He Must Increase

The night conversation with Nicodemus is over. Jesus leaves Jerusalem for the Judean countryside with His disciples, and they baptize there (John 3:22). John is still at work too, at Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there, and people were coming and being baptized (John 3:23). John had not yet been thrown into prison (John 3:24). For a little while, two baptizing ministries run side by side under the same Heaven.

John 3:25-26 — A dispute, and a complaint

Then a dispute arises between some of John’s disciples and a Jew over purification (John 3:25). The quarrel about washings turns into something uglier. They come to John with a report that sounds like panic. Rabbi, the One who was with you beyond the Jordan, the One you bore witness about — look, He is baptizing, and everyone is going to Him (John 3:26).

Hear what is under the words. They are not worried about doctrine first. They are worried about their man. Crowds are leaving. The spotlight is moving. Disciples who love a preacher more than the truth always talk this way when Christ starts gathering what belongs to Him (John 1:35-37; John 6:37).

John 3:27-28 — Given from Heaven

John does not join the panic. He answers with a sentence that settles ministries, gifts, crowds, and egos in one stroke. A man cannot receive even one thing unless it has been given him from Heaven (John 3:27). Not a little encouragement. A law. Office is given. Hearing is given. Fruit is given. The size of your work is given. You do not invent a calling, and you do not keep one by gripping harder when Jesus draws the people (1 Corinthians 4:7) (James 1:17).

John reminds them what he has already said. You yourselves bear me witness that I said I am not the Christ, but that I have been sent before Him (John 3:28; John 1:20, 23). He will not let his disciples rewrite his testimony because the numbers shifted. The voice in the wilderness does not become the Bridegroom when the Bridegroom’s voice gets louder.

John 3:29 — The friend of the bridegroom

Then John gives them the picture. The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. This joy of mine is now complete (John 3:29).

John is not the husband. He is the friend. His job was to stand ready, hear the voice, and be glad when the rightful Man took His place. The church is not John’s bride. She belongs to Christ (Ephesians 5:25-27) (Revelation 19:7-9). A true witness does not compete for what Heaven has assigned to the Son. His joy fills up when attention leaves him and lands on Jesus.

John 3:30 — He must increase

So John says the line every Christian man needs carved into his work. He must increase, but I must decrease (John 3:30). The must is not a mood. It is the same kind of necessity that put the Son of Man on the pole (John 3:14). Heaven has ordered the rise of Christ and the shrinking of the forerunner. John’s decrease is not failure. It is obedience. The man who cannot shrink when Jesus grows has never understood why he was sent (John 1:6-8) (Philippians 1:20-21).

John 3:31-35 — The One from above

John then lifts their eyes higher than baptism counts. The One who comes from above is above all. The one who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. The One who comes from Heaven is above all (John 3:31). John knew his place. He was from the earth. Jesus is from above.

He bears witness to what He has seen and heard, and yet no one receives His testimony (John 3:32). That “no one” is the world’s verdict in John’s sharp way — the mass of men shut their ears (John 1:10-11; John 3:19). But whoever does receive His testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true (John 3:33). To believe the Son is to agree that the Father does not lie.

For He whom God has sent utters the words of God, for He gives the Spirit without measure (John 3:34). The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand (John 3:35; John 5:19-23) (Matthew 28:18). This is not a gifted rabbi with a strong following. This is the beloved Son with Heaven’s speech, Heaven’s Spirit, and Heaven’s authority in His hand.

John 3:36 — Life, or wrath that remains

John closes where the Gospel always closes. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him (John 3:36). Eternal life is present possession for the believer, not a maybe after death (John 5:24) (1 John 5:11-12). Wrath is not invented by unbelief. It remains. The man outside Christ was already under it, and refusing the Son leaves him there (John 3:18) (Ephesians 2:3) (Romans 1:18).

Notice the two verbs sitting together — believes and does not obey. Faith is not a nod of the head while the life stays locked. The one given to the Son comes, believes, and yields (John 6:37-40) (Romans 1:5). John the Baptist’s last word in this Gospel is not about John. It is about the Son who has life, and the wrath that stays on every man who will not have Him.