John the Baptist knew what he did not know. He was preaching the message that God had told him to preach; he was preaching that the Messiah was coming, but he himself did not know who the Messiah was. He knew his cousin Jesus as a person but he did not know he was the Son of God. This calls into question the beliefs of many who think that Jesus as a child must have been perfect (as in never making any mistakes or missing the mark). If Jesus as a child, and as a young man never made any human errors, John and everyone else would have known that the boy who never made mistakes and was perfect was special. When the Scripture says that Jesus was without sin, I believe it means that Jesus never experienced a moment of willful rebelliousness or deliberate disobedience, but he was still fully human.

In spite of not knowing who the Messiah was, John the Baptist preached that he was coming. His preaching was based on his faith in the message God had given him. To make sure that he did not incorrectly identify the Messiah, God promised John a sign; and God kept his promise. John saw God’s Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on Jesus. When John saw the dove, he realized he had not truly known Jesus at all. Jesus was God’s Chosen One.

John identified Jesus to the world! Jesus was the one who was before John, and before everything. Jesus was the Lamb of God. The lamb, whose blood caused the death Angel to pass-over Israel in Egypt. The sacrificial lamb, whose death paid the price for Israel’s sin. Only God could pour out the spirit of God onto a person, yet John identified Jesus as the one who would baptize people with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit would not just come upon people, but would come to live within people. John was the first to call Jesus “Lord”.