Younger Yet Older

“John bare witness of him, and cried, saying,
‘This was He of whom I spake,
He that cometh after me is preferred before me:
for He was before me.’”
John 1:15

The apostle John has started his gospel about Jesus of Nazareth by making the claim that He is eternal God. When God the Father sent His eternal Son into the world, He sent a witness ahead of Him: John the Baptist. John the Baptist was not the Messiah, but he came as a witness to the True Light, Jesus Christ.
This is exactly what John the Baptist told people. Actually, his message was arresting because it went against what most people thought. Quite the opposite of our culture where youth is the ideal, Ancient Near Eastern cultures (and Eastern cultures today) venerate the elderly. The older one is, the more respect he has and influence he carries. John the Baptist was older than his cousin, Jesus, by six months or so, but John said that Jesus was actually greater! Even though Jesus “came after” John, He was of greater rank and importance. How could someone younger be greater?
John the Baptist’s answer to that question goes back to what John wrote earlier in this chapter. Jesus, although “younger,” was greater because He existed before John the Baptist. This is because Jesus Christ has always existed. He did not begin to exist at His conception in Mary’s womb—He has existed with God from eternity past.
John spends so much time dealing with the person of Jesus Christ because He is not just a man. He is the God-man, come to earth to deal finally and completely with sin. As God, He came to reveal God to the people He had created. As a man, He came to die for sinners. Apart from Him, man has no hope of salvation.