"The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me. And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water."
In this lesson John the Baptist sees Jesus and immediately recognizes Him as the "Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" In essence John said, this is the man I have told you about.
There are two elements within this lesson that should be closely scrutinized for what they actually intend. The first is John's declaration that Jesus is the means by which "sin" was/is taken away from the world. It is only Jesus that takes away sin, not water baptism, not obedience to the "ten commandments, and not "good works". John's declaration leaves no room for those steps to be added, as is demanded by so many within modern "Christianity".
Secondly, John makes it very clear that his water baptism was merely a means by which the Jews could PREPARE themselves for the coming salvation to be offered by Jesus Christ.
When introducing Jesus, John declared; "This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me. And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water."
In this quote, John established that Jesus was indeed the man of whom he had previously spoken and that his very calling was to make Jesus "manifest to Israel,". John admitted the he knew nothing about Jesus other than that Jesus would be the one whom God had chosen to save the world from sin, and that he (John) was to prepare the people for that coming; "And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel."
In the last part of the lesson John clearly establishes the purpose for water baptism, "therefore am I come baptizing with water." John the baptist affirmed that the sole purpose of water baptism was to prepare the Jewish people for the coming of Christ.~
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