The Baptist's Ministry

John 1:19–28

Introduction

As we move from John’s majestic prologue (“The Word became flesh…”) we step into a moment of tension: a formal investigation of a strange man preaching in the wilderness and calling people to be baptized. This isn’t a casual conversation. It’s a probe. A challenge. A reckoning.

This passage presses us to ask:

Who speaks for God? What does true repentance look like? And how do we prepare the way for the Lord?

Two Questions to John

Who Are You? Why Are You Baptizing? (vv. 19–25) John is confronted by a delegation from Jerusalem, priests and Levites, sent by the religious elite. Their interrogation focuses on two things:

“Who are you?”

They were looking for the Christ, Elijah, or the Prophet. Each option reflects messianic expectation rooted in the Old Testament:

“Are you the Christ?” They longed for a deliverer like David.

“Are you Elijah?” Based on Malachi 4:5, expecting Elijah to return before the Day of the Lord.

“Are you the Prophet?” From Deuteronomy 18:15, anticipating a second Moses.

John answers each with a firm “No.” He is not the Christ. Not Elijah (at least, not literally). Not the Prophet. He is, instead, “a voice crying in the wilderness” (Isaiah 40:3), a servant pointing to someone else.

“Why are you baptizing?”

Questioning his practice.

Ritual washings were common for Gentile converts entering Judaism, a practice that began in the time between the OT and the NT.

It was not administered to Jews, but Gentiles were considered unclean and therefore needed to go through a purification rite, to take a bath, in order to be welcomed and received into the covenant community of Israel.

Baptism was a way of admitting your need for salvation.

John was calling Jews to be baptized, the covenant people! This was radical. He was saying: “You, too, need to repent and be cleansed, just like the nations.”

His ministry is a prophetic indictment: Israel, like the nations, must be made ready for the coming of the Lord.

The religious leaders were uncomfortable with John’s teaching and call to repentance, so they questioned his authority.

The question isn’t just who John is; it’s who Jesus is, and whether we are ready to meet Him.

The Baptist’s Ministry (vv. 26–27)

“Make straight the way of the Lord.”

The idea is that of leveling hills and filling in holes so that the coming King would have a smooth highway.

What he’s calling us to is leveling our pride, to be humble before him, filling our emptiness with faith to make a royal way for his entry into our hearts. It was a call to repentance.

A Baptism of Repentance

In the rest of the NT we learn John’s baptism was for the forgiveness of sins (Mark 1:4).

Repentance is a change of mind that leads to a change of direction. It is not just regret, it’s surrender. It’s turning away from self, and toward God.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism defines it well:“Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God, with full purpose of, and endeavor after, new obedience.” (WSC Q.87)

But we need to remember: repentance and faith are never separated. Where one is truly present, the other necessarily follows.

Repentance and faith are opposite sides of a coin. Faith is turning to Christ, and repentance is turning away from sin. These two turnings are the same motion. You can’t turn toward Christ without turning away from sin, and vice versa.

Faith embraces the very mercy that repentance longs for. Repentance says, “I have no righteousness of my own,” and faith says, “Christ is all my righteousness.”

Without faith, repentance becomes despair.

Without repentance, faith becomes hypocrisy.

So when the Baptist called people to repentance, he was preparing them to believe; that is, to see their sin not only as something shameful to turn from, but to see Christ as someone gracious to turn toward.

When we call one another to repentance, we are calling each other Christ. To confess your sin, you must cling to your Savior. The gospel call is always both: repent and believe the good news.

The Significance of His Work in the Wilderness

He’s not in Jerusalem. He’s not in the temple. He’s in Bethany across the Jordan, outside the camp.

This echoes Leviticus 16, where the scapegoat bore the people’s sins outside the camp.

Leviticus 13–14: Those who were ritually unclean (e.g., lepers) were sent outside the camp.

Numbers 5:2–4: The unclean were to be put out so as not to defile the camp, for the LORD dwelled in the midst.

Numbers 19:3: Sacrifices for purification (like the red heifer) were made outside the camp.

It recalls the Exodus: the wilderness is where God meets His people, strips away their pride, and prepares them for new life.

Being “outside the camp” came to represent a place of uncleanness, judgment, and even divine encounter. Yet it also became a place of purification and renewal, a paradoxical reversal.

The crowds were coming to the wilderness to repent.

Repentance begins in the wilderness. God meets us not where we are proud, but where we are poor in spirit.

The Marks of Genuine Repentance

It Is Established in God’s Glory and Truth

John said, “Among you stands one you do not know.”

The religious leaders were experts in the Scriptures, but they didn’t know the One they pointed to.

Genuine repentance begins by acknowledging God is right; in His judgment, in His truth, and in His Christ.

It stops trying to justify or excuse yourself and starts glorifying God.

As Ps 51 says: we confess so that God may be justified in His words and blameless in His judgment.

Repentance calls sin by name

It sees its destructive power, hates it’s offense, and is specific in confession. John was not vague, he called out hypocrisy, injustice, and false religion.

Real repentance doesn’t blame circumstances or speak in generalities. It sees the offense against God, the damage to others, and the corruption within.

As the Puritan Thomas Watson said: “Until sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet.”

Repentance Turns from sin

Repentance isn’t just saying ‘I’m sorry’; it’s saying, ‘I’m turning.’ And bearing fruit in keeping with repentance means there is visible, Spirit-powered change, sometimes slow, often costly, always real.

Repentance looks to and trusts in Christ for Grace and Forgiveness

John points away from himself: “Among you stands one you do not know… the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”

John is not the Christ, he is the forerunner. He’s not the light, but a witness to it. And repentance is never complete unless it looks to Christ alone.

Paul makes this contrast in 2 Corinthians 7:10: “Godly sorrow produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly sorrow produces death.”

Worldly sorrow is self-pity.

Godly sorrow clings to the cross.

The goal of repentance is not self-punishment, but forgiveness and renewal in Christ.

Conclusion:

The Baptist knew who he wasn’t, and he knew who Christ was. He wasn’t the light, but he made room for it. He wasn’t the Savior, but he prepared the way.

Let us follow his example:

Humble ourselves in repentance.

Speak truthfully about sin.

And point, with joy, to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.