33 Now I did not know Him,*This is curious. John and Jesus were related, and their mothers were close, so it seems improbable that they would never have met as boys or youths. Perhaps John means as the Messiah—until His baptism Jesus gave no overt demonstration that He was the Messiah. (However, given the circumstances surrounding both Mary and Elizabeth, I suppose it is possible that the two boys never met.) but He who sent me to baptize with water, He said to me,*Notice that the Baptizer affirms that God spoke to him directly, in audible or distinguishable words, which he quotes. God spoke like that 2000 years ago, and He continues to do so. ‘The One upon whom you see the Spirit coming down and resting—this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’*In John’s baptism, John is the agent; in Christ’s baptism, Jesus is the agent; the baptism where the Holy Spirit is the agent is distinct from these. In John’s baptism the substance used for the ritual was water; in Christ’s baptism the substance used is the Holy Spirit. In John’s baptism the person got wet but then dried off, so presumably the real point of the exercise was a spiritual transaction; how much more, then, in Christ’s baptism. I am inclined to link Christ’s baptism (He is the agent) with John 4:13-14 and 7:38-39. "Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never ever thirst; rather, the water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up into eternal life’ " (4:13-14). "Jesus stood up and called out saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. The one believing into me, just as the Scripture has said, out from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ (Now He said this about the Spirit, whom those believing into Him were going to receive, in that the Holy Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified.)" (7:37-39). In other words, when Jesus baptizes you, you are regenerated, you receive a new nature, you receive the Holy Spirit.