John 3:32 Commentary and Bible Study

Christ has come from heaven. He has lived forever in heaven with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and he has come to earth to speak of what he has seen and heard. It is an illustration. He visualises the eternal dwelling place of God like an earthly home, so when he comes he relates to us all that he is familiar with and that he has heard. This is the homely way that John the Baptist puts it to his disciples. I am from earth, but he has been privy to all the plans of heaven.But then the subject slightly changes, halfway through verse 32 – ‘And no man receiveth his testimony.’ Well, It is an exaggeration of course for effect, because the following verse says – ‘he that hath received his testimony’ – those like John the Baptist and the first believers. But what about the crowds who were baptised? Vast crowds went to John the Baptist. Tens of thousands possibly, and he baptised them. It seems on the face of it that the majority of people from the countryside in Judea and in Galilee went for baptism, and yet it is said here it was as if no one received him. How do we explain it?It clearly means that they were baptised and they believed in some measure, but they did not believe in any depth, in a sustained manner. It was just the interest of the moment. They did not seem to grasp that Christ was from heaven, that he was the Messiah expected. Many of them expected the Messiah, but they expected a political Messiah, or they identified the Messiah with the nation: the nation suffered, the nation would deliver other nations. They did not really believe that God was with them, and they were not humbled in their hearts, and did not deeply feel their need of forgiveness, their absolute dependence upon him for spiritual life and eternal life. So they were baptised without true repentance.