John Saw the Sign

When Wayne and I were dating, we liked the rock band, Ace of Base. A of B had a song out titled, The Sign. Part of the chorus went something like this: "I saw the sign/and it opened up my eyes/I saw the sign." This afternoon, I was reading in the book of John (the disciple) and his portrayal of John the Baptist (John 1:29-34). John the Baptist saw the sign and it opened up his eyes.

The Baptist was actually Jesus' cousin, born to Zechariah and Elizabeth. He was six months older than Jesus and was the preamble to Jesus' own ministry. The Baptist was not the Messiah, Elijah, or the end time prophet (John 1:25), but he must have been a pretty special person for God to have shared the Sign with him.

Descend and rest. That was the sign! God told The Baptist, "The one on whom you see the Spirit descend and rest is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit"(John 1:33). In other words, "He is my son!" The Baptist testifies that he did not know Jesus was the Messiah until he saw the Sign.

Two things:

1)The Sign is "the foretold coming of Jesus" to the Baptist and then it is also Jesus himself. I like to imagine The Bapitist in water up to his waist in the Jordan River. He has his hand raised high, about to baptize a new Jewish believer when a face in the crowd catches his eye. As John baptizes, The Face moves forward and comes to stand at the edge of the bank. John looks up and his eyes lock with the caring and compassionate eyes of The Face. The crowd begins to quiet down because they finally notice the stranger in their midst. Ever so slowly, The Face leaves the bank and wades up to The Baptist. "Baptize me in the name of the Father and Holy Spirit," The Face says and it is done. The heavenly dove descends and rests and John the Baptist's eyes are open. He has seen The Sign.

2)Descend and rest. Quite frankly, the resting part was something I never noticed until today. I knew that in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit was only given to individuals as God deemed. It was sometimes given and taken away. However, for the first time in the Bible, the Spirit remained. The Spirit rested. As believers in Christ, the Holy Spirit remains in us also. It is up to us as to whether or not we heed it. Does the Spirit find rest in us?