Ken Fleming is faculty emeritus at Emmaus Bible College. For twenty-five years he was a missionary in South Africa among the Zulu people. From 1977 to 2002 he was head of the Missions department at Emmaus. He continues an active ministry of preaching and writing.
Part 5: The Completion Of John’s Ministry
John 3:22-30
The Morning Star Fades
The pinnacle of John’s ministry had passed when he had identified Jesus as the Lamb of God to two of his disciples. Those two disciples then left John and followed Jesus. Their action characterized the last phase of John’s ministry. His ministry would diminish and Jesus’ ministry would increase. The biblical record does not tell us of any more meetings they had. So as far as we know, John never saw Jesus again.
Following the events of John chapters 1 through 3:21, Jesus and his little group of disciples left the city of Jerusalem to engage in public ministry in Judea (3:22). All we know about this early Judean ministry is that he remained in Judea, preaching the kingdom of God and baptizing those who responded. Actually, his disciples did the baptizing (3:22, cf. 4:1). People in Judea had no doubt heard of the miracles he had done in Jerusalem (3:23). Public interest in him grew as they concluded that he was the one whom John had introduced as the Lamb of God and the Son of God. He preached and baptized on the Judean side (or western side) of the Jordan River.
Meanwhile, John kept on with his ministry. He was now located in Perea, preaching and baptizing in Aenon (3:23 cf. v. 26). Jesus and John were relatively near each other, so the people could see the association, but separate to mark the transition from John, the forerunner, to Jesus the Messiah. Both Jesus and John continued preaching and baptizing for some months until shortly before Herod the Tetrarch (Herod Antipas) arrested John. During this time, John’s popularity was slowly ebbing away while that of Jesus was increasing (4:1). John was like the morning star that precedes the dawn, fading away as the sun rises. John announced Jesus as the Dayspring (Sunrise), and then his star gradually dimmed (Luke 1:78).
The Question About Baptism (John 3:25-36)
The Controversy, VV. 25-36
Therefore there arose a discussion on the part of John’s disciples with a Jew about purification. And they came to John and said to him, “ Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, He is baptizing and all are coming to Him.”During the overlapping ministries of John and Jesus, a dispute occurred between some of John’s disciples and “the Jews,” or more probably, “a Jew” (v. 25, NASB). This Jew may have been a Pharisee and seemed to be deliberately controversial. The subject of the dispute was “purification.” The Jew probably asked them why he should join those who were being baptized in water by John. He may have been thinking about various washings that were taught by the Pharisees and also the Essene community not far away at Qumran. (Essenses were Jewish groups that believed in a communal, simple, but strict religious way of life). So it appears he provoked John’s disciples by asking why it was necessary for John to have another ceremony with water, like baptism. He asked, if John’s baptism was important, then what about the greater number of people baptized by Jesus?
John’s disciples were offended, especially that their master was being regarded in second place. Hadn’t John baptized and introduced Jesus? And now Jesus was preaching the kingdom message and becoming more popular, baptizing more people than John. The Jew tried his best to stir up resentment against Jesus. John’s disciples were incensed and went to him. “Look,” they said, “Behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!” (3:26). They wanted John to do something about being overshadowed by Jesus.
John Exalts Jesus (John 3:27-30)
John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven. You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent ahead of Him.’ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full. He must increase, but I must decrease.”John’s reply to his disciples exemplifies his humility. John’s character stood out as a man of God when he called on the nation to repent, when he dared to accuse Herod Antipas of his immoral relationship with Herodias, and when he announced Jesus as the Lamb of God. But his godly character never shined as brightly as it did when he refused to listen to the complaints of his disciples that Jesus was gaining more disciples that he was. He brushed aside every tempting thought of envy regarding the growing crowds coming to Jesus. He simply said to them, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven” (v. 27). He knew that God was ultimately in control of his life. Any accomplishments made by him or anyone else were God’s doing.
If Jesus baptized more people, or gathered more disciples than he did, then those disciples had been given by God in heaven. John’s disciples had tried to use John’s witness about Jesus to put him in a better light. But he reminded them that when he gave witness that Jesus was the Son of God, he was acknowledging Jesus as greater. He reminded them that they were there as witnesses when he told the Jewish priests and Levites, “I am not the Christ” (1:20). John went further to identify Jesus as the Christ (3:28). With his miracles, like the changing of water into wine, Jesus had begun to show his glory. Now John stated clearly that Jesus was the Christ. John’s only claim was, “I have been sent ahead of Him.” The “man sent from God” to introduce the Christ had completed the work for which he had been sent (John 1:6, 3:28).
The Friend Of The Bridegroom (3:29)
John further explained to his disciples that his role was to be subordinate to Jesus. He referred to Jesus as the Bridegroom who had come to claim his bride, the believers of Israel. John’s role was to be the friend of the Bridegroom. It was to make the prior arrangements for the wedding, to bring the bride to the Bridegroom, to serve the Bridegroom at the wedding, and to rejoice when the Bridegroom and the bride were brought together.
All this was a wonderful picture of John’s role in connection with the Messiah. He had prepared for “the wedding,” and he could only rejoice when the Bridegroom arrived to claim his bride. So he said to his disciples, “So this joy of mine has been made full” (3:29). John could honestly say that what his disciples brought as a complaint was what filled his cup with joy. It takes a servant’s heart to understand that his role is to glorify his master, and then to make it his greatest joy when his master receives honor while he fades out of the picture.
“He Must Increase, But I Must Decrease” (3:30)
John’s last words recorded for us in Scripture, and his final witness of Christ, were, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” He knew that his life’s calling had been fulfilled and that now he would quietly retire into obscurity. John used the word “must” to speak of the necessity of the increasing importance of Christ and his own decreasing importance in the eyes of men. For John his servant role would culminate in his imprisonment and murder, while for Christ it would end in his ascension and glory. John’s diminishing acclaim would bring a fitting close to the old order with the preeminence of law, while Jesus’ increasing acclaim would bring a fitting beginning to the new order with the preeminence of grace.
John’s role of bringing honor to Christ also illustrates the principle of spiritual progress in our Christian lives. All of us are hindered by the love of self, and we tend to focus much more on ourselves than on God’s dear Son. There must be a willing and glad renunciation of self in order to love Christ as we should. We must press on until we can say with Paul, “No longer I…but Christ” (Gal. 2:20), and with John, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”
The Preeminence Of Christ (John 3:31-36)
Scholars have long debated about the origin of the final six verses of John 3. Are they the continuing words of John the Baptist to his disciples or are they the commentary of John, the author of the gospel, writing fifty years later in reflection upon John the Baptist’s words? We cannot resolve that debate in these studies, but a summary of the content should be included because the passage is closely connected with John the Baptist.
He who comes from above is above all, he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. What He has seen and heard, of that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. He who has received His testimony has set his seal to this, that God is true. For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.
Verses 31-26 enlarge on this theme of “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Christ is preeminent because:
- He is from heaven and is above everything and everyone. He is perfect and omniscient. He is contrasted with John who is of the earth and born of earthly parents. Being earthly, John speaks of things that pertain to the earth (3:31).
- He was able to witness to all that he was familiar with in heaven; he had a far higher vantage point than prophets who have neither seen nor heard anything in heaven. Their witness is via the Holy Spirit (3:32). And even when Christ testifies from his perfect vantage point, some people do not receive his testimony because they are too earthly. When it says that no one believes in him, it is comparatively speaking. The next verse shows that a few do believe.
- The witness that God is true can be certified by the few that do receive him. They may not fully understand everything they hear, but they believe it because God said it (3:33).
- The Son speaks the words of God in the fullness of the Spirit of God, not by measure or in a limited way (3:34). The Spirit had previously come on people for limited times and tasks. John himself had received the Spirit from his mother’s womb for his special task (Luke 1:15). But John had witnessed the Spirit come on Jesus and “remain” on him in all his fullness (John 1:32).
- As the Son he has received all things from the Father who loves him and bestows everything on him (v. 35).
The Final Days Of John’s Ministry
John Training His Disciples To Fast And Pray (Luke 5:33, 11:1)
And they said to Him, “The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the disciples of the Pharisees also do the same, but Yours eat and drink” (5:33).
It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples” (11:1).John not only preached repentance to the nation, he also trained disciples. A disciple is a committed and disciplined follower of a teacher or master. During his ministry it appears that people had followed him as his disciples, learning to be more like him. When John introduced Jesus as the Lamb of God, some of his disciples left him to follow Jesus, but others stayed with him loyally to the end (John 1:43-49). They learned to fast and pray from John as they looked for the coming kingdom (Luke 5:33, 11:1). Fasting is the giving up or abstaining from food as a religious discipline to focus on praise and prayer.
John also taught his disciples to pray. His godly upbringing, priestly training, time alone in the wilderness, and pressure of ministry had no doubt stimulated his own prayer life. His confrontation with enemies demanded that he be a man of prayer for strength to stand up for righteousness. Thus he taught his disciples to pray as he prayed. It was his example that prompted the disciples of Jesus to ask him to teach them to pray also (Luke 11:1).
John And Herod Antipas
The ministries of Jesus in Judea and John in Perea overlapped for the next three months (John 3:24). It was during this period that John had answered his disciples’ question about the preaching of Jesus, as we have noted. The governor, or tetrarch, of Perea and Galilee was Herod Antipas. He was a son of Herod the Great, the Roman ruler of Palestine when Jesus was born. When Herod the Great died, Herod Antipas became a tetrarch, which means “ruler of one fourth.” He was assigned one fourth of Herod the Great’s dominion. His part of Palestine was Galilee and Perea. He ruled from 4 bc to 39 bc and held court in both Tiberias in Galilee and in the fortress of Machaerus east of the Dead Sea. He was a despotic ruler who was known for his sensuality, unpredictability, and cruelty. He had married the daughter of Aretas, king of Petra. On a visit to Rome he became infatuated with Herodias, the wife of his half-brother Philip (Mark 6:17). He married Herodias, and she compelled him to divorce the daughter of Aretas. He complied, but lived to regret it when King Aretas led a successful military attack against him some years later.
When John was attracting people by the thousands to come to the Jordan valley, we can be sure that Herod’s spies were reporting it to the palace. When John began preaching in Herod’s territory east of the Jordan, Herod became more watchful. From the reports he received, he had become fascinated by John the Baptist as a “righteous and holy man” and wanted to meet him. He was evidently impressed by John’s righteous character (Mark 6:20). He may have thought that it would be politically expedient to let it be known that he had met with John. It might divert people’s attention away from their dislike of him.
The Arrest And Imprisonment Of John At Machaerus (Mark 6:17-20)
For Herod himself had sent and had John arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, because he had married her. For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death and could not do so; for Herod was afraid of John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. And when he heard him, he was very perplexed; but he used to enjoy listening to him.Herodias schemed to have John the Baptist killed by manipulating her wicked husband Herod. It was similar to the time in ancient Israel when Jezebel schemed to have her weak and wicked husband kill the prophet Elijah (1 Kings 21:15-25). Unlike Jezebel, however, Herodias succeeded in her plan.
It was not long before Herodias had influenced Herod into having John arrested and imprisoned in the dungeon of the fortress Machaerus. What a torment it must have been for John, the free-spirited desert wanderer, to be bound in a stone dungeon!
Herod, however, was still fascinated by John and was sorry that he had been pressured to put John in the dungeon, and so he protected him (Mark 6:20). He feared John as a prophet of God and a righteous man. He also feared the common people, who viewed John as a prophet (Matt. 14:5; 21:26). He feared the scheming of Herodias, who was waiting for an opportunity to have John killed. From time to time Herod had John brought to his court and “heard him gladly” (Mark 6:20). He was caught between the righteous influence of John on his own conscience and the wicked influence of Herodias. He may have tried to get John to offer some kind of apology as an excuse to release him. No such apology came. John stood tall on the truth of the marriage bond that Herod had broken. He had rebuked the Pharisees (Matthew 3:7). He had reproved the publicans and soldiers (Luke 3:12-14). There was no chance he would compromise. Even Jesus used John as an example, saying that he was no “reed shaken in the wind” (Luke 7:24).
God’s People Imprisoned For Their Faith
John was not the first—or the last—of God’s people to be imprisoned for their faith and the truth. God needs Christians today who are willing to stand up for righteousness and take the consequences that might result. The Bible describes at least twenty-five people who were unjustly imprisoned because they stood up for God and righteousness. Think of Joseph and Jeremiah, just two examples. Today there are literally thousands of God’s servants in many countries of the world who are in prison for their faith. Everything we can do to be of encouragement to them is needed. Jesus taught that the world would hate us. He said that if the world persecuted him, it would also persecute his followers (John 15:19). John kept the faith, even in prison.
Like John, if we focus on Christ’s person and glory, then we can accept the circumstances that God may allow. We should stand up for Christ and his righteousness at whatever cost. And we should establish a personal goal that Christ must increase and I must decrease, even to the extent of finding joy in this, as John did.
Notes
- This series of devotional studies on John the Baptist which have appeared in The Emmaus Journal is now published as a correspondence course by ECS. Ministries.
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