Part III: John the Baptist

Paving the Way

When we lived in Liberia, the roads were horrible! A road trip no longer than from here to Canton would take us hours. This is a picture taken from the front porch of the home that we built. Here are a few pictures of what the roads looked like… especially during the rainy season.

The roads were horrible and traveling in the country seemed somewhat hopeless. But, we started to hear rumors that a Chinese company was coming to Liberia to build the road. We thought, hey that would be great, but we aren’t going to get our hopes up until we start to see someone actually doing some work.

Sure enough, after years of hearing people talk about this road that would some day come, the Chinese company started building their construction base. Then they started to bull doze the old road and the surrounding trees to prepare the way. I don’t know how many of you have ever done road construction but a lot of work needs to be done before you can ever lay down the asphalt that you and I drive on. A lot of preparations have to take place before you can pave. The thing is, is that most people never really even see all the effort that goes into the work of preparing to pave.

As we look at the history of the world, from the fall of Man in the garden to the text we will look at today in Luke chapter 1, God has been preparing to pave. He has been laying the ground work so that the way for the promised Messiah can be paved.

Throughout the whole Old Testament there is a common thread that runs through… asking, when is He coming? When is this promised Deliverer to come? Then, as the Old Testament is completed there was prophetic silence.

Then, as we saw 2 weeks ago, after 400 years of silence, God starts to speak again. God begins to communicate His plan of redemption to the world again and He chooses to use some of the least likely people.

Last week we saw the tremendous truths expressed to Mary that she would bear the Promised Deliverer... the loving awaited Messiah... and his name would be called Jesus.

If you will remember, Elizabeth was also told that she would bear a son and his name would be John. The angel Gabriel informed Elizabeth and Zechariah that their son would play an important role in paving the way for the Messiah. Let’s read and remind ourselves what the angel Gabriel toldZechariah and Elizabeth about their future son.

Read

Luke 1:13–17 ESV

But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

Verse 17 is one of the reasons that John is referred to as the “forerunner” to Christ. We are going to talk about that in just a little bit.

Now let’s fast forward 9 months and pick up the story when this promised birth comes to pass.

Zechariah can’t believe what he is hearing...

Look with me at . These verses help to set the context for our study today.

(Find opening illustration about “Paving the way” that ties well into the idea of the message).

Luke 1:57–80 ESV

Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father, but his mother answered, “No; he shall be called John.” And they said to her, “None of your relatives is called by this name.” And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And they all wondered. And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. And fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea, and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be?” For the hand of the Lord was with him. And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

Verse 80 gives us the only factual details about John’s upbringing... he “grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel”. All that we know about John’s life prior to his public ministry was that he was in the desert when he received his call during the priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas ().

Luke 3:2 ESV

during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.

Today we are going to look at what the Bible does say about John leading up to his prophetic birth and how God would use John to progress His story of hope… His plan of redemption in the world. Today in our character study of John, we are going to see the prophetic role that John would play as the forerunner … paving the way for the Messiah.

Preaching the Word: Luke, Vol. 1—That You May Know the Truth John the Baptist—a Biographical Review

The Scriptures devote only one sentence to John’s upbringing, and it is found in verse 80 after the conclusion of Zechariah’s song: “And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel.” John spent years in the desert until A.D. 27 when he received his call during the priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas (Luke 3:2). Then John burst onto the scene as a bigger-than-life Old Testament prophet.

First, let’s look back at verse 13, at a birth announcement of Prophetic Confirmation.

Zechariah can’t believe what he is hearing...

I. Prophetic Confirmation

a. Birth announcement (13)

Remember Zechariah was doing his duty as priest and then all of a sudden the angel Gabriel shows up and gives his some shocking news… Zechariah you and Elizabeth are going to have a baby!!!

Remember what happened after Gabriel makes this birth announcement?

Zechariah can’t believe what he is hearing…in verse 13 Gabriel says... “Zechariah, your prayers have been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.”

How many of us have had children? How many of us have had an angel sent directly from God tell us that we are expecting? Probably not many!

One important thing to understand about this event is the importance of the announcement. This angelic announcement is given a super high level of importance because it is coming from an authoritative messenger of God. Look over a few verses at verse 18, where Zechariah says, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”

I love this part of the story. (and notice that Zechariah calls himself an old man, but he is wise enough not to call his wife an old woman… she is “advanced in years”). Somehow I don’t think that is any better.

How does the angel respond? Look at verse 19. “And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel, I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.”

Gabriel was sent from the very presence of God to hand deliver a message to Zechariah. Gabriel brings an important message of hope directly from God and delivers it to whom?… Zechariah.

The authoritative announcement of this birth should make us stop and pay attention. God is doing something… Something special is about to happen.... and it has something to do with this baby boy who would be named John.

Angelic Announcement — The importance of this announcement is evident by its coming from an authoritative messenger (the angel Gabriel), by its allusions to Scripture, and by its later fulfillment.

The angelic announcement has been prophetically made with the authority directly from the throne room of heaven. Now let’s look at the prophetic character of the baby who would be named John.

II. Prophetic Character (14-15)

a. Great before the Lord (

In verse 14 Gabriel says that they would have “joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his brith,”

b. Nazarite or not?

I’m sure that Elizabeth and Zechariah were overjoyed to be given the gift of a baby. The joy and gladness that Gabriel is speaking of here is more than personal feelings of parenthood. God has announced the arrival of the Messianic age. The joy and gladness Gabriel is announcing is a joy that can only come from the prophetic fulfillment of the coming of the Messiah.

For hundreds of years now, people had been waiting for a word from the Lord. Many, I’m sure had lost hope. But, the birth of John would rekindle hope within the people. His ministry would call people to a new hope of redemption and prophetic peace.

a. Great before the Lord (

The first real character quality we see about John is given to us in verse 15.

Look at verse 15 with me: “for he will be great before the Lord.”

The phrase “great before the Lord”, can also be translated as “great in the sight of the Lord.” This probably reflects a little bit clearer understanding of the phrase.

This was a common NT phrase describing divine approval. — John was great in the only way that it truly mattered… in the sight of the Lord.

As Gabriel describes that John would be “great in the sight of the Lord”, he explains by giving two aspects of his character related to the fact that John will be “filled with the Spirit”.

b. Filled with the Spirit (not with wine or strong drink)

Verse 15 continues by saying… “And he must not drink wine or strong drink and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

Here we are told one physical aspect of John’s life as well as one spiritual aspect.

First, John would not drink any wine or liquor. His lifestyle would be one of moderation, self-denial, and self-control. His choice of clothing (camel’s hair and leather belt) and diet (locusts & wild honey) would reflect his lack of desire for worldly pleasures.

John would be so preoccupied with the work of God that he would distance himself from all worldly pleasures and vices.

On a side note. Abstaining from wine and strong drink was an important element to the Nazarite vow (). A nazarite vow was usually temporary, although Samson and Samuel seem to have been Nazarites their whole lives. Whether John was actually a lifelong “Nazarite” is unclear, but could have been a possibility.

The spiritual aspect to John’s character listed in verse 15 is that he would be “filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.”

God was preparing to send a prophet to His people. It was common for those in the OT who were used by God to be filled with the Holy Spirit to enable them to do the task they had been appointed to do. The unique aspect to John’s life is that he was to be filled with the Spirit from birth. The phrase “even from his mother’s womb” can literally be translated as “while still in the womb.”

In the OT the Holy Spirit usually came upon a prophet later in life, although certain prophets were also called from birth. Jeremiah being one example. In , God informs the prophet… “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

Jeremiah 1:5 ESV

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

and before you were born jI consecrated you;

I appointed you a prophet kto the nations.”

j []

k []; See ch. 25:15–29; ch. 46–51

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

this phrase can literally be translated as “while still in the womb” as in ; ; . The latter is undoubtedly the meaning here due to . In the OT the Holy Spirit usually came upon a prophet later in life, although certain prophets were also called while still in the womb or from birth (Samson, ; Jeremiah, ; the Servant of the Lord, , ; Paul, ).

Like the prophets of old, John would be filled with the Spirit and totally devoted to serving the Lord, speaking authoritatively for Him.

From the angelic announcement of John’s birth we have seen that he would be a man of physical integrity and courage as well as a man who was filled with the Spirit, and dedicated to God.

Now let’s look at verses 16 and 17 and see the Prophetic Career of the man who would be known as John the Baptizer.

III. Prophetic Career (16-17)

Verses 16-17 say, “And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

a. Turn many to the Lord

First, as part of John’s prophetic career, he would “turn many to the Lord”. The phrase “turn many” means to bring many back. This is a technical term for conversion in the NT. One of John’s main ministries would be to call the nation of Israel, and anyone else who would listen, to repentance and to return to the true worship of Yahweh.

The text not only says that John would turn many to the Lord, but He would also prepare people for the Lord.

b. Preparing people for the Lord

John is called the “forerunner” to Jesus. Verse 17 is where we get this phrase from. Verse 17 says that John would “go before him”. The word “him” in this verse is connected with the word LORD in verse 16. You could translate the beginning of verse 17 as, “and he will go before the Lord… or … and he will go before Jesus”.

Describe the significance behind the title “forerunner”.

What is a forerunner? (from the phrase “to go before him”)

When a king/ ruler would go to visit a new land or area, he would send a forerunner. This forerunner would be the person who would go and make all the preparations for the kings arrival. Many times that meant that the forerunner would have to oversee the construction of a new road. The forerunner would literally prepare and pave a new road for the king to travel on when visiting the city. Doing whatever was necessary to ensure that the king had a smooth trip to town.... this involved cutting down trees, leveling valley’s and hills, etc…

This is what John did as his main ministry. He prepared the way for Jesus. Verse 17 says that John would help fathers lovingly turn towards their children and challenge disobedient people to turn and accept the wisdom and righteousness of God.

Later in , Zechariah sings a prophetic song describing his sons ministry.

Luke 1:76–79 ESV

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Luke 1:76 ESV

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,

Because of John’s ministry, fathers will turn compassionately and lovingly toward their children (cf. ), and disobedient people will turn and accept the wisdom of the righteous.34

Conclusion:

What can we learn from the character of John today?

John was a man of intentionality: He knew exactly what he was doing. He deliberately dressed in the style of the prophet Elijah, who also served God by calling his people to repentance. His choice to separate himself from the materialism of the world allowed him to live a life truly focused on God.

John was a man of courage: John’s message was one of sin and repentance. Those were not popular topics of discussion back then, and they are not popular topics of discussion today. But, without fear, John courageously preached the truth.

John was a man of humility: We know this from what takes place later in John’s life. As Jesus comes on the scene John would fade into the background. John himself says that Jesus “must become greater;” and “I must become less” (). John was happy to serve the Lord as His humble servant.

John was a man of integrity: John fully embraced and illustrated his message of repentance and holiness. He demonstrated what a life of radical commitment to God looked like.

John was a man of passion: John unapologetically lived out what he believed. He was not ashamed of the message God had given him to deliver. He was not ashamed of the Messiah, whom he was announcing.

When John stood before the people and preached, He did so boldly. Like Elijah of old. God used everything about him (his intentionality, courage, humility, integrity, and passion) to reach the masses. What were the results? says that “the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him.” Some say that as many as 300,000 people came to the desert to John to hear the Word of God and to be publically baptized, repenting of their sins and committing themselves to God.

And John was just the paving company! John’s ministry was to pave the way for the coming King… for the coming Deliverer… for Jesus.

Closing illustration:

Before we go today, I would like to read you a powerful story about someone who prepared the way... so that much later the mysterious working of God’s plan would be accomplished.

In 1921 a young missionary couple named David and Svea Flood left Sweden for the interior of Africa. They were soon joined by another young missionary couple and together they decided on a remote village to live in.

When they arrived however, the chief rejected them and would not let them enter his village for fear of displeasing the local gods. The two couples had no choice but to go up a hillside and on a slope of land and build their own mud huts. They prayed for a spiritual breakthrough, but none came.

Their only contact was a young boy who was allowed to sell them chickens and eggs twice a week.

Svea Flood, David’s wife, decided that if this was the only villager she would be allowed to talk to, she would take every advantage of it – and teach him the gospel of Christ. Soon, this young African boy accepted Christ and the free gift of salvation.

Beyond that little boy, there were no other advancements made into that village.

In the meantime, malaria began to strike this small missionary team. The other couple finally decided they’d had enough and left David and Svea Flood alone – on that hillside, in their mud hut. In the midst of these trying times, Svea became pregnant and only then did the village chief softened his hard stance against them. He allowed a midwife from the village to help her when their little girl was born.

It was all too much of a strain for this young missionary – she was weak from her delivery along with her battle with malaria – she lived only another 17 days and then died.

Something caved in at that moment in her husband’s heart and mind. David Flood dug a crude grave, buried his 27 year old wife, and took his child down the mountain to a mission station where he handed a missionary couple his daughter and said, “I’m going back to Sweden. I’ve lost my wife – I can’t take care of a baby – God is not good – He has ruined my life.” With that he turned his back on his daughter, his ministry, on God Himself.

Within 8 months little Aina was alone again – for her adoptive parents also died of malaria. Aina was given to yet another missionary couple who was retiring from the field. They brought her home with them and raised her in the United States.

Her name was changed to Aggie and she grew up under the care of her adoptive parents in South Dakota. She eventually attended North Central Bible College in Minneapolis and married a man who entered the ministry.

She knew very little of her past. She only knew her parents names, the fact that she had been born in Africa, that her mother had died soon afterward and that her father had given her up for adoption. She assumed her father lived in Sweden but she had never met him. She enjoyed her growing family and a fruitful ministry supporting her husband who eventually became the president of a Bible College in Seattle, Washington.

Then one day a Swedish religious magazine appeared in their mailbox at home. She had no idea who’d sent it – in fact, she couldn’t read the language. It was a complete mystery – but as she stood there turning the pages, all of a sudden a photograph arrested her attention. It was a jungle setting in Africa – the photograph focused on a grave with a simple white cross at the head of it – and carved into that little white cross was the name, Svea Flood.

She rushed to the office of a college faculty member who could translate the magazine article – he summarized it for her telling, “Well, it’s about missionaries who came long ago . . . the birth of a baby . . . the death of the young mother . . . the one little African boy who had been led to Christ by the woman before she died . . . how after the missionaries had left, the boy had grown up and persuaded the chief to let him build a school . . . he won all his students to Christ . . . and eventually their parents . . . the chief also . . . today there were 600 believers in that village.”

For their 25th wedding anniversary, the Bible College gave them a vacation trip to Sweden, where, among other things, Aggie could finally search for her father. She discovered that he had remarried years earlier, had a family of four children, but that bitterness had slowly taken its toll . . . he had only recently suffered a stroke.

After an emotional meeting with her half brothers and sister, Aggie brought up the subject of seeing her father. They replied, you can talk to him, even though he’s very ill, but you need to know that he’s had one rule in our family and no one has ever been allowed to break it. The rule was simply this – “Never, ever mention the name of God – because God is not good.”

She was undeterred. When she eventually walked into his bedroom, her father was now 73 years old, was lying in bed, in frail condition.

He turned toward her and immediately began to weep as he said, “Aina,” he said, “I so sorry.” “It’s all right, Papa,” she replied, “God took care of me.” The old man instantly stiffened and the tears stopped and he said, “God? God? God forgot us . . . God forgot us out there.” He turned his face toward the wall.

“Papa, you didn’t go to Africa in vain. Mama didn’t die in vain. God was at work through you. That little boy that accepted Christ grew up to win that whole village to Jesus Christ. Today there are 600 African people serving the Lord because you followed the call of God in your life. . . Papa, God had a plan all along . . . He had not forgotten you.” He turned back from facing the wall . . . they began to talk. By the end of that afternoon, the kindness of God had brought him back to repentance – and restoration and fellowship with his Savior, Jesus Christ.

A few weeks later, David Flood went home to heaven.

A few years later, Aggie and her husband were attending an evangelism conference in London. A report was given from the nation of Zaire by the superintendent of the national church, representing 110,000 believers.

He spoke eloquently about the spread of the gospel in his country. Afterwards Aggie couldn’t help but go up and ask him if he’d ever heard of David and Svea Flood. “Yes madam,” he replied, “As a little boy, I used to sell them chickens and eggs twice a week. It was Svea Flood who led me to Christ.” They embraced for a long time.

He then said, “You must come to visit us – your mother is the most famous person in our church history.” And in time, Aggie did come – she was welcomed by cheering throngs of villagers.

Eventually she was taken to her mother’s grave – with that white cross and the words, “Svea Flood” written there. She knelt in the soil to pray and give thanks to a good and patient God. That national church leader read from scripture, “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.

Interesting, John the Baptist and Svea flood both have something in common. They both prepared the way for God to do something great!

Interesting, John the Baptist and Svea flood both have something in common. They both devoted their lives to preparing people to meet Jesus and they both expected God to do great things.

How are we doing ? Do we have a similar character to John or Svea?

As Believers, are we people of humility, integrity, courage, truth, and passion? When people look at us, do they see an illustration of what it means to be a Christian? An ambassador of Christ?

I want to challenge you today to ask God to transform you into a person of Godly character whose foundation is on the truth of God’s Word.

Like John, let’s prepare the way for Christ in this community. Friends, I want to encourage you to ask God to help you to grow in areas of gospel intentionality, courage, humility, integrity and passion.

If you would like help with learning how you can grow in these areas. Please see me after the service. I would love to schedule a time to sit down and talk with you about your spiritual growth and development.

As we approach a new year, let’s renew our commitment to the Lord and His Word, and expect God to do great things through our church.