034. Chapter 13 - The Ministry of John the Baptist
Chapter 13 - The Ministry of John the Baptist Matthew 3:1-12;Mark 1:1-8;Luke 3:1-18;John 1:19-28 The Man
“Among them that are born of women there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist.” Such is the estimate of the man and his works pronounced by the Son of God. Yet his superlative greatness consists in the fact that he was the forerunner of Christ. For “he that is but little in the kingdom is greater than he.” This was because John was never in the kingdom. He preceded it. He is the connecting link between the Old and the New Dispensations. He is the thundering voice of judgment calling Israel to repent and prepare for their coming King.
Parentage and Birth
John was born of the priestly line. Both Zacharias and Elisabeth were descendants of Aaron. They were both pious and of exemplary life. They were lifted out of the commonplace by the birth of this great prophet. The visit of Gabriel to Zacharias in the temple, the affliction of dumbness, the extreme age of the couple, and the loosing of Zacharias’ tongue at the time of the naming of John all caused the friends and acquaintances of the family to treasure these events and to say, “What then shall this child be?”
Youth The youth of John is even more obscure than that of Jesus. His extraordinary birth reminds us of Isaac, Samuel, and Samson. Like the latter two, he was dedicated to the service of God from his birth. By command of the angel he was a Nazarite; his hair remained uncut and he abstained from all strong drink. The prediction: “He shall be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb” was fulfilled for “the child grew and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts until the day of his showing unto Israel.” This summarizes all we know of the youth of John. Did his parents live in the desert country or did they move there after his birth? Were they so old when the child was born that they died in his boyhood and left the child to grow up in the wild and barren desert country? Does the plural “deserts” indicate a nomadic life? One cannot answer these questions, but it is certain that he grew up unknown and unheralded just as Jesus did at Nazareth and that the years of his youth were spent in the desert where he was guided by the Spirit and stored daily in his soul the outbursts of fiery denunciation and prophetic grandeur that startled Israel and brought the whole nation to his feet.
Opening of Ministry
John’s ministry did not open in Jerusalem. The sacred city with all of its rich heritage of traditions, its assembly of leaders and teeming multitudes would seem the logical place for the forerunner of the Messiah to begin his ministry. But John’s whole personality and message were of the desert. In such a setting he spoke with a thousand-fold greater power. Transformed to a court setting later in his ministry, his bold denunciations brought the speedy end of his life.
Multitudes
How did John manage to get an audience in the desert? And such an audience! How did he begin? How many heard his first message? What caused their assemblage? What brought the pressing crowds? Isaiah had called him a “voice.” This is the high title he insistently claims: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness.” The Greek word Bo a on (crying), in the very pronunciation of the letters and in the root meaning, suggests one crying aloud in a tremendous and thrilling voice. Did that mighty voice with its startling message explain the swift assembly of the multitudes from “Jerusalem and all Judaea and the region round about the Jordan”? Was it the burning denunciation or the prophecy of the approach of the Messiah? Was it the eccentric, the wild, uncanny appearance and mode of life — the outward expressions of a towering personality? Was it the practice of such a unique rite as baptism? Was it the electric atmosphere surcharged with Messianic expectation which caused this meteor to set the whole nation ablaze? It took a great miracle to assemble the crowd on the day of Pentecost. The miracles of Jesus helped to assemble His crowds. This lonely and magnificent figure in the desert probably attracted the multitudes by a combination of personality, message, and expectant atmosphere.
Message
It seems a very odd thing to call a man “A Voice.” Yet is not every life a voice? Do we not all speak forth a message that is the epitome of our lives? Not always with the lips is this message spoken. “What you are speaks so loud, I can’t hear what you say. John’s whole being was expressed in his message: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord.”
Judgment on the Nation The foremost element in his message is a stirring prediction of judgment on the nation: “The axe is laid at the root of the tree” — that which is worth — less is about to be hewn down and cast into the fire. The wheat is to be separated from the chaff. The one will be preserved and the other destroyed. The heaviest of his thunderbolts are hurled at the rich, the arrogant and the hypocritical — the Scribes and Pharisees, the religious leaders of Israel. Their haughty pride is contrasted with the humble repentance of the multitude. “Ye offspring of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” This message dovetails into the closing words of the Old Testament. Malachi ends with a prediction of the coming of John and of fearful judgment. “For, behold, the day cometh, it burneth as a furnace; and all the proud and all that work wickedness shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up sayeth the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave neither root nor branch but unto you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness rise with healing in its wings….Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord come” (Malachi 4:1, Malachi 4:2, Malachi 4:5).
How this terrific message from John fits the desert background and his astounding personality! What courage it took to denounce the Pharisees themselves! Is anything more to be deplored in modern preaching than the lack of condemnation of sin? Scarcity of vision or courage has silenced many pulpits. The modernist holds there is no such thing as sin: it is just human idiosyncrasy — just good in the process of becoming better. The theory of evolution has dimmed the consciousness of sin and filled men with self-sufficiency and pride. John’s message is the message for our own time.
Repentance A second element in his preaching was the call to repentance. The imminence of the Christ and the kingdom is given as the urgent motive. John demanded that the people give practical evidence of their sorrow for sin by righteous living and generous service. The multitudes who had been shut out of religious privileges by the highbrow Jewish leaders and were scorned as “sinners” hastened to obey the summons to repentance. But the Scribes and Pharisees held aloof in proud disdain. The multitudes gave proof of sincerity and zeal by asking what they must do and were told to share food and raiment with the unfortunate. The Publicans and soldiers were warned against the abuse of power; the former were told to avoid extortion and the latter to refrain from violence and false accusations and to be content with their wages.
Baptism
Another element in John’s preaching was a profound emphasis upon the impressive ordinance of baptism which he introduced. This was something new. Ceremonial cleansing was common among the Jews for it was much emphasized in the law, but in the Old Testament the man always plunged himself. Naaman is a good example. Proselyte baptism was practiced among the Jews at a much later period and was merely an imitation of Christian baptism. The ceremonial cleansing practiced among the Jews and especially among the Essenes was repeated from day to day, but the baptism of John was an act performed but once. Moreover, John represented that his baptism was “of repentance unto the remission of sins.” This is entirely different from a ceremonial cleansing. It gives a deep moral and spiritual significance to the ordinance. It must have created a sensation for John to have made himself the administrator of baptism to all who repented and heeded his message.
Those who are puzzled as to how baptism can be for the remission of sins need also to wonder how the death of Christ can be for the remission of sins. Those who scorn the idea that water can have anything to do with salvation need also to consider how blood can have any part in the divine plan of redemption. Is the mystery of the necessity for man’s obedience in baptism any greater than that of the necessity of Christ’s death on the cross? It is God’s prerogative to offer pardon and stipulate the means. It is ours to obey.
Messianic Message The climax of John’s message is the startling prediction that the kingdom of heaven is at hand and that the Christ is about to appear. This doubtless created the excited interest of all the nation. All Israel and especially the Galileans were on fire with Messianic hopes at this time. The atmosphere needed but the prediction of John to set it aflame. From all sides the question was flung at John: “Are you the Christ?” His denial was couched in such humble terms as to add to the fascinating vision of the greatness of the Christ. The Time of John’s Ministry The long introductory paragraph with which Luke begins his record of John’s ministry is very impressive. He attempts to establish the date of John’s ministry from six different starting points. This has often been compared to the introduction of the History of Thucydides. The six-fold effort shows the difficulty of dating events in that early time. It also shows that we have here an event of supreme importance. (As to the significance of the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, see the chapter on the Date of Jesus’ Birth.
Place
“All the country round about the Jordan.” “This expression covers a considerable portion of the Jordan Valley at least as far north as Succoth (2 Chronicles 4:17). The Baptist, therefore, moved north from the limestone desert on the W. Shore of the Dead Sea, and perhaps went almost the whole length of the valley to the confines of the Sea of Galilee….John was sometimes on one bank and sometimes on the other, for we read of his working in Peraea. (John 10:40). His selection of the valley of the Jordan as his sphere of work was partly determined by the need of water for immersion” (Plummer on Luke 3:3).
Habits
John’s habits partook of the fearful austerity of the desert. He roamed the wilderness. He is never pictured as being entertained in the home of a friend. Of him, it is literally true that he had “no place to lay his head.” He was reared “in the deserts.” During his ministry, he moved about as the necessity of securing deep enough water for immersion or as his desires dictated. The crowds followed him.
He wore a simple, coarse mantle of cloth woven from the hair of camels. This seems to have been the kind of mantle Elijah wore (2 Kings 2:8). A leather girdle completed his attire. The critics have had extended discussions as to whether John ate locusts. Cheyne thinks it impossible that a man should actually eat locusts. He thinks the original word in the Hebrew text meant “husks.” He cites the prodigal son who would share the “husks” which the swine were eating. Some early Syriac commentators said that John ate the roots of plants and not locusts. The Gospel used by the Ebionites had egkrides (sweet cakes) instead of akrides (locusts). This would have John enjoying luxury instead of austerity and would give him a rather one-sided diet — sweet cakes and honey! It is strange that this should have caused such discussion or that a scholar should get so busy rattling dry bones in his study as to know so little about real life. The Mosaic law expressly provides that four kinds of locusts may be eaten and the poor people of Palestine still eat locusts. When the great swarms of locusts sweep across the Philippine Islands, making the air black, the natives go out and capture enormous quantities and have a great feast.
Some think that the honey he ate was secured from a plant, but there is still much honey of wild bees in the woods of Palestine. He lived in the desert, he wore clothing of the desert, and he ate the meager food of the desert — locusts and wild honey. His rigorous habits caused his enemies to say, “He hath a devil.”
Message
John’s condemnation of sin was particularly bold and incisive. Luke summarizes his general indictment while Matthew shows that his charges were directed particularly against the Pharisees and Sadducees. He called them “Generation of Vipers.” Plummer notes that “John’s metaphors, like those of the prophecy (ver. 5), are from the wilderness; — vipers, stones, and barren trees. It is from this stern, but fresh and undesecrated region, and not from the ‘Holy’, but polluted City, that the regenerating movement proceeds (Is. xli. 18)” (Plummer, Commentary on Luke, p. 89).
Why criticize the Pharisees and Sadducees when they were “coming to his baptism”? This phrase does not necessarily indicate that they were accepting John’s baptism. The warning not to depend upon their kinship to Abraham suggests their scorn of his message. John 1:19 and Matthew 21:25 show that the religious leaders, instead of submitting to his movement, merely sent messengers to question John and to estimate its significance. The characteristic hypocrisy of the Pharisees is doubtless the cause of John’s stern warnings not to accept his baptism as a mere religious form, but to bring forth fruits meet for repentance.
“The fan” (Matthew 3:12) is a wooden shovel with which the grain is thrown into the air so that the chaff may blow away while the heavier grain falls to the threshing floor.
Baptism in Fire The baptism in fire has been variously interpreted as (1) the tongues of fire at Pentecost; (2) trials and tribulations of the Christian; (3) the illuminating power of the Spirit; (4) the eternal punishment of the wicked. The first three explanations would make the baptism in fire and in the Holy Spirit one and the same thing. The last explanation sets forth that they are two different baptisms: baptism in the Holy Spirit for the righteous and baptism in fire for the wicked. This last explanation must be correct for John would hardly use “fire” with entirely different meanings in the same passage. In the preceding verse and in the next verse The chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire” refers without question to eternal punishment. This argues strongly for the same meaning in the preceding verse. This fits into the prophecy in the last chapter of Malachi where “fire” is used frequently, and in the sense of punishment.
Baptism in Holy Spirit The baptism in the Holy Spirit is interpreted by some to mean the common spiritual experience of all Christians. But the words of Jesus in Acts 1:5 make it plain that this refers to the miraculous baptism in the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. This was shared by the household of Cornelius (Acts 10:44-48). Acts 1:5 declares that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is to take place “not many days hence,” but not the baptism in fire. There were some of each class before John as he spoke — some who would be baptized in the Holy Spirit; others, in fire. Christ is the administrator of both baptisms (John 16:7; Acts 1:1-8; and 2 Thessalonians 1:7).
John’s whole ministry was a flaming prediction and testimony concerning the Christ who was to take away the sins of the world. Jesus Himself seldom gave forth a more impassioned utterance than when He spoke in defense and in praise of John and declared, “Among them that are born of women there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist….And if ye are willing to receive it, this is the Elijah, that is to come” (Matthew 11:11, Matthew 11:14).