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Well, let's turn in our Bibles, please, to John chapter 1, once again. I'm enjoying this study in John's Gospel. I've got about a dozen books I think I try and read through on each passage each week, and I'm being instructed in a lot of ways about things I've never seen before.
The scriptures are rich, and as I've already, you know, drawn attention to, even though John's Gospel is characterized by actually rather simple language, humanly speaking, short sentences, rather simple vocabulary, repetition of words, there is a profundity, there's a depth here that's just incredible to me.
Well, let's pray once again. Father, help us, we pray, to understand these things, and not only understand, but appreciate them, value them. And we pray, Lord, that they would be transformative. We pray that your word would cleanse us, our God, illuminate us, inspire us, help us, we pray.
Father, we also want to pray for those, we're mindful of those who are traveling. We do pray, Lord, for Chris Turner and his bride as they're on their honeymoon now. We pray for your blessing upon them, your protection of them, their safe return.
And also for Jason and Laura's son and daughter as they travel back from Ohio this week. Give them a safe return. Now, again, may your grace be with us. Help us to be attentive, receptive, and responsive.
We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Last Lord's Day, we completed our consideration of John's prologue to his gospel, which is verses 1 through 18. We now can consider the remainder of John chapter 1 as the prelude to the public ministry of Jesus.
Verses 1 through 18 was the prologue for the whole gospel, and now verses 19 and following is really a prelude to Jesus' public ministry. And so, in this portion of the gospel, we read further of the witness to Jesus by John.
The Baptist.
This is the main theme here. We then read of the calling of his first disciples. We're not going to get there today. Maybe not even next week, we'll see. But it's really a description of the onset of our Lord's public ministry in Judea just prior to departing to Galilee, where the bulk of his earthly ministry took place.
We have an outline of the remainder of chapter 1 before us. I put it in your notes there. Again, the prologue of the gospel, verses 1 through 18, and then the prelude to the public ministry of Jesus, which is verses 19 through the end of the chapter, verse 51.
And within this prelude, we have the witness of John the Baptist, and then we have, secondly, the calling of the first disciples, Andrew and Peter, Philip and Nathanael. Now within this witness of John the Baptist, which is verses 19 through 34, we have John encountering the Jews, and you notice I put that in quotation marks because the Jews is a particular term of importance in John's gospel, as we'll point out.
And John's engagement of the Jews involved really two embassies coming from the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem. First the priests and Levites inquire of John, who are you? And then those of the Pharisees inquire of John, why then do you baptize?
And today, I had hoped to get through all of that today, but we're only going to be able to accomplish, Lord willing, that which is emboldened there. John and the Jews, and then the first portion of that, the priests and Levites inquire of John, who are you?
And so today we'll begin to address this witness of John the Baptist contained in these verses. Now, we're seeing John the Baptist repeatedly here in John chapter 1, aren't we? And his witness has already been attested to twice, and we're only, you know, up to verse 19, but two separate times John the Baptist has been cited by John the apostle who wrote the gospel.
And so in verses 6 through 8, John was identified as having been sent by God to bear witness to the light. And then in John 1 .15 also, we have John the Baptist as brought forward. And here for the third time, here in John chapter 1, John the Baptist is introduced for us.
And here it's a little more lengthy, of course. I want us to read all of these verses to keep a context in which this is all related to.
Us.
And so John 1 .19 through there, verse 34, and although we did see last time there was one statement that was direct discourse, direct speech, here we see now once that prologue is over and the main content of the gospel opening up, we have dialogue here going back and forth between people.
And that's why there's so many different paragraphs here. Verse 19, now this is the testimony of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who are you? He confessed and did not deny but confessed, I am not the Christ.
That's kind of a, looks a little awkward, a little cumbersome, doesn't it? He confessed and did not deny but confessed. Positive statement, negative statement, positive statement. That's quite unique, by the way.
They asked him, what then? Are you Elijah? He said, I am not. Are you the prophet? He answered, no. Then they said to him, who are you that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?
He said, I am 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're not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?
And John answered them, saying, I baptize with water, but there stands one among you whom you do not know. It is he who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to lose.
These things were done in Bethabara, beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing. The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, after me comes a man who is preferred before me, for he was before me.
I did not know him, but that he should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water. And John bore witness, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and he remained upon him.
I did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.
And so here we have the prelude, beginning of the prelude to the public ministry of the Lord Jesus. And so again, in verses 1 -18, we had the prologue to the entire Gospel of John, and now with verses 19 -28, we have a prologue, or prelude, to our Lord's earthly ministry.
John the Baptist is once again called upon by the Gospel writer to bear witness of Jesus.
Christ.
It seems like, you know, everywhere, John's preceding the Lord Jesus, preceding and preparing for the way of the Lord, both historically and literarily. The Apostle at first identified John the Baptist as having been sent by God to bear witness to the light, verses 6 -8.
And then the writer again brought the Baptist forward in verse 15. John bore witness of him and cried out, this was he of whom I said, he who comes after me ranks before me because he was before me. We dealt with those in some detail.
And now the third time. The Gospel writer calls upon the witness of John the Baptist of the direct witness that he bore to Jesus. The witness that John bore to Jesus is shown to have been initially due to the Jews in Jerusalem inquiring of him who he was.
Who are you, John? And why he was baptizing the people. Why are you baptizing? First the Jews sent priests and Levites to John, verse 19. Later, the Pharisees sent some on their behalf to inquire of him.
And then with verses 29 and following, John bears direct witness to Jesus in which after he recounts having seen Jesus, he declared openly he was the promised Messiah. And so let's give attention to John's witness to the Jews.
And here in verses 19 through 28, especially would be John and the Jews. And then we're zeroing in even closer to verses 19 through 23. The priests and the Levites inquire of John, who are you? So verse 19, now this is the testimony of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who are you?
You might take notice of the word sent. This is a common word in John's gospel. We've already pointed that out, haven't we? It carries the idea of being sent with some authority. These people were representing the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem.
The Jews noticed when the Jews had sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem. And so the way it's described by the apostle John, they were sent, it means that they were sent on official business. They came with the purpose of inquiring of John on behalf of the Jews.
The gospel of John actually mentions priests and Levites here directly only this time, only this once. And although there are a number of references in John's gospel to chief priests, this is the only place in John's gospel where ordinary priests and Levites are mentioned.
Priests and Levites belong to the lower rank of clergy in Jerusalem. Priests were rarely high in social status. That might be news to us. We might have kind of an exalted view of them, but they were actually looked upon rather lower in social status.
The Levites were even lower than the priests. They were forbidden to take part in offering sacrifices. They usually provided service as musicians, doormen, and the police force of the temple. All priests were Levites, but not all Levites were priests.
John the Baptist himself was a son of a priest. His father was Zacharias, who was serving in the temple. However, there's no word whatsoever of John the Baptist, although being a son of the priest, being from the tribe of Levi himself, there's no indication that he himself ever was trained or served as a priest.
The gospel writer wrote of the Jews who had sent the priests and Levites, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem. This is our first introduction to this group of people. Jews is a commonly used term in this gospel, something we could perhaps read over rather casually without giving much attention to it, but we should give attention to it.
It's an important term. It's used in this fourth gospel much more frequently than in the synoptic gospels. The expression the Jews has a peculiar place in the fourth gospel. In Mark's gospel, it occurs six times, and five of those occasions are in the phrase king of the Jews.
In Matthew, five occurrences of the word the Jews, four of them in the expression the king of the Jews. In Luke, five occurrences, three in the expression king of the Jews, whereas the Jews occurs 70 times in the gospel of John.
It's a significant term. The Jews is a term that conveys a number of nuances depending on the immediate context in which it is found, and we've always been trying to emphasize that words may have a general meaning outside of context, but once they enter into a context, they become more clearly defined in their meaning.
And the Jews is found in a number of different contexts with a number of different nuances. At this time in history when the gospel is written toward the end of the first century, when Jews referred to themselves, they commonly used the word Israelite rather than Jews.
Jews was a term commonly used by non-Jews who referred to the Jewish people, although however Jews in the diaspora out in the Roman world away from Palestine, they tended to refer to themselves as Jews.
By the way, since the Holocaust of prior and during World War II, the term Jews itself is sometimes perceived as a derogatory term. We may not be aware of that, maybe most of us being Gentile. I had a very good friend who is a missionary who is Jewish himself in Israel, and he said that when you use the word Jews, it kind of sets them back a little bit.
It bothers them. It's viewed as a pejorative term sometimes. It's heard that way by a Jewish person. And so I tend to refer rather than to Jews, I tend to refer to Jewish people. It's a little softer in their ear apparently, and I got that firsthand from a good friend who knew about that.
What is meant by this term, the Jews, in this gospel? Well, the apostle John did not use the term with an exclusive negative connotation. For example, John himself is a Jew writing to Jews. John described Jesus as a Jew in chapter 4 verse 9.
He wrote of Jesus speaking to the Samaritan woman that salvation was of the Jews. Certainly Jesus was not saying anything negative about the Jews in that context. Later, John wrote of many Jews who had believed on Jesus.
He wrote of the feast of the Jews. And so it's not a negative term in every context. However, the apostle frequently does refer to the Jews in their hostility to Jesus, as.
One wrote.
Nevertheless, and this is an important nuance in the fourth gospel, the Jews are frequently seen in dialogue with Jesus, and the term thereby acquires a strong connotation of Jews who are hostile to Jesus with special reference in many cases, and a sharp line of demarcation is impossible here, to the Jewish leaders and authorities.
For instance, it is said that the feast pilgrims, themselves Jews, dared not speak about Jesus for fear of the Jews. That's curious, isn't it? In other words, that second use of the Jews carries on a nuance of more of the Jewish leadership, who in that case are those more specifically called the Pharisees elsewhere.
The Jews defend the letter of the law, refuse to accept the authority of Jesus and his messianic status, and after denying his kingship, ultimately they deny their own status as the people of.
God.
The term Jews, therefore, although setting forth specifically the hostility of the Jewish leadership toward Jesus, reflects the general opposition and rejection of the Jewish people in mass to Jesus. John declared that earlier.
He came unto his own, and his own did not receive him. And as one wrote, even then one will have to guard against the generalizing tendency toward all Jews and everything that is Jewish. There is in this gospel a spectrum of nuances, from the Jews as the people called and chosen by God to salvation, to the Jews as a leading aristocracy, those that sought Jesus' destruction.
But we should recognize this term, the Jews, to be an important one that conveys meaning depending upon the context. And even though there's no open hostility attributed directly to the Jews in the passage that's before us here in John chapter 1, the tone betrays at the outset of the gospel resistance and rejection of the Jews to the forerunner of our Lord.
They came in an accusatory manner, you know, who are you? Why are you baptizing? They weren't looking for information and to be informed. They weren't looking with excitement. They were concerned about what John was doing.
And so here we have portending for us the hostility that our Lord would encounter throughout his ministry from the established Jewish leaders. But let us also stand back and take another perspective. Oftentimes you get into the narrative and you get involved as the story is happening.
John wrote this gospel perhaps 60 years after the event. And so many decades after the narrated events occurred, long after the Jewish authorities had rejected and crucified Jesus, persecuted the early church, had suffered God's judgment upon them by the Romans in the war of 80, 67 to 70.
And so the evangelist, and when we refer to the evangelist, we're referring to John the apostle. And I'm finding it difficult when I refer to John, you know, because there's John the Baptist and there's John the apostle, and I don't want to, you know, confuse people about this.
And so perhaps the reference to the evangelist would be better a reference to the writer of the gospel. John the apostle recorded in his gospel this hostility of the Jews from the earliest days of onset of this kingdom age.
And so of this gospel's presentation of the Jews, Francis Hoskins wrote a good and thorough description or depiction. And this is a lengthy quote. This is an obscure volume, and I've been buying a number of these here lately, but in one of the commentaries I've been using, the commentator just kind of made a little note, the footnote.
He was greatly blessed by reading, devotionally by reading this book. I went online and I found it and nobody knows about it, but I found one on eBay and I got.
It.
And I found this paragraph that describes the Jews here. The evangelist is not here speaking of a race marked by the peculiar purity of its physical descent or of a people endowed with peculiar moral and intellectual qualities, especially visible in its accredited leaders.
To the evangelist, the Jews were Jews because to them the law of God had been given, because to them the prophets had spoken, and because to them the coming of the Messiah had been promised. Salvation is therefore of the Jews.
They were a nation under the authority of God, this authority being exercised through the priests who were responsible for the worship in the temple, and through the Pharisees who were the guardians of the law.
On the knowledge and understanding of the priests and Pharisees, and especially on their ability to recognize the Messiah when he came, depended the destiny of the whole Jewish people. But the Jewish authorities, with the approval of the populace in Jerusalem, had put Jesus.
To death.
And the evangelist knows only too well that since that time the Jews had consistently, and with great bitterness everywhere, opposed and persecuted his disciples. Throughout his gospel, the evangelist therefore uses the phrase the Jews to denote the national rejection of the Christ, and especially his rejection by the Jewish authorities, and by the Pharisees, and by the chief priests and the Pharisees.
By their failure to recognize the Messiah in whom the law and the prophets are fulfilled, the Jews have shown that they have misunderstood their own worship, their own practices of purification, the Sabbath, the scriptures, and the Passover.
And so far from accepting the authority of God, they are actively engaged in the service of their father, the devil. In the perspective of the gospel, the Jews are therefore merged into the world. I thought that was an interesting statement.
Which though created by the word of God does not receive him when he comes into the world.
To his own.
Indeed, it is an open opposition of the Jews in general, though less self-conscious opposition of the world is most clearly seen. The gulf that separates John from the Jewish deputation, and which causes the evangelist to speak of the Jews as a distinct and separate people, is not due to the possibility that the prophet had been born and exercised his whole ministry on the periphery of Palestinian Judaism, and the evangelist was a Greek writing for Greek Christians.
He's slapping down liberals here that made that claim for a long time about the writer of the gospel of John. Rather, the gulf between John the writer and these Jews is the ultimate gulf between unbelief and faith, between blindness and sight, between death and life.
And so at the outside of the gospel here, basically we have these two sides already seen to be in conflict that have two purposes, two views, and they're antagonistic toward one another. And so here at the outset of the gospel, the hostility of the Jewish leadership is introduced to us not overtly, but certainly they will be the opposition to both the forerunner and Messiah himself, which they will fully manifest fully and finally at the cross.
Now, having said that in this negative sense about this term, let us be mindful of this. God often works salvation those who may initially be quite hostile to the Lord Jesus and his end or his people.
Although the Jews, especially Jewish leaders, were resistant and hostile to the Lord and his representative, nevertheless, many of them later became disciples of Jesus Christ. Yes, the Jewish leadership persisted in their resistance, but there was a Nicodemus among them and there was a Joseph of Arimathea, a secret disciple.
And later we read that a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith in the book of Acts. And later still, of course, we read of Paul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord whom the Lord converted and transformed into a Christ promoter rather than a persecutor.
And so I say that so that we should not cease praying for and bearing witness to even the one who most opposes us, who is most resistant and hostile to the gospel, for it may be the Lord's intention to save that soul.
In fact, I would argue that that's who the kind of people God's looking for and purpose is to save. The Lord Jesus is a great savior and he's in the business of saving great sinners. And I think it's a wrong way to view the world as we go around and try to look for people that might be less resistant and more willing and more desirous to find a seeker and then, you know, tell them the good news.
No, we tell the good news to sinners and great sinners, defiant sinners, rebellious sinners. And some of us can testify that that's how the Lord came to us and brought us salvation. And so I would argue sometimes we may even find it more profitable to engage a soul for the Lord who's either cold or hot rather than lukewarm.
Because many times you'll find someone who maybe isn't that hostile to you or to me in the gospel, but nothing ever comes of them. But sometimes the ones that are most opposed, well, they're great trophies of grace, aren't they?
And it's an encouragement and a wonder to see the Lord work in that way. Now let's consider how John first denied that he was a Christ. This was the first question posed to them. Again, verse 19 reads, now this is the testimony of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who are you?
Now the Lord was still in Judea at this time, probably not far from Jerusalem. He'd be leaving for Galilee before long. The gospels of Matthew and Mark tell us the reason Jesus left Judea, traveled to Galilee, was due to the hostility of the Jewish leadership and particularly when they arrested, when Herod arrested and imprisoned John the Baptist.
That's when Jesus and his disciples headed north. When the Jewish leaders inquired of John, who are you? They weren't concerned about his personal identity as such. They wanted to know what John claimed regarding his place and his role in announcing the coming Messiah and the promised kingdom of God.
John was declared, repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. They asked who John was and we read of his response. He confessed, did not deny, but confessed, I am not the Christ. And again, there's some difficult language there and it seems to be kind of redundant, but that's for a purpose.
There is, of course, great expectation of the people at this time that the promised Messiah would soon appear. One wrote, first century Palestine was rife with messianic expectations. Some expected a Davidic Messiah, others say Qumran, that's the dead sea community, expected a priestly Messiah as well, in other words two Messiahs.
Not to mention the coming of the prophet, but if they think he is a Messiah at all, an anointed one, long prophesied by the scriptures, they are wrong. That is if they thought John was the Messiah. John the Baptist had such a remarkable ministry that many thought he was the Christ.
In fact, we read of that in Luke 3 .15, all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not. See, many of them thought he was the Messiah. The manner in which John the Baptist answered their queries, rather unique, again it said of John, he confessed and did not deny but confessed, I am not the Christ.
And his response was emphatic, I am not the Christ. I mean, he made it clear and forthright to them, the way the Greek is recorded, it's emphatic. As one wrote, the forceful way this is presented, he did not fail to confess.
But confess freely is the evangelist's way of saying that even the Baptist's denials that he was the Christ constituted part of his positive witness to his confession of the true Christ. I think that's a very good observation.
Even in John's denial that he was the Christ, he was witnessing to the true Christ. And the way he denied that, and what looks like some rather complicated language there, he was pressing at home, I am not.
And so the depiction of John's answer is special, John confessed and did not deny. The word confess, by the way, conveys the idea of a formal witness, the Greek word would commonly use, say, of a witness in a court scene, a formal witness, testified.
And John was undergoing a legal examination from this embassy sent from Jerusalem and he declared the truth openly and forthrightly. And so the gospel writer setting forward John the Baptist really as the ideal witness of Christ, nobody could do better than he, who was legally testified of Jesus Christ.
John would have no one think more highly of him than what they thought of Christ. And so even questions posed to John regarding Jesus, he turned about to testify of Jesus. And so even in his humility, he sought to exalt Christ.
Matthew Henry, he is always good. He was more industrious to do good than to appear great. Don't you like that? And therefore waived saying anything of himself until he was legally interrogated. Those speak best for Christ that say least of themselves, whose own works praise them, not their own lips.
And John's works praise him. And then I appreciated the words of J .C. Ryle, end of the 19th century commentator. If we profess to have any real Christianity, let us strive to be of John the Baptist spirit.
Let us study humility. This is the grace with which all must begin who would be saved. We have no true religion about us until we cast away our high thoughts and feel ourselves sinners. This is the grace which all saints follow after, which none have any excuse for neglecting.
All God's children have not gifts or money or time to work or a wide sphere of usefulness, but all may be humble. And this is the grace above all which will appear most beautiful in our latter end. Never shall we feel the need of humility so deeply as when we lie on our deathbeds and stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
Our whole lives will then appear a long catalog of imperfections, ourselves nothing, and Christ all. John was a humble man, even though he was the greatest of men. John secondly denied that he was Elijah the prophet.
Are you the Christ?
No.
Are you Elijah the prophet? And so we read, they asked him, what then, are you Elijah? He said, I am not. John's answer was short and terse. One rightly pointed out the increasing curtness of John's successive utterances should not be missed.
It appears to stem from a dislike for answering questions about himself. He had come to bear witness to another. I love that. I'm not. The Jews anticipated the arrival and ministry of Elijah the prophet before the arrival of the Messiah.
And of course, this was based on the last passage in our English Old Testament. It wasn't the last passage in the Hebrew scriptures. But the last passage in the Hebrew Old Testament, Malachi 4, 5 through 6.
Turn one page before Matthew 1, and you've got this prophecy of John the Baptist. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great dreadful day of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.
The Lord Jesus later taught his disciples that John the Baptist was the realization and fulfillment of this Elijah prophecy. Matthew 11, as they departed, Jesus began to say to the multitude concerning John, what did you go out in the wilderness to see, a reed shaken by the wind?
What did you go out to see, a man clothed in soft garments? Indeed, those who wear soft clothing are in king's houses. But what did you go out to see, a prophet? Yes, I say to you, more than a prophet, for this is he of whom it is written.
Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you. Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women, there is not risen one greater than John the Baptist. But he who is laced in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John, and if you're willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come.
He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Couldn't be clearer, could it? He is the Elijah who is prophesied to come. Now, when John the Baptist answered the question negatively, no, I'm not Elijah, either he was not aware himself that he was the fulfillment of Malachi 4, or else he was simply denying that he was not literally Elijah the prophet.
I'm not Elijah, I'm John. But our Lord definitively stated that John the Baptist was the Elijah that God had promised to come before the day of the Lord. And yet, in spite of the fact that our Lord declared John the Baptist to have been the fulfillment of the prophecy of Malachi 4, 5, and 6, there are many evangelicals today who insist that in the future, Elijah will appear on the scene before the second coming of Jesus Christ.
During a supposed future seven-year tribulation, this is a common belief, Elijah's coming. I would argue it's an errant belief. John the Baptist was the fulfillment of the Elijah prophecy. I heard it declared recently on the radio, two weeks ago, and I knew this passage was coming when I was listening to it.
The radio preacher argued from our text of John 1, 21. See, John the Baptist directly denied that he was Elijah, and so John the Baptist was not the fulfillment of the Elijah prophecy. I don't know how he got around what Jesus declared, but that's what he did.
He did not address our Lord's forthright statement that the Baptist was the promised Elijah to come, but he began to talk about how the prophet Elijah was caught up into the chariot. He didn't see death, and so he's going to appear again during the tribulation in Israel, in Jerusalem, just before the second coming of Christ.
That is not what the scriptures teach. Ralph Woodrow set the matter plainly. What is meant by this prophecy about the coming of Elijah? Again, there are two different views that are held among Christians today.
The one is that this prophecy is yet future, a prophecy for the very last days of the age. According to this view, Elijah, the literal Elijah, will make another appearance on this earth before the second coming of Jesus Christ in judgment.
The other view is the fulfilled interpretation, that Elijah has already come, and that this prophecy met its fulfillment in John the Baptist. But again, there are those who argue, after all, Elijah did not experience physical death.
Taken up alive in a chariot, since he did not die, he'd come back again before the second coming. Besides, they say, and here's a little further argument, it's just as wrong, Malachi foretold of the coming of Elijah, the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, which was not a reference to the first coming of Jesus, but a second coming.
Therefore, they argue, Elijah must yet come in the future, just before the day of the Lord. But if one reads the passage of Malachi 4 carefully, it foretells both the deliverance and the overthrow of the people, of both the rise and fall of many in Israel, and this is consistent with the prophecy of Simeon, pronounced over the infant Jesus in the temple, when he said to Mary, behold, this child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be spoken against.
And so the day of the Lord foretold in Malachi 4 or 5 is a direct prophecy of the overthrow of Jerusalem in AD 70. And I think it's providential that we've read Luke 21, where they were overthrown. The day of the Lord in Malachi 4 was speaking specifically about the overthrow and fall of Jerusalem.
And there are many days of the Lord in history. Egypt encountered the day of the Lord. Edom encountered the day of the Lord. Jerusalem encountered the day of the Lord when Babylon destroyed them. Jerusalem encountered the day of the Lord in AD 70, and they all portend, of course, the final full day of the Lord when Jesus comes back a second time.
But just because Malachi 4 speaks about the day of the Lord does not mean Elijah, therefore, has to come back before the second coming of Christ. But that's an assumption that many, many make. Down toward the bottom of page 7, but in addition to those who believe that Elijah himself will literally appear before the second coming of Christ, there have been many preachers who have claimed to be the Elijah to come.
Woodrow, Ralph Woodrow, thinks there have been hundreds of these claimants, that they were the fulfillment of the prophecy that Elijah would return before the second coming of Christ. And I've got this little paragraph from Woodrow.
Failing to accept this as final over the centuries, there have been men who have claimed to be Elijah or have the Elijah ministry. One man who makes his claim sends out his sermons in scroll form. Maybe that's something we ought to try, huh?
Just joking, just joking. Another man figuring himself to be the leader of God's true church has told some of his closer followers he's the Elijah. Many years ago, the Chicago preacher, healer, and founder of Zion, Illinois, John Alexander Dowie, taught that he was Elijah.
An interesting and controversial character with his beard and forceful preaching, he could have well fit the part, but his kingdom fell into discord after years of preaching against doctors. He was afflicted, divorced by his cousin wife, and accused of polygamy.
Quite a number believed William Branham was Elijah and that his ministry was the forerunner of the return of Christ. Probably very few of you ever heard of this man, William Branham. He was one of the foremost Pentecostal preachers of the early 20th century.
One of the first faith healers, one of the great early televangelists. He was very, very popular. And he was killed by a drunk driver in 1965, by the way, in Texas, I believe. But so many, I went on the internet and read a Wikipedia article, which I take with a grain of salt, but it was quite fascinating.
He was a very popular, important man internationally. And he claimed to be Elijah or have the ministry of Elijah. And so Woodrow speaks of these ones who make this claim, such as commonly resulted in misunderstanding and ridicule, all of which could have been avoided by recognizing John the Baptist, as Jesus explained, as the fulfillment of the Elijah prophecy.
And clearly that's the case. Now, our Lord was very clear, spoke very plainly. Malachi's prophecy was fulfilled in the life and the ministry of John the Baptist. And this was declared even to John the Baptist's father, Zacharias, by an angel.
We're not gonna read that whole passage, but the angel, when he announced to Zacharias, the father, John the Baptist in the temple, that he was gonna father this great prophet. We read in verse 17 of that block quote, he will also go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah.
And so even before John the Baptist was born, he was linked by an angel to the prophet Elijah. And so when these had come from Jerusalem, they asked John if he was literally Elijah reincarnated, perhaps, and he declared to them, no, I'm not, very simply.
Well, thirdly, John denied that he was the prophet, verse 21. So here's the third possibility that the Jews had heard regarding the identity of John. Are you the prophet? And he answered, no. They did not ask John if he was a prophet.
They asked if John was the prophet. The definite article is there in the Greek, precedes prophet. They were asking John if he was a specific prophet that they were looking to come. Common understanding among the Jews was that with the coming of the Messiah, God would send a prophet who would have the same authority, same standing as Moses, even greater authority than had Moses.
Moses himself had declared this prophecy in Deuteronomy 18. We wanna read this. The Lord, your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren, him you shall hear. According to all you desired of the Lord, your God in Horeb, that would be Sinai, in the day of the assembly say, let me not hear again the voice of the Lord, my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore lest I die.
Okay, we need a mediator to go between us and God. The Lord said to me, what they have spoken is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you, in other words, like Moses from among their brethren and will put my words in his mouth and he should speak to them all that I command him.
And it shall be that whoever will not hear my words, which he speaks in my name, I will require it of him. And he goes on to talk about false prophets. And so the Jews thought to themselves, page nine, would John claim to be the Messiah or the forerunner of the Messiah, the prophet?
And so they queried John, are you that prophet? Now, of course, the word of God declares that Jesus Christ is that prophet that Moses foretold. Jesus Christ is our prophet, priest and king. He is the prophet greater than Moses.
And Peter declared this before the crowd in Jerusalem, not long after Pentecost. After the Lord had been raised, crucified, raised and enthroned. And we read of this in the book of Acts. Yet now brethren, I know that you did it that is crucified him in ignorance as did also your rulers, that those things which God foretold by the mouth of all his prophets that the Christ should suffer, he has fulfilled.
Repent, therefore, be converted that your sins may be blotted out, that your times are refreshing, may come from the presence of the Lord and that he may send Jesus Christ who has preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.
And here it is in bold italic. For Moses truly said to the fathers, the Lord, your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren, him you shall hear at all things, whatever he says to you.
Verse 23 is extremely important. It negates much of dispensationalism. It shall be that every soul who will not hear that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people. See the people continue, but only those who believe on the prophet, Jesus Christ continue among the people.
All the other Jews who didn't believe this prophet was cut off. One people of God. Yes, all the prophets from Samuel and those who follow as many as have spoken foretold these days. That is the days of the gospel.
This church age, you are the sons of the prophets, the covenant, which God made with our father, saying Abraham and in your seat, all the families of the earth shall be blessed to you. First, God, having raised up his servant, Jesus sent him to bless you and turning away every one of you from your iniquities.
The Reformation Study Bible, which I highly regard and recommend has this footnote on the Deuteronomy passage where Moses declared a prophet was coming. Moses, the preeminent prophet of the Old Testament period, introduces the topic of Israelite prophecy.
God would communicate his word to Israel through a succession of prophets as mediators of God's word to his people. The other Old Testament prophets would function in similar ways to Moses, but none would be the initial mediators of a covenant.
None would equal Moses's intimacy with God or receive divine revelations as clear as those given to him. This passage then finds final fulfillment in the prophet who is equal to, indeed greater than, the prophet Moses, Jesus Christ.
Like Moses, Christ is a mediator of a covenant between God and his people. And so Jesus Christ is that prophet. Again, the Jews did not understand that prophet was the Messiah. They thought it was two different individuals, but clearly the New Testament teaches that Jesus is that prophet promised by Moses.
Lastly, as we're wrapping things up here, we read that John declared himself to be the voice prophesied by Isaiah. And so John told this delegation of the Jews from Jerusalem, I'm not that prophet. Having exhausted the opinions of most, they asked him to identify himself.
Then they said to him, who are you that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness makes straight the way of the Lord as the prophet Isaiah said or declared.
And so these representatives from Jerusalem, they had to go back and give a report and they had to report more than just what John said he wasn't. Who do you say you are? As one wrote, the members of the deputation felt frustrated.
John was clearly an eschatological figure. In other words, an end times figure as the Jews were anticipating with his preaching of imminent judgment to be administered by the coming one. Yet he refused to be identified with any of the figures of popular eschatological expectation.
What then was his own account of himself? What kind of answer were they to take back to the people who had sent them? So they asked John, how do you identify yourself? What do you claim is your role in God's purposes?
And John declared that he was the voice foretold by Isaiah, quoting Isaiah chapter 40 verse three. I want us to consider this prophecy because it's important. Let's give you the context of Isaiah 41st.
God had brought his judgment upon Israel. We read of his severe but just punishment of his people who were under his wrath. They had broken the covenant. The people had sinned against God's kindness and blessing that he had so graciously bestowed upon them.
Their sin warranted his judgment, which he justly brought to pass in history. They had nothing remaining that God had not smitten. He had removed from them. Their land had been decimated. Their cities destroyed.
The temple razed. The people had been enslaved. They had no hope before God. They had no basis of claim to God. This God who had formerly been their God was against them and had greatly afflicted them.
This was how Israel, the once great people of God, stood before their holy God, whether the Gentiles who didn't know God, never knew God. What hope had they? And the answer, of course, is no hope when they considered their condition and the state for the one true God who had passed a judgment on them.
But it was to this hopeless, helpless people that the initial message of comfort and restoration was given through the prophet Isaiah 40. Comfort, yes, comfort my people,.
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.
Here it is.
The voice of one crying in the wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley should be exalted, every mountain and hill brought low. The crooked places should be made straight.
The rough places smooth. The glory of the Lord should be revealed. All flesh will see it together for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. The voice said, try out. And he said, what shall I cry? All flesh is grass and all its loveliness like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the breath of the Lord blows upon it because the breath of the Lord blows upon it. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.
Oh, Zion, you who bring good tidings, get up into the high mountain. 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.
And behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand. His arm shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him. His work before him. He'll feed his flock like a shepherd. He'll gather the lambs with his arm.
He's the good shepherd and carry them in his bosom and gently lead those who are with young. And that's all of Isaiah 40, 1 through 11. This prophecy of Isaiah anticipated the restoration of a remnant of Jews from the Babylonian exile in which God had sent them.
Their release and return from Babylon is set forth as an act of salvation that God brings to his people. But it's clear that Isaiah was looking beyond a mere physical return of Jews to their homeland.
What Isaiah proclaimed was God's promise he would bring salvation from sin under which his people had been condemned. Their return to Zion, they would see as the inauguration of the long promised kingdom of God ruled over by the promised Messiah.
And here, therefore, we have a beautiful prophecy of the coming of Jesus Christ and salvation that God wrought through him. John the Baptist was the voice of Isaiah 40, verse three, in which the heralded kingdom of God was at hand.
That the Messiah would soon arrive in order to redeem and restore his people unto God. Isaiah 40 is not a prophecy of a future earthly Jewish millennium. It's a prophecy of this gospel age. John the Baptist heralded, the Messiah came.
He inaugurated the kingdom of God and he saved his people from their sin. And that's what this prophecy is about. F .F. Brooks said it well. In the original context, the prophet hears a voice calling for the leveling of a path through the eastern desert so that the God of Israel may lead his people home from exile.
In the New Testament application of the oracle, the desert becomes the wilderness of Judea in which John preached his message of repentance. See that association? Very good, very clever. The two fold corpus of prophecy which runs from Isaiah 40 to 66 begins by proclaiming good tidings to Zion of the return of her exiled children but goes on to tell of a greater redemption wrought not by the edict of Cyrus but by the passion and triumph of the obedient servant of the Lord and concludes with the promise of a new heavens and a new earth.
The New Testament writers reinterpret the glad tidings to Zion in terms of the Christian gospel. The message which began to be inaugurated when John prepared the way for a greater than himself, the redemption which he was to accomplish was now on the eve of its appearance and it was John's high honor to be the voice announcing its near approach.
And so John declared that he was the voice. He rightly applied the Holy Scripture to himself and he did so not to bolster in any way his own dignity or notoriety but rather to emphasize his duty and dependence on another to give him his message and to enable his proclamation.
Even when he said I'm the voice, it was an expression of his own humility and dependence upon the Lord. It was not some kind of braggadocious claim. How do we conclude this matter? Let us be faithful witnesses as John the Baptist was faithful to the Lord.
Let us be quick to deny any credit or status that may be conferred upon us but rather testify to the glory of our Redeemer. Matthew Henry wrote temptations to pride assuming that human honor to ourselves which does not belong to us ought to be resisted with a great deal of vigor and earnestness.
We are helpless and powerless to produce any spiritual good to others. They need Jesus Christ and we're to clearly and forcefully place Christ before them. And so it is that we need Jesus Christ as well.
May we not only prepare others to hear and respond to the Lord as John did but may we also prepare ourselves to receive the Lord in his words that come to us. When God is coming toward us, we must prepare to meet him.
Let the word of the Lord have free course in us.
Amen.
Let's be receptive and responsive and attentive. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. Thank you Lord for the wonderful testimony and example we have in John the Baptist. We pray our God that you would help us to be faithful heralders of the kingdom of God in this day pointing people to Jesus Christ, the lamb who takes away the sin of the world.
Help us our God to proclaim Christ faithfully to set him forth Lord before everyone who will hear us and may you bless that word our Lord to the conversion of sinners to the glory of Jesus Christ in whose name we pray.
