Dennis Tuuri

In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make his path straight.” And the same John had his raiment of camels hair and a leather girdle about his loins, and his meat was locust and wild honey.

Then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region round about Jordan and were baptized of him in Jordan confessing their sins.

Let’s pray. Father, we thank you for your word and we thank you for the tremendous gift of the Holy Spirit given to us in the basis of our savior’s work. We pray, Father, that the Holy Spirit would teach us things of our savior now through this text that he would illuminate to our understanding. That we would open our hearts and our ears to hear the message and to have our lives transformed. In Christ’s name, we ask it. And for the sake of his kingdom’s continuous manifestation. Amen.

Please be seated. Matthew—from which we gave four advent sermons and then last week we dealt with a New Year’s sermon from the Psalms. And I have at the beginning of your outline a brief review of what we’ve talked about so far in the book of Matthew.

One of the things that I desire as I preach through a particular portion of a book, and we’ll have one more sermon in Matthew before we go back to our studies in Genesis on the doctrine of marriage—one of the things as we go through a chunk of scripture such as Matthew’s chapter 1 through 3 that I desire is to get you familiar with it to have a sense of what it is that will stay with you beyond the giving of the sermons themselves. And so the review—that’s one of the purposes for it as well as to set the stage, the context for this particular sermon in Matthew chapter 3.

The first portion of the first chapter of Matthew the word that I’ve given you there to review it with is pedigree. Remember Christ’s pedigree? He came of David and Abraham and he was the Messiah, the Christ. He had the correct lineage or pedigree. So Matthew sets out this great stress of his gospel that Christ is king. Christ is Messiah at the very beginning of the gospel relating his heritage back to David and Abraham. Remember Abraham’s name was changed in relationship to the promise that kings would come forth from him.

The second half of chapter 1 dealt with the incarnation. We have there the naming of Jesus—he’ll save their people from their sins. The work of the Holy Spirit in overcoming Mary as it were and causing the conception of our savior. The picture that is of the new creation, the Holy Spirit bringing about a new creation and a new humanity in the Lord Jesus Christ’s incarnation. And also the designation of Jesus is not simply savior, but it’s a reminder of the Old Testament Jesus, Joshua, same name in Hebrew or Greek. And that Jesus will save his people, but do much more than that—will at the conclusion of the book issue a commission to evangelize the entire world the way Joshua went into the promised land.

His name is Emmanuel. He accomplishes salvation by being God with us and suffering in his humanity for our sins and paying the price for those sins upon the cross.

The first portion of chapter 2, we gave the word there homage. Homage. Remember the magi come and present gifts to him. We have a contrasting time, place, and reign there. The days of Herod as opposed to the days of our savior. Jerusalem, the wicked city, the new Egypt as it were as opposed to Bethlehem where our savior was born and the reign of Christ initiated and bringing forth the opposition of Herod the king. So this idea of Jesus as king in Matthew’s gospel was continued to be propounded here in the early sections of his gospel.

We also had the star being a picture of the fulfillment of the prophecy of Balaam that the star would rise over Jacob and that Christ’s dominion would come and his victory is then portrayed in the coming of the magi. We have also the lion of the tribe of Judah, the citation of Bethlehem from the book of Micah. If you go back to that text, the idea is that the one who comes from Bethlehem will be the great lion and his whelps, his cubs as it were, will conquer the wicked as well, his church.

So we have all those prophecies brought into the coming of the great king, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then his epiphany, his appearance to the kings, the gentile rulers of the world in the context of the magi, the wise men, the kingmakers, and maybe themselves kings themselves. Remember we said that the Persian kings and the other rulers in those lands that were occupied by magi had to be made king by the magi and come up through their order. And so the kings of the earth the fulfillment of the prophecies in Isaiah and Micah and other places where the kings of the earth come and worship Christ is shown in picture form here with the coming of the magi. So he is the king of kings not just of Israel but the inclusion of the gentiles.

And that was portrayed also in his pedigree you remember with the women who were gentile women and brought into the line of our savior. And then finally, we look in the last half of chapter 2 with a newer emphasis. Remember Jesus is taken by his parents to Egypt. So God says that he would bring his son out of Egypt. Jesus is seen as the greater Moses then who will accomplish the exodus of his people.

And so the second great theme of the book of Matthew, one is kingship and the other is Moses takes center stage in the last half of chapter 2. And we’ll see that continues both these themes of kingship and the greater Moses in what we just read in the herald work of John the Baptist heralding Christ the King but also heralding the greater Exodus as he takes people into the Jordan and then back into the promised land.

Okay. So that’s the setting. That’s a review of where we’re at in chapter 3. And now we’ll work our way through this particular message following an outline that deals first with who this is that we see presented to us in chapter 3. Before we get to that though, I want us to look at the Old Testament prophecies that are going to be alluded to in the work of John the Baptist by way of introduction still.

So first turn to your scriptures to Malachi chapter 3 if you would—last book of the Old Testament. Malachi chapter 3. And rather than deal with these in the context of the sermon, I want to give them by way of introduction at the start and then we can draw back to them in the preaching of the sermon itself.

Okay. Matthew chapter 3, verses 1-6: “Behold, I send my messenger. He will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant. So, this is anticipating the work of John the Baptist, the messenger to prepare the way for Christ as John the Baptist comes in recorded in Matthew 3 to prepare the way. And Jesus has seen that as the coming to his temple. The reign of the Lord Jesus Christ coming into his holy temple bringing humanity—now redeemed humanity—into the temple through his ascension into the presence of God is foreseen here and his reign beginning.

And he is the messenger of the covenant. This is by way of the covenant inclusion of people into relationship with father, son, and holy ghost. “Even the messenger of the covenant to whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. Who can endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears? He is like a refiner’s fire and like launderer or soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver. He will purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness.”

Now, what this means is that the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ Messiah will have a purification element to it. Will not be all smiles and roses and plaudits for the Jews of the day as their Roman oppressors are lifted off their back. That’s what the Pharisees were looking for. The removal of oppression politically. But John the Baptist comes in one who precedes the work of the savior and in that work in the advent of the savior the fire comes near to burn out the dross and to purify the children of Israel and we will see that’s John the Baptist’s work in terms of baptizing as a purification rite for his people indicating the purging of the sins of the people.

So Malachi 3 goes on to say verse 5: “I will come near to you in judgment and I’ll be a swift witness against sinners, against adulterers, against sorcerers, against those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans, and against all those who turn away an alien because they do not fear me. I am the Lord. I change not.”

So the advent of John means the advent of the one who will purge away those who are in opposition to the moral requirements of God’s people. He will purify his people or he will destroy those who pretend to be his people and yet are not.

Now turn to Malachi 4. This concludes the Old Testament revelation. Malachi chapter 4. “Behold the day is coming burning like an oven. All the proud—now that’s a very important thing to realize. Pride is the root sin. The summation of all those in opposition to Messiah at the time of John the Baptist at any time in history are those who are proud. Proud—burning like an oven. All the proud, ye all who do wickedly will be stubble. Pride leads to wickedness. And the day which is coming shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, that will leave them neither root nor branch.

But to you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in its wings, and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves. You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be as ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I do this, says the Lord of hosts. Remember the law of Moses, my servant, which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel with the statutes and judgments.

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”

This is John the Baptist that’s being spoken of here. And we’ll see as we turn to John the Baptist’s life that this was who the angel said he would be. He would turn the hearts of the children of Israel to their father, God. He would come in the spirit and power of Elijah. And he would bring about the great and terrible day of the Lord, the advent of the Lord Jesus Christ’s kingdom in which Christ reigns and executes judgment and justice in vengeance. And that vengeance is poured out in Jerusalem specifically in AD 70. And this period of time between the advent of the savior, the appearance of his kingdom during the time of John the Baptist from 30 AD to 70 AD is the time of the manifestation of the work of the savior leading up to this great judgment that will happen in AD 70.

Okay. Now turn over to Isaiah chapter 40 which we just read responsively and this also is alluded to of course in the work of John the Baptist. These are the three prophecies that are preeminently the ones that are fulfilled directly by John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness.

Now we know that the center of this—”the voice of one crying in the wilderness” verse 3 Isaiah 40 verse 3—”the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare you the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, every mountain shall be brought low, crooked places shall be made straight, and the rough places smooth. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed.”

That we know is very explicitly referred to by John the Baptist. But remember, when an Old Testament citation is made, it brings in the context as well. They want to quote the whole thing. They bring in a single verse of the song, but the whole song is brought in.

And the prelude to this is that indeed this is going to be comforting times for God’s people. Because it begins in verse one: “Comfort, my people. Say says your God speak comfort to Jerusalem and cry out to her that her warfare is ended that her iniquity is pardoned for she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.”

So John announces the coming of salvation the remission of sins and brings about the baptism that prepares people through repentance for the coming of the Savior’s baptism for remission of sins. And that’s a comfort. It is a comfort to God’s people at the same time as it is a call for them to humble themselves under the mighty hands of God as well as a statement of the coming judgment to the enemies of God.

And then in verse 9: “Oh Zion, you who bring good tidings, get up into the high mountains, oh Jerusalem, you who bring good tidings, lift up your voice with strength, lift it up, be not afraid, say to the cities of Judah, behold your God, to the cities of Judah. John comes to the wilderness of Judea. Yeah, that’s Judah. In it’s the same word and say to the cities of Judah, ‘Behold your God. Behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand. His arm shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him and his work before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs with his arm, carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those who are with young.’”

A very familiar passage. Most of this to us, particularly this time of the year, as the Messiah’s work—the work of the Messiah is played forth in various Christian homes reminding us of these great truths at this time.

So the point is that all these prophecies are coming together now in the advent of John the Baptist to bring a message of comfort and remission of sins, forgiveness of sins to cause people to humble themselves under the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ. The kingdom of heaven now has come and as a result things are going to change and judgments will proceed from the throne against the wicked and those who don’t humble themselves.

Now this text from Isaiah 40 is thought by many to refer to the coming exodus of the people of God from Babylon where they had been taken into captivity. Okay. So the picture is that there’ll be another exodus like when people came out of Egypt, the people of God will come out of Babylon and that happened in the centuries preceding the advent of our savior. But now we see the great fulfillment of those texts, Egypt and the recovery from Babylon. And John applies this to the work of the savior.

So again here this emphasis from the book of Matthew on Jesus as the greater Moses leading his people out of Egypt in the great exodus. That exodus being accomplished definitively at the cross. Remember the mount of transfiguration. He said I have an exodus a departure that he was preparing for. So that theme of Jesus as the greater Moses is central part of what’s going on here in the first portion of chapter 3 in the work of John the Baptist.

Okay. Now let’s look specifically then at some of the details of the text bringing in other scriptures to bear as well. Who was this in the context of this passage that we’re reading in Matthew 3, verses 1-6? Well, this was John the Baptist. Of course, it might be good to remember that names mean something in the scriptures. John’s name means Yahweh is gracious.

So, you have this picture of the severe call for repentance on John’s part. But you see right away in his very name, a correct way to think of that call to repentance is the graciousness of God at work preparing his people for his grace and mercy by calling them to repent of their sins.

John was named of course by God directly. It wasn’t chosen by his parents. God through the angel told John’s father Zechariah that his name was to be called John. And indeed he was told that he would in Luke 1, we read that John would turn back many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God. And so John is seen as fulfilling that end portion of Malachi in its greatest application, its original application, the hearts of the children of Israel to God the father is being accomplished through the work of John the Baptist.

Now what I want to say here is that John is a son of Aaron. In Luke 1:5 we read that in the days of Herod the king of Judea a certain priest named Zechariah of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron and her name was Elizabeth. Okay, so John’s parents were both of the Aaronic line and lineage. John’s father was a priest. David, in preparation for Solomon’s construction of the temple, had drawn up 24 orders of priests to rotate in one week cycles as they performed the service of the temple ministry, preparing for Solomon’s building that temple.

And John’s father was one of those priests in one of those courses or orders who had time that he had to serve in the context of the temple. You have Levites, but then you have special Levites who are the Aaronic priesthood. And they have to be of the physical lineage of Aaron and two of his sons particularly to be part of that course of priests. So John’s father is a priest and that makes him of the priestly lineage. That means John was schooled in priestly work. Okay. His mother also, the text that I just read says, was also a daughter of Aaron. She was also of the Aaronic line and lineage.

So both by father and mother, John is pictured to us at his very conception, the very announcement of his birth as being involved in this priestly line of Aaron. I think that’s very important for us as we get around to considering later in the sermon what his baptism was all about. He’s a priest. He’s a priest. And one could say by way of application at least as David prepared for Solomon’s building of the temple through the establishment of these courses of priests, so here we see John of one of these courses of priests and what is he doing in the wilderness? He is constituting the new temple as it were, the people of God who are not involved with the sin going on at the temple of that day controlled by Pharisees and Sadducees but rather are the true Israel of God. He is constituting the temple of the Lord Jesus Christ as a priest.

All right. So, John is a priest. Secondly, John comes in the spirit and power of Elijah. Now, he is portrayed for us in the text as having, in his garments. We’re told specifically that he had raiments of camels hair and a leather girdle about his waist. This is language that brings to us specific allusions to the prophet Elijah.

In 2 Kings 1:8, we read this: “They answered him, ‘A hairy man wearing a leather belt around his waist.’ That’s who’s coming. The question was, ‘Who is it? It’s a hairy man wearing a leather belt around his waist.’ And he said, ‘It is Elijah the Tishbite.’”

Now, when it says hairy man, it means a man with hair on him. In other words, wearing hair. It doesn’t mean he had a lot of hair on him personally. It means he was wearing hair. And so, the garb of John is another one of those very visual symbols that remind people this is John the Baptist. And when they see him and they know their scriptures, they’re going to think of him as a prophet and specifically coming in the spirit and power of Elijah.

There’s a reference I’ve given you on the outline from Zechariah 13 that seems to indicate that the normal garb of the prophet was to have a robe of coarse hair about him. So this garb was apparently indicative of prophetic garb and specifically it was indicative with the leather belt and the hairy garment of Elijah the Tishbite. So John is seen in his very dress and appearance as coming in the spirit and power of Elijah.

Of course, this is told us explicitly in Luke chapter 1. I just read that text to you—portion of Luke chapter 1—that he’s filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother’s womb. He’ll turn the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

This is the angelic message of who John is. And indeed, in Matthew 11:14, our savior says, “If you’re willing to receive it and believe it, he is Elijah who is to come.” Now, he was asked at one point in time in his ministry if he was Elijah. And he said, “No.” What he meant by that was he wasn’t Elijah incarnated, but he had come in the spirit and power of Elijah. And that’s what our savior is alluding to in Matthew 11.

So, John is of the Aaronic priesthood, and he comes in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, to return the children to God their father, and to prepare the way for the Lord.

Third, he comes as a picture of affliction. He has a special diet that’s mentioned for us. He’s eating locusts and he’s eating wild honey, explicitly wild honey—honey not cultivated in bee herds, but rather honey that is found just lying around in rocks where bees had made hives, etc. And I think that this is—I suppose we don’t have an explicit statement in the text itself to tell us what this means. But I want to offer two possibilities of meaning that I think are fairly good. But I do want to differentiate that from what I’ve just said because these other things are explicitly told us in scripture.

Well, you must deal with the fact why does God tell us that he eats locust and wild honey? And the first thing I want to say is that first of all, this seems to be a picture of affliction. Now, locusts were clean. They were clean food according to Leviticus 11:21. And I believe that what might be going on here is a picture of affliction.

Remember the prophets in the Old Testament would frequently come and give some kind of object or illustration of what they were saying. They’d break a pot, they’d lie on their side, whatever it was against the city. They do things visually to picture their message. Remember, Agabus indicated visually to Paul that he was going to be chained up. Well, I think that thing we can think of here is that John is portraying the coming judgment of God. The manifestation of Christ’s advent will be judgment to those who reject him. And indeed, Jerusalem will have a tremendous famine in the context of the city. You remember later on in Paul’s epistles, Paul had collections made for the poor in Jerusalem.

And I think that one thing we can see here is that John is portraying in his lifestyle, you’re going to have to live off the land. You’re not going to be able to live in the fat cities anymore. You’re going to have to live off the land to a certain degree. It’s a sense of which he’s seen as bringing people into austerity, forsaking the world, and coming to Christ. But there’s a picture too, I think, of the coming judgment.

You know, our savior was asked by his opponents. They said, “Well, what’s the deal here?” You know, John he fasted and why do you feast? This is in Luke 5. They say, “Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers? And likewise, the disciples of the Pharisees, but you eat and drink.” Jesus was a festive guy—not a partying in a bad sense of the term but he was festive as the scriptures plainly teach. It’s important thing for us to know we move in the spirit and power of the feast of Jesus because of his ascension and reign.

But he says this to them: “Can ye make the children of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them and then shall they fast in those days.” And indeed that’s just what came to pass. Jesus was taken and then God sent a famine in the context of the land and everybody had to have enforced fasting.

Now I think that the implication of that is that’s preparation again for the full-blown manifestation of Malachi 3, Malachi 4, Isaiah 40. John the Baptist preparing the way of Christ for his coming kingdom, the advent of his kingdom, preparation for the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 is this famine and fasting. So I think the one thing we can look at the diet of John is an indication of the affliction that’s going to come as Christ’s kingdom is manifest.

Not in the way they expected. It’s very important that we recognize that the Jews of that day expected Messiah. Everybody was looking for him. But what they wanted was a political salvation. They wanted Rome thrown off their backs and the days of wine and roses could then be ushered in great festivity. But it didn’t happen that way because repentance precedes this establishment. The judgment of God, the advent of Christ is comfort to his people, but it’s also destruction to those who refuse to be humbled. It is not in its first implication political. It in its first implication it is very much personal and it is very much deal in the context of dealing with salvation from sin and then the effects of sin in political deliverance.

So this is going to happen by way of affliction. And so I think we can see that in John’s garment. But if we look a little broader, not just looking at what it was he was eating as if you know the only thing he could eat is locust and wild honey. If we look at what the scriptures say about locust and wild honey in the Old Testament, I think we can infer some other things about John’s diet.

We’re not going to go through these texts, but you’re certainly welcome to and encouraged to on your own. Let me just say here that there’s an excellent article on the Biblical Horizons web page by Peter Leithart, who’ll be preaching up at CSCC next Sunday. By the way, Deacon Lawrence and I will be up there next Sunday attending CSCC’s worship service. By way of announcement, no Sunday school class next week.

In any event, Peter Leithart has written an article on the implications of the diet of locust and honey and many of these references come from his article. I think the first thing that we should see is that the eater is being eaten. The text I’ve given you there, locusts are portrayed in the Old Testament as being devouring, consuming creatures. Yeah, they were listed as clean in the dietary laws, but predominantly the picture of the locust is he’s eating things. He’s consuming and destroying things. But here the destroyer, the eater as it were, is being eaten by John the Baptist. A picture of victory certainly.

Secondly, and I’ve given you a number of references here, frequently the gentile nations around Israel, its enemies, the gentile nations, Egypt and others are portrayed as armies of locust. Okay? So locusts are correlated in the Old Testament—while they’re clean—they’re correlated to the gentile nations and the enemies of Israel. And so as we look at John incorporating his food into who he is. Remember Jesus, we’re in the mouth of Jesus. We’re incorporated into him and we incorporate him into us as we eat the Lord’s supper. Food is a picture of incorporation. John eats these locusts as an incorporation of the gentile nations into his work and ministry.

And then secondly, he eats honey which is the picture—obvious symbol—of the land flowing with milk and honey that God would give his people. It’s a picture of abundance. It’s wild honey. At this point, it’s going to be, you know, sort of food of affliction, but nonetheless, it’s honey. And so, it’s a picture it seems of the victory of the preaching of the gospel of Christ in discipling those nations again and bringing those nations into the context of the land flowing with milk and honey and into that blessing.

It’s a picture of victory. It’s a picture of the conquering power of the preaching of the gospel of Christ. John does not incorporate the locust in some you know horrific way. He does it by way of illustration by his proclaiming the gospel of the savior. And when we get around to the great commission at the end of Matthew, the nations are discipled through the proclamation of the gospel of Christ, baptizing them and teaching them to observe all things that I have said, not through physical force. And so that’s a picture of that, I think, of John’s ministry.

Okay. Well, where was John working? He was working in the Jordan and beyond. Specifically, we’re told here that John is explicitly said here to be in the wilderness of Judea. And then in verse 5 they all went to him—Jerusalem and Judah and all the region round about the Jordan were baptized of him in Jordan. So John’s work is in the wilderness of Judea and specifically he’s baptizing in the Jordan River.

And actually in the text in other texts we’re told in John 1:28 for instance, that these baptisms of John and his discourse with the Pharisees was occurring in a town called Bethabara beyond the Jordan where John was baptizing.

Remember the Jordan River is the eastmost boundary of the land of Israel, the promised land. But on the other side of Jordan, there’s—remember the tribes that had that as their inheritance over there. But the picture is that John takes the people and actually to the other side of the Jordan River is where he’s at. And then he brings them into the Jordan River. And the picture, the obvious illustration here is again this new Exodus. He’s heralding the coming of the greater Moses. The people have to go back into the wilderness so they can reenter the land with purified, cleansed hearts.

You remember that when Joshua conquered the land, they came in and the first thing they do is they get all circumcised. They roll away the reproach of Egypt. So here with the advent of the kingdom, what John is doing is he’s rolling away the reproach of their sin. Those who will submit in humble submission to Christ, confessing their sins and being baptized in terms of the baptism of repentance that John preached in the Jordan. It’s a new re-entry into the promised land.

He actually goes the other side of the Jordan and the people of God must go to him there and reenter the land because as I said before, the picture is obvious that the land now has become Egypt. Jerusalem is Egypt. You got Herod replacing Pharaoh, killing off the kids of the promised of the covenant people. You got Jesus like Moses. “Those who sought your life are gone. Go and you know out of Egypt I will call my son”—to Moses. And then to Jesus same thing. Those who sought his life are gone. He comes back into the promised land that he might deliver the people of God out of Egypt into the promised land once more symbolically.

And this symbolic transformation, this new exodus, this new movement from captivity to sin in bondage Egypt and now Jerusalem is accomplished through John’s ministry in the wilderness of Judea and in the Jordan.

Actually, this was, you know, this is somewhat new maybe to Christians today, but this wasn’t new to people at the time. The contemporaries to John, the streets of Jerusalem were abuzz with rumors of Messiah, and they all knew that the Old Testament had all these prophecies that I’ve given you here under the section wilderness under point 2—all those different manifest scripture citations from Hosea 2 onward. People knew that if God that Messiah is going to come he’s going to come and the wilderness will bloom once more. They knew the association of the advent of the herald and then Christ in the context of the wilderness. They knew that was what was going to happen. They were prepared for this greater exodus and so John the Baptist is a picture again of Matthew’s secondary theme that Jesus is the greater Moses who brings his people out of Egypt out of sin and bondage.

Okay. So what was John doing? We’ve talked about who he was, where he was. Let’s talk about what he was doing. He was first of all coming as a herald for the coming of the king. It says that John then came John the Baptist. The word came there is not the normal word for came. It’s the word that specifically means to arrive formally as a deputy of someone else. It has this context of heraldry of the official herald of someone coming.

It’s the same word that was used for the magi. The magi came as representatives of those other nations. Well, John the Baptist comes—the public as a public appearance of a leader or teacher is being portrayed here. And when it says that he came preaching, he was heralding the coming of the king. It says that he came preaching and specifically the meaning of the word preach here that’s used means to herald.

It doesn’t mean to get up and speak on the scriptures. It means to herald the advent of the king. Now there is a sense in which preaching of sermons is a heralding forth of Christ’s crown rights. But this is a more specific word used of a herald who would come and announce the coming of the king.

So John the Baptist comes to herald the coming of the great king. Secondly, as I said, he’s heralding the greater Moses and the coming greater Exodus. Point I’ve just made—these correlations between Jesus and Moses run throughout the book of Matthew. And here very explicitly the John is heralding the greater Moses to come to lead his people into the promised land through repentance of their sins and affecting redemption for their sins by his work on the cross.

Third, John the Baptist is commanding a change of mind, heart, and action. His message is simple. His message is repent. Unfortunately, that message is blurred and has been blurred for hundreds of years because of what one Greek commentator says is the worst translation of the entire New Testament. And that is the particular Greek word used here being translated as repent.

Repent has the context or has the meaning of to of penance and a moving inter terms of a of repenting and penance and that kind of stuff. It seems to place a stress or focus on remorse or sadness for sins. That is not what the Greek word means here. The Greek word for repent that you normally find translated repent in the New Testament means a change of mind. To think again, to reconsider again, and to change your mind, to change your heart, to change your actions. And ultimately that is the sovereign work of God. Yes, he does that regenerating work that is that is indicated by this Greek term of repent which is to stop doing what’s wrong and start doing what’s right.

So what John’s message while simple needs to be sort of tweaked a little bit in our day and age because we’ve thought of it as a mournful looking at the past in terms of dredging up a long list of our sins. That is not what’s going on here. Now, confession of sin is part of the message and the people get baptized confessing their sins. It doesn’t say it’s an oral confession of sins. To confess is to agree with God in terms of our sins.

What they are doing primarily is not a long list of sins. It is repenting. It is moving in terms of a new mind, a new heart and changed actions. It’s the external work of the man that’s being stressed here. Now, of course, it’s in conjunction to the work in the heart that God has done. But it’s evidenced by these external works. So we need to kind of tweak this word a little bit as we think about it. The word—to quote from MacArthur’s commentary on this passage—the Greek word behind repent means more than regret or sorrow. It means to turn around to change direction to change the mind and will. It doesn’t denote just any change but always a change from the wrong to the right, always away from sin and toward righteousness.

That’s the fellow that wrote this—the word—it’s the worst translation in New Testament. He also observes that wherever this Greek word is used in the New Testament, the reference is to changing the mind and the purpose from sin to holiness.

Change of mind and purpose. Repentance may involve sorrow for sin, but listen what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 7:10: “The sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret leading to salvation.” The sorrow which is a godly sorrow produces a repentance without regret that leads to salvation. You see, it’s separate from repentance. Okay? The sorrow produces repentance. Now, there’s an ungodly sorrow. Remember, ye saw most much of the world sorrows over the consequences of their sin. But not a godly sorrow for our offense given to King Jesus. And that’s what a godly sorrow is. And it’s evidenced by repentance.

So repentance is separate from the godly sorrow. You understand that? There’s an aspect of that to repentance, but it is primarily and demonstrably a change of mind and action.

Matthew Henry says this: “It means to rethink yourselves, admit a second thought to correct the errors of the first, an afterthought. Consider your ways. Change your minds. You have thought amiss. Think again and think aright. Note the penitants have other thoughts of God and Christ and sin and holiness and this world and the other than they have had and stand otherwise affected toward them.” The change of the mind produces a change of the way. Change of the mind produces a change of the way.

Now this is the word that the apostles also used that Jesus used in his preaching. This is the herald message of the coming of Christ. Repent, have a change of mind resulting in a change of actions. And that of course is accomplished by the sovereign will of God. Okay.

So John came commanding that. John came commanding also outline point D the preparation of the highway of the heart. We read the text from Isaiah prepare the way of the Lord. The idea was that in old times in the context of the Old Testament and even the New Testament when a ruler would come to visit an area, if you didn’t do a road rehabilitation project, you’d be in big trouble. He didn’t like to be bounced around in his car. Okay? He didn’t like to be—not his car, but in his horse-drawn wagon. He didn’t like to be lurching up a hill. He didn’t like those royal regal horses to have to strain to get him up over a hill.

The idea is the king, whether it’s Caesar or in the Old Testament other kings, they want to have a smooth entrance into the land in which they are now king and conquering. And so people would actually do this. You’d take the big dips in a road that you might be okay for the common people and you’d fill them in. You’d get a bunch of dirt and you’d make them level. You’d take the big high hills that were tough to get over and you’d make it more of a level transition. You couldn’t totally level it, but that’s the idea. You’d take the rough spots of the road and you’d fill them in. The big bumps in the road, you’d square them down.

So it was a preparation of the highway for the coming of the king. Now John takes that language and incorporates it into his word. But what he says is that it is your heart. It is the heart that needs to repent. It’s the heart that needs to have the rehabilitation project put to it. He is concerned about the preparation of the highway of the heart as some commentators call it.

He calls him then to repent and that’s in conjunction to preparing the way for the advent of Messiah. Isn’t involved himself in road building projects. The real road is the preparation of the heart. And of course, the big picture there is a submission, a humility as we read in Isaiah and the Malachi texts, a submission of the haughty heart of the sinning people of bringing low of their heart before God. The high things will be brought down and those who are humble will be brought up.

So, it’s a picture of the advent of the king and its effects in the life of men as well. John commands the preparation of the highway of the heart. He calls for the paths to be made straight. Satan’s roads are crooked and perverse. Fallen man’s ways are crooked and perverse. And John calls people who are retaking covenant with God to have straight paths, paths dictated by the righteousness of God and a conformity to his will and a repentance over crooked paths and high and exalted thoughts of oneself.

Fifth, John the Baptist comes purifying the covenant people. He’s baptizing them, right? And this is not a sermon on baptism, but I want to at least make a point here, and it’s an important point in terms of application. We could spend some time dealing with this as a justification for the way we baptize at RCC, but I won’t—we’ll just touch on that perhaps—but understand this is where I say the fact that John is the line of Aaron trained in priestly crushings. No doubt why that’s so important in understanding his message and what he did.

In Hebrews 9:10, we’re told that the Old Testament sacramental symbols were of two types: diverse washings and food and drink ordinances, carnal ordinances imposed for a period of time.

So, this baptism should be first seen, unless there’s some indication not to, to be seen as one of these diverse washings that is portrayed for us in the Old Testament. Now, I’ve listed on your outline there a whole bunch of texts taken actually from the treasury of scripture knowledge of these diverse washings, cross references, and there are various washings that are portrayed in those texts.

Some had to do with the cleansing of the Aaronic priesthood in preparation for their ministry. They had to be washed. Some had to do with the cleansing of the Aaronic priesthood when they would go minister. They had to wash their hands and their feet specifically. Other washings had to do with when a person was found with leprosy and he had to go through a series of cleansings and involving birds picturing the death of Christ for them, the setting free of himself from the captivity of sin and bondage. But part of that process to make him liturgically clean again in terms of the Old Testament temple system was washing.

Okay. And in fact there were a number of other washings when people became ritually unclean for various reasons—touching dead body eating the proper thing. There had to be a washing that they would go through for cleansing. These washings were all sprinkling or pouring washings. None of them were immersion washings. Okay.

So, John the Baptist would be acquainted with these diverse washings. Secondly, let’s look at John 1, verses 19-2 to make another point here. Look at John chapter 1, 19-25.

And the first point I wanted to make then with that diverse washing is we should associate the washing of John, the baptizing of John the Baptist with the purification washings of the Old Testament. Whether it’s priestly purification, unclean people being purified, they’re all purification washings. And so and so John’s baptism is a purification, a purging of the people as we read from Isaiah 40, a purging of people from their sins.

Here in John chapter 1, we have a credential committee and let me just say that in passing that this portion of the sermon is primarily gleaned from a book by Duane Spencer, *Holy Baptism: Word Keys That Unlock the Covenant*, I think is what it’s called—but it’s holy baptism. Excellent book—one of my probably my favorite book on baptism. In any event, he points this out. In John chapter 1, verses 19-25, we have the priests and Levites who come from Jerusalem asking him who are you. Okay, so now you got a member of the priestly family out in the wilderness baptizing with ceremonial washings of purification.

And so the priests and Levites are going to figure want to know who this is. So they come out to talk to him about what he is doing. And he confesses and did not deny but confess: “I am not the Christ.” They ask him: “What then are you? Elijah?” He said: “I am not. Are you the prophet?” And he answered: “No. Then they said to him: ‘Who are you that we may give an answer to those who sent us.’”

See they were sent by the officials to examine his credentials for preset. They he was said they were said to examine his credentials in terms of his doing these purification washings. If it was if it was immersion and not a purification washing, they wouldn’t particularly care. You see, but he’s performing some kind of washing consonant or in continuity with the Old Testament washings that they were charged with overseeing in terms of the temple system. And that’s why they’re out there.

Okay? And that helps us understand what he’s doing. Okay? So they asked this and he says: “I’m the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said.”

Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees. And they asked him, saying: “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?”

Well, see, what were they expecting from Christ, Elijah, and the prophet? They were expecting purification washings from Messiah, from this, from Elijah or from the prophet. Now, the prophet is Moses. There would be a prophet that would come who is greater than Moses. So when it says the prophet, it means the prophet who comes as the greater Moses. Okay? And so and so I’ve given you some texts here to give you a picture of what this is in Ezekiel 36.

Don’t bother. I’ll just read it to you. Well, listen now. Ezekiel 36, verses 25 and following:

“This is what it said: I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh. Give you the heart of flesh. We’re familiar with these words, are we not? I’ll put my spirit within you. Cause you to walk in my statutes. You’ll keep my judgments. You shall dwell in the land I gave to your fathers. You shall be my people. I’ll be your God.”

So when Messiah came, the Pharisees, the priests, and the Levites, they knew the Messiah would sprinkle clean water on the people of Israel. They knew that he would come and purify the people in preparation for the establishment of his kingdom. And so they’re saying there’s a guy out there purifying people in the Jordan. If he says that’s what Messiah is supposed to do, if he’s not Messiah, why is he out there?

Another reference is Isaiah 52, where we read that Jesus—you know, this is the classic passage of Jesus paying the price for our sins: “As many as were astonished at him, so his vision was marred more than any man, his form more than the sons of men,” talking of his crucifixion. But the next verse, verse 15 says: “He shall sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths at him.”

Messiah is going to come in both Ezekiel and this text and he will sprinkle, pour, ause, not immerse, sprinkle many nations. And he will do it as an indication of his messianic reign. And indeed later on in the gospels, we find Jesus baptizing him with the same area as John. He does this because he’s Messiah. So John’s baptism was first seen as the purific—