No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, ever at the Father's side, who has revealed him.
The testimony John gave when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask, "Who are you?" was the direct statement, "I am not the Messiah." They questioned him further, "Who then? Elijah?" "I am not Elijah," he answered. "Are you the Prophet?" "No," he replied.
Finally they said to him: "Tell us who you are, so that we can give some answer to those who sent us. What do you have to say for yourself?" He said, quoting the prophet Isaiah, "I am
'a voice in the desert, crying out:
Make straight the way of the Lord!'"
Those whom the Pharisees had sent proceeded to question him further: "If you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet, why do you baptize?" John answered them: "I baptize with water. There is one among you whom you do not recognize—the one who is to come after me—the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to unfasten."
This happened in Bethany, across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.