Thoughts on life and Scripture...

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

The Greatest Prophet Who Was Too Bad To Be A Slave

    Okay, Pop Quiz! Who was the greatest Old Testament saint? If you answered Abraham, Moses, or David, you would be wrong. Those would usually be our first choices for the greatest person, but these people are not the greatest. According to Jesus, who should know since He determines what greatness is, John the Baptist is the greatest person in the Old Testament. (Matt 11:11) As I was studying Luke 3, I was struck by the character and message of John the Baptist. I want to share that with you in this blog post.

    John the Baptist had a most unique and exalted position. The angel told his father Zacharias that his son would go as a forerunner before the Lord and would turn many people back to the Lord their God. (Luke 1:16-17) In fact, hundreds of years before, in the prophecies of Malachi and Isaiah, it was foretold about John and his ministry. (Luke 1:17, Luke 3:4-6) For hundreds of years people had waited and wondered about the coming of the Messiah. Now John was given the task of announcing His coming and preparing people to receive Him.

    How were people to prepare for the coming of the Messiah? John told the people to prepare by repenting. They needed to turn from their sins and turn towards God and righteousness. And when the people were convinced that they needed God's forgiveness, they were baptized by John in the Jordan to show to all that they were guilty sinners who needed to be cleansed by God.( Luke 3:3) John warned the crowds to stop trusting in their relationship to Abraham for salvation. Being part of God's covenant people didn't save anyone. (Luke 3:8)  It is repentance and the fruits that follow that saves a person. John emphasized that repentance is revealed by holy lives. He called people to show compassion to others, to not be greedy and steal, and to avoid oppressing others.(Luke 3:8-14) It was this message that John preached and exhorted to the people with urgency because judgment was near at hand. The Judge was coming and they needed to avoid His justice by repenting of their sins now. (Luke 3:9, 17)

    Few men have had the courage of John the Baptist. He called the hypocrites that came out to him a "brood of vipers". Not exactly a term of affection, but it was true.(Luke 3:7) He preached boldly a hard message to the Jews that cut at their national pride and put them in the same boat as Gentiles. (Luke 3:8) He talked of sin and judgment to these people who trusted their own righteousness. He confronted Herod the tetrarch about his sins.(Luke 3:19-20) The result of that confrontation was John's arrest and later death. John was a man of courage who feared no one.
   
     Even though John was a strange man, eating locusts and honey and wearing rough clothes, and even though his ministry was outside of Jerusalem in the desert; John was a popular preacher in his day. The people were so struck by him that they thought he might be the Messiah. This expectation had the potential to puff up John's pride. What they were thinking was quite remarkable. John the Messiah! The One promised so often through out Israel's history. The One who would come to save and redeem His people. The One who would reign over Israel and bring in a time of peace and greatness for Israel. But no, he was John the Baptist, not John the Messiah. John shot down their expectations very quickly.(Luke 3:16)

      In fact John, who was the greatest of the Old Testament saints, said he was not the Messiah and that he was not even worthy to untie the sandals of the Messiah who was coming. (Luke 3:16) This One was mightier than John. So much so that even John could not do the menial task of taking off His shoes. It was reserved for slaves to take off their master's shoes. John was saying that he was not even worthy of being a slave to the Messiah. Think about that for a moment. John was a great man and yet when he saw who the Messiah was, he saw what a low and unworthy creature he was. He may have never feared a man, but he sure feared God. John was very little in his own eyes. He understood what a guilty, vile sinner he was. He saw his weakness. He saw the greatness and glory of Jesus Christ. Here was God in human flesh. And so John wouldn't even dare to touch the Christ's sandals. John knew all to well how bad he was.

      In John the Baptist's character and message, we see an example for us to follow. We are heralds who are to prepare people for the Lord's second coming by preaching and teaching a message of repentance and righteousness, by confronting people with their sin and their need to be washed from their sins. Such a message requires us to be bold and courageous as we teach the truth and live it out in a corrupt world. The only way we can have such a boldness is to see by faith the glory, power, and greatness of the Lord Jesus Christ. When our eyes are filled with His glory, we will see who we really are; weak sinful, guilty people who desperately need a Savior. Armed with these truths, we can boldly go out into the world to fulfill the commission the Lord had given us.

Brad

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