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THE KING’S BUSINESS
there is probably an allusion to the Old Testament prophecy concerning John found in Mai. 3:1, “Behold, 1 will1send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me.” In any event, whether John intended it or not, John the Bap tist was the fulfilment of this prophecy. V. 7. “The same came for a witness, to (rather, “that he might”) bear wit ness to that (rather “the”) light, that all men through him might believe." In verse 6 we have a description of John as a person; here we have a state ment of his mission, “He came for testi mony” (or, “witness”)—the “a” ought to be omitted before witness. The pur pose of John the Baptist’s coming was not to make 'himself known but to make another known. Testimony to another was not only the purpose of God in send ing him, but also the entire absorbing thought and passion of John’s own life (cf. ch. 3:30-32). All the prophets of the old dispensation came for witness to the coming Christ (“The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy,” Rev. 19:10); but John came with a clearer and fuller testimony than all who had gone before him. That to which he ■bore testimony was “the Light,” not merely Light, but “the Light.” That is to say, John bore witness not merely to truth in general, but to the Person who was the incarnation of truth and light (cf. ch. 8:12). The final purpose of John’s testimony was that “all might believe through him.” By the “all” John brings out the world-wide scope of God’s purpose, that He had not only Israel in view in the coming of John the Baptist and Christ, but all nations. The Old Testament prophets had, in a measure, prepared the way for the extension of the call of God’s grace to the nations outside Israel, (see for example Isa. 49:6), but John the Baptist as the last of the prophets delivered the message which in its substance was not confined to any one people but was universal. “He spoke to men as men; outward descent, nation al privileges, disappeared from their place in the divine order from the time of his preaching. The basis of his preaching was repentance—inner self-re nunciation—the end was faith.” John the Baptist’s testimony still goes on and men of all lands are being brought to faith through him. The Greek noun which is rendered “witness” and the cor responding Greek verb which is rend ered “bear witness” in this verse are favorite words with John. The noun and verb are used 38 times in the Gospel,
17 times in John’s Epistles and 18 times in the Revelation. Men are not asked to believe blindly (as some would have us think) but upon sufficient and abundant testimony. From the saving power of John thé Baptist’s testimony none were excluded who did not exclude themselves (Luke 7:30). The one thing that God demands of men is faith (Heb. 11:6; John 6:29), and the one act which God seeks by His gracious sending of His messengers is to bring men to faith (cf. Rom. 10:17). Why is it that John came? Why is it that all messengers of God are sent’ That men “might believe.” John him self wrote his Gospel for the same pur pose for which John the Baptist came— that men might “believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that, believ ing they might have life in His name.” (John 20:31). V. 8. “He was not that (rather, “the”) light but was sent to (rather, “came that he might”) bear witness to that (rather, “the”) light.” While John only came for testimony concerning the Light, many were disposed to accept him as be ing himself the Light. Many of his own disciples were piqued when they saw their fellow-disciples leaving John the Baptist and going to Jesus (ch. 3:25,26). So John here emphasizes the fact that while John the Baptist was a messenger sent from God and came for estimony that men might believe, that after all he was not himself the Light, but simply a wit ness concerning the Light. John was only a lamp (cf. ch. 5:35 R. V.) our Lord Jesus was the Light itself. This eighth verse is a protest against the spirit of hero-worship that is found in all ages; the human heart loves to exalt some fellow human being into the posi tion that the Lord Jesus alone has a right to occupy. Over and over again people take a minister of the Gospel, or teacher, whose sole work is to bear wit ness to another as the one upon whom they would center their faith and their affections. Many a professed Christian today really worships the witness rather than the divine Lord concerning Whom he is supposed to bear testimony. John himself never claimed to be anything but a witness (vs. 22, 23 cf. ch. 3:28-30). Some of his disciples sought to exalt him into the place of the Light itself. Every minister of the Word today needs to be on his guard lest the people seek to exalt him into a position that He alone has a right to occupy who is the One to whom he bears witness. It is a sig-
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