurs in the Gospel.
John 1:33: And I did not recognize him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining—this is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’
John 14:26: But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and will cause you to remember everything I said to you.
John 20:22: And after he said this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
(b) New Disciples.
The other Gospels give us extremely abbreviated versions of the apostles’ callings. John gives us some background that could explain the events. As Craig Keeners points out, “The readiness of those disciples to abandon their livelihood on the occasion depicted in Markan Tradition (or to lend Jesus use of their boat in Luke) may actually make more sense historically if they had encountered Jesus on a prior occasion, as this narrative in John would suggest.”