22 ¶ After these things came Jesus and his
disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized.
23 And John also was baptizing in Aenon
near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were
baptized. 24 For John was not yet cast
into prison. 25 Then there arose a
question between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purifying. 26 And they came unto John, and said unto him,
Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness,
behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him. 27 John answered and said, A man can receive
nothing, except it be given him from heaven. 28
Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but
that I am sent before him. 29 He that
hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which
standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice:
this my joy therefore is fulfilled. 30
He must increase, but I must decrease. 31 He that cometh from above is above all: he
that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from
heaven is above all. 32 He that hath
received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true. 34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words
of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. 35 The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all
things into his hand. 36 He that
believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son
shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
John’s disciples and Jesus’ disciples are baptizing people
in the same vicinity. We learn in the next chapter that this is a collective or
group reference as Jesus Himself is not doing the baptizing but it is under His
authority.
Verse 27 is confirmed by Jesus in different ways. In talking
to his disciples;
John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that
abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me
ye can do nothing.
And in talking to Pilate;
John 19:11 Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power
at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that
delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.
By reading the Bible literally we find the limitations of
man’s free will and what he can actually accomplish and from where an action
comes. We can allow God or we can allow darkness to work through us but, in
spite of what we think, once we have chosen a path, we have little control over
what we will face and we make those choices several times a day, even several
times an hour in response to the consequences from previous decisions.
Luke 17:1 Then said he unto the disciples, It is
impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they
come!
John confirmed to his own disciples that he was not the
bridegroom, who is Christ, with the church as His bride, but he is the friend
of the bridegroom who has announced Him. John acknowledges that his time is
short and Jesus, coming from heaven, will replace him who is of the earth. This
is a clear prophetic reference to how the promises to the Jews under the Law
were earthly promises while the promises that will be given to the bride of
Christ are heavenly. The Jewish kingdom under the Law was promised land, peace,
military power, and dominance if they obeyed, with the blessings of a
successful life and conquest of their physical enemies. The Christian is not
promised these same types of things for the weapons of our warfare are not
physical (2Corinthians 10:4). The
misunderstanding of this has caused great evil in the history of Christianity
as Christians tried to replace the Jews rather than move beyond them.
Christianity, seeking earthly power and possessions, was the vehicle by which
great oppression and violence was done, against the clear doctrines of Christ
and Paul, His minister to the Gentile (non-Jewish) world (Romans 15:16). John
Wyclif warned in his On The Truth of the
Holy Scripture back in the 1300’s
that, “all human evil arises from a failure to venerate and understand
Scripture correctly.” (7)
John said that Jesus speaks the very words of God and we
would do well to listen to what He says, rightly dividing the words as we see
the difference between what He says to beard-wearing, pork-abstaining,
Sabbath-observing, Temple-going Jews before His resurrection and what He says
through His ministers after His resurrection. As His mother said earlier to the
servants at a wedding;
“Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.”
The person who believes on Christ is promised everlasting
life.The person who does not believe that Jesus came from God and is, in fact,
God, has God’s wrath abiding on him.
1John 2:22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus
is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
(7) John Wyclif, On
The Truth of the Holy Scripture, transl. by Christopher Levy (1377 repr.
Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute Publications, 2001), 138.
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