Chapter # 1 Paragraph # 2 Study # 7
October 16, 2018
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
(020)
1901 ASV
5 And there went out unto him all the country of Judaea, and all they of Jerusalem; and they were baptized of him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
6 And John was clothed with camel's hair, and [
had] a leathern girdle about his loins, and did eat locusts and wild honey.
7 And he preached, saying, There cometh after me he that is mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.
8 I baptized you in water; but he shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit.
- I. The "Preaching" of John.
- A. Consisted of a summons: Repent.
- 1. For John to be the "voice of one crying in the wilderness", he had to "cry" something that would "prepare the road of the Lord" and "make straight in the desert a highway for our God" (Isaiah 40:3), or, as Mark presents it, "prepare the road of the Lord, make straight His paths".
- 2. Mark's argument is that he could summarize that mandate with two Greek participles: "baptizing" (a present active participle indicating John's on-going activity of immersing people in water under the banner of his "message") and "preaching" (another present active participle indicating John's on-going proclamation of a message).
- 3. Thus, we can conclude without qualm that the "message" was "core-central".
- 4. But, for the "message" to be "core-central" it has to directly fulfill the prophetic mandate, or Mark's thesis that John was the fulfillment of the Isaiah/Malachi "forerunner" prophecies will shrivel under the heat of examination.
- a. This means that we must find "repentance" to be a legitimate concept of "preparation".
- 1) It should go without saying that any "preparation of a highway in the wilderness for the coming of the Lord" will have to include a "willing workforce". Before anyone is going to work as diligently as such a highway demands, there has to be sufficient motivation.
- a) At least a portion of Mark's "logic" is the reality of what is called "implied" meaning. An example of "implied" meaning is this statement: I am going to drive down to the store to pick up some bread. "Implied" in this statement are multiple "facts" that are unstated. First, the word "drive" in the statement requires some kind of vehicle that is in sufficiently workable condition so as to be "driven". This would include an engine that runs, including all of the particular mechanical parts that a "running" engine requires, tires that hold air, perhaps a "driver's license" (though this is pushing the boundaries since some people drive without that license), a sufficiently healthy body so as to be capable of "driving", etc., etc. Second, the words "to pick up" require either a mindset of a thief, or a sufficient amount of money to pay the cashier for the bread. And, the latter of these, in turn, requires some form of either income, or savings. There are many other things also required that are not formally stated; thus "implied". The "example" could be taken down several more alleys, but the point should be made already.
- b) One of the "implied" meanings of the prophecies is that "the Lord" is going to use "the road" to accomplish His task, or tasks, with a primary implication of "travel" upon it.
- 2) Since this issue of a "willing workforce" is critical to the task, it makes a great deal of sense that the call for the building of such a highway in the wilderness will first require an equivalent building of a highway in the wilderness of the human heart.
- 3) The "comings" of the Lord, as presented by New Testament revelation in greater detail than Old Testament prophecies, are directly attached to the issues before each of those "comings". The "rule" of the "Christ" over a legitimate kingdom inhabited by people must, of great necessity, be preceded by the "qualification" of those people by the "redemption" of the "Savior". Thus, it stands to reason that the "first" coming, to redeem a legitimate people for the Kingdom, must have its own type of "preparer" so that there can be an actual building of the Highway of Holiness (Isaiah 35:8). Thus, we can see John as the forerunner of a "Savior" and Elijah as the "forerunner of a King". This explains why John declined the identity of Elijah (John 1:21) while embracing the identity of "a voice crying in the wilderness, Make straight the road of the Lord" (John 1:23).
- b. Thus, we must look at both the task as set forth in Isaiah/Malachi and John's summary "command" to "repent" as a sufficient "preparation" in light of a "first coming" in contrast with the "second coming".
- 1) In "the task", the demands are given.
- a) Every valley is to be "exalted". Strong's says this word indicates a deep rift in the earth that is wider than a "gully" made by the rushing waters of a storm and whose main characteristic is the "loftiness" of its sides.
- b) Every mountain and hill is to be "made low".
- c) The crooked is to be "made straight". Strong's says the word translated "crooked" signifies an obstacle that is swollen up out of the earth. The implication is that the obstacle causes travelers to "go around", thus "going out of the way of the 'as a bird flies' path". This word is only used in the Old Testament in Isaiah 40:4; Jeremiah 17:9; and Hosea 6:8. The thread that runs through these three texts is that a "swelling up" has occurred that presses for a turning of the path.
- d) The rough places are to be "made smooth". Again, Strong's says the word translated "rough places" signifies "a set of mountain summits tied together into a ridge". These are to be reduced to a "plain"; a broad level place.
- 2) Because the consistent thesis through these descriptions of the task has to do with "significant" eruptions of the earth to force the "paths" to become erratic, we can focus upon the two dominant themes: "valleys" are to be raised to the level of the surrounding terrain, and "mountains, hills, upward swellings, and ridges of connected summits" are to be brought down.
- a) In the corollary between the physical state of the "wilderness" and that "wilderness of heart" that demolishes good relational practices (sins), we can see that Isaiah's meaning of the "task" of preparation consists of two primary "problems": deep crevasses that prohibit "straight paths" in the "wilderness" and high obstacles that do the same thing.
- b) Thus, John's message of "repentance" must address these two primary obstacles in the "wilderness" of the relational universe that consists of a holy God relating to sinful people.
- i. In Isaiah, "raised obstacles" in the form of mountains (hills, upward swellings, raised summits tied together into ridges) are a metaphor indicating "swelling pride" (Isaiah 2:11-15 is simply one of several such texts by Isaiah).
- ii. By way of contrast, then, the "deep crevasses" signal the antithesis of "pride" as a description of causes for relational disasters (thus, not "humility", but despair).
- iii. This means, then, that "repentance" is something that addresses both the "pride" and "despair" of men as obstacles to their relating properly to God. Since the epitome of "pride" is the rejection of any need for God and the epitome of "despair" is the rejection of any hope in God, "repentance" must, then, be an "attitude shift" that powerfully acknowledges a profound need for God and clutches onto a hope in God.
- iv. Thus, John's message is that "repentance" will resolve the relational conflicts between men and God. Acknowledge your profound need for God and cling to His willingness to be a helper in that need, and the "promise" will be fulfilled to you.
- B. Consisted of a promise: Forgiveness of sins.
- 1. The presence of a "promise" strongly implies that "faith" is embedded in the concept of repentance. The men of Nineveh (Matthew 12:41) would not have "repented" if they had not first "believed" Jonah.
- 2. The promise in John's "summons" is, fundamentally, the erasure of the obstacles that exist between God and men.
- 3. Theologically, this is God's willingness to "justify" the sinner so that a "Father/child" relationship can be initiated (i.e., what Jesus called "being born again").
- a. This is "judicial" and "comprehensive" and "final".
- b. This is a "translation" out of the bondage of "Law" into the freedom of "Grace"; a direct link to the divine imperative that John be named "John" (Luke 1:13 and 1:63).
- 4. Additionally, this is God's "method" of dealing with the issues of sanctification as revealed in 1 John 1:3 and 1:7 and 1:9. This is not "judicial", "comprehensive", nor "final". In the daily walk of the "justified" there are many obstacles having their roots in pride and despair that have to be addressed for progress in the process of being conformed to the image of Christ. What "works" in respect to the initiation of the relationship also "works" in the on-going development of that relationship. Any, and every, "fault" that generates difficulties in relationships can be taken to God in an "I need You and cling to Your promise of help" way and strength to overcome the "fault" is given.