When the angel of the Lord is telling old man Zacharias that he and his also old and barren wife Elizabeth are about to have a baby boy, he describes John as follows:
And he will turn many Israelites to the Lord their God. He will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah. He will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. (Lk 1:16 New Living Translation)
Jesus Himself tells us that us that those who “receive” Him get to be children of God, and those who don't, don't. (John 1:12) John is miraculously born, just to prepare the people of Israel to receive Him. For the most part, even with John the Baptist's preparation, they didn't get it. (John 1:11) But perhaps, for those of us who want to get it – to receive Him – starting with John the Baptist would be a good idea.
What does it look like to be prepared to receive Christ? What does John actually say and do? What does he call on the people to do?
The first hint comes in the angel's announcement before John is even conceived. “He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and he will cause those who are rebellious to accept the wisdom of the godly.” (Lk 1:17b) Preparation for the coming of Christ involves a change of heart. A change of heart that is characterized by a softness towards children and a love of submission.
The second hint comes at his birth through the prophetic words of the Baptist's till then mute dad in Luke 1:76-79:
“And you, my little son,
will be called the prophet of the Most High,
because you will prepare the way for the Lord.
You will tell his people how to find salvation
through forgiveness of their sins.
Because of God’s tender mercy,
the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
and to guide us to the path of peace.”
Here preparation involves news. News of forgiveness. News of a tender hearted and merciful God. News of light for those who live oppressed, in a dark world. And news of the path of peace. So preparation involves receptivity to God. God is breaking in, in the birth of His son, on a rescue mission to save His people from their sins, and to guide them onto a path of peace.
This “little son” of Zacharias – John the Baptist, is of course only the messenger. The real news is Christ. The end result of His coming, says Zacharias , is that His people can serve God without fear, in holiness and righteousness, for as long as they live. (Lk 1:74,75) This little son is coming to announce the way back to God.
Before John the Baptist opens his mouth to speak. Before Jesus is born. Already it is clear that what is coming is grand and glorious and absolutely life transforming. But I run ahead of myself.
What does John actually say?
“You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance.” (Lk. 3:7b,8a NASB)
According to Luke, those were his opening words. And when pressed as to what that repentance should look like, we have the following:
And he would answer and say to them, “The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise.” And some tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Collect no more than what you have been ordered to.” Some soldiers were questioning him, saying, “And what about us, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages.” (Lk 3:11-14)
John's words represent an about face, a radical change of heart.
We can assume that we are getting the abbreviated version. What he actually said was probably longer and more involved, but clearly Luke is trying to give us the gist of his preaching. His introduction says that John came, “preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” (Lk 3:3)
“A baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins!” Boiled down, forgiveness of sins was for those who had a radical change of heart. This change of heart was signified by being baptized by John in the Jordan, and then by going home and living upside down to the way they used to live. And that made them ready for the coming of Christ.
The last surprise in Luke's telling of the story comes in Luke 3:18: “So with many other exhortations he preached the gospel to the people.” “Gospel” means, “good news.” “You brood of vipers,” just does not sound like good news. “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life,” sounds like good news. “Jesus died for you,” sounds like good news. But a “baptism of repentance...” not so much! Yet from Luke's perspective John was preaching the good news.
The beloved disciple John, (not the Baptist) highlights the story differently. His interest is not in what the Baptist called for as a response. He is all about who Jesus is. Higher rank, pre-existent Son of God, full of grace and truth, making the Father visible – these are the thoughts that matter to John.
The Baptist was the forerunner, the herald, the guy who ran out in front announcing the arrival. Preparing the way at it's essence involved the simple task of pointing to Him and shouting, “He's here!” so what does he actually say when Jesus arrives at the Jordan.
The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He on behalf of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’ I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water.” John testified saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.” (John 1:29-34 NASB)
“Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,” is unique to the Gospel of John.
Huge sigh of relief! If Matthew, Mark, and Luke had been more sensitive to evangelical sensitivities they would have included it as well, but at least we have it in John. In all that we have of the gospel according to John the Baptist, this one sentence in the gospel of John is the only mention of the Atonement. There is talk of forgiveness of sins, but this is the first we hear of sacrifice.
The average Israelite could not hear “Lamb of God who takes away sin” without thinking sacrifice. It points to Him as the fulfillment of their sacrificial system. John is describing Jesus as the atoning sacrifice, who will take away the sins of the world. “Of the world,” was likely a surprise, even a shock to those listening, accustomed as they were to thinking of Yahweh as the God of the Jews, and of the coming Messiah as the Messiah of the Jews. So this is grand too! It's atonement. And for those of us who have reduced the Gospel to forgiveness of sin through the death of Christ, it's comforting to know that the Baptist didn't miss the point altogether.
One of my favorite phrases in the New Testament is, “the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” The reason I like it, is because of the meaning of, “of.” It means the same as “of” in the “City of Winnipeg”. That's not the city that belongs to Winnipeg, or the city that comes from Winnipeg. It's the city which is Winnipeg. “City,” is the broad category, and “Winnipeg” narrows it down to only one. So Jesus Christ is the good news! “He's here!” Now that's good news indeed, but I am jumping way ahead.
One last thing, before we make some closing remarks.
When the people came to John the Baptist they were filled with expectation and wondered if he was the Christ. His answer according to Luke:
“As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” (Luke 3:17 NASB) In the book of Acts, the same Luke records the words of Peter. He is preaching his first sermon. The occasion is Pentecost. The sound, a mighty rushing wind. The sight, Tongues of fire resting on the apostles heads. Everyone hearing the messengers speaking in their own tongue. Into this, Peter says, “This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear.” (Acts 2:33)
So the gospel of John the Baptist includes a call to a radical change of heart and a hint at the provision to live out a radical change of heart. “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” Forgiveness for those whose hearts have changed, and power to live upside down to the way they had lived before. All because they have heard the news, “He's here!” and received Him.
Now for some closing remarks.
The differences between our gospel (eg. Steps to Peace with God) and the Baptist's gospel are stark. Our's centers on the Atonement, His on the person of Christ. The call in our's is to trust in what Jesus did on the cross, The call in His, to live upside down to the way they had lived.
There can be lots of reasons for this. Jesus has not died yet. “This was the gospel for them, but for us it's different.” Their expectation of the Messiah was to deliver them from their enemies, and the whole idea of the cross and the atonement was as of yet quite unclear. For John to announce, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” was itself prophetic. There was no way they could get, “Steps to Peace with God.”
Over against this is the fact that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were not written for the people on the edge of the Jordan. Each of them writes after Christ's birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension, and Pentecost. They are written for the church.
If the argument is to hold, that the Baptist's gospel is a different gospel because it was for a different time, then we will expect to see the proclamation change. As we move towards the cross and beyond, the focus of the Gospel should change until we see the cross at the center.
The temptation is to jump ahead and see what the disciples and Paul said in Acts. But we will restrain ourselves and look next at what Jesus said in the rest of the gospels.
PostScript
After my last postscript, I nearly apologized. I am not wanting to become purely academic, and I hope my heart will stay transparent in these blogs. If you have found this harder to read, I pray that you will still keep reading. This is way more important than what I've said till now. I believe that what I am saying here has huge implications, and therefore need to keep it very thoroughly Biblical. The downside of constant interaction with the Scriptures is that it reads heavier. But it is not light stuff.
I will intersperse these posts, with posts interacting with the perceived irrelevance of our current gospel. Those posts will be lighter and easier to read. So stay tuned!
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