“Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ ” (John 1:19). He said: “I am ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the Lord,” ’ as the prophet Isaiah said” (John 1:23). (Luke 3:4-6 gives the fuller quote in his parallel passage.)
The Pharisees were doing their job when they investigated this man who preached an unusual message. They were expecting a Prophet like Moses (Deut. 18:15, Acts 3:20-23), Elijah the prophet (Malachi 4:5), and the Chosen One (Isaiah 42:1) as God promised, before the coming of the Lord.
When the Pharisees asked the baptizer who he was, he quoted from Isaiah 40:3 above, the person who will prepare the people to welcome the Savior. John was sent by God to prepare the people’s hearts for the coming of Jesus.
In the TV studios filmed before a live audience, a performer first gears up the tired audience to put them in the proper spirit, ready to appreciate the show and respond appropriately. John came to prepare the people of Israel to be humble and repentant, with penitent hearts ready to hear the message of the coming kingdom that Jesus will preach.
The Spirit was already moving on Israel, and many were prompted to be baptized to indicate repentant hearts in readiness for the Lord. Luke 3:8-14 gives the response of the people: “What shall we do?”
But Jesus is coming again, and the enemy is ever ready to keep people entangled in idolatry. At Mount Sinai, the Lord established a society under which the Jews would live when they reached Canaan; a society which effectively placed God at the center in every area of their lives. His people would be holy to the Lord, separated from the ways of the nations. Today, many secular cultures place man and his carnal values and accomplishments at the center. This is Satan’s continuing work.
For this reason, Christian pastors, teachers, writers, parents, politicians, disciplers, and more are called like the baptizer to draw people to the Lord using the influence they have. In Luke 18:8, Jesus asks, “when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” Faith is not automatic. So every epistle calls God’s people to faith and holiness, to prepare them for His coming. A holy life is a life of faith that is centered on Jesus alone.
How is your faith life? Are you resisting the pull of the carnal nature for the things of this world? Can you say with the apostle Paul, “to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21)? The Spirit is ever calling us to draw nearer to Christ.
In the Old Testament, God used prophets to bear witness to those He has chosen to lead the people. David the shepherd is an example of this. The gospels saw John the baptizer as the prophet to bear witness to Jesus.
John said when Jesus came to him, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). He also said, “And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God” (John 1:34). The other gospels include the Father’s affirmation at Jesus’ baptism (Matt. 3:17), so He receives the testimony of two witnesses that He is the Son of the Father God.
So the logos at the beginning of the gospel, who created all things, and is Himself God, is clarified by John to be Jesus, the Son of God. God the world-builder has come in the flesh to reveal His glory as the Son of God.
The author John introduces all these elements early so we can read the chapters that follow and come to the conclusion of John 20:31, “but these were written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.” Furthermore, John desires that our faith will result in “life in His name” (John 20:31).
Are you coming to the Lamb who takes away sin? Sin hinders us from sharing in the life with the Father and the Son. We acknowledge our sin and receive Christ, trusting Him to take away our sins. Then we read the Word of God and continue in faith, believing the messages on each page are calling us to a deeper life in His name, in Christ Jesus. And in that life, we too may be witnesses of Him.
