The Book of John
(Joh 1:19-28)
[Study Aired November 12, 2026]
In this section of the book of John we will look at the testimony or record of John the Baptist. This prophetic event of John’s was written for our admonition, the body of Christ, “upon whom the ends of the world are come” (1Co 10:11).
1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
Joh 1:19 And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou?
Joh 1:20 And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ.
Joh 1:21 And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No.
The prophet being referred to in (Joh 1:21) “Art thou that prophet” is the prophet like unto Moses (Heb 3:3), whom God promised to raise up in (Deu 18:15-18), that prophet being Christ.
Heb 3:3 For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house (Psa 127:1) hath more honour than the house.
Deu 18:15 The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; (Joh 16:15 , Joh 12:49)
Joh 16:15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
Joh 12:49 For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.
Deu 18:16 According to all that thou desirest of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.
(Moses and Aaron were refused and rebelled against of the 250 men of renown and the camp of Israel suffered the consequences of that rebellion and rejection which was against God 1Sa 8:7, Heb 12:25, 1Co 10:11. The promised reformer Jesus Christ comes on the scene and he is rejected of the world typified by the rebellion of Korah and the entire camp of Israel in Moses’ day [Joh 1:10])
Moses was a reformer in his day pointing people to the letter of the law whereas when Christ came on the scene He pointed to the spirit of the law, the law of Christ that brings life (Gal 6:2, Mat 5:43-45, 2Co 3:6).
Gal 6:2 Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
Mat 5:43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Mat 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
2Co 3:6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
God’s elect are as Christ being sent (1Jn 4:17, Joh 20:21) and called to be reformers as Christ was, knowing that this is not the time for the world to receive this message of the true Christ and the true gospel, which is spoken with the spirit of God (Luk 12:12).
2Co 11:4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
Gal 1:6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: [1Jn 4:1]
Luk 12:12 For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.
John the baptist can be seen as a type of the elect typifying our transition from our time of preparation in the wilderness to becoming the manchild (Rev 12:5), which can only happen by the losing of our first, Adamic, carnal, letter-of-the-law-minded, head, as John literally experienced for our sakes (Mat 14:10, 2Co 4:15). John in that sense points to our transition from being under the law to point to Christ where grace and truth are found (Joh 1:17-18).
Joh 1:17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
Joh 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
By the time of John the Baptist, the Jewish people were expecting the fulfilment of several Old Testament prophecies, and the Jews sending “priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou?”, typifies the world’s groaning, spoken of in (Rom 8:22-24), and the “ever-searching but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” spirit (2Ti 3:7) of the churches of Babylon that, by God’s grace, we’ve come out of (2Co 6:17) .
Rom 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Rom 8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?(Joh 20:29, Col 1:27)
2Co 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
Mal 4:5-6 foretold that Elijah would come before the great and dreadful day of the Lord, as Luk 1:13-17 also prophesied to Zacharias, John’s father. Christ’s explanation of who John is (Mat 11:13-15), is a parable and a prophecy that can only be received by those who have spiritual ears to hear, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear”. What the holy spirit is showing us, comparing spiritual things with spiritual using the physical (1Co 2:13), is that Elijah is a type of Christ’s and John’s coming, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Add to that the double portion of the spirit that Elisha was given (2Ki 2:9), which symbolizes the elect, the body of Christ that is baptized into His death, to be given the power to convert others which Christ never did in His ministry on earth (1Ti 4:16, Joh 14:12, Php 2:12-13).
Mal 4:5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
Luk 1:17 And he [John] shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
Mat 11:13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.
Mat 11:14 And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.
Mat 11:15 He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
2Ki 2:9 And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.
Joh 14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. [Rev 11:3]
Joh 14:13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
Joh 1:22 Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?
Joh 1:23 He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.
Joh 1:24 And they which were sent were of the Pharisees.
John has been asked twice now who he is, the first time being “the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem” to ask him “who art thou” in (Joh 1:19), and then here in verse 22, the “Pharisees” asked him, “Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?”.
This questioning of who John is, is a type and shadow of the same questioning that Christ himself was subject to in (Mat 16:13-17).
Mat 16:13 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?
Mat 16:14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.
Mat 16:15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
Mat 16:16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Mat 16:17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
Knowing Christ only after the flesh by His name is not knowing him at all (Joh 17:3), and trying to know who John the baptist was, was just as much a vain pursuit of the religious world of his day as it is today in the churches of this world, with no stay of bread or water wanting to know the Christ that John pointed to, but to have his name while maintaining their own righteousness (Isa 3:1, Isa 4:1). The disciples were no different than these groups who represent Babylon that we must come out of, and cannot, until the day of Pentecost, which is the day when we begin to truly know Christ in the spirit alone (Rom 8:9) and not in the flesh (Joh 14:20-21, 2Co 5:16).
Isa 3:1 For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,
Isa 4:1 And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.
Joh 14:20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
Joh 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
2Co 5:16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.
The word mannaH4478 means “what is it”, and that simple truth is a reflection of what we are talking about in these verses (Joh 1:19-21). The world needs to see the physical manna to know Christ, and asks the question, ‘who is he’, or ‘what is it’ or ‘who are you’. On the other hand, we as His elect do not want to know Christ after the flesh any longer but in the spirit, where the true manna from heaven is being received of God. Blessed are those who believe and who have not seen the physical Christ (2Co 5:16, Joh 6:58, Joh 20:29). Christ was not concerned, and neither are we, about judging the flesh of men and measuring the court, but we do judge and examine ourselves as the body of Christ (Joh 8:15, Rev 11:2, 2Co 13:5).
H4478 manna מָן mân mawn
– Original: מן
– Transliteration: man
– Phonetic: mawn
– Definition:
– manna
– the bread from heaven that fed the Israelites for 40 years of wilderness wanderings
– means ‘What is it?’
– Origin: from H4100
– TWOT entry: 1208,1209
– Part(s) of speech: Noun Masculine
– Strong’s: From H4100; literally a whatness (so to speak) that is manna (so called from the question about it): – manna.
Joh 6:58 This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever. [Joh 6:68]
John was not a liar, there was no guile in his heart, and his answer reflected that truth, “He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias” (Joh 1:23).
Making straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias, was the message of John the baptist, which was clearly a prophecy of the work that God was going to do through Christ and then, with God’s spirit, through the church. Both Christ and his body are God’s workmanship, which Christ would be zealously consumed for (Isa 40:3-5, Eph 2:10, Psa 69:9).
Isa 40:3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Isa 40:4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
Isa 40:5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Psa 69:9 For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.
Joh 5:30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
Joh 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, [Joh 6:54] and I in him, [Rom 8:9, Col 1:27] the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Joh 1:25 And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?
Joh 1:26 John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not;
John answers the question for the Pharisees, and notice the way the question is asked, “if you be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?”, then why are you baptizing? The point being that John was setting the stage for Christ to abide in the hearts and minds of his people, and the setting of that stage meant that this baptism unto repentance was just the starting point. The Pharisees themselves were not able to see their need for this baptism of John, let alone the baptism of fire that Christ will bring (Mat 3:8-9).
Mat 3:8 Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:
Mat 3:9 And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
John’s answer was, “I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not”. Christ who stands amongst us (Heb 13:5) gave the answer to this question of the Pharisees in this manner, “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” This is all to say that we need to first be pointed to Christ via the churches of this world with a very physical baptism of water experience, to then, by God’s grace, be called out of her in this age to be baptized into Christ’s death (Rom 6:4, Mat 3:11, 1Co 3:12-13, Mat 21:44, Heb 6:1-3).
Rom 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Mat 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: [wood hay and stubble] but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: [gold silver and precious stones]
1Co 3:12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
1Co 3:13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
Mat 21:44 And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. (Col 1:24, Mat 3:11)
Heb 6:1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
Heb 6:2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
Heb 6:3 And this will we do, if God permit.
Joh 1:27 He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchetG2438 I am not worthy to unloose.
John was a great man (Mat 11:11), and it is in verses like this one (Joh 1:27) that we see why Christ considered him to be great (Mat 23:12). John typifies the elect who, ‘of the least of these is greater than John’, but also know that we are the chief of sinners, and know we are nothing without Christ as our head and the body that He has given us (Mat 11:11, Luk 17:10).
We recently discussed how God sees the body of Christ and how we should see ourselves now with the mind of Christ. Not as the Pharisees who did not know Christ. We are His body, we are his witnesses, we are a special people because of the life of Christ within us (1Pe 2:9).
1Pe 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
Christ most likely did not have his sandals on when he was on the cross (Joh 19:23-24), and John is unknowingly prophesying of Christ’s death, of which he knew and we know we are not worthy to have such a colossal sacrifice made for us that reconciles us to God (Rom 5:10) [symbolized by removing the latchets to take the shoes off]. God so loved the world that He gave us his only begotten Son (Joh 3:16), and although John the baptist truthfully realized he was not the Christ, he was not given to fill up what is behind of the afflictions of Christ for his body’s sake the church [the bride vs friend of the bride], as the elect would (Col 1:24).
However, John’s suffering, or filling up, was typical of the suffering that the body of Christ would go through (Act 5:41), becoming partakers of his suffering (1Pe 4:13) that will prepare us to be those saviours who come up on mount Zion (Oba 1:21).
Christ was less than a criminal in the eyes of the people in his day (Luk 23:18), and there is one instance of the word for latchetG2438, used as the word thongG2438, that helps us further understand what Christ’s sandals symbolize for us (Act 22:25). Christ wasn’t a Roman citizen as Paul was, but what was happening to him was unlawful and a reflection of our ignorance of who He was. This word thongG2438 found in (Act 22:25) reminds us we are all guilty of the scourging and stripes that were put upon Christ (Act 2:36). Christ is the sacrificial goat or dove that was killed, and in (Act 22:25) we see that Paul represents the dove that is set free, or the scapegoat that the elect are. There is no condemnation in Christ (Rom 8:1) and so the answer to this question, “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned?” is ‘NO’!
Act 2:36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
Act 22:25 And as they bound him with thongsG2438, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned?
Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Gal 6:2) hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
G2438 himas hee-mas’
Perhaps from the same as G260; a strap, that is, (specifically) the tie (of a sandal) or the lash (of a scourge): – latchet, thong.
Total KJV occurrences: 4
The foot washing that the disciples of Christ experienced also required the sandals to be taken off, another symbol of our need to have our life (our walk or way of life) washed by the body and blood of Christ, which is what was happening symbolically when the disciples had their feet washed by Christ and were commanded to wash each other’s feet (Eph 5:30, Joh 13:14).
Eph 5:30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
Joh 13:14 If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.
Joh 1:28 These things were done in BethabaraG962 beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.
Baptizing beyond the Jordan “in BethabaraaG962” represents the first baptism unto repentance that must come before the baptism into Christ’s death. Bethabara literally translates to ‘house of crossing (a ford)’. Christ is our mediator to make this crossing possible (Gal 3:19, 1Ti 2:5). When Christ was baptized the head and the body went into the waters of the Jordan! John’s baptism represents our immature state of being baptised in Babylon but not yet mature enough to go beyond this baptism, where we are then baptized into Christ’s death, and then able to die daily (Heb 6:1-3, Rom 6:1-3).
Mat 3:13 Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to JordanG2446 unto John, to be baptized of him.
Heb 6:1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
Heb 6:2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
Heb 6:3 And this will we do, if God permit.
Rom 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
Rom 6:2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Rom 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
——
G2446 Ἰορδάνης Iordanēs ee-or-dan’-ace
Of Hebrew origin [H3383]; the Jordanes (that is, Jarden), a river of Palestine: – Jordan.
H3383 yardên yar-dane’
From H3381; a descender; Jarden, the principal river of Palestine: – Jordan.
The word Jordan means descender, a word that describes Christ who took on the form of a servant and was baptized into a river that typifies the humility and love that He has for us (Php 2:7, Mat 20:28). John the baptist also reflected this humility and understanding of the need to remain abased (Joh 3:30, Mat 23:12).
——
G962 Bethabara
– Original: Βηθαβαρά
– Transliteration: Bethabara
– Phonetic: bay-thab-ar-ah’
– Definition: Bethabara = house of the ford
a place beyond Jordan, where John was baptising. This may correspond to Bethbarah (fords of Abarah), the ancient ford of the Jordan on the road to Gilead
– Origin: of hebrew origin H1004 and H5679
– TDNT entry: None
– Part(s) of speech: Noun Location
– Strong’s: Of hebrew origin ([H1004] and [H5679]);
ferry house;
Bethabara (that is Bethabarah) a place on the Jordan: – Bethabara.
——
G2438 Thongs
– Original: ἱμάς
– Transliteration: himas
– Phonetic: hee-mas’
– Definition:
– a thong of leather, a strap
– in the NT of the thongs with which captives or criminals were either bound or beaten
– of the thongs or ties by which sandals were fastened to the feet
– Origin: perhaps from the same as G260
– TDNT entry: None
– Part(s) of speech: Noun Masculine
– Strong’s: Perhaps from the same as G260; a strap that is (specifically) the tie (of a sandal) or the lash (of a scourge): – latchet thong.
Total KJV Occurrences: 4
latchet, 3 Mar 1:7; Luk 3:16; Joh 1:27
thongs, 1 Act 22:25
We are blessed to be associated with “the thongs with which captives or criminals were either bound or beaten”, being bound to the altar, and filling up what is behind of the afflictions of Christ for his body’s sake the church (Psa 118:27, Col 1:24).
Psa 118:27 God is the LORD, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.
Col 1:24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church: