If anyone should have known that Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah, it should have been John the Baptist! Right? He had more reason to know than anyone else. His mother Elizabeth knew (Luke 1:43). His first encounter with Jesus, although in the womb, caused him much joy (Luke 1:44). He was prophesied to come in the spirit of Elijah and prepare a people for the Lord as foretold in Malachi 4:5 (Luke 1:17). He knew he was the voice of one crying in the wilderness as prophesied by Isaiah in 40:3 (John 1:23). Jesus was a close relative of John. John knew exactly that he was called to announce Messiah’s arrival. And yet, to our surprise, John confesses twice that he did not know who was the Christ! (cf John 1:31,33)
So why didn’t John know? Apparently familiarity is not sufficient to discern the Son of God. Apparently spirituality is not sufficient to discern the Son of God. In fact, that’s exactly what John the Baptist tells the religious leaders when they question him. He says, “among you stands one you do not know” (John 1:26).
This is the problem of humanity as John has already described for us in his Gospel account. We exist in a sinful, spiritual darkness that hides the light of the glory of the Son of God from our eyes (1:5). Even in His coming into the world, the world did not know Him (1:10). We simply do not have the spiritual capacity, if left on our own, to see in Jesus the glory of the only Son of God! Even if we have every human advantage, such as John the Baptist, we would still have to honestly admit as he did, “I myself did not know him” (1:33).
How then does John come to know that Jesus is the Son of God, clothed in flesh, here on earth to give His life for the salvation of sinners? How did he come to know that with such absolute certainty he would look to the man Jesus and cry, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (1:29)!
The answer is found in the mercy and grace of God. Verses 32-33 explain how God revealed to John the Baptist that Jesus was the Messiah! It came from God, not from John! God opened his eyes. God revealed it to him. And after God had shown John that Jesus was His Son, John declared with bold faith that the man Jesus was none other than “the Son of God” (1:34)! It was the same for Simon Peter in Matthew 16 when he declared that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 16:17). God, in grace, revealed it to Simon Peter, and he was eternally, richly blessed! God, in grace, revealed it to John the Baptist, and he was eternally, richly blessed. And John the Apostle teaches us in the opening verses of his Gospel that that’s how God saves everyone who is saved - by graciously revealing His Son to them. That’s how we go from not knowing (1:10) to receiving (1:12)! That’s what John means when he says, “who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (1:13).
John the Baptist’s testimony, Simon Peter’s testimony, and the testimony of all those who are in Christ is “for by grace we have been saved through faith. And this IS NOT OUR OWN DOING; it IS the gift of God” (Eph 2:8).
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