In a sense I started this message last Sunday night.
As I said then, Paul was in the process of presenting Christ to a group of Jews in Antioch, Turkey.
We saw that he was making a logical progression through history, starting with God’s election of Israel.
The last step prior to the incarnation of Christ was the commission and mission of John the Baptist.
Last week we took a brief look at the BAPTISM of John.
Now, tonight, let’s think about JOHN the Baptizer.
Do you remember what Matthew 16:13 says?
“When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?
Isn’t it interesting that John the Baptist did essentially the same thing?
In John 1:19 we read: “And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou?”
I wouldn’t be surprised if John didn’t reply, “Who, do you think that I am?
“And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ.
He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias. And they which were sent were of the Pharisees.
And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet? John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not;
He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose.”
And it’s important to understand WHO called him “the Baptist.”
Not only did the writers of the gospels, like Matthew call him “the Baptist:”
He called John – “the Baptist” – because that was John’s common designation.
Herod, the Tetrarch called him “the Baptist.”
Many of the general population of Judah called him “the Baptist.”
John was “the Baptist” in the same way that Herod was “the Tetrarch” or Isaiah was “the prophet.”
And by the way, the word “Baptist” is capitalized every time that it is used.
That means that it wasn’t “John, the guy splashing around in the Jordan baptizing people.”
It was “John, who holds the office of baptizer.”
This is a fact which nearly everyone who isn’t a Baptist tries to ignore.
The Protestants don’t spend much time dealing with John, except to put him down.
The Catholics like him even less.
And when these are forced to consider him, they rarely ever deal with the fact that he was “the Baptist.”
I was asked the other day by a visitor to our area, if many of the Baptist churches were changing their name away from the word “Baptist.”
I can think of one church on the south-side of the river here in Post Falls which dropped the Baptist name.
But there have been hundreds & hundreds of Baptist churches around the country which have done that.
But as long as I am pastor of this church, we are never going to drop that honourable and Biblical title.
John was a Baptist.
The Lord Jesus was baptized by a Baptist and I believe that made Him a Baptist.
All of the Apostles were baptized by the Baptist,
I think that if there is any title that is worth wearing as a church of Jesus Christ it is the word “Baptist.”
And he was important enough to warrant the visit of an angel prior to his conception.
That occurred a couple of times in the Old Testament, but it puts John in an illustrious group.
And then In Matthew 11, we read:
“And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?
But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet.
For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
It was the Lord Jesus who said,
“I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist.”
In Luke the Lord tells us that there was not a greater PROPHET than John,
On what did the Lord base that statement?
Was it his spirituality and nearness to God?
Was it in the good that he did, or the glory that he brought to the Lord?
We aren’t told Jesus’ criteria.
But then he doesn’t give us the means to do so.
The last part of that statement has caused a great many people a great deal of consternation.
“Notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
There are a lot of professed scholars who say that this proves that John wasn’t in the Kingdom.
How could the greatest man ever born be less than Ananias or Sapphira, or any of a dozen New Testaments saints who were saved, yet so as by fire?
How could the sinners in the Corinthian church be greater than John the Baptist?
“Notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
What form of speech is the word “least” (verb, noun, adverb, adjective)? “Least” is an adjective.
That is the common assumption, but does it say that?
Strong say that the word “least” is “mik-ros”.
He says that it means “small.”
He says that it means small of size, space, age, time, quantity or rank.
I admit that this is an interpretation that is criticized by most Protestants, but it agrees with Biblical usage.
Listen to the words of John 16:16-19
Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father?
They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? we cannot tell what he saith.
Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye enquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me?”
The word “little” is found seven times in this scripture and another six times elsewhere.
It is the Greek word “mik-ron” and sometimes it is translated “little” and sometimes “least.”
And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.”
In the Septuagint version “younger” is translated “mikron.”
“He that is least in the kingdom of heaven” I believe is speaking about Christ.
Chrysostom, who died in 407 AD, said that Matthew 11:11 was an assertion of the Lord’s superiority.
And Erasmus in the 16th century accepted this interpretation.
And it seems to me that to say anything else is to contradict what the Lord was saying about the greatness of John.
And to give it any other interpretation is to say that John is not in the Kingdom of Heaven.
That may be Protestant doctrine, but I need more revelation and instruction than I have yet to receive, before I believe that it is Biblical doctrine.
But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment?
Behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses.”
John was no whimp, no whoose, no panywaist.
He was a man’s man, who was not afraid of any other man, or any woman for that matter.
He lived in the wilderness and lived on the things of the wilderness.
He didn’t go about beating people up, but he was as tough as any boxer or football player today.
That is due to the terrible bias that the religious world has against John the Baptist.
In fact, it may be due to the bias that the world has against all Baptists.
I believe that in addition to being a Baptist, John was a Christian.
If there were other Christians who were murdered for their faith before John was, I don’t know them.
Therefore that makes John the first Christian martyr.
If someone wants to debate whether John was a Christian, I’ll loan them one or two of S.E. Anderson’s books.
Anderson lists 29 Biblical and Baptistic doctrines preached by John before his death.
And I challenge anyone to find a doctrine that John preached that should not be preached by Baptists today.
John died as a testimony to the truth,
And as you know “testimony” or “witness” is the definition of the Greek word “marturia” ( mar-too-ree’-ah ).
John lived his life as a witness to the truth of God.
His name is mentioned over 90 times in the New Testament, and yet we have nothing that he wrote.
There are more verses in the New Testament dealing with John than all the verses in any of the 33 shortest books of the Bible.
But his life wasn’t about himself; it was about the Lord Jesus.
John’s primary ministry was to baptize and point out the Lord Jesus Christ.
He was making the smooth the way of the Lord.
And this is perhaps where we should end our thoughts tonight.
This is what a real witness says and does: “The Lord Jesus must be magnified; I am nothing.”
And IF that means the sealing of this statement with blood, then amen.