How many of you know something about Anne Sullivan? … She must have been a remarkable woman. At the age of 20 she gave her life to a little girl of 7, who was blind, deaf and dumb. She spent the rest of her life with that little girl. Anne Sullivan was Helen Keller’s tutor. How many of you know something about Helen Keller?… But you would have never heard of Helen Keller if it weren’t for Anne Sullivan. With years of patience she taught that little girl the alphabet and words and to speak and hold conversation until she could talk with the world’s great men by putting her hand on their throat while they spoke, and she could communicate. By the age of 10 Helen could read Brail in Latin, Greek and English. Helen Keller went on to be a great and wonderful lady. By 1936 Helen Keller had no problems with communication, but Anne Sullivan was totally blind and her health was gone. About a week before she died, somebody said to her, “Teacher, get well. Without you Helen Keller will be nothing.” Anne Sullivan replied, “Then I have failed. Then I have failed.” But she had not failed. Helen Keller went on after her teachers death to comfort blind soldiers through WWII and open several homes for the blind and she went on ministering at the foundation for the blind in New York city for many years. Anne Sullivan had not failed, but it’s Helen Keller who is remembered. (Illustration from David Pawson’s commentary on the Gospel of John).
Anne Sullivan and John the Baptist, I think, would have got along well together. They would have understood each other, though 2000 years separate them. The wonderful qualities you see in Anne Sullivan, you see in John the Baptist. John was a man who gave his life for the sake of one other person and counted it his purpose on earth to exalt that other person and leave that other person on the center of the stage. And he did not fail. That person was Jesus and John was the one who came before Him.
The text I chose for this lesson is John 1:19ff. It’s about the testimony of John the Baptist about Jesus. But we’re not going to talk much about it, because I found in my study that I’d like to use my time this morning giving you some background which makes this text come alive to me. I’d like to give some background about John the Baptist and what many of the Jewish people were expecting in his day, which makes not just this text come alive, but much of the Bible for me.
Let’s read part of the text first, John 1:19ff, “And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” 21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” 22 So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23 He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight[h] the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.””
Jesus said of John the Baptist, “Among those born of women none is greater than John” (Luke 7:28). Though for most of his life most people would not have seen him as anything great. Many probably saw him as a misfit hippy. He wore his hair longer than other men, because, at least there’s good evidence that, he was a Nazarite, a special set apart servant of God, and they wore a mark of such a one by not cutting their hair. Respectable Jewish men cut their hair short, as Jesus did, despite what you see in paintings from the middle ages, making Jesus look like European kings and nobility with long flowing hair. That’s not the way 1st century Jewish men looked (cf. I Corinthians 11:14). But John was unusual. He wore a garment of tent cloth, camel hair. He lived a lonely life out in the wildernesses eating what food was available, mainly locusts and sometimes wild honey. But in place of his lack of social and material blessings, he had a wonderful spiritual communion with God. The gospel of Luke tells us he became strong in spirit.
In his late twenties, maybe thirty, he stepped into the public eye. It was time for all that God had cultivated in John for 30 years to come out. He came on to the public scene not by going into the city and doing something miraculous. He stayed out in the wilderness around the Jordan River and began to do two simple things: preach sermons to those passing by and dip those who accepted his message into the river. At first, a trickle of people came out and then the trickle became a stream and then the stream became a river and then the river became a flood, until thousands of people were journeying miles to come see this young man and listen to what he had to say, and they usually finished up in the river.
Why did they go?
What was it that compelled thousands to leave the comfort of home to venture miles into the Judean desert to hear this odd young man?
We have no record of John ever performing even one miracle. His lessons were not feel good self-esteem builders. In fact sometimes he began his lesson this way, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” There was no light show, no band, no coffee and donuts at his church. What drew the masses to him?
Jesus one time reminded people of part of why they went out to John. Luke 7:24, He said, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? [A spineless, timid, afraid to upset anybody, kind of fella?] What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are dressed in splendid clothing and live in luxury are in kings’ courts. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.‘”
The people wanted to see and hear someone really connected with God and who spoke for God, and John had every appearance of such a one, just shy of miracles. He dressed like the great prophet Elijah of old. It was evident to everyone that John was not interested in money or pleasure or earthly comfort or the praise men or status. He would say to the Jewish leaders and the powerful people things nobody would dare say. He had a courage that was inspiring. He would say to king Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” You didn’t say that to Herod if you cared much about keeping your head attached to your body. John had a deep humility and unselfish passion. He sought to direct people’s attention off of himself and onto this one coming after him. The people could tell John was the real deal.
But it wasn’t just that he appeared to be a genuine prophet that drew people. It was also…
The people’s expectations at the time derived from their history and their Bible.
(Their Bible of course at the time was what we call the Old Testament.)
For the last thousand years before the 1st century A.D. Israel had mostly struggled. They always looked back to the time of great peace and prosperity when David was their king and then his son Solomon. David, by the power of God, led Israel in one victory after another until they enjoyed rest from their enemies (II Samuel 7:1). David ruled in righteousness and justice and led the people in the ways of God. God made him the highest of the kings of the earth (Psalm 89:20-27) and Israel the strongest and most prosperous kingdom on earth. When David’s son Solomon inherited the kingdom, it says in I Kings 4, “Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea. They ate and drank and were happy. Solomon ruled over the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.” (verses 20-21). They had peace on all sides. They dwelt in safety, every man under his vine and fig tree (verses 24-25). They were rich. It says that silver was not considered anything special (10:21). Solomon had made it about as common as stones in Jerusalem (10:27). But it was downhill from there for Israel. The kingdom divided in two. The Northern division had one evil king after another and strayed further and further from God until they were scattered by the Assyrians. The southern kingdom, the Judeans, had some good kings but mostly bad, and strayed further and further from God until the Babylonians conquered them and took the survivors into exile. But in that exile the Jews finally realized there was no other god who can save and prosper them except the Almighty who brought them out of Egypt so long ago, and in exile they repented to worship and serve Him only. And God worked to stir the hearts of kings to allow them to return, after 70 years of exile, to their homeland and rebuild their city and homes and the temple of the Lord. But ever since they returned to the land, they remained a small struggling people, many of whom were very lukewarm and apathetic about serving God. They were soon invaded and oppressed by the Greeks. Then the Romans took over and they were subject to the Romans. They became very divided in their religious and political views. And so you had these Jewish sects of the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes and Zealots.
They could look at the writings of their Bibles which they knew were written by various prophets throughout their history and see that so much of their history had been spelled out ahead of time. They could look at the earliest of their Scriptures, the ones written by Moses, the book of Deuteronomy specifically, and see that God told their ancestors of the blessings they would enjoy when they followed Him like in the days of David and Solomon. And God warned them about the curses of oppression and hardship and eventual exile if they persisted to disobey Him. Then Deuteronomy 30, Moses told them in exile after you’ve experienced the blessing of obedience and the curse of disobedience, then you’ll return to Me and obey my voice and I will bring you back to your land. The prophets after Moses reiterated the same message. If you’ve read much of the prophets you know so often they preached, “If you continue in your idolatry and immorality and injustice, then God’s going to give you into the hands of your enemies. But then in latter days He will restore you to your land.” So the Jewish people could see that so much of their history was exactly as the prophets had said. They had great confidence in their Bible.
But there were several promises in their Bible they had yet to see fulfilled. God promised, through the prophets, not only to bring them back to their land, but also to effect a kind of permanent change in their hearts; where they all love God with all their heart, obey His voice, and never turn from Him again, and to multiply them exceedingly and to bless them with peace and prosperity that exceeds what they enjoyed in the days of David and Solomon, and to expand their borders like never before, and this time not temporarily, but forever. They had yet to see those promises fulfilled. They had come back to their land, but they weren’t united in love and obedience to God, they weren’t prospering, they weren’t free of oppressions.
Let’s read some examples so you can see what the 1st century Jewish people were expecting and longing for.
Deuteronomy 30, listen to this summary of the rest of their history, “1 And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, 2 and return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3 then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. 4 If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will take you. 5 And the Lord your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. 6 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. 7 And the Lord your God will put all these curses on your foes and enemies who persecuted you. [They couldn’t wait to see that happen to the Romans.] 8 And you shall again obey the voice of the Lord and keep all his commandments that I command you today. 9 The Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers“. In the 1st century, they were still waiting for that, because they were still poor and struggling.
Amos 9:11-15, “In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old, [the royal house will be reestablished.]12 that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name,” declares the Lord who does this. [Like how David ruled over the Edomites and other nations. It’s going to happen again.] 13 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; [Wow! There is so much produce it takes the harvesters until the next planting season to harvest it all. The planters start working before the harvesters are done!] the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. 14 I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. 15 I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them,” says the Lord your God.”
There are so many examples of these sort of promises in the OT. But I’ll just give you one more. Ezekiel 34, most of the chapter denounces the worthless shepherds of Israel, the Jewish leaders who were supposed to be seeing to the welfare of the sheep, the people of Israel, but instead they had merely fed and clothed themselves at the expense of the sheep. And the sheep had been scattered, and they had been taken away into exile into foreign lands, because they had these worthless shepherds. But then God says at Ezekiel 34:22, “I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey. And I will judge between sheep and sheep. 23 And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David [I’m going to give you a David again!], and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. 24 And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the Lord; I have spoken. 25 I will make with them a covenant of peace and banish wild beasts from the land, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. 26 And I will make them and the places all around my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing. 27 And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land. And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke, and deliver them from the hand of those who enslaved them. 28 They shall no more be a prey to the nations, nor shall the beasts of the land devour them. They shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid. 29 And I will provide for them renowned plantations so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, and no longer suffer the reproach of the nations. 30 And they shall know that I am the Lord their God with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, declares the Lord God. 31 And you are my sheep, human sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Lord God.” That’s what the people were longing for – a new David-like king, total deliverance from their enemies, peace and security and prosperity like the world has not seen since the garden of Eden.
And they searched their Scriptures for clues as to when and how this glorious kingdom would come.
The prophet Daniel gave them a time frame. Remember the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. God would establish His kingdom in the days of the fourth empire to come to power (with Babylon being the first), which was the Roman Empire they were under in the 1st century.
And they saw in Scripture that God would send them a great man or men who would be a part of ushering in the kingdom. For example, at the end of the book of the last prophet, at the end of Malachi, there’s this promise, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” So Elijah’s coming. What did that mean? Literally the prophet Elijah would be reincarnated? Or figuratively, one like Elijah?
Another example, in Deuteronomy 18 they read Moses promising that one day God will send you a prophet like me. The end of the book of Deuteronomy was added later in Israel’s history and it says there’s never since been a prophet like Moses who talked with God face to face and preformed so many signs and wonders and mighty deeds. But Moses said God will send you a prophet like me.
So they were looking for this “Elijah one” and this one they called “the Prophet” and they were looking for the new David-like king, they called Him in Hebrew the mashiyach (we say in English the Messiah) and in Greek the christos (we say Christ). The terms meant the “anointed.” Because the ones God chose to be king over His people in the OT, like Saul and David and Solomon, were anointed with oil which symbolized the fact that they were also, though unseen, anointed with God’s Spirit to help them lead His people well (I Samuel 16:13).
These expectations were part of what drew the masses out to the Elijah-resembling, courageous, young preacher at the Jordan. They thought, “Could he be one of those we’ve been looking for?” And all the more, because the central message John preached was, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). Everything you’ve been hoping for, for hundreds of years, all that you’ve read in the prophets, is at hand. But there’s also a judgment coming. And if you wish to be spared from the judgment and be a part of the kingdom, you need to repent, you need to turn from your sins to obey the will of God in your life. It made sense. In the kingdom the prophets described, everyone loves the Lord their God with all their heart and obeys His voice. There are no unrepentant people in the kingdom.
And he commanded the people to express their repentance by being baptized. It’s what got John the nickname John the Baptist or John the Baptizer. It means John the Dipper, John the Plunger. The Greek word baptizo simply means immerse, dip, plunge, submerge. He told people, “You repent and you express this in being baptized, and God will forgive all your sins. As long as you stay faithful and you believe in the great One coming after me, you’ll be a part of this kingdom.”
Well, that’s some of the background that prepares us for John 1:19ff.
But before we end I hope you know that…
God has not changed His mind about this glorious eternal kingdom.
There will be this kingdom in which everyone loves the Lord their God with all of their heart, mind, soul, and strength; obeys Him and loves one another. They will have peace and joy and prosperity like the world has never seen, forever. Everything is going to be very good once again.
There were a lot of things the Jews didn’t understand about the kingdom that we have the privilege of understanding from our vantage point in history and with the rest of the Bible. For instance (1) they didn’t understand that the king would leave this earth and sit on a throne in heaven. They thought He’d assume a throne on earth. (2) They didn’t understand that the cross would be part of of the Messiah’s work and part of creating this kingdom. (3) They didn’t understand that the arrival of the kingdom in all its fullness would take so long (cf Acts 1:6-7). I think they thought that whoever this prophet is and this Elijah and this Messiah, when they come, the Romans will be quickly wiped out, and the Jews will become the world power and everything will be good real quick. Remember the question Jesus’ disciples asked Him before He went to heaven, “Lord is it at this time you’re going to restore the kingdom of Israel?” And Jesus said, “It’s not for you to know the times and epochs the Father has fixed.” The kingdom has dawned; Jesus has taken His throne and He’s expanding His kingdom through the gospel, He changing men and women’s hearts to be His servants, and the kingdom is growing, but it has not yet fully arrived. (4) They also didn’t understand that Gentiles would be incorporated into the kingdom, that Gentiles without becoming Jewish, would be grafted into the people of God, the true Israel.
God has not changed His plans. A kingdom of peace and prosperity is coming. The New Testament sheds more light on it. There’s going to be no more thorns and thistles, no more pollution, no more disease, no more death, and everyone will love God and love one another.
Do you realize we live in the most unique time in human history? For thousands of years, we did not have cell phones and internet and satellites, global mass instant communication. Any information you want, it’s immediately available to you, including the gospel. It is a very unique time. I wonder if God’s wrapping things up; if the uniqueness of our time marks the last of the last days. Two thousand years ago Jesus and His disciples said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘The end is near.’” God said, “I’m almost done with this world.” Of course His perspective on time is not ours; two thousand years to God is not much (II Pt 3:8). But when we reached the 1st century A.D. He said “I’m almost done.” I don’t know the day or the hour, nor does anyone (Matt 24:36), but I feel like that day is coming very soon. I don’t know when, but I know it’s coming.
And our message is still the same as John the Baptist’s, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.” And John introduced some conditions that are still in effect today: repent and be baptized. But today we must repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus, with faith and commitment to Jesus. Then you rise from the water with your sins forgiven and He gives you the help of the Holy Spirit to live righteously and serve His kingdom in the world. That’s what it’s all about, that’s God’s great project; His kingdom, people repenting and becoming a part of His family that’s going to inherit the new heavens and new earth.
-James Williams