The Kingdom is Coming: The Role of John the Baptist in God's Mission
The British are coming! The
British are coming!” For those of you who are not history buffs, these words
were attributed to Paul Revere. From my understanding, he most likely did not
shout these words as he rode his horse on April 18, 1775 to tell the Colonial
militia that British forces were approaching. Regardless of whether or not Paul
Revere shouted or quietly spread the valuable military news, he was
instrumental in warning the Colonial militia to prepare for the British king’s
invading troops.
Some 1700 years before Paul Revere
lived, another man announced another invasion. Living in the wilderness by the
Jordan River, John the Baptist also announced a foreign invasion. John was not
broadcasting the coming of a man-made foreign kingdom, but the coming Kingdom
of God. By sending Jesus into the world, God was ripping open the heavens. The
Kingdom of God was invading the world as Jesus was born in a manger and as
Jesus journeyed towards the cross. God was doing a new thing, something that he
had not done before, but something that was promised long ago. God was sending
his only Son to live a perfect life and then die on behalf of sinful mankind.
How important was John the Baptist?
In a radio interview about John the Baptist, Dr. Jeff Gibbs referenced Luke 3:1-6,
saying, “John the Baptist was the most important human being to have lived up
to that point.” Why was he so important? He was the one who announced the
coming King. Nothing in the history of the world has been as important as the
coming Messiah with the mission of redemption for you and me.
John did more than simply announce
the coming King, though. A plethora of Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled
in John’s calling and role. Zechariah, John’s own father, sings about the
Messiah and John’s role as the one spoken of in the Old Testament, the one who
was to prepare the way before the Lord. Even Jesus himself, in Matthew 17:12,
says that John is Elijah, the one who was promised to come before the Messiah.
Now, in addition to fulfilling Old
Testament prophecies and announcing the coming Messiah, John’s ministry had
some profound implications. His message not only prepared people for Jesus, but
his message also prepares us daily for the Gospel.
Can you imagine someone saying to
you, “You are not a Christian! You’ve got it all wrong! Your parents,
grandparents and ancestors may have been Christians, but you are not. Quit
claiming your spiritual heritage as a basis of assurance. Repent, for you have
gone wrong. You need to begin again.” That is what John essentially was saying.
Some 1,400 years before John the Baptist’s ministry began by the Jordan, the
Israelites originally entered the Promised Land by crossing the Jordan River
(see Joshua 3). It is no coincidence that John was calling the people of Israel
back out to the Jordan. Israel had drifted. They had gone astray and needed to
be completely remade as a people. They were slothful and spiritually apathetic
as they appealed to Abraham as their Father. Yes, their forefathers entered the
Promised Land by the Jordan. Yes, they were children of Abraham. However, John
was calling them back out to the Jordan because the Kingdom of God was at hand.
Their spiritual apathy had to be shattered and they needed to go back to the
Jordan and do it all over again. John was calling them to repentance.
Creating more controversy, John
spoke to the Pharisees and Sadducees, the religious elite, and called them to
bear fruits of repentance. But weren’t both the Pharisees and Sadducees already
the most moral and upright people of the society at that time? Weren’t they
already displaying good fruit through their good works? They were displaying
outward righteousness, but this was not what was needed to be prepared for the
Kingdom of God. John was not primarily calling for more good works; he was
rather calling for the fruit of repentance—confession of sins.
The real problem for the people of
Israel and for you and me in the 21st century is not merely that we need to
repent of bad choices, though this is good. Rather the much larger issue is
that we are turned inward on self. As we turn inward on self we become
self-reliant and trust in our own righteousness. This is self-justification.
Proper repentance, as John calls us, is not only to avoid sin and do righteous
things instead. It is to confess that we have sinned, that we continue to sin,
that we cannot stop ourselves from sinning, and that we actually like to sin
because of the old Adam in us. To be sorrowful about our sinful longings is at
the heart of John’s repentance. This repentance is about despising the unholy
trinity of “me, myself and I.”
This is the strange gift that John
the Baptist brought to the Israelites and the same gift that the Holy Spirit
must work in us through the Word. Our pride and self-reliance, our stubborn
belief that by our own goodness we can please God—these are the things that
need to be killed so that we can be prepared to receive the Kingdom of God. In
this gift of repentance we are laid bare before the coming Kingdom.
John was calling Israel to come into
the Promised Land again not by physically crossing the Jordan, but this time by
passing through the waters of the Jordan in baptism. Just as their forefather
entered the Promised Land, they needed a new entrance into the coming Kingdom
of God. John proclaimed this new entrance as he proclaimed a message of
repentance for sin and then baptized them in the Jordan. This was no empty
baptism. He was not getting people wet in some symbol or formality. This was a
baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, a baptism that pointed to
Jesus, a baptism that would be expanded by Jesus and a baptism that was
fulfilled by Jesus’ death and resurrection. The Israelites needed to enter
through the coming King, Jesus; they needed God’s washing that came through
Christ. The same is true for you and me today.
Today and every day we need to be
gifted with the fruit of repentance—confession of sins. As we confess our sins
we are prepared to receive the King and his Kingdom of grace and truth. Take
comfort, my friends, for God will not despise this status of brokenness and
helplessness. God does not cast aside sinners, that is, those who recognize
their sin. Like
the Israelites we progress in this Christian life as we daily return to the
waters of our baptism where we were and are presently washed and claimed; water
that is filled with Jesus’ death and resurrection. For it is in this very brokenness and fallenness that God
meets us with his tender Word of Gospel and his Sacraments, reminding us that
all has been forgiven and completed by Jesus Christ—the one who invaded our
world to atone for our sin.
“The Kingdom of God and Forgiveness
is coming! The Kingdom of God and Forgiveness have come! Jesus has come for
you.”
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