02 - John's Birth and Naming, John's Mission
Introduction:
As we established last week, John the baptizer was an important part in God’s plan.
His work was foretold in the Old Testament.
His birth was miraculous.
Today, we are going to take a look at part of John’s life as it is revealed in the gospel accounts.
John’s birth/naming.
John’s mission.
John’s birth and naming (Luke 1).
Today, it is not much of a surprise when a child is given a name that is not what you would consider a “family name.”
None of our children were named after other members of the family.
But in times past, it was more prevalent that the same family names would be repeated throughout the generations.
Abraham and Isaac both had run-ins with king Abemalech of the Philistines, but it was not the same king (there was likely 65-70 years between these two events).
Look through the Old Testament genealogies and you will see some of the same names repeated semi-frequently.
Even today there are still people who name their sons after themselves, even multiple generations down the line.
Zacharias, John’s father, was instructed by Gabriel about his son (Luke 1:13).
The son was foretold, and Gabriel was told to name the son “John” (which in Hebrew means “Jehovah has been Gracious”).
After Zacharias expressed doubt because of his age and his wife’s age, Gabriel told him he would be unable to speak until these things were fulfilled (Luke 1:20).
Zacharias obviously did not think things through before he spoke, otherwise he might have remembered what God had done for Sarah and Abraham.
When we think things through and realize that God can accomplish anything, we should be willing to place our trust in Him.
When the child was born, they took him to the temple on the eighth day to be circumcised (Luke 1:59).
The Jews did not formally name their children until the eighth day, and it was then entered into the genealogical records.
These records were important, because it proved who was of the tribe of Levi, and descendants of Aaron.
The people there had already decided that the child should be named after his father, Zacharias (Luke 1:59).
His mother objected, saying “not so, but he shall be called John” (Luke 1:60).
They said, “there’s no one in your family by that name” (Luke 1:61).
Zacharias got a tablet and wrote out for all to see, “his name is John” (Luke 1:63).
After that, Zacharias was again able to speak, because that which Gabriel spoke was fulfilled.
This was spread around the area wherein they lived and the people knew there was something special happening (Luke 1:65-66).
Zacharias began to prophesy about the future of his son’s mission (Luke 1:67-79).
Old Testament prophecies about salvation are about to be fulfilled (Luke 1:68-70).
John will be a prophet of the Highest, preparing the way for the Lord (Luke 1:76).
John would teach people about salvation which comes by remission of sins (Luke 1:77).
The early life of John (after his birth and naming) is contained in one verse.
“and the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts [deserted places] till the day of his shewing unto Israel” (Luke 1:80).
This is a lot like our knowledge of the early life of Jesus.
Outside of the incident at the temple when Jesus was 12 (Luke 2:41-51), we know nothing about Jesus except that “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man” (Luke 2:52).
Have you ever wondered what other things happened in the life of John or Jesus during those years?
It is interesting to think about, perhaps, but God did not think it was important for us to know anything beyond the fact that the two boys grew up with their minds focused on spiritual things.
The focus, when studying about John and Jesus, should be on the things they taught and their mission here on earth.
John’s Mission.
John was a prophet of God (Luke 1:76).
The word “prophet” means “one who speaks on behalf of another.”
God called Aaron Moses’ prophet (Exodus 7:1).
True prophets of God spoke on behalf of God.
We always seem to think that the word “prophet” means “one who foretells future events.”
While sometimes prophets did do this, it was not their only function.
Their main objective was to call people back to the Lord.
The foretelling of future events was usually connected with promises of destruction (for disobedience) or blessings (for obedience).
So basically, the prophet’s job was always to call people back to the Lord, giving the blessings that come from it and the curses that come from ignoring the plea to return.
Prophets of God throughout the Bible were inspired of God to speak and write the things that they did (II Peter 1:20-21).
Though we are not inspired, we can do the same thing that the prophets of the Bible did.
We can read the Bible and in doing so speak to others in God’s behalf (because God does not speak directly to people any longer).
The Bible says that “we have this treasure in earthen vessels” (I Corinthians 4:7), which means that God uses humans to be the means by which His word, His gospel, is spread.
We can call people to repentance.
We can tell people about the wonderful blessings which come with obedience to His will.
We can tell people about the horrible fate that awaits those who live lives of disobedience to God’s will.
John’s mission was to call people back to obedience to God.
John went about preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:1-2).
To repent is to turn back, to change one’s mind.
John was calling people back to the Lord, asking them to repent of their sins (which separated them from God – Isaiah 59:1-2).
Our mission should be to get people to turn back to God.
While we must be like Jesus and seek and save that which is lost (Luke 19:10), we should take a lesson from John here and realize that he was calling people who were already God’s people back to a proper relationship with God.
We need to renew and redouble our efforts in restoring those people who have fallen away.
I have asked before, and almost every person in here has acknowledged that they know someone (most likely multiple someones) who was once a faithful member but has since fallen away.
We should not lose focus on evangelizing the lost sinners, but we need to also concentrate on those now-lost Christians.
John’s mission was to proclaim that the kingdom of heaven was “at hand” (Matthew 3:2).
At preaching school, the students usually procrastinated until the last minute.
It was when they realized the time when the paper was due was “at hand” that they finally set their minds to getting it done.
John’s proclamation was that the event for which they had been waiting hundreds of years was about to happen.
The people knew that God’s kingdom was about to be set up, and that fact encouraged them to get ready for it.
Events have a way of influencing and focusing our thinking.
When the presidential elections draw near, people who usually don’t care about politics are suddenly obsessed with all the news about it they can get their hands on.
As March rolls around, many people who don’t care one whit about college basketball suddenly become huge basketball fans, waiting for every tidbit of information so they can fill out their “March Madness” brackets.
Now, imagine that it is actually an IMPORTANT event which is about to happen – how would that influence and focus your thinking?
The Jews had been waiting for this kingdom for well over 700 years (Isaiah 2:1-4 was written about 770 years before John began preaching), so to hear that it was “at hand” would have been quite the powerful message to bring them back to God.
The kingdom of God is no longer “near,” it is HERE!
John was a prophet of God, and said it was “at hand” in AD 27-30.
Jesus Himself preached the same thing during the same time period (Matthew 4:17).
If the kingdom was not established shortly after they preached it, then both were false prophets.
The kingdom of heaven DID come into existence, and it still exists today!
We need to be telling people about the wonderful kingdom that Jesus built.
Paul and the Christians in Colossae were in that kingdom in the first century (Colossians 1:13).
John and all the Christians in Asia Minor were also in the kingdom in the first century (Revelation 1:9).
The kingdom is the church (Matthew 16:18-19).
There is no salvation outside the church that Jesus died for (Acts 20:28).
The only way to become a member of that church is to be added to it by God through baptism into His Son Jesus Christ.
All of this works together with John’s ultimate message which was “come back to God.”
Conclusion:
This morning we ask you to do that same thing: Come back to God.
God promises you eternity with Him in heaven with absolutely no pain, no sickness, no dying, no night, no sin, no temptation, no saying goodbye to your friends and loved ones there if you obey Him.
But God promises you an eternity of pain, sorrow, torture, misery, and punishment in hell if you do not obey His will.
If you are not a Christian, I ask you, “why are you waiting?”
If you are a Christian, but have not been faithful, I ask you to please come back to Him.