His Glory My Joy, a blog of Author Luana Ehrlich

I’ve always been fascinated by what John the Baptist said when someone asked him if he was the long-awaited promised Messiah. “I am not the Messiah,” he said (John 1:20).

Why does his answer fascinate me?

First, since they asked him the question, some in the crowd obviously thought he might be the Messiah. The gospel writers don’t tell us whether it was his dress, his demeanor, or his preaching, but evidently some saw this as a possibility.

John could have claimed the title easily enough.

He had an extraordinary, miraculous birth. An angel appeared in person to his father to announce his birth. His mother had been unable to have children, and she was already past the age of bearing children when she got pregnant, plus his father lost his ability to speak throughout his wife’s pregnancy, and his voice only returned when John was born.

But John refused the title of Messiah, despite the fact it would have made him even more popular and more people would have been drawn to him to hear his message.

“I am not the Messiah.”

His answer also fascinates me because by knowing who he was not, John is also indicating he knows who he is. Although he is not the Messiah, he is someone with a message and a mission.

Luke 3:3 says, “And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”

In John’s declaration of “I am not the Messiah,” I find a powerful truth for how God calls me to live my own life. Knowing who I am not—whether it’s an age, a career, a family role, a ministry—is the key to knowing who I am.

No matter who I am not, God has given me a message and a mission, and like John, this message and mission will ultimately point away from me and to the true Messiah.

When John was baptizing one day, he saw Jesus walking along the banks of the Jordan River and he said to those around him, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).

I am not the Messiah, but I know the Messiah who has taken away the sins of the world.

You can know the Messiah too. Learn more here.