John 1:31. And I knew him not: but that be may be made manifest to Israel, therefore came I, baptizing in water. The explanation of the first clause of this verse will be best given when we come to John 1:33. The object which the Baptist here assigns for his work of baptizing may at first sight seem to be different from that mentioned in the earlier Gospels, where he is spoken of as sent to prepare the way of the Lord. Attention to the words used by John will remove all difficulty. ‘Israel' is not to be limited to the Jewish nation. It embraces the true theocracy of God, neither Jews nor Gentiles as such, but all who will believe (comp. on John 1:47; John 1:49) ‘Made manifest,' again, is not a mere outward manifestation, but a revelation of Jesus as He is. Thus the meaning of the words is not, ‘I baptize in water in order that Jesus may come to my baptism, and may there receive a testimony from on high;' but, ‘I baptize that I may declare the necessity of that forsaking of sin without which no true manifestation of Jesus can be made to the heart.' The words in their real meaning, therefore, are in perfect harmony with the accounts of the Synoptists. The advance of thought from the unrecognised Jesus of John 1:26 to the ‘made manifest' of John 1:31 is obvious. It corresponds with the ‘standeth' of John 1:26, and the ‘coming unto' him of John 1:29; with the fact, also, that the one is the first, the other the second, testimony of the Baptist.

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Old Testament