John 3:28

Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. YE YOURSELVES BEAR ME WITNESS, THAT I SAID, I AM NOT THE CHRIST, BUT THAT I AM SENT BEFORE HIM....

28._You are witnesses to me. _John expostulates with his disciples that they did not give credit to his statements. He had often warned them that he was not the Christ; and, therefore, it only remained that he should be a servant and subject to the Son of God along with others. And this passage is worthy of notice; for, by affirming _that he is not the Christ_, he reserves nothing for himself but to be subject to the head, and to serve in the Church as one of the rest, and not to be so highly exalted as to obscure the honor of the Head. He says that _he was sent before, _to prepare the way for Christ, as kings are wont to have heralds or forerunners....

22-36 John was fully satisfied with the place and work assigned him; but Jesus came on a more important work. He also knew that Jesus would increase in honour and influence, for of his government and peace there would be no end, while he himself would be less followed. John knew that Jesus came from heaven as the Son of God, while he was a sinful, mortal man, who could only speak about the more plain subjects of religion. The words of Jesus were the words of God; he had the Spirit, not by measure, as the prophets, but in all fulness. Everlasting life could only be had by faith in Him, and might be thus obtained; whereas all those, who believe not in the Son of God, cannot partake of salvation, but the wrath of God for ever rests upon them....

BEAR ME WITNESS - You remember that at first I told you I was not the Messiah. As he had been “witness” to Jesus - as he came for no other end but to point him out to the Jews, they ought not to suppose that he was his superior. It was but reasonable to expect that Christ himself would be more successful than his forerunner. “I came, not to form a separate party, a special sect, but to prepare the way that he might be more successful, and that the people might be ready for his coming, and that he might have the success which he has actually met with. You should rejoice, therefore, at that success, and not envy it, for ‘his success’ is the best proof of the greatness of my word, and of its ‘success also.’”...

EXPOSITION This is the first of the eleven discourses recorded by this evangelist, and for the most part addressed to the cultivated, hierarcical party in Jerusalem, who questioned him in an unfriendly spirit. On the sources of these records, and the degree to which John's subjectivity coloured his record of them, see Introduction. JOHN 3:1 BUT THERE WAS A MAN OF THE PHARISEES. Is this narrative introduced, as Baur thinks, to give a specimen of wrongly directed faith, to which Christ did _not _entrust himself? and was the evangelist busy at once on his great mission of undervaluing the Jewish parties and nation? Certainly not. We have a clear proof that, in the case of the genuine inquirer, Christ did open His very heart; and to a "ruler of Jews," to a "Pharisee," to a "teacher of Israel," he deigne

YE YOURSELVES BEAR ME WITNESS,.... In what they now said, and referred to, in describing Christ, as he to whom John bore witness; and he appeals to them for what he said in their presence, and before all the people in that testimony: THAT I SAID I AM NOT THE CHRIST; see John 1:19; wherefore, if he, who is the Christ, is now come, and teaches, and baptizes, and has the greatest number of followers, it is not to be wondered at; and much less to be envied; but rather to be rejoiced at. For John, by repeating what he had before said, that he was not the Christ, suggests, that Jesus was; and therefore was superior to him in office, honour, and usefulness, who was only his harbinger and forerunner, as follows: BUT I AM SENT BEFORE HIM; to prepare his way, to make straight his paths, to proclaim his coming, and kingdom, being at hand; and that the expectations of me

John 3:13. _And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that come down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven._ We are in the stairway now between heaven and earth; Christ has came down; Christ has gone up, and yet he was always there; a mystery, but one that is true, and new. Today we can go up by thought and prayer, and blessings can come down; and Christ is always there. «He is at the Father's side, the Man of Love, the Crucified.» John 3:14. _And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life._ What a glorious word! Here is the gospel in a verse, the whole Bible in a line or two. If we believe in him this morning, we have eternal life; not me

II. ETERNAL LIFE IMPARTED: What it is and What it Includes Chapter 2:23-17 The second part of this Gospel contains the blessed teachings the Son of God gave concerning eternal life, how it is imparted and what it includes. Everything in these Chapter s is new. The story of Nicodemus, the woman at Sychar's well, the healing of the impotent man, the discourses of our Lord, etc., are not reported by the synoptic Gospels. There is not a word of the Sermon on the Mount reported by John; the many miracles, so significantly arranged in Matthew, are omitted (except the feeding of the 5000); nor do we find a single parable concerning the Kingdom of Heaven. The progressive revelation concerning eternal life will be brought out in the annotations. As already stated the teachings begin with the new birth, in which eternal life is imparted, and end with the destiny of those who are born again. This...

THE LAST APPEARANCE OF THE BAPTIST. Convinced that the nation is not ripe for Messianic teaching, Jesus falls back on preparatory work similar to that of John, who was continuing his work at Æ non near Salim. In Eusebius-' time this was identified with a place on the borders of Galilee and Samaria not far from Bethshan. Modern explorers favour a place called - Aynun, north of the Salim near Nablus. The evangelist notes that John's imprisonment did not take place, as the earlier gospels (Mark 1:14) seem to imply, before the beginning of Jesus-' public work. A dispute arose between John's disciples and a Jew about purification, probably leading to a comparison of the cleansing power of the two baptisms. The disciples of John are jealous for their master's honour, hardly an impossibility (Wellhausen) after the witness borne by him to the superiority of Jesus. The splendid answer of self-den...

MAN CAN RECEIVE NOTHING EXCEPT IT BE GIVEN HIM FROM HEAVEN. This trial of John would have been. sore one had he been swayed by human feeling. To see his great popularity and influence gradually waning, and another coming up to take his place, was well calculated to arouse jealousy. But John, in the spirit of his mission, rose to. sublime superiority over carnal weakness. He declares, first, that what he is, and what Jesus is, is due to the will of heaven. Each will fill his appointed mission "given him from heaven." Next, he cites his own words before spoken, of which they were witnesses, in which he declared that he was not the Christ, but only the messenger who went before the King to prepare his way. The superiority of Jesus was only what he himself had predicted....