The Forerunner to Jesus

Turn now with me to God’s Word as it came to the Gospel writer Mark and has been preserved by the Holy Spirit for our salvation and sanctification. The Gospel According to Mark, and I’ll begin by reading chapter one verse one, which functions as the title of this Gospel, and I’ll end after verse eight.

Mark 1:1–8 ESV

1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, 3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’ ” 4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Prayer

The Lord Jesus declared, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.” Let us hear and heed the unalterable truth of God’s Word today.

Like many other preachers, I have my own list of preachers from Church History that I would have loved to sit under to hear them preach the Word. I wouldn’t have the time to list them all for you, nor do I wish to bore you with my nerdy-ness, so let me just share one pastor/preacher I would have wanted to hear.

John Calvin would be such a man. The typical stereotype of Calvin is that he was a stern, stuffy, academic theologian who secluded himself from others in order to read, study, and write. While it is true that Calvin wrote volumes upon volumes on theology as well as commentaries for every book of the Bible, he was actually first and foremost, a pastor and preacher. John Calvin was certainly a great theologian and thinker, but he was an even better pastor and preacher. One of Calvin’s contemporaries and early biographer, Theodore Beza, claimed that John Calvin could prepare a sermon in an hour or less! That was probably out of necessity because Calvin preached twice on Sundays and at least once each day of the week throughout three different churches in Geneva with each sermon lasting an hour or longer! Calvin’s pattern was to preach from one book of the Bible, verse by verse to completion. At one point, he was banished from preaching in Geneva for three years, but after those three years he was allowed to preach again and instead of starting a new series Calvin just picked up preaching on the next verse of the text from where he left off three years before!

In the pulpit he was passionate and dynamic. He understood the authority of God’s Word and the need for people to know and believe it, saying:

“The preacher has to use vehemence, so that we may know that this is not a game.”

“The preacher must combine sweetness and gentleness with vigor and vehemence.”

So, this was a man I would have wanted to hear!

Maybe something less popular for preachers to do that I’ve done this past week as a result of studying these opening verses of Mark is to make up a list of preachers that I DON’T want to hear preach the Word. I’m not talking about “preachers” who give unbiblical, unfaithful, heretical messages. I’m talking about those preachers who faithfully preached or still preach the Word of God causing me to be deeply convicted of my sin or profoundly challenged to step out of my comfort zone.

Besides Jesus Christ, if I had to pick one preacher, of whom my sinful nature would tell me “Don’t listen to him”, it would be John the Baptist. John the Baptist was one we would consider to be “an old fashioned preacher”. Adrian Rogers said concerning John:

“He ate honey, but he sure didn’t preach it. He preached hell’s hot, heaven’s sweet, sin’s black and white, judgment’s sure, and Jesus saves.”

John’s preaching brought conviction because he spoke with conviction. His preaching was counter-cultural because his message was counter-cultural. And his preaching challenged the devotion of his audience because he himself was fully devoted to God.

In the Church in America, comfort is put forth as something to be attained and maintained in one’s life, almost at all costs. The culture appears to have impacted the Church and Her proclamation of the gospel more than the Church has impacted culture through Her proclamation of the gospel. And people are generally hesitant, if not flat out resistant, to change; the Church loves Her tradition and sinners love their sin.

The Church in America is in need of an awakening; one where we are convicted of sin and changed in our minds, hearts, and wills by true repentance and faith as a response to the gospel. This is where the ministry and preaching of the forerunner to Jesus becomes super relevant for us today.

[Theme: The forerunner to Jesus was John the Baptizer, who was a…]

It is my desire that the Holy Spirit would use these opening verses in Mark: to convict us with the full Gospel; to change the way we think, believe, and live; and to challenge us to boldly proclaim Jesus Christ while we follow Him with the same devotion as John the Baptist.

To do this, I want us to observe two notable facts about the forerunner to Jesus. Much more could be said about John in these verses, but we will hone in on just two major roles that he had.

1. Promised Prophet (v. 2–3, 6)

First, note that John the Baptist was a promised prophet. Recall from last week, as we overviewed Mark’s authorship of this Gospel account that Mark was writing primarily to a Roman-Gentile audience. These would have been people unfamiliar with Jewish terms and hardly knowledgeable of the Old Testament. For that reason, Mark will often explain Jewish terminology and rarely mention Old Testament passages.

Which is why verses 2 and 3 stand out! Mark begins his Gospel account citing the Old Testament. Listen again to what Mark recorded:

Mark 1:2–3 ESV

2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, 3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’ ”

To the ancient reader and to us as modern readers, John the Baptist may seem to appear out of the blue in Mark’s Gospel. However, Mark made it clear in the quotations he used that John actually appeared in the blueprint of God’s plan long before. Mark shows his readers the unescapable truth that the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is present even in the Old Testament. In fact, Mark is revealing that the gospel of Jesus is a continuation of God’s redemptive plan which was being worked out in the pages of the Old Testament. This can be seen in the three passages he cites to begin his Gospel account.

In the opening line of verse 2, Mark cites Exodus 23:20 and the rest of verse 2 is a citation from Malachi 3:1. Then, verse 3 is from that passage we read earlier in Isaiah 40:3. Let’s briefly look at each passage.

First, Exodus 23:20

Exodus 23:20–21 ESV

20 “Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. 21 Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.

This is God’s promise to His people that He will send a messenger before Israel as they continue their exodus journey to the Promised Land. When verse 21 is added to this promise it is clear that this “angel” that would be sent possesses divine, Godlike qualities, implying that some manifestation of the LORD will be going before Israel to prepare their way to enter Canaan.

The second Old Testament citation in Mark 1:2 is from Malachi.

Malachi 3:1–2 ESV

1 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.

In this reference, God’s promise is that He will send a messenger to prepare the way for His coming. Verse 2 clarifies what “coming” of the LORD this messenger will be preparing people for: the Day of Judgment.

And thirdly, Mark quotes from the prophet Isaiah. He probably generalizes all three Old Testament references as from Isaiah, because Isaiah’s prophecy was the most relevant and Isaiah was highly esteemed.

Isaiah 40:3–5 ESV

3 A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

God’s promise here is that of a second, better exodus of God’s people from a worse bondage than they experienced in Egypt delivered through a more barren wilderness than those 40 years before Canaan, into a greater Promised Land than Canaan. This would be a deliverance initiated and accomplished by God Himself, but announced by a voice of a messenger. The imagery is that of ancient times, when a king intended to “grace” the villages of his kingdom with his royal presence. He would send out envoys and messengers to travel ahead, first to build a highway that allowed immediate access to the desired location; they would chop down trees, bulldoze hills, fill in valleys, construct bridges over waterways, leveling and straightening the king’s path. Then they would also arrive ahead of the king to shout loudly to the people announcing that their king was near so that the people would be ready to welcome him.

So, back in Mark 1:2–3, Mark blends these three Old Testament passages into one magnificent tapestry. By doing so, we see the One who will send a messenger: This is God, or more specifically, Yahweh as His name appears in these Old Testament texts. Secondly, we see the one who is sent as the LORD’s messenger to prepare a path: This will be an Elijah like prophet, who we understand to be John the Baptist. Thirdly, we see the One whose way is prepared by this messenger: According to the Exodus passage, this refers to Israel, God’s anointed people. But, according to Isaiah and Malachi, this is the LORD Himself. Both passages use God’s covenant name, Yahweh, and Mark, by applying these prophecies to Jesus, is making yet another argument for Jesus’ divinity. Jesus is the LORD, all caps! But, Jesus is also the Anointed One of God, the True and Perfect Israel. Thus Mark’s opening quotation could read:

“I [God] send my messenger [John/Elijah] before your [Jesus’] face, who will prepare your [Jesus’] way. The voice of one [of John/Elijah] crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of Yahweh [Jesus], make His [Jesus’] paths straight. ”

Mark takes these three Old Testament passages, which originally had nothing to do with each other, and he applies them directly to Jesus and to John! He wants us to know that Jesus and John are not afterthoughts of God’s plan. God’s redemptive plan was not foiled in the Old Testament, but was unfolding until the fullness of time. Simply put, we cannot understand Jesus’ life, ministry, and death completely without the Old Testament. Nor can we understand John the Baptist’s place, preaching, and purpose without the Old Testament!

John the Baptist is the last of the Old Testament prophets and was prophesied to come some 400 years before in the closing verses of the Old Testament in Malachi 4.

Malachi 4:5–6 ESV

5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”

Chronologically, these are the last words of God that we hear through a prophet until the opening verses of Mark chapter one. In Mark, John the Baptist bursts onto the stage of the wilderness and it is obvious that he is an Elijah like prophet. Both his dress and his diet in verse 6 allude to Elijah’s dress and diet, which you can read for yourself in 2 Kings 1:8. Even Jesus calls John, “Elijah who has come” (Matthew 11:14). John the Baptist bridges the gap of those years of “silence” as he cries out in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord! Make His paths straight!” In this way, John, acting in the office of prophet, was a herald to THE Prophet; that prophet greater than Moses, Jesus Christ.

All this to say, the entire Bible is one cohesive, connected narrative of God working out His perfect plan. Therefore, we can trust God to keep His promises. He kept His promise to send the Messiah and He kept His promise to send a prophet as a forerunner to prepare the way for Messiah. Through John’s appearance in the wilderness, we are assured that God didn’t abandon His people nor did His plan go awry. He kept His word and was working out His redemptive plan. Indeed, God is still doing both those things today: keeping His promises to us and working out His plan for us.

2. Powerful Preacher (v. 3–5, 7–8)

So, John the Baptist was a promised prophet, but also he was a powerful preacher. There are four reasons I would call John a powerful preacher based on Mark’s account. Even before John appears on the scene in Mark’s Gospel we see this to be the case.

The first reason that John was a powerful preacher was because he had a powerful voice. This is hinted at in that prophecy from Isaiah in verse 3:

Mark 1:3 ESV

the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’ ”

There are several words for “cry out” in the Greek. The particular Greek word Mark used from the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint means “to cry out with great emotion”. This communicates a sense of passion and urgency to a message requiring an immediate response.

John’s mission was to prepare the people for Jesus. John’s method to accomplish his mission was to preach. And John’s manner of preaching was to preach passionately. John Calvin would have loved John the Baptist’s preaching! Remember what Calvin said about a preacher?

“The preacher has to use vehemence, so that we may know that this is not a game.”

John’s preaching was not dry, like the desert sand around him. His preaching was not dead like that of the preaching of the religious leaders at the temple in his day. His preaching was just as much alive and active as the Jordan River next to him. John’s preaching was alive and active because he preached a living, active and urgent message. The message he preached was the gospel.

Which brings me to the second reason I would call John a powerful preacher. Verse 4 details that John preached a powerful message.

Mark 1:4 ESV

John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

John the Baptist. He is called such because that was a defining mark of his ministry. He baptized. Just like Christ is not Jesus’ last name, Baptist was not John’s last name! Nor does Baptist denote the denomination of church John created or attended! However, John would have made a good Baptist preacher. After all, he preached a three-point sermon!

Look at his three-point outline in verse 4. He proclaimed: Baptism, Repentance, and Forgiveness. With that being said, we should line these three words up in their proper order, because how they appear chronologically in the text is not how they line up theologically according to the gospel. The last thing this text is advocating is that you must be baptized to have the Lord’s forgiveness or that baptism is a pre-requisite for salvation. Nothing could be further from the truth because that is not what the gospel teaches. The Greek grammar and syntax in this verse makes it clear that John’s baptism was not salvific for the forgiveness of sins. Rather, John’s baptism was spiritually symbolic that a person had already been forgiven by God of their sins because they had repented. John says as much in verse 8 concerning the baptism that Jesus would administer to all who repented and believed.

Mark 1:8 ESV

I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

John’s baptism was with the muddy water of the Jordan. Jesus’ baptism would be with the cleansing wave of the Holy Spirit. John’s baptism was external, which could do nothing but wash the body. Jesus’ baptism is internal, which alone could wash the soul.

Mark 1:4 ESV

John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

So, then we need to see John’s three sermon points in their proper order. It’s paramount to understanding the gospel.

Point number one of John’s powerful message was: Repentance. In the order of God’s salvation there must first be repentance.

Repentance simply means “a change or a turn”. Saving faith is the other side of the same coin. On the one side you have repentance, which is a turning away from sin, a life of sin, and the pursuit of sin. On the other side you have saving faith, which is a turning of the soul to Jesus Christ. Repentance and Saving Faith are inseparable partners. True conversion must have both. Saving faith is not “adding” Jesus to your life. If all you want is “fire insurance” by adding Jesus, but not subtracting your sin through repentance, it is a false conversion and faulty faith. It’s a conversion that spares you the pain of slaying your sin but in the end will not save your soul.

Thus true repentance must involve a change of the inner person. We may divide the inner person into three essential parts. The mind, the heart, and the will. True repentance involves a change of mind, a change of heart, and a change of will.

You must have a change of mind. This means you understand and see God for who He truly is: infinitely Holy, majestically glorious, supremely sovereign, perfectly righteous, and so much more. Then, in light of seeing God as He truly is, you see yourself for who you really are: unholy, sinful, unrighteous, deserving God’s judgment of physical and spiritual death. A change of mind means you finally see yourself as God sees you: broken, lost, dead in sin, desperately in need of a Savior.

True repentance involves a change of heart. It is to have a godly sorrow for your sin against a holy God. A change of heart means to have a conviction of your sin which only the Holy Spirit can lay upon you. The truth about God’s infinite holiness and your depraved sinfulness must pierce your heart. Repentance isn’t you feeling sorry or regretful that you’ve messed up. It is a gripping sorrow that your sin nailed Jesus Christ to the cross. You, who are guilty of treason against God, made it necessary for Jesus, who was sinlessly innocent, to take your place on the cross to bear the full judgment of God reserved for you but Christ endured it and satisfied God’s justice for you by His death.

And then true repentance involves a change of will. It is the turning away from sin. It is a radical, volitional choice on your part to no longer go your own way and carve your own path. Instead, you do a 180, totally going in a different direction. You humbly submit to God. As a sinner you have been taking the course of this world, living according to the course of your flesh, following in the footsteps of the Devil. This is the broad road to death, destruction, and damnation. But, through repentance, no longer will you go that way. You renounce your sin. You confess your sin, which is simply agreeing with God about your sin and its hideousness before Him. You hate your sin. You kill your sin. You willingly turn from sin to turn to Jesus Christ in saving faith, trusting Him as Lord of your life and Savior from sin. Repentance is the sinner’s first priority.

John’s second point of his powerful message is: Forgiveness. Theologically, after the repentance of sins, the forgiveness of sins will follow. Forgiveness means “a removal, a cancellation, or a sending away.” With regard to sin, forgiveness is God removing His obligation to pour out His judgment on you for sin. It is God’s cancellation of the debt you owned because of sin: in this case the wages of your sin is death. That debt is cancelled when God forgives because Christ paid this debt for you. And forgiveness is God expiating, sending your guilt for sin far away, as far as the east is from the west.

When you repent, which is having a change of mind, heart, and will, and when you believe the good news about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Lord will and does forgive you. And notice that the word “sin” is plural in verse 4. Meaning, God forgives all your sins, every one; major and minor, black and white, the worst and the least. The entire account and record of your sin is cancelled, covered, paid for, wiped clean by the blood of Jesus Christ. Would you have this forgiveness today? The good news of Jesus Christ is that you can have it by God’s grace.

And then John’s powerful message has a third point: Baptism. Next week we will explore this further, but understand this: after true repentance resulting in forgiveness of sins, baptism follows. Baptism, to John the Baptist, was for forgiven repenters. His was a baptism characterized by repentance as a public testimony that God had done a work in that person’s heart by forgiving them. Forgiveness of sins is not the result of baptism, but rather the forgiveness of sins is the occasion for baptism. Baptism is the believer’s confession to the fact that they have been forgiven, not by virtue of what they have done, but by virtue of God’s grace in Christ. Forgiveness is the result of God’s saving grace through repentance of sin paired with faith placed in Jesus Christ alone. Baptism is the response of the forgiven repentant believer. Allow me to show this from the text as we move onto the third reason I would call John a powerful preacher.

In verse 5 we see that John’s preaching had a powerful impact.

Mark 1:5 ESV

And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

It’s amazing really, that John gathered such a crowd from the message he preached. His words were not sweet sugar to the ear, but a sharp sword to the heart! He didn’t pull any punches about sin. He didn’t sugar coat his message by avoiding a “buzz word” like repentance. John preached a full gospel message and hundreds of thousands of people flocked to hear him. It’s estimated that throughout his ministry, John baptized somewhere around 300,000 souls.

Not only did these people go out into the wilderness to hear this funny looking preacher, but they actually responded to his message! These were people who were hungry for truth. John’s fiery passion for God and the gospel drew them in and they responded to the message. They repented. They confessed their sins. Then they were baptized. Baptism was not their first response to John’s powerful message. And yet, baptism was their obedient response to John’s preaching. Baptism, as we see here, is not necessary for salvation, but it is necessary for obedience to the Lord. Those who repented were forgiven and saved. And those who were repentant, forgiven, and saved obediently got baptized.

Oh that we would have ears to hear and hearts to respond just like those crowding in on John out in the desert as he powerfully preached to them with a powerful message!

John was a powerful preacher because he had a powerful voice, a powerful message, a powerful impact, and now a fourth reason, most definitely the chief reason why John was a powerful preacher was because his preaching centered on and pointed to a more powerful Person. Look at the final two verses.

Mark 1:7–8 ESV

And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

John’s concern was not about how many people came to listen to him. He wasn’t concerned about entertaining his audience. He didn’t preach to make a name for himself. He didn’t preach in a beautiful cathedral; he didn’t have a talented praise band to provide a concert experience; he didn’t wear a suit and tie, or stand behind an ornately designed pulpit. He had the sand and sky of the wilderness for a sanctuary; the babbling Jordan for a choir; camel’s hair and leather belt for his Sunday best; and a sturdy rock for a pulpit.

John’s primary goal was to make Jesus Christ known. He desired to point people away from himself, pointing them to Jesus Christ. John had true gospel humility. Gospel humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking about yourself less. Humility is not about tearing yourself down. Rather, humility is about building up and exalting the name of Jesus Christ.

What made John the Baptist such a powerful preacher was that he got out of the way so that his listeners would see Jesus Christ. John understood that Jesus’ identity was greater than his. He preached of and pointed to a Mightier One to come. John also understood that Jesus’ purpose was greater than his. John was just preparing the way for the Lord. He was a bulldozer, not a road block. His baptism of water was just an outward sign, but Jesus’ baptism of the Spirit is the washing of regeneration and renewal of the inner person that saves the soul. This God pours out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life (Titus 3:5-7).

Conclusion

To tie a ribbon to all of this, I want to offer some closing thoughts, some take-aways for us as we reflect on John the Baptist being a promised prophet and powerful preacher.

Number one, Mark’s citation of the Old Testament prophecies at the beginning of his Gospel should assure your minds and encourage your hearts that the Old Testament and New Testament found in our Bibles today are in fact the holy, inspired, authoritative, and cohesive Word of God. You can trust what the Bible says; you can trace the singular thread of God’s redemptive plan from Genesis to Mark; and you can praise God that His plan to send us a Savior was not able to be thwarted nor will it ever be overturned.

Number two, be as passionate about sharing the gospel as John was! Proclaim the gospel with emotion to lost sinners because it is an urgent message to be responded to with immediacy.

Number three, heed John’s powerful message. Have you repented of your sins? Have you had a change of mind, heart, and will by renouncing your sin and turning away from a life of sin? Have you believed upon the name of the Lord? Have you turned in faith to Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, the renewal of your mind, the regeneration of your heart, and re-creation of your soul? There isn’t a moment to waste. Don’t hesitate. Repent and believe the gospel. Also, if you haven’t yet, take that next step of obedience and be baptized to publically advertise how the Lord has forgiven you and can graciously forgive anyone else who would repent and believe.

And number four, make it your life’s goal and ambition to be Christ-centered. Make Jesus the focus of all your thoughts, words, and works. Knowing Him and making Him known should be your chief end in life. Prepare the way for Jesus in the lives of others, but step out of Jesus’ way in humility so that He can change their life as Lord and Savior. Let us tell the world of the Treasure we’ve found!

Prayer

Jesus Christ, Son of God

Use Your Spirit now to convict us with Your gospel.

Bring us to repentance;

To a change of mind,

a change of heart,

and a change of will

Give us faith

To turn to You

To love You

and to draw near to You.

Lord, if there is someone here who needs to do these two things this very moment for the first time, cause them to turn away from their sin in true repentance and draw them to Yourself through saving faith.

If there has been anything that I have said that has impeded anyone here from doing this or from seeing You, Jesus, forgive me.

Lord Jesus, You must increase and I must decrease.

May You alone receive all the glory and honor.

AMEN.

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