Expectations can be good things. And they can lead us into disappointment and disillusionment—unless we manage them. When we look at the life of John the Baptist in all of the accounts in the New Testament, we can watch the life a very intriguing person. From the account of his unusual birth to elderly parents to his non-traditional and evangelical preaching ministry and finally to his imprisonment and death for calling leadership to account, John the Baptist was a most unusual man. Indeed, Jesus himself called him a prophet.
John was a prophet-come-late. In the 400 some odd years between the time of Nehemiah and the birth of Jesus Christ, prophets had fallen off the map. There is much conjecture and musing on why this happened—pagan conquerors destroying their nation, the diaspora, the destruction of the Temple, and many other elements seemed to have torn the nation of God's people to shreds. There were no clearly "marked" people like Moses or Elijah—marked by the special call of God to be a prophet in their midst. No one was left to confront wicked priests or call down judgment on kings gone astray. But then John's coming and purposes were proclaimed to Zechariah by the Lord's angel Gabriel. Gabriel listed several things about John that Zechariah and Elizabeth took into their hearts. Let's look at those things found in Luke 1:14-17 (emphasis added).
He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
What kinds of images come to mind from a description of such a person? I imagine a charismatic, handsome, well-built person who was compassionate and influential. I also imagine someone who would be quite popular and an excellent front man for the coming Messiah. He would be cool, organized, well-connected and resourceful. But there was something different about John and he was more than just an advance man for a powerful leader.
After John's birth, his father Zechariah made a proclamation that Luke described as a prophesy. Let's do a close reading of this proclamation, with emphasis added, for the characteristics of his son in Luke 1:76-79.
And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,
to give his people the knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God,
by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
to shine on those living in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
And then in verse 80 we read a very cryptic account of his growing years. "And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel." As can be conjectured, John probably lost his parents early in life. Why did he go out to the desert? We really do not know. What we do come to know is that some thirty years later he appears on the scene not in tailored shark-skin suits or leading a well-connected advance team of professionals getting the security details and fanfare ready for the Messiah's arrival, but a man strangely dressed in animal skins and a desert dweller. By this time, John is fully aware of his purpose and fully active in his role as the prophet for the Messiah.
In John 1:19-27 we see how John describes his role to those who questioned what he was doing. Let's read this, again with emphasis added, to see how crystal-clear John was about his purposes in proclaiming and preaching were.
Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.”
They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”
He said, “I am not.”
“Are you the Prophet?”
He answered, “No.”
Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’ ”
Now the Pharisees who had been sent questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
“I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”
John off-put all of the monikers that described the great expectations of someone like him. His off-putting was quite off-putting. For most of them wanted the fantastic forerunner Elijah to arrive. They were longing for restoration of their nation, retribution for the sins done against them, military takeovers and demolition of the cruel and pagan nation in which they lived and many of them suffered. They wanted someone who would raise up the political, social and military banners so that they could take back what rightfully belonged to them! But John resisted this. He had something far better to proclaim.
Luke 3:1-20 shows that John had been preaching and actively confronting wickedness and unrighteousness, which led to many people repenting and being baptized (a clear fulfillment of the prophesy about what he was called to do). Let's read John 3:22-36 for one of John's powerful sermons.
After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized. (This was before John was put in prison.) An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”
To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less.”
The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.
What powerful and joyful words John spoke about the now-present Messiah! He knew who he was to preach about. He knew that the Messiah had come. This was the message people were drawn to when he preached in the region and in the desert. In fact, people flocked to hear him preach and now they were hearing Jesus preach as well.
But then something happened—something dreadful and confusing. The dreadful thing was that John has been thrown into prison by a wicked king he had confronted (Luke 3:19-20, Matthew 14:3-12). And while he was in prison confusion started to knock at his heart's door. We read in Matthew 11:1-19 an account of these things.
After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee.
When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”
Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”
As John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings’ palaces. Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written:
“‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’
Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence, and violent people have been raiding it. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. Whoever has ears, let them hear.
“To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others:
“‘We played the pipe for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.”
In this passage we see that John, Jesus’ prophet-cousin, had been jailed. He still had faithful followers who were dedicated to him. But all of them had doubts about Jesus. I admire John because he went right to the source. “Are you the One?” he asked of Jesus. This should not be a threatening question or action. Craig Keener writes, "More likely, John, like most of his contemporaries, is tempted to think of a kingdom-bringer or royal Messiah rather than a miracle worker, so Jesus vindicates his healing mission with a text about the blessings of the Messianic era."[1] Perhaps they had become trapped into the truthful, but narrow, alley of the political, social and military expectations of the Messiah and forgot about the other "Messianic credentials" found in Isaiah 29:18-19, 35:5-6 and 61:1 and other Messianic prophesies that spoke of the healing work of the Messiah.[2] John was fulfilling his role as a prophet of the Most High God and he was human. There he was in prison, wrongfully imprisoned indeed, and questions came to his mind. Questions are not wrong. Indeed, I believe that God is delighted when we ask questions of him.
The kind and reassuring response of Jesus was what John really needed to hear to expand his expectations. The Messiah had arrived. John's work as a prophet was now complete.
Jesus then turned to the crowd declaring John as a man of godly integrity and even as the final and great prophet who has been called and destined for the truth-telling he had done. Both he and John were proved right by their actions. Neither of them looked like what was expected. Both of them behaved as prophesied.
Jesus then entered into a courtroom, not of public opinion, but of absolute truth. He confronted the crowd around him with their narrow understanding of both the Messiah's prophet as well as the Messiah. "What did you go out into the desert to see?" They saw the Elijah! John was not only a great prophet, but one by which the present culture was judged. God had made him a standard. Craig Keener wrote, "John, like Jesus and the twelve, becomes a model for Christian discipleship."[3] John was one of the greatest humans to ever have lived up to that point, even greater than Moses and Elijah.
Why was he the greatest? Because he was the final prophet to declare, to stand at the gate of the New Kingdom now being ushered in by the Messiah himself. There was no longer a need for prophets of the Messiah because the Messiah had come!
I imagine John as the prophet of the second to the last leg of a relay race. When we watch a relay, we have great expectations for someone winning. When we look across the vast account of prophecy in the Bible, we can see how Moses shot out of the starting block running strong and fast, stumbling a bit, then later the baton was passed off to Elijah who ran with incredible perseverance, then it was passed off to John who captured the baton at the last part of the race only to hand it off to the Messiah who crossed the finish line achieving our victory for us!
John would hear from his disciples that the Messianic prophesies he had been so faithful to preach were not only true to the Messiah Jesus Christ, but that they were expanded and fulfilled! What a word of hope was given to him in his final days. The confirming words of the Messiah about John's role gave affirmation of his life-long commitment to the message and perseverance in the face of persecution. And not only that, but the presence and witness of the final prophet to the Messiah, confirmed that the Messiah had indeed come in the flesh to bring salvation to all who would receive him as God-in-the-flesh, among us at last, giving the way to salvation and eternal life with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Amen
"We must not let our occasional confusion, doubts, or questions scandalize us—cause us to abandon our faith that Jesus is the promised Messiah. We must let Him reign as He decides."
-George Lyons[4]
How are your expectations of Jesus and his activity in our world today challenged by what he is doing in our age?
© M.R.Hyde 2022
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