I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH MADE THE MAN. John was the transition point between the old and the new. The old religion was breaking up as was evident in the multiplication of sects, like the multiplication of the sects before the Reformation showed that it was near. Four divisions of society:
1. The Pharisees. The formalists of their day they endeavoured to keep religion alive by retaining the past. It is an evidence of something gone when antiquarians collect and prize relics. Pharisaism is the religion of habit.
2. The Sadducees: Rationalists, cold of heart and clear in intellect. Sadduceeism is a reaction against Phariseeism in every age. Rationalism is a dry, critical, negative spirit which protests against all that cannot be proved. The religion of the intellect merely.
3. The Essenes: They could bear neither formalism nor scepticism. Mystics who went out into the wilderness to find God in contemplation. Their creed “God must be felt,” their religion one of feeling.
4. The Herodians: A political party who turned aside from religious questions to those which concerned man’s social and political existence.
II. THE MAN JOHN.
1. It was impossible for John to join the Pharisees. How, with his impatience of all that was unreal and his iron earnestness, could he belong to those whose life was droned away in litanies and genuflexions?
2. Nor can we conceive him resting in mere Sadducaic negations; satisfied with their cold intellectualisms and protests against superstition?
3. Nor could that iron man dream life away with the Essenes.
4. As for the Herodians--surely for one whose life was so real, a patriot’s life offered what was wanted. But John yearned not for civil liberty, but a kingdom of God. He loved humanity more than men, and could find no career in mere politics. It is only in the consideration of such circumstances that John’s peculiar life becomes intelligible.
III. His MISSION.
1. The preparation. Thirty years’ preparation for one year’s work.
(1) Consider the testimony of such a life to the existence of another world;
(2) In the wilderness he measured the worth of society, with its conventionalities and parties, as one sees how the battle goes while he is in it; no one ever understood the world except by getting out of it;
(3) The Spirit of God passed into life and action in Him, and made Him intensely real. Only real men can deal witch real questions, and the real questions of to-day are not the frivolous ones discussed in religious journals, but what is God and where. What is human life? Whither are we tending?
2. The mode in which John prepared the way for Christ.
(1) He calls himself a voice: an articulate expression. Four centuries had passed and no one could speak the word “Repent,” if the kingdom of God is to come. Regenerated society comes not from regenerated institutions; but regenerated hearts produce both. But none till John had found the tongue to express this. He spoke out what the world wanted. Distinguish between eloquence and fluency. Fluency John had not: short, sharp, decisive words were his. No ornament or trick of oratory there. Let us not covet fluency but eloquence, the gift of speaking the right thing, at the right time, in the right way.
2. He was a voice crying “Prepare,” etc. He was s leveller.
(1) The mountain of caste stood in the King’s way. John said, “I tell you God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham,” and the mountain fell.
(2) The mountain of religious sectarianism, “O generation of Vipers,” levelled that.
(3) The mountain which gave impunity to wrong doing. John’s rebuke of Herod brought that down. Notice the wondrous way in which all fell together at that mighty voice. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
The answer of the Baptist
He had come
I. TO ANNOUNCE THAT GOD WAS ABOUT TO COME AS HE NEVER CAME BEFORE.
1. This was Isaiah’s belief, and when John accentuated it he knew that the Divine visitation was near. Had the prophet suspected the delay he would have wondered, and knowing it, doubtless John wondered. Do we? Let us then remember that God always takes His time. If He wants to make a weed, that does not take Him long: if He wants to make an oak, that is more tedious business; if He wants to save a world it takes Him longer still.
2. The Baptist did not imply that God was absent, but that He was about to be manifested. Hitherto it had been winter; the Sun of righteousness had been comparatively hidden. Now He was to arise with healing in His wings.
3. Christ came for
(1) The world’s enlightenment;
(2) The subjugation of men;
(3) The saving of the world.
II. TO BID MEN GET READY FOR HIM. “Make straight the way.” That was man’s work. If God had compelled men to prepare that would have ensured the frustration of His purposes. God’s will is that men should do His will willingly. Three great barriers.
1. Thoughtlessness: It was troublesome to think about Christ sufficiently to see the validity of His claims; so now.
2. Pride: The Jews could not bring themselves to confess their need of a Saviour.
3. Worldliness. (H. W. Burgoyne, M. A.)
The voice crying in the wilderness
I. WHERE THE VOICE CRIED. In the wilderness.
1. Locally:
(1) Generally, the wilderness of Judaea (Mat_3:1);
(2) Particularly, Bethany beyond Jordan.
2. Metaphorically: in the moral desert of Judaea Israel was a wilderness, and Zion a desolation. The Hope of Israel survived only in the breasts of a Luk_1:25). The deepest corruption and the basest hypocrisy reigned among the priesthood (Mat_23:13; Mat_23:39). The people were sunk in social and moral degradation (Mat_3:8; Luk_7:7-14). The intellectual classes were ostentatiously sceptical (Mat_22:23; Act_23:8).
II. THE PROPHETIC VOICE IS SUITABLE FOR AND DEMANDED BY THE SPIRITUAL WASTES OF SOCIETY. There the prophet should cry aloud and spare not (Isa_58:1).
III. THE QUALITY OF THE VOICE.
1. Lonely.
2. Authoritative.
3. Directive.
4. Arrestive. (T. Whitelaw, M. A.)
Only a voice
Christ was a surprise to the world. God prepared the world for this by the ministry of the Baptist. The world has now become accustomed to the story of redemption. But the proclamation of the coming of the King in His glory is still a surprise. It runs counter to all human plans of development, is contradictory to the pride and self-confidence of men, and stands in the same relation to our ministry as did the coming of Christ as a Redeemer to that of the Baptist. That we may rightly fulfil this most responsible office, let us look at the outline of his work. These parallel and coincident offices are
I. AN ORDINANCE, NOT AN OUTGROWTH. Its origin is traced to mystery. It is not in harmony with the other voices of the world, but introduces a discord with other utterance, as students of history criticise the record. Heaven, not earth, is its source. It came by Divine ordinance, not through human development. The law of its appointment was such in John the Baptist, and is to be such in our living.
1. The motive of its fulfilment is of God.
2. The reward of fidelity is equally of Divine ordinance--does not come by natural outgrowth. The herald’s work will have little accumulation of visible results. The reward is beyond. Soon shall we forget the ingratitude of earth.
II. IT IS THE INSTRUMENTALITY OF ANOTHER’S INDIVIDUALITY. As if he had said, “I am the mouthpiece of one proclaiming.”
1. The breath of God is the power by which our work is accomplished. Said Paul, “I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.”
2. The words are of God, though ours be the voice. And may I add to this thought, the very tone of such a voice is of God.
III. Finally, ALL THIS IS COMBINED IN TESTIMONY. There was the simplicity of sincerity in this man. Christian workers, make it true in your own experience that ye are for Christ without qualification; and let man be helped by the testimony that springs from this deep sincerity.
1. Self-forgetful living is the first element in such testimony.
2. In such testimony there must be detaching influence. John the Baptist did not attach disciples to himself. He pointed to the Lamb of God, and his disciples left him and followed Jesus.
3. There must be plainest teaching. John the Baptist preached a single sermon, twice the same day; but while he had that sermon he needed no new one. “Behold the Lamb of God,” etc. It was blessed to his hearers because it was emphasized by sincerity and consecration. Peter and Andrew knew his meaning, and comprehended that there was more in his utterance than even the words had phrased. Let us enter into this harmony of service, so that our speech shall be sustained by our silence; our conscious influence be in harmony with that which is unconscious and undesigned among our fellow-men.
Conclusion: I speak to
1. Christians that they may bear their testimony to the manifested and coming King.
2. Those who are not Christians. The voice of Christ speaks to you to-day. What answer will you give? (S. H. Tyng, D. D.)
Self out of sight in the preacher
Rev. Dr. Andrew A. Bonar in “Christian Growth,” an address to Christians at Glasgow, said: “Some years ago, a zealous and devoted eider, now gone to glory, was pushing his way one evening to be in time for a workers meeting. Taking his place in the meeting, he noticed how the conversation was going on, and rose to give a word. He said, ‘In coming along I saw a crowd at a shop door in Argyle Street. I pressed in among the crowd to see what was attracting the attention. There was a large picture in the hands of the auctioneer; and he, with great skill, was holding it up to view; and, standing behind his picture so as to be completely hid, was inviting the attention of the company to every remarkable point in the painting. All the while I never got a glimpse of the man himself. That is the way to preach Christ. Self, out of sight--Christ held forth.’”
An uncouth messenger, but a glorious message
A lady, who was in Richmond at the time of the siege, tells of the delight with which she received a note torn from a soldier’s pocketbook, and grimed all over with gunpowder; but which assured of the safety of the town. The medium was nothing; the message was everything. (H. O. MacKey.)
A minister’s work
My barque is but a little fishing boat, whose business it is to fish for the souls of men; my gifts fit me only to be such a coasting vessel as may carry corn from port to port to feed those who hunger for satisfying bread. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Baptist and the Bible
I. JOHN HAD LEARNED TO READ HIS BIBLE. It is a good thing to be able to quote from Scripture. To buy a Bible and treasure it as an ornament is good as far as it goes; but the book must be read so as to be remembered if it is to be of service. It is just possible that had we been in the Baptist’s place we should have had some difficulty in making our memory of Scripture serve us. The Bible is crowded out by the multiplication of books, the very best of which is not to be named beside it.
II. JOHN BELIEVED IN PROPHECY. The question arose, doubtless, as to whether the New Teacher was orthodox. His testimony, however otherwise disagreeable, showed that he was loyal to the traditions of his religion and country. It is a great trouble to some people to believe in the Jewish prophets.
III. John believing in prophecy REGARDED HIMSELF AS THE FULFILMENT OF IT. It is not every man who, being asked who and what he is, can turn to the Scripture and find the answer there. The remembrance that God was working according to a great plan, and that he was part of that plan, must have given him a noble self-consciousness. In this the Baptist was not wholly singular. Although our names may not be in the Bible, we are as much a part of God’s plan as John was. Believe, then, that as truly as God sent the Baptist He sent you. (H. W. Burgoyne, B. A.)
John in the wilderness
Losing the solaces of an earthly home, he found in God an everlasting portion. Like a single trunk of an Alpine tree rising solitary from between the interstices of some lonely rock and throwing its branches over the cataract. You look for soil, there is scarcely any to be seen; and yet that gnarled root has fastened its tenacious grasp on the bare stone, and tossed its green branches in the air, as if it needed nothing but the breath of heaven for its support. So this soul flourished where less hardy spirits would have starved, and breathed freely the atmosphere of heaven while yet upon earth. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
Make the paths straight
This is what the sun says. He comes to us every morning, and stays with us all day long, but if it were not for the preparation and reception in the way of opening shutters and raising blinds, we should lose very much of his blessing. All the world over, before a blessing can be enjoyed there must be a fitness to receive it. If you take a blind man into a picture-gallery, what good do you do? The beauty of the pictures is there, but the man is unaffected by it; its way into the man’s soul has not been made straight. You may play all manner of beautiful music, but if your audience is deaf, you play only for yourself; the way of the music is not made straight except into your heart. And the result will be just the same if the blindness and deafness are not natural but assumed. If the man in the picture-gallery is only covering his eyes with his hands, he is as good as blind; and if the people in the concert-room are only putting their fingers into their ears, they are as good as deaf. So it was, alas! so it is, with the people and Jesus. (H.W. Burgoyne.)
