―John answered them, saying, ̳I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not
know. It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose‘‖.
(John 1:26-28 NKJV)
There is an implication in this verse that the members of the delegation already knew Yochanan since he
was a member of the Priesthood. However, they did not know Y‘shua as He was not of the Priesthood.
The Immersion of Y‟shuaApparently, Yochanan's teaching and immersing activities became widely known throughout Judea and
Galilee. People had been flocking to him for the immersion of repentance, vowing to turn away from the evil
of their past lives and begin again to follow the clear commands of the Torah. In this manner, Yochanan was
fulfilling a portion of the prophecy given by his father Zacharias at his circumcision.
Into the midst of all this activity appears a relative of Yochanan's, the son of Miriam (the ―cousin‖ of
Elizabeth); none other than Y‘shua Ben Yoseif (Y‘shua, son of Joseph) from Nazareth.
―Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him,
saying, ̳I have need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?' But Jesus answered and said to
him, ̳Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness‘. Then he allowed Him, Then
Jesus, when He had been baptized, came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were
opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly
a voice came from heaven, saying, ̳This is My beloved son, in whom I am well pleased‘‖. (Matt 3:13- 17
NKJV)
The Apostle John fills in a few more details in his account of this event.
―The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the
sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, ―After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was
before me‖. I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with
water. And John bore witness, saying, ̳I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He
remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ―Upon whom
you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit‖. And I
have seen and testified that this is the Son of God‖. (John 1:29-34 NKJV)
Twice Yochanan makes the statement; ―I did not know Him...‖ Does this mean that the relatives, Yochanan
and Y‘shua, had never seen each other before this time? Since it was common practice for observant Jews
to attend the Pilgrimage Festivals in Jerusalem three times a year, it seems probable that Yochanan and
Y‘shua must have met there as children on at least a few occasions.
What Yochanan is communicating by this expression, is that he would never have known Y‘shua except for
the fact that Y‘shua had been specially sent to take away the sins of the world. After all, neither of these men
would ever have been born if it had not been for the direct intervention of El Shaddai, who knew them both
from the wombs of their mothers. Both Yochanan and Y‘shua were born into the world to fulfill a very special
mission of bringing repentance and salvation to the world.
Yochanan‟s TestimoniesThe teachings of Yochanan the Immerser were strong and they produced much good fruit among the people.
Like Y‘shua who was to follow him, Yochanan did not mince words with those whom he saw as being sinners
or hypocrites.
―But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, 'Brood of
vipers! Who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance. and
do not think to say to yourselves, ―We have Abraham as our father‖. For I say to you that God is able to raise
up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore
every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ̳I indeed baptize you with
water unto repentance, but lie 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. His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will
thoroughly purge His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with
unquenchable fire‘‖. (Matt 3:7- 12 NKJV)