John 1:19-28

 ¹⁹And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" ²⁰He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ." ²¹And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" And he answered, "No." ²²So they said to him, "Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?" ²³He said, "I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord,' as the prophet Isaiah said."

 ²⁴(Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) ²⁵They asked him, "Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" ²⁶John answered them, "I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, ²⁷even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie." ²⁸These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Here the story of John begins. John is introduced to us, and it is made very clear that John is neither Christ, Elijah, or the prophet. 

Next the priests and Levites, sent from the Pharisees, question John on why he was baptizing if he was neither Christ, Elijah, or the Prophet. His response was, ""I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, ²⁷even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie." This same event and response is accounted in Matthew 3:11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. I feel the account in Matthew explains it a bit better. This story is also acounted in many other places in the bible. But I take this to mean, John was just baptizing in almost a symbolic manner, and that the serious baptism, and what really counts, will come through Jesus, as "He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." 

That is about all I got for today, but I am really getting into this. I look forward to reading about John each day. I am not just reading, without getting anything out of it. By writing my thoughts and taking one passage at a time, I am forced to actually take what I read to heart, and comprehend and analyze what I read. I am really benefiting from this Blog, and I encourage for the rest of yall to start and continue writing on our blog.


See ya.