John 1:29-34 (ANIV)
Jesus the Lamb of God
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptising with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”
32 Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33 I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptise with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptise with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.”
DRAWING NOTES:
TIME OF DAY:
Unspecified in Bible narrative. I have set this scene in the late morning.
LIGHTING NOTES:
The sun (unseen & high on the right) illuminates this scene, casting shadows below & to the left of figures & objects.
CHARACTERS PRESENT:
From left to right: an unnamed Hebrew man, John the Baptist (in pale brown outer robe, holding a staff & pointing towards Jesus), 6 unnamed Hebrew people (men, a woman & her girl child (with backs to the viewer), Jesus (in pale blue outer robe & with pale head scarf).
RESEARCH/ADDITIONAL NOTES:
The Bible tells us that this scene happened the day after Scene 02 – Bethany beyond the Jordan. John is among those Hebrew people who have come to hear him preach & to have him baptise them. John sees Jesus, & immediately testifies that he is “… the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
Here is the scene without the figures in the foreground.
Background of John 01 – John the Baptist – Scene 03 – Look, The Lamb of God!
Click on the colour bar below to view/buy this Background:
Background of John 01 – John the Baptist – Scene 03 – Look, The Lamb of God!
Although the baptism of Jesus isn’t directly described in John’s gospel, it is implied, since John the Baptist says (in verse 32) “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him [Jesus]. 33 I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me [God the Father] to baptise with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptise with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.” The baptism of Jesus is included in the Synoptic Gospels, i.e. Matthew, Mark & Luke (Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-22).
This picture is based on the previous scene (John 01 – John the Baptist – Scene 02 – Bethany beyond the Jordan) & includes the same vegetation in that illustration. See scene 02 for details of the plants in this picture.
Here are the verses above in the Message Version, which is a wonderfully frank & direct translation of the Bible…
John 1:29-34 (MSG)
29 The very next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and yelled out, 30 “Here he is, God’s Passover Lamb! He forgives the sins of the world! This is the man I’ve been talking about, ‘the One who comes after me but is really ahead of me.’ 31 I knew nothing about who he was—only this: that my task has been to get Israel ready to recognize him as the God-Revealer. That is why I came here baptizing with water, giving you a good bath and scrubbing sins from your life so you can get a fresh start with God.”
The Bible Knowledge Commentary has some interesting points to make about the verses above, far more eloquently written than I could have done …
32 John clinched his witness with this: “I watched the Spirit, like a dove flying down out of the sky, making himself at home in him. 33 I repeat, I know nothing about him except this: The One who authorized me to baptize with water told me, ‘The One on whom you see the Spirit come down and stay, this One will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 That’s exactly what I saw happen, and I’m telling you, there’s no question about it: This is the Son of God.”
1:29. John’s second witness started at the beginning of a series of days (cf. The next day in vv. 29, 35, 43; and “On the third day” in 2:1) when Jesus’ first disciples were called and came to faith. John identified Jesus as the Lamb of God (cf. 1:36; 1 Peter 1:19). The connection to the Old Testament sacrifices is probably general. The sin offering which bore the sins of the nation on the Day of Atonement was a goat (Lev. 16). Daily offerings were normally lambs, but they did not atone for sin. The Passover lamb (Ex. 12) and Isaiah’s mention of the Messiah’s likeness to a lamb (Isa. 53:7) may have been in John’s mind. John, by the Holy Spirit, saw Jesus as the sacrificial Victim who was to die for the sin of the world (cf. Isa. 53:12).
1:30-31. John repeated here what he had said earlier about Jesus (vv. 15, 27). John’s fame was to be superseded by that of Jesus, whose priority stems from His preexistence: He was before me. But why did John say, I myself did not know Him? Though John and Jesus were related, as Mary and Elizabeth were relatives (Luke 1:36), nothing is known of any contacts between them in their years of childhood and adolescence. John did not know that Jesus was the coming One until He was revealed by the Father. All John knew was that he was to prepare the way for Him by baptizing with water. God would send His Man [Jesus] to Israel in His good time.
[Source: Bible Knowledge Commentary]