Section 3
is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bride groom, who stands and hears him, rejoices with joy because of the bridegroom's voice. This joy of mine therefore is made full. He must increase, but I must decrease" (vv. 29-30). Most Christians, especially most of the Christian teachers, misinter pret verse 30. What does it mean for Christ to in crease and for you to decrease? It means that you must withdraw from the scene and from having the following and allow Christ to be the only fig ure on the scene and to have all the following. All the following should go to Christ; none of it should go to John the Baptist or to anyone else. Since John did not make this matter clear to his disci ples, they were jealous on his behalf. When John's disciples saw that all the people went to Jesus, they were unhappy. They seemed to say, "Why do these people not follow our teacher, but they go to Jesus?" Do you see the point? If John had with drawn from the scene, there would have been no problem. If he had told all of his disciples to go to the Lord Jesus, no longer accepting a following for himself, there would have been no difficulty.
CHRIST COMING AS THE BRIDEGROOM
However, in answering his disciples John made the matter clear to them that he was not