Shalom, everyone. We thank the Lord once again for the blessing that it is for us all to be able to study together the Word of God. And especially as we are studying the Gospel of John, Yohanan. And we are still in the first chapter of this Gospel. And what a lesson it is for us to learn from this first chapter of this Gospel that presents before us the divine nature of the person of our Lord Jesus, our Lord Yeshua HaMashiach. This is what the reason that the Apostle John provided for us this Gospel by, of course, divine inspiration. And we are so blessed to be able to learn together this Gospel, the Gospel of John.

We are now in the first chapter we are going to continue from where we stopped in our previous ministry meeting. And today we are in this ministry meeting in chapter 1 and verse 24. And I am going to read verse 24, all the way, John 1:24 to verse 34. And so we read: And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. And they asked him, this is John, Yohanan. They asked him and said unto him, Why baptize thou then? If thou be not that Mashiach, that Christ, or Eliyahu, Elijah, neither that prophet, Hanavi, hahu? John answered them saying, I baptize with water, but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not.

He, it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe latches, I am not worthy to unloose. These things were done in Beit Avera, beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing. Verse 29. The next day John sees Yeshua, Jesus, coming unto him, and says, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of this world. This is he, of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me, for he was before me. And I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. John bear record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.

And I knew him not, but he that sent me to baptize with water. The same said unto me, upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining, on him the same is he which baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I saw, and bear record, that this is the Son of God, who ben ha'elohim. These verses are wonderful, beloved friends, dear brothers and sisters, that as we study the Gospel of John, you can see again and again how important the message that John presents before his hearers and readers. Because the main object of the Gospel of John is, you might say, to go beyond what Matthew, Mark, and Luke presented.

The main object of the Gospel of Yohanan, John, is that those who hear and those who read will understand that Jesus, Yeshua, is the Messiah. But not only the Messiah, the Christ, but also the Son of God, ben Elohim. As we read at the end of the Gospel of John, in chapter 20 and verse 31, The Lord Jesus, the Lord Jesus, the Lord Yeshua, is indeed the Christ, the Christos in the Greek, which was taken from the Hebrew, the Mashiach, the Anointed One. The one that was promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The one that was promised in days of all to the prophets of Israel that the Messiah will come, the Anointed One will come, and He will be the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, the seed of David, the descendant of the tribe of Judah.

But He is indeed the Son of God, God the Son, the eternal Word, the eternal Logos, who became a man, the eternal Mimra, God the Son, who took upon Himself human nature for the express purpose that whosoever will believe on Him shall not perish, perish, but have everlasting life. And as man, we're going to get to chapter 19 of this Gospel in due time, and we will discover that He would have to give His life a ransom for many. He had to die as man in order to provide salvation for all humanity. And so we are in that portion of chapter 1 from verse 19 to verse 34, where Yohanan, that is John the Baptizer, is presenting before Israel the Lord Jesus the Messiah, and He is taking them through verses from the Hebrew Scriptures which pointed to the coming of the Messiah.

We have stopped in our previous message in John chapter 1 and verse 23, where John said, "I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight to the way of the Lord, as," notice that, "said the prophet Yeshaya." Isaiah, Isaiah, "yeshaayahu," "yeshaayahu hanavi," Isaiah the prophet, have written and proclaimed to Israel that there will be one who would come to introduce the Messiah at His first coming. Also, Malachi, Malachi, have presented this in his last prophecy to Israel, where he himself said, and he wrote by the word of the Lord, "Behold my messenger." And here we see John the baptizer, who is the messenger, who provides testimony concerning the person of the Lord, Yeshua the Messiah.

We read in Malachi, chapter 3 and verse 1, "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me." Me is God, but God the Son as man, who entered into this world through the virgin Miriam, whose name is Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah. So now, as John received these questions from the ones that came from the Pharisees, notice it says, verse 24, "And they which were sent were of the Pharisees," this is John 1:24, "the Pharisees," the "pushim" in Hebrew, the spiritual leaders of Israel, sent these ones that came down to the baptism, where John the baptizer was baptizing in the Jordan River, and I asked him, "Who are thou?" He said, "I am not a Mashiach." "Are you Eliyahu?" He said, "I am not." "Are you that prophet, Han-Navi-Hahu," the prophet that was spoken about by Moshe, Moses in Deuteronomy, chapter 18, and he says, "No, I am a voice." That is crying in the wilderness.

The spiritual condition of Israel was very low in those days. There was anticipation of the coming Messiah, but the spiritual condition was so low that he said to them, John the baptizer, he said, "I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness." Not only in the wilderness of Judea by the Jordan River, but also the wilderness of the heart condition. The condition of the heart was like a desert, like a dry land. And now the voice of John the baptizer says, "I am the voice that's crying in the wilderness." I hope today that as you listen to my message today that your heart is not a wilderness.

That you seek to have a heart, a warm heart for the Lord. That you recognize that without God, without the Word, without the Messiah, without the Lord Jesus the Messiah, you are in a dry and weary land. And in order to have assurance of salvation, you need the person of the Lord Jesus the Messiah, and here is now in the next verses we find out how John ultimately presents the person of the Lord himself. So we read in the next verses, verses 25, 26, 27, and 28, how those who came from Jerusalem, who came from the Pharisees, they asked him, notice in verse 25. And they said unto him, "Why baptize thou then, if thou be not the Messiah, nor Eliyahu, nor that prophet?" In other words, "John, why are you baptizing?" And I want you to understand it is water baptism.

It is an immersion where it was very much customary in our Jewish life in days of old, even today. That immersion represents identification and cleansing. Even today, in the Jewish world, the mikvah is where there is a washing and a cleansing, and symbolically it speaks of cleansing. And so John, in his days, was baptizing or immersing those who came to him in order to prepare themselves for the coming of the Messiah. To prepare themselves because, as he said, make straight the way of the Lord. Because Isaiah had already proclaimed the need to make straight, to get yourself. The Messiah is coming. The Messiah is coming.

And so they who came from the Pharisees were asking him this question in John 1:25. If you are not the Messiah, and if you are not Eliyahu, Elijah, and if you are not that prophet that was spoken of in Deuteronomy by Moses, the promise that the prophet like unto him will rise up, then who are you? Why are you then baptizing? What do you seek? Why are you doing that? And so, beloved brothers and sisters, we learn from the previous Gospels in Matthew and Mark and Luke, especially there in Matthew and Luke, how John the Baptizer was raised by God to come and present the Messiah before Israel.

He was the forerunner. He was the one who would prepare the way of the Lord, of the Messiah, of the Redeemer. We find out in Matthew chapter 3, in those days, verse 1, came John the Baptizer, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Matthew 3 verse 2, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Repent! Turn back to God! The kingdom is coming because the king is coming, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And you notice that Matthew also quotes what Isaiah said, "This is he that was spoken by the prophet Isaiah saying, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his path straight." John was a humble man, a servant of the God of Israel.

You notice that he was not preaching in Jerusalem, in the center, in the place where God said his name, because the spiritual state was so far from what God had intended. But he was preaching in the wilderness, in the desert. He was close, he said in verse 4 of Matthew chapter 3, that John had the raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loyan, and his food was locust and a wild honey. He was living in the desert. He was prepared by God to come to introduce the Mashiach, the Messiah, the Lord Yeshua, Jesus himself. And then it says here that all Jerusalem, they went out to him, Jerusalem and all Judea and all the regions round about the Jordan, and they were baptized of him in the Jordan.

Notice that? Notice that? Confessing their sins. So everyone came down to John, to the Yarden, to the Jordan, and they were confessing their sins. They were ready now to receive the Messiah, because John was going to introduce the Messiah. So there was an element from among the people of Israel that wanted to repent. And they were confessing their sins, Matthew 3 and verse 6. Now again, the spiritual leaders of Israel, as it was told by the prophet Isaiah, they were not ready to accept the Messiah at his first coming. But there was this certain group from among the people of Israel, the ordinaries who did have an anticipation that the Messiah is coming.

Now, of course, beloved friend, you must understand that the anticipation was that the Messiah will deliver Israel out of the Roman who have oppressed our forefathers. And then they were seeking to be delivered from the Romans' oppression. But the Messiah had to come first of all to deal with the question of sin, and to pay for sin by shedding his own life when he will die as a substitute on the cross. And so many came down, as it says in Matthew 3 and verse 5, Jerusalem, Judea, the region around and about the Jordan River. They came now down to John the baptized and they were baptized of him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.

But the group that we are speaking about here in John chapter 1 who asked him these questions were they which were sent from the Pharisees, verse 24. And they continue in verse 25, and they asked him, why are you baptizing then if you are not the Messiah, if you are not Eliyahu, if you are not one of that prophet, why are you baptizing? Why are you doing that? And John answered to them, and you notice what we don't have in Matthew, we have in John, and what we don't have in John, we have in Matthew, because you can see how every evangelist presented the Messiah from another way to center the attention on the person of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah.

While Matthew presented him as the king of Israel, Mark presented him as the servant of the Lord, Luke presented him, the Messiah Yeshua, as the perfect man, but John, Yohanan, presented him as God the Son. And that's why you can see sometimes different presentation of him in different gospels, but every one of these evangelists, early Hebrew evangelists wanted to present him in a way that the Spirit of God directed them. And that's why we have these wonderful four gospels. So he answered, John 1 verse 26, John answered them saying, I baptize with water, but there standeth one among you whom ye know not. He it is who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoes latches I am not worthy to unloose.

Now you notice that in this first chapter of the gospel of John, we have the fact that John is pointing to the one that is coming after him. He who is coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe latches I am not worthy to unloose. But you notice that at the same time, if we go back to the gospel of Matthew, John, the baptizer, Yohanan Hamadbil, really charged these ones who came from the Pharisees. And he said to them in verse seven, the second half of verse seven of Matthew chapter three, he said, all generations of vipers who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come.

Bring forth therefore fruits, meat for repentance and think not to say within yourself, we have Abraham to our father. For I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Indeed, I baptize with water unto repentance. But he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoe I am not worthy to bear. He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with a fire. You notice, beloved brothers and sisters, it is extremely interesting that some of the things that Matthew have included, the gospel of John do not have it here.

And we are not presented here as through John the evangelist by the Holy Spirit of God. And there is a reason. Because John Yohanan, the apostle Yohanan, he is emphasizing in his book, the deity of the Messiah. And he's dealing more with directing the attention to the Lord Jesus and his divine person. While Matthew and Mark and Luke present Yeshua Jesus in additional aspects as the king, as the servant, as the perfect man. And there we have additional information such as, for example, in Matthew chapter 3, we read what John said to these spiritual leaders of the Pharisees. He called them generation of vipers. Who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

There is a wrath to come. There is judgment to come. He says, bring forth therefore fruit, meat for repentance. Now you see, the baptism of Yohanan Hamadbil, the baptism of John the baptizer was a baptism unto repentance. A baptism unto repentance. That is the Hebrew word teshuva. A baptism, let'shuva, to repent, to lashuv, to turn back. How often God said to Israel, shuvu, shuvu, shuvu. Return, O Israel. Return, O Israel. And today the Lord is saying to the church, to the body of Christ that have departed from him, return back to me. Turn back to me, turn back, turn back to me. Because God do not want men to turn away from him.

Even his own people who should be close to him, he doesn't want them to be away from him. That's why he says, return, shuvu, shuvu, repent. But you see, beloved friend, here we learn that the baptism of Yohanan is the baptism of repentance. Now, of course, later on, when the church was born, according to Acts chapter 2, the assembly, the ecclesia, the kehillah, Jewish and Gentiles united together in the body of Messiah of this present age in which we live in, we have what is called Christian baptism. Christian baptism, or tevilam meshichit, is the baptism in the name of the Messiah who died, was buried and rose again, is identification with the person of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, who became the head of the assembly.

But here, John was baptizing unto repentance, that Israel will repent and accept the Lord Jesus, and the kingdom will be established. But, of course, as we know, the nation of Israel as a nation did not repent nationally at that time, and the church was born. Once the church will be taken out of here, Israel will repent as a nation, and the kingdom will be established. This is seen very clearly throughout the prophetic word in the Hebrew scripture, throughout the feast that God had given to Israel, the spring feast and the fall feast. And we can see the two coming of the Messiah, the first one and the second one, in the first coming Israel will not accept Him, in the second coming Israel will accept Him.

And we live today in this church age, but here we see the first coming of the Messiah, and He's charging them to repent. And so you notice in chapter 1, He said the same word we read, He answered, He said, I baptize with water. But He that cometh is among you, whom you do not know, He who is coming after me, is preferred before me, whose shoelage I am not even worthy to unloose. Now you notice, that's why it stopped here in the Gospel of John, but in Matthew, I'm back to the Gospel of Matthew, for the connection, beloved friends. You notice there, in the Gospel of Matthew, He said additional words of judgment.

And He said, think not within yourself, O Abraham is our father, but I said to you that God is able, out of these stones, to raise up children unto Abraham. He wanted His own people to be humble before God, and to be broken before God, and to recognize it's not merely and only the physical relationship where we have with our father Abraham, but there must be both physical and spiritual, that's why He said that God is able, of these stones, to raise up children unto Abraham. And God is able, because He's God. He can do all things. We are all dust in His hands. And God is able to do all things.

And now notice what He continues in Matthew chapter 3, verse 10. And now also the axe is laid on the root of the tree. Therefore, every tree which bringeth not fruit, good fruit, is hewn down and cast into the fire. Judgment is coming for those who will reject the Messiah, Jesus, Yeshua. And notice what He says in verse 11. This is very important. I indeed baptize with water unto repentance. You notice? Tvila tshuva. Repentance. Baptism of repentance. But He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He shall baptize you. Notice with the Holy Spirit and with fire. This is very important.

Ruach ha-kodesh, the Holy Spirit, and fire. This is esh. Now, why does He mention that the Lord Yeshua, Jesus, the Messiah, going to baptize, put under, place into those that believe and those that don't? He will baptize one with the Holy Spirit, those believers, and the unbelievers with fire into judgment. And it is interesting, He is mentioning here in this text of Matthew chapter 3 and verse 11, that the fact that the Lord is a judge, the believer in Him, He will give them the person of the Holy Spirit of God, but the unbelievers, He will judge them, and they will be cast into the lake of fire.

For Matthew chapter 3, we know, as we read already earlier, that many came, as we read in verse 5, they went to Him, Jerusalem, Judea, the regions around about, they were baptized unto Him. This is the group of the repented ones from among the Jewish people in the days of John the Baptizer. But the second group was the Pharisees, the Sadducees. To them, He says, all generations of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come? So there was a group of believers, and there was a group of unbelievers. That's why the answer there was that the Lord Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah, will baptize the believer, provide for them, the person of Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit of God.

And for the unbeliever, He will cast them into fire. He will baptize them with fire, meaning with judgment. Two groups. Two groups. And today, my dear friend, in the world in which we live in, we have two groups. You're either wise or you're foolish. You're either in or you're out. You're either believer or an unbeliever. You're either saved or you're lost. You either have the Holy Spirit of God indwelling in you, and you are saved and forgiven, or you wait for the day when God will judge the unregenerated one in the lake of fire. This is sad to think about it even, even to mention it, but the Bible is so clear to warn us from the wrath to come.

Now, it is very interesting that in the Word of God, in the Scripture, we have four types of baptism mentioned. We have four types of baptism mentioned. Water baptism, spirit baptism, fire baptism, and suffering baptism. The water baptism, we find out in Matthew chapter 3, and of course here, in John chapter 1. This is water baptism. Now here, of course, it was a baptism of repentance, but there is what is known to us today as Christians or believers' baptism today in the church age. But also we have a spirit baptism. This is mentioned to us in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, that by one spirit, we are all baptized into one body.

1 Corinthians chapter 12, and verse 13. Let me read that. For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jewish or Gentiles, whether we be bound or free, and have been all made to drink into one spirit. This is spirit baptism. Spirit baptism, one received when he or she became believers. When we repented and accepted the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, as our Lord and Savior, we were born again, born of the Spirit of God. We'll read it in John chapter 3. You must be born again. There is also fire baptism, of which we read in Matthew chapter 3 and verse 11. He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

And that is the baptism of judgment for the unregenerated one, for the unbeliever who refused to accept the Lord Yeshua Jesus, the Messiah. He or she will have to suffer the consequence of sin, the wages of sin is death. But then we also have, according to Luke chapter 12 and verse 50, we have what is known the baptism of suffering, which the Messiah have experienced when he died for us on the tree, on the Roman cross. In Luke chapter 12, we read in verse 50, the Lord Yeshua said, but I have a baptism to be baptized with and how I am straitened till it be accomplished. This is the baptism of his suffering on the shameful cross.

This was given to him alone. He is the only one who suffered on the tree for the redemption of mankind. The word baptism, the word baptism simply means, lehitavel in Hebrew, to be immersed. The believers in the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, are immersed or put into by the Holy Spirit. And then because they are believers, now they will be immersed or put under the water as identification with the person of the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. This is for the believers. The unbelievers will have one day to be put under the judgment of God's fire and they will be cast into the lake of fire. And the Messiah himself, according to Luke chapter 12 and verse 50, had a baptism.

He was placed under, put into the judgment that we deserve. He took upon himself and he was judged by God. The face of God turned away from him and Yeshua cried, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? He bore our sins in his body on the cross. God turned his face away from him, a holy God, turned away from him, his face from him when he judged him on the cross. And the three hours of darkness, at the end of it, where we read, and he cried with a loud voice, my God, my God, Elohi, Elohi, lama azavtani. Yeshua, the Lord Jesus, cried on that shameful cross where he bore our sins in his body on the tree.

And every one of us who is a believer today, all our sins so great and so many, he took it upon himself, our blessed Lord, Yeshua the Messiah, who took away the sin of this world. And that's why it is so important to turn to him, to recognize that he is indeed the anointed one, the Mashiach, the Messiah, the Christ, the Christos, the Savior, the Redeemer. And if you turn to him, you will be so blessed to be forgiven and have eternal life. Lord, let's go back to John 1. And you notice in John chapter 1, we continue, and he responded to them, those who came from the Pharisees, when he said to them, he it is whose coming is after me, he is preferred before me, whose shoes latchet, I am not worthy to unloose.

He recognized, John the baptizer recognized that the one that is coming is greater than anyone here. He is the one that he said, I'm not even worthy. Shoes, I'm not even worthy to unloose. Because John recognized that he is but a man. He is a sinful man. But the Messiah is the eternal Son of God, the sinless man. He was introducing, he was the messenger, he was the forerunner who present the Messiah himself. Now notice that it says in verse 28, John 1, 28, these things were done in Beit Averah, beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing. You notice that the word Beit Averah, it comes from the word bayit, house in Hebrew.

Averah is where you are crossing over. It's very interesting. Abraham was called the first Hebrew. If you remember, in Genesis chapter 14, we read that Abraham was the one, in verse 13 of Genesis 14, 13 it said, and there came one which had escaped and told Abraham the Hebrew, the Aver, or the Ivri. That's how you get the word Hebrew. It's come from Genesis 14 and verse 13. He was the crosser over, the Over, the crossing over. He crossed when God told him already in chapter 12 that he said to Abraham, get thee out of thy country, out from thy kindred, out from your father's house, unto a land which I will show thee of.

And Abraham Abraham had to cross over the Euphrates and come into the promised land, to the land of Israel. Well, you notice how interesting because in John chapter 1, the place where Yohanan Amadbil, John the baptizer, baptized Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah, it was in Beit Avera. You notice the same word crossing the Jordan this time. it's right there in the wilderness of Judea where he baptized those that came to be baptized by him. Beit Avera is mentioned in the book of Judges. It's on the other side of Jordan in Judges 7 verse 24. It is mentioned also a little bit later on in John chapter 10. There in verse 40 it says and I'm just going to read this verse and they went away again beyond Jordan.

The word beyond a cross to cross over Beit Avera into a place where John at first baptized and there he abode. So it's very interesting. Sometimes they call it Bethany beyond the Jordan but the more correct word is Beit Avera and we simply mean the house across of the Jordan river. So this was the first day when John the baptizer was there baptizing those from among Judea and Jerusalem who came to be baptized by him to prepare the way and repent and get ready for the Messiah Yeshua to come.

Notice now we immediately it says notice verse 29 the next day the next day but you notice John Yohanan does not mention what happened on the previous day on the day when everybody came down from Judea from Jerusalem if you remember and from the surrounding areas they went down to him to be baptized they were baptized by him according to Matthew chapter 3 verse 6 they confess their sins also at the same time you remember the questions that were given to him by the Pharisees and the ones who came from Jerusalem asking him who are you why are you baptizing but you notice it's very interesting that John does not mention the actual baptism of

Yeshua himself while Matthew mentioned this and the gospel of Luke is mentioned this as well in more details but just to mention this for the benefit of us all it says in verse 13 of Matthew chapter 3 then cometh Yeshua from Galilee to the Jordan unto John to be baptized of him and John forbade him saying I have need to be baptized of thee and cometh thou unto me Yohanan said to Yeshua and Jesus answered a senator to him suffer it to be so now for thus it becometh to fulfill all righteousness then he suffered him you see the Lord Jesus the Lord Yeshua identified with the people of Jerusalem with the people of Judea

with the people who came from the region about who repented confessing their sins they wanted a restoration and he identified with these remnant of Israel in those days and thank God that there were those in those days that were anticipating the coming of the Messiah they wanted to be restored back to God so Yeshua said allow this to happen John for now it becomes to fulfill all righteousness it's the right thing to do I'm going to be allowing you to baptize me he didn't need to be baptized Yeshua Yeshua didn't need to confess their sins because there was no sin in him he was about 30 years of age by now he lived a perfect

life he was born to the virgin Miriam he was sinless one and yet he identified with the people of Israel who wanted to repent and confess their sins and wanted to be restored back to the Lord and so notice what we read in verse 16 of Matthew chapter 3 Yeshua when he was baptized he went up straightway out of the water and Lord the heavens were opened unto him and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him notice that God the Holy Spirit in a form or in an appearance of the dove came and lightened upon the person of Yeshua the Messiah who just came out of the water

of baptism and then the voice from heaven came this is the voice of God the Father who said this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased you know this is also very precious because in these two verses Matthew 3 16 and 17 we see the whole three persons of the Godhead God the Son as man Yeshua Jesus coming out of the water in the Jordan river God the Spirit in the form of a dove coming and lighting upon the person of the Lord Yeshua Jesus the Messiah as man and God the Father speaks from heaven the heavens are open and God the Father declares publicly this is my beloved son in whom

I am well pleased this is so precious to read beloved friends as we read this in verse 17 it says in the Hebrew it says ze bni yedidi asher atzitibo this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased God was so pleased with this beloved son of his who is now as men living here upon the face of this world what an amazing amazing declaration and so while Matthew presented in Matthew chapter 3 John does not mention it and you notice now the next day we are now back in John 1 verse 29 to verse 34 now John Yohanan pointing to the person of the Lord Jesus the Messiah the following day after

his tevila after his baptizing and he presents him as the Lamb of God and so we read in verse 29 the next day John sees Jesus coming unto him and says behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of this world beautiful beautiful description beloved friend this is the Lamb of God that John is pointing to right now in verse 29 the following day behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of this world this is the one who is the seed of the woman of Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15 he is the one who is the seed of Abraham of whom we read in Hebrews he is the one

who is the seed of David of whom we read in the book of Roman chapter 1 he friend he is the Lamb of God but when you think about a lamb you think about a four legged animal you think a four legged lamb that Israel our people throughout the ages have killed in obedience to God in order to provide forgiveness of sin to make atonement but this time it's not a four legged lamb or an animal but it's two legged men whose name is Yeshua and now John Yohanan says behold the lamb behold the lamb the lamb of God who taketh away the sin of this world in Isaiah chapter 53 we read in verse

6 all we like sheep have gone astray we have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord laid upon him the iniquities of us all look at verse 7 he was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth listen he was brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before a shearer is dumb so he openeth not his mouth this is the lamb of God this is the one of whom Isaiah was speaking in Isaiah 53 in verses 7 and 8 he is the one of whom we read in Isaiah 53 and verse 10 yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him he has put him to grief

when thou shall make his soul an offering for sin he shall see his seed he shall prolong his day and and and and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand beloved friends beloved brothers and sisters behold the lamb of God this exclamation that John the baptizer proclaimed concerning the person of our Lord Jesus the Lord Yeshua the Messiah is a fulfillment of what was written in days of old you remember when our forefathers the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt in Exodus chapter 12 God said to them in verse 3 speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel saying in a tenth day of this month they shall

take to them every man a lamb according to the house of their fathers a lamb for a house verse 5 of Exodus 12 says your lamb shall be without blemish a male the first year young male and it will be one of your sheep or from your goats and you will keep it up until the 14th day of the same month and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it the lamb in the evening you see God said to Israel you must take a lamb you must kill the lamb you must take the blood apply it to the doorpost and the lintel and when I see the blood I will pass over

you that that's the lamb that was pointing to the Mashiach the four legged lambs that were killed throughout the history of our people Israel the animals were but a picture and a type and a message again and again to point to the time of the fullness of the time when the lamb of God God's lamb will come to this world and so we read beloved friends in John chapter 1 and verse 29 the proclamation John the baptizer says behold the lamb of God which taketh away the sin of this world it's a beautiful statement in Hebrew it's called Hine Se Ha Elohim Se Ha Elohim the lamb of God Han Nose Et Chata Ha Olam

he takes away he's not only covering sin he's not only atoning for sin but he takes sin away he's gonna take sin away when he's gonna die he will remove sin from the presence of God as far as the east is from the west he's the lamb of God the man God became a man and as man a sinless man he had to become that lamb of God that will take upon himself the sin of this world this is exactly what the angel said to Yosef speaking speaking about the birth of the son of Miriam she chapter 1 verse 21 of the gospel of Matthew and she shall bring forth a son and and thou

you yourself shall call his name Yeshua why for he shall save his people from their sins how he must become say a lamb that will take upon himself the sin of this world when he gonna die as a substitute on a Roman cross the just for the unjust in order to bring us to God and so that was the next day the second day after the baptism now the next day John see Jesus coming to him and he proclaiming and he said behold the lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world and this is he of whom I said after me cometh a man which is preferred before me for he was

before me in other words John is saying I told you earlier that he was the one that is coming after me he is preferred before me he is preferred before me he is preferred before me and so beloved friends as we read here when the Lord Yeshua came and here we find out that John recognized and John admitted you can read of it in Luke chapter one that the Lord Jesus the Messiah was born after John yet he was a pre-existent one who existed long before John he was ever there in eternity past as God the son and so we read in in in in verse 31 of our chapter John came to present Yeshua

the Messiah before Israel that's why we read I knew him not but that he should be made manifest to Israel therefore am I come baptizing with water amazing he says I noticed that it's very interesting because he says here in verse 31 that he should be made manifest to Israel Israel have heard have experienced have seen him when he came he lived among the people of Israel for these 33 33 and a half years and John came to be the announcer he announced the coming of the Messiah before Israel he manifested Christ the Messiah before Israel that's why he was baptizing in the Jordan River and so in verse 32 he bore record of what

he have seen look at the record look what he says in verse 32 and John bear record saying I saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove and it abode upon him he is giving us in such a in a short way in a small way in verse that one verse he's telling us what happened when the Lord was in a water of baptism in the Jordan river I saw the Holy Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and abode upon him he saw and notice what he said I saw the spirit he doesn't say I saw the dove I saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove he received a special revelation

from God to see glimpse of the person of the Holy Spirit of God descending from heaven like in appearance of a dove and abiding upon the person of Yeshua and he continued that's so beautiful verses 33 and 34 John did not know but God pointed this to him on his own he couldn't know unless God gave him this revelation you know all the prophets throughout history receive special revelation from God John the apostle received the whole book of revelation of the Lord Jesus that he saw special revelations that was specifically given to him from God Daniel saw special revelation that was given to him by God Ezekiel saw special revelation that was given to him

by God Isaiah we saw special revelation that was given to him by God Shaul Paul saw special revelation that was given to him by God by the Lord and that's why in verse 33 John said and I knew him not I didn't know him but he this is God that sent me to baptize with water the same said unto me upon whom thou shalt see the spirit descending and remaining on him the same is he which baptized with the Holy Spirit in other words John heard the voice of the Lord who called him that's why in Malachi chapter 3 we read behold my messenger I will send my messenger God says through the prophet Malachi

about John the baptizer that he will be his messenger and he will present the Lord before Israel and so here John said I did not know him I did not know Yeshua but he that sent me to baptize with water he the same said unto me upon whom thou shall see the spirit notice it is so interesting it doesn't say upon whom thou shall see the dove but John understood that the person that is now descending and remaining on the Lord Yeshua this man Yeshua is the Holy Spirit of God who came in the form of a dove but it was God who revealed this to him and now notice beloved brothers and sisters here

it is and I just want us to see the climax here and John said in verse 34 as he pointing to Yeshua Jesus as the Lamb of God he said in verse 34 he says and I saw I was told by God that I will see it and indeed I saw and I bear witness that this is the Son of God I saw I bear record that this is Son of God and you remember beloved brothers and sisters and dear friends this is exactly what the Gospel of John is seeking to present before us the person of the Lord Jesus the Messiah who is the Son of God who is God the Son again I'm

referring you to John 20 and verse 31 these are written that ye might believe that Yeshua is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his name I wrote the Gospel of Yohanan John for one express purpose that you believe that Jesus is indeed the Messiah and that also you will understand that he is God the Son of God and by believing on him you will have life through his name so verse 34 of John 1 and I saw and bear record that this is the Son of God let's remind me of the beautiful verses that are found in the Psalms in Psalm in the second Psalm we read

concerning the Son of God in Psalm chapter 2 and verse 7 we read I will declare a decree the Lord saith unto me thou art my son this day have I begotten thee ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession thou shalt break them with a rod of iron thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel at the end of the second psalm the spirit of God is appealing to man saying kiss the son kiss the son son of God nashkubar lest he be angry and he perish from the way this is beautiful to see how the prophets

of Israel in days of old have pointed to the fact that the Lord Yeshua Jesus is indeed the Messiah the son of God we read in the book of Proverbs in chapter 30 we read this verse notice this beautiful verse there concerning the son we read in verse 4 who has ascended up unto heaven or descended who has gathered the winds in his feasts who has bound the waters in a garment who has established all the ends of the earth well the answer of course is God who else and then the question continue what is his name and what is his son's name if you can tell can you tell what is his name and

what is his son's name Agur and Yakeh have asked and so here in Proverbs 30 and verse 4 the question what is his name and and what is his son's name John is telling us that this son is Yeshua the Messiah Matthew says you shall call his name Yeshua Jesus for he shall save his people from their sin and I saw and I bear record John is saying that this is the son of God and just before we're going to conclude with this if you remember the Lord Yeshua the Messiah himself asked his disciples when he was with them in the north of Israel in chapter 16 of the gospel of Matthew we read in

verse 13 he asked his disciples whom do men say that I the son of man am and they said this is his disciples they answered Yeshua and they said some say that you are Yohanan referring to Yohanan Amatbil others said that you are Eliyahu Elijah referring to what Malachi was prophesying about him coming Elijah that will come to introduce the Messiah others said that you are Jeremiah and or one of the prophets maybe what Moshe wrote in Deuteronomy chapter 18 as well a prophet like unto me so Yeshua said unto them but whom do ye say that I am and notice what Simon Peter answered and said and Simon Peter answered and said thou are

the Mashiach thou are the Christ the Christos the Messiah and he doesn't stop there he continued and he said the Son of the living God and indeed my dear friends this is exactly what John the apostle seeked to present before the hearers and the readers that God became a man in the person of the Son and his name was Jesus he is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world and one must believe on him in order to receive forgiveness of sins and John said and I saw and bear record that this is the Son of God how wonderful to know that Yeshua Jesus is the Son of God who loved

us came down from heaven in order to provide redemption for us and here we are introduced to him by John the baptizer who proclaimed behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world well we pray and we trust that as you follow through with these messages concerning the person of the Lord Jesus presented in the gospel of John that you everyone that hears the word of the Lord will ponder and consider to come to recognize their need of a Savior the need of the Messiah and to turn their hearts to him this is the Lord Jesus the Lamb of God God the Son who became a man and would give himself

as the Lamb of God well may the Lord bless his word Shalom Shalom