Our study last week basically began with the fact that he was a prophesied person. Perhaps no one has more prophetical ink dedicated to him than John Baptist – except for the Lord Jesus. “For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias,” – and Micah – and others.
Tonight, we’ll make verse 5 our primary point of reference. “Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan.” For a short time John the Baptist was very popular; he was the number one man in the daily news. Despite his tragic end, or perhaps I should say, even including his tragic end, his was a ministry which every servant of God should emulate and hope to duplicate. Despite the fact that most Protestants – and that includes plenty of Baptists who are Protestants at heart… Despite the fact that most Protestants want to distance themselves from this man, the Holy Spirit wants us to get as close to him as possible. As I said last week, there is nothing about his ministry which was not Christian.
Leaving behind the fact that he became Christianity’s first martyr, for a while he was extremely popular. Before I go on, I need to remind you of the true meaning of the word “martyr.” This is great trivia, which I would like you to remember until the day that you leave this world. The dictionary defines “a martyr” as someone who dies for his cause. But the Greek word “martus” (mar’-toos) is used 29 times in the New Testament, and only twice is it transliterated – “martyr.” Pall called Stephen as a “martus” – a “martyr,” when he prayed, “And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him.” Later in Revelation a man named Antipas was described as a “martus” when he lost his life for Christ. “I know thy works (church in Smyrna), and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.” So the word “martyr” has come to mean someone who has given his life for his cause. But the Greek word “martus” means “witness,” and it is translated that way 29 times. “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses (martyrs) unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” “Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness (martyr) with us of his resurrection.” And we are his witnesses (martyrs) of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.” John the Baptist was a “martus” not only because he was murdered for his testimony, but because he lived for his testimony. You and I as Christians – we are all supposed to be martyrs in the Biblical sense of the word.
But let’s return to our original question – why was John initially so popular?
Most of the adults have been looking at Samson – the great Judge of the Old Testament. What was the first event recorded in Samson’s life which spoke of his great strength? Killing the lion. And what precisely does the scripture about that? “And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done.” Then at his “wedding” when the Philistines cheated him in regard to the riddle, “And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them.” And following that when the men of Judah delivered Samson bound unto the Philistines, we read – “And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands.” There should be no doubt that Samson’s strength was not through exercise, steroids or HGH. His strength came as a direct result of the infilling of the Holy Spirit.
And I guarantee that John’s great ministry was a result of the same omnipotent Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit gave him the same kind of boldness and confidence that Samson, Samuel and David had. The Spirit gave him insight into the Word of God which the Pharisees and Scribes totally missed. It wasn’t because Jesus was his cousin, that John was able to recognize and point out the Saviour. Despite the fact that he sometimes didn’t fully utilize it, the Holy Spirit was the source of his “success.”
And here is the thing…. John didn’t have more of the Holy Spirit than any other child of God. Just because it was declared that he would be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb, and that made him different from you and me, that doesn’t mean that we cannot be just as Spirit-filled today as he was. We are exhorted, “be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.” The implication is that through sin, we keep ourselves from this blessings of the Spirit. Our sin might be terrible and reprehensible even in the eyes of the world, or it might be as “small” as not praying and not wanting to be filled with the Spirit.
The first reason that John’s ministry was initially successful, was that it was Spirit empowered.
This second point is a corollary to our first – they are linked – but definitely not the same thing. Even though John was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb, at some adult point in time he also became filled with the Word of God. Or at the very least he became occupied and preoccupied, preaching the Old Testament scriptures. Like his divine Successor, and then like Philip, Peter, the Apostle John and Paul, he began with the prophets, preaching the Messiah and the Kingdom of Heaven. And among some in Israel there was a hunger and thirst after the Word of God.
Do you remember Simeon and Anna, who were there in the Temple when the Lord Jesus was first brought by His mother and her husband? They were two of perhaps hundreds, if not thousands of others, who were waiting for Christ and the “consolation of Israel.” They believed in the sovereignty of God, and that He would establish the kingdom that he had promised. They even felt, down in the depths of their hearts as though God had put it there, that they would not die before that promise was fulfilled. Those two had probably both died before the thirty years passed and John and the Lord Jesus began their ministries, but they both saw the beginning of that fulfillment. And I guarantee that they shared what they had experienced with everyone that they could.
When John picked up the scriptures and began preaching the prophecies of Christ and the promises of the kingdom, there were hearts that God had prepared to hear. And like pieces of iron they were drawn to the magnet that John had become. Perhaps John had begun down toward the north point of the Dead Sea, there on the Jordan River. A caravan came by and John in his radical clothing began to preach the Word of God, and a few hearts were pricked. They eventually went on to Jerusalem, and told a few friends or business contacts about the strange man and his strange sermon. Perhaps they asked people in Jerusalem if they had heard about this man down on the Jordan. Eventually some of the more curious, or those whose heart the Lord stirred, decided to pursue the idea. And over time, what began as a trickle of people, became a small flood. Perhaps John moved up and down the Jordan, ministering in the south, then towards Jericho, then on up by Aeon and the Sea of Galilee. Everywhere he went the Holy Spirit drew people to his message.
His style and his message was radically different from what was commonly heard in his day. The Pharisees were mainly concerned with their minute interpretations, ruined by their hypocritical lives. The Sadducees cared nothing about Pharisaical hair-splitting, because they cared very little about what the Word of God said at all. The Scribes were professional scholars, while John was a common man, trying to make the Word of God as understandable and applicable as possible. The Lawyers were well versed in the laws of Moses, but they knew little about where the prophets intersected with the lives of the average Israelite. And the Essenes – the Essenes were considered to be so wild and off the wall that they weren’t usually given the time of day. The Lord Jesus said of most of these people that “they made the word of non-effect.” John however, made the prophecies real, and the warnings practical. The common people, and not just the common people, ate it up.
It is to be noted that John never worked a miracle, whether in his life or in his death. It is a doctrine of the Roman Catholic church that to become canonized as a saint the candidate must … be dead, and have given “evidence of having led an exemplary life of goodness and virtue worthy of imitation, having died a heroic death (martyrdom), or having undergone a major conversion of heart where a previous immoral life is abandoned and replaced by one of outstanding holiness.” When I wanted to verify what I thought was the Catholic doctrine of canonization and beatification, I did a Google Search and I discovered that quote on “Dummies.com.” Isn’t that an appropriate website in this case. John never worked a miracle, in either life or death, but there is no doubt that he is a saint of God – not a saint of the Roman Catholic church, but a saint of God.
Why was he so popular? Because he didn’t pattern himself after the world, but rather after God and one of the greatest of the Old Testament servants of God. He was popular because he preached the Word of the Lord, through the power of the Holy Spirit. And because he told people the truth.
He preached the deity of Christ. “John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me… And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God. Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!” Not only do John’s words in John 1 teach that Jesus is the divine Son of God, they teach His eternality and pre-existence as we would expect from deity. He preached, believed and practiced the absolute supremacy of Christ. “He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” And of course he declares at Christ Jesus is the atonement, the Passover, the great sin-offering.
Not only was John filled with the Holy Spirit, but He preached about the Holy Spirit. And when he said that “God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham,” he proved that he believed in the sovereignty of God and the omnipotence of God. Of course he preached about the Kingdom of God, which included God’s sovereignty over the world and also the coming of the Millennial Kingdom.
He preached the essential elements of salvation. There was the necessary divine sacrifice. Then he demanded repentance and faith in the Lord. Following that, as proof of repentance and faith he demanded baptism, which as I said last week was something new in the religious world. But before he would immerse anyone, he demanded some evidence of the new life of the regenerated. He declared the inevitability of judgment – the wrath to come, probably even getting down to the dirty subject of “hades”. Also something rather radical for his day, was the idea of personal responsibility. “Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” Apparently it was common to think that since they were Americans, living in a Christian country, they were all expecting to go to Heaven when they died. Excuse me, they were all children of Abraham, expecting to receive the blessings of Abraham. John told them that it just wasn’t so. As Luke finishes his account of what Matthew gives us in this chapter, he says, John said “unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable. And many other things in his exhortation PREACHED he unto the people.” The word “preached” is “euaggelizo” (yoo-ang-ghel-id’-zo) – he evangelized – He gave them the gospel.
John also understood and taught the principles of Godly living. Of course, he is the epitome of humility. “There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.” “He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose.” He was a man of prayer, and taught his disciples the importance of prayer. “And it came to pass, that, as (Christ Jesus) was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” So he believed that those who followed Christ should live as sin-free as possible and with a desire to glorify their Saviour. By example he taught them all to life faithfully unto to the Lord to the death.
Matthew tells us that initially, John was very, very popular. “This is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan.” Of course, “all” doesn’t always mean absolutely every single one, but in this case it was “many.” John’s ministry was so different from anything else in Israel at the time that he drew every eye and ear.
His message was unlike anyone else. His attire and demeanor was unlike another preacher in his day. And he possessed the blessing of the Lord. This is still the kind of ministry needed in our world today. And even though John’s life ended in murder, this is still the ministry which is needed today.