A Voice in the Wilderness

“And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask Him, “Who art thou?”  And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ.”  John 1:19-20

When John the Baptist began his preaching ministry, I am sure he was getting a good amount of attention.  The Jews sent priests and Levites in search of John’s identity.  When they found him, they asked, and he plainly told them that he was not the Christ, but he didn’t tell them who he was.  This reminds me of what the professor in one of my accounting classes in college told us regarding the IRS.  He said, “Don’t give them any more information other than what is asked.”  This entourage that was sent began to try and guess John’s identity.  Are you Elijah?  John said, “No”.  How about the Prophet?  The Prophet to which they were referring was prophesied in Deuteronomy 18:15 as the One (Jesus) whom God would send in the future.  These men were getting somewhat frustrated that John was not telling them outright his identity because they had to report back.  They couldn’t go back to those Pharisees who had sent them and say, “Beats us.  He wouldn’t tell us who he was.”  That wouldn’t go over very well with their superiors who were trying to distance themselves from John.

Finally, John told them that he was the “voice of one crying in the wilderness” to prepare people for the coming of the Lord.  John was written about in the Old Testament, Malachi 3:1, as the messenger who would come prior to Jesus’ introduction to the people of Israel.  Malachi was the last Old Testament prophet until John the Baptist came on the scene over 400 years later.  John’s message was one of repentance, and he was baptizing those folks who repented and came to him for baptism.  These men whom the Pharisees had sent questioned him as to why he was baptizing since he wasn’t Christ, Elijah, or the Prophet written about in Deuteronomy.  In that day, baptism was only administered by certain religious figures somewhat similar to today’s baptisms being done by preachers of the gospel.

John was a humble and unassuming man who lived very frugally, wearing garments made of camel’s hair, a leather waistband, and ate locusts and wild honey (Matthew 3:4).  The religious leaders were probably worried that John was the Messiah because he wasn’t anything like they pictured.  They wanted a conquering hero who made a very impressive figure.  But, as we know, Jesus was also a humble and unassuming Man, not out to win a popularity contest, but presented Himself as meek and lowly.  Matthew Henry in his commentary wrote (paraphrasing) that a man’s modesty can be turned against him by others, but it is better that men should take advantage of our low thoughts about ourselves to trample on us than for the devil to take advantage of our high thoughts of ourselves to tempt us to pride and bring condemnation on us.  In other words, don’t give the devil any ammunition with which to attack us.

John could not forgive sins.  Therefore, his water baptism was only to point people to the Savior Jesus Christ.  John let those men know that Jesus was now among them, but they did not know Jesus, and thus they could not see Him.  Matthew Henry also wrote, “Much true worth lies hid in this world; obscurity is often the lot of real excellency.  Saints are God’s hidden ones, therefore the world knows them not.”  Most Christians are just nobodies to the world.

John continued to tell them about Jesus and how He is so much more honorable and precious than himself.  John considered himself not worthy to even unfasten the strap on Jesus’ sandals.  When these men returned to the Pharisees and reported to them, they still didn’t know John’s name.  All they could tell the religious leaders was that this man was not the Messiah, which probably gave the Pharisees a big sigh of relief, but they also reported that the man told them that he was the one who would introduce the Messiah to Israel.  Imagine if John had told them that the Messiah was his second cousin!  Mary, Jesus’ mother, and Elizabeth, John’s mother, were first cousins (Luke 1:36).  However, even though Jesus and John grew up together, John was unaware that Jesus was God’s Son until it was revealed to him by God (John 1:31).  John, Mary, and Elizabeth were just regular folks whom God had chosen for an extraordinary mission.  The very next day, John saw Jesus coming, and he announced to the entire city, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”  John was not envious at all, but was ready to fade into the background now that his main mission had been accomplished.  He would continue pointing people to Christ until the time of his death at the hand of Herod, the ruler of Israel.