Mark 1:2 ( ESV )
2£As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,£ £“Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way,
The prophet Amos had told the people, “Prepare to meet your God.” This was a message given by many of the prophets throughout the Old Testament. As a whole it was a message that was saying to the people, “get your life in order, for the King is coming to judge the quick and the dead.” Before this king would come though we are told that there would be a messenger who would go before Him. This messenger was spoken of especially in the books of Malachi and Isaiah.
This messenger was one who was not the light but instead would bear witness of the light. John’s main ministry was to always increase the name of Christ. Two times in both this verse and the next we hear the word PREPARE. During the ancient days servants would go before their ruler’s carriages and clear the roads and pathways for them. They would make level the paths they would be going on. They would clear the roads of any obstacles. This is what John the Baptist ministry was all about.
Mark 1:3 ( ESV )
3 £the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare£ the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’”
I love how John is described here as the VOICE of one crying in the wilderness. He made no qualms about it. John would loudly proclaim of the Messiah who was to come. It’s interesting to me how John comes out of the wilderness area. He was like a new Moses who would shout out to the world about the coming savior. This savior’s main purpose though was not of a physical deliverance from Rome. No, this savior would bring forth freedom from the spiritual bondage that enslaved them.
Prepare!! Get your house in order. Let the Lord turn your crooked and sinful ways into pathways that would please Him. You have strayed from Him far to long take care of the rocks of sin that have destroyed your path. John would beg of the people to turn to Christ.
Mark 1:4 ( ESV )
4John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
Almost like a scene from a Clint Eastwood movie John just appears upon the scene. His ministry though would begin in the wilderness rather than in the cities of Israel or Jerusalem. He was a prophet of and for the people.
Baptism had been practiced for years by Gentiles who had converted to Judaism. So what John was preaching too many of the Jews was an offensive thing. John was basically telling them that they were on the same level of the Gentiles spiritually. They were sinners and needed a spiritual rebirth. They would not see the kingdom of God by being born neither of a certain blood line nor of the will of their flesh. This baptism symbolically represented to them their need of forgiveness as sinners. Those who partook of John’s baptism were saying, “I have sinned and need forgiveness.”
There are those who today believe that baptism is part of their salvation. This is a foolish belief, as salvation is a free gift from God. Baptism is not a part of the Gospel as one can see from I Cor. 1:17. I believe that the idea here is that they were baptized because they had been forgiven of their sins. They were looking forward to the forgiveness that would be offered them by the Lamb of God which would take away the sins of the world.
Mark 1:5 ( ESV )
5And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
They came from all over the country to hear this messenger of God. Many of the people were willing to hear this message of repentance and forgiveness of sins. They came from all walks of life. Tax collectors, soldiers, the common people even some scribes and Pharisees. Many came with pure motives. Some came with motives that were not pure and wanted to see John fail.
No matter who they were or what they had done many would be baptized and confess their sins. I would have given anything to have been there during those days. Men and women openly acknowledged before all, that they had done evil in the sight of God. They made it public that they deserved death. They wanted to turn their hearts towards God.
Mark 1:6 ( ESV )
6Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.
John was a common man just like many of the people he had preached to. He had clothes made of camel’s hair and ate the dried insects that the people of that region ate. He was not one who dressed in the finery of his day. No, he was a man who would not be shaken like a reed by the wind.
In dressing and eating like he did I believe that he must have reminded them of the Elijah of old. He did not rely upon society for his livelihood. John was reliant upon God alone for His needs. This would have brought to their minds the idea of the coming Elijah before the Messiah’s return. Mal. 4:5-6
Mark 1:7 ( ESV )
7And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.
What is it that sets John apart the most for me though is his humility. I believe that he was fearless. I believe that John was beyond bold in his proclamations about Christ. Yet for all of these characteristics, John was one of the most humble men that walked on this earth.
Even before his birth he would leap in his mother’s womb upon hearing of the upcoming birth of Jesus. He would always have the view that I must decrease but He must increase. In their culture when a guest would come into the house the servants of the household would remove the guest sandals and often wash his feet. John said that he was not even worthy to be called a servant to this king. “I am not even worthy to take off His shoes. Who am I to even touch His feet?”
Mark 1:8 ( ESV )
Isaiah had told the people of a different type of water that would be spilt one day. Water that would be for the cleansing of the soul. In Is. 43:3 we read these words, “Pour water on thirsty land and streams on dry ground, I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring..”
Yes, John had the important ministry of calling the people to repentance and preparing the way for the Lord. Yet, when Jesus would come not only would He save us from our sins but He would also cause us to have the working of the Spirit of God in our lives. The Spirit of God would wash us and renew us to a life pleasing to God. He would make someone like us into a part of the body of Christ.
Are you prepared to meet your God?
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