You are yourselves witnesses that I said 'I am not the Christ,' but 'I have been sent before him as a Messenger.'
This is he who was spoken of in the Prophet Isaiah, where he says--'The voice of one crying aloud in the Wilderness: "Make ready the way of the Lord, Make his paths straight."'
And thou, Child, shalt be called Prophet of the Most High, For thou shalt go before the Lord to make ready his way,
He confessed and did not deny it, he confessed--"I am not the Christ."
"I," he answered, "am--'The voice of one crying aloud in the Wilderness--"straighten the way of the Lord"', as the Prophet Isaiah said."
And their next question was: "Why then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor yet 'the Prophet'?"
He is coming after me, yet I am not worthy even to unfasten his sandal."