Jesus: Anticipated

Many of us, when we meet someone we respect, act a bit differently. Sometimes we get nervous or shy. Have you ever had a chance to meet a celebrity, but backed down because you didn’t want to approach him or her? To meet someone of high stature, when we feel like common folk, is hard for us.

Or think of preparing for a date. You put on your best.

This morning we’re continuing through the book of Mark, and we’re going to see how God sent a man to prepare his people for Jesus Christ.

Read the passage.

Mark’s gospel starts different than the other three. Matthew starts with a long genealogy and the stories of the wise men before getting to John the Baptist. Luke starts with the foretelling of John the Baptist and Jesus, Mary and Elizabeth, May’s song, John’s birth, Zechariah’s prophecy, the birth of Christ, the shepherds, the dedication at the temple. Not Mark -- Mark starts by pointed to Old Testament prophecy to show that God wanted his people prepared for Christ.

Verse 2 says, “As it is written in Isaiah the prophet” and then he goes on to quote first from Malachi, then from Isaiah. Obviously, it’s not that Mark didn’t know which book he was quoting, rather, he used Malachi to set up and introduce Isaiah. He quotes Malachi 3:1 first, then Isaiah 40:3. In other words, he’s pointing us to Isaiah by way of Malachi.

So let’s see what he’s doing. Malachi 3:1 is the first passage cited here. Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament. It was written in the mid 400s BC, remember BC standing for “Before Christ.” If you were to turn to Malachi, you’d find that there’s a blank page between Malachi and Matthew, the next book, because Malachi is the close of the Old Testament, and at that point the prophets go silent for about 400 years. When we get to the New Testament, about 400 years have past, and there have been no true prophets, no real revelation.

So Malachi is kinda the last time God gives his prophecy to his people for a long time. And right there in that prophesy is this amazing declaration: “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me” - Mark paraphrases this exact verse from Malachi, basically like he’s saying: “Look God said he would send a messenger to prepare the way for him.” This prophecy occurred 400 years before Jesus was born.

And then he gets into the Isaiah passage: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”

God promised to send a voice in the wilderness, shouting, and crying out. And what would the voice say? It would tell the people to prepare the way of the Lord, make the paths straight.

You can imagine a dirt road that hasn’t been used in a while, littered with boulders and tree branches and potholes. And a king needs to come and use that road -- the road needs to be prepared. Potholes filled, branches eliminated, boulders moved. God is coming into the world, and he wants the people prepared.

Here’s the prophecy: God will send a messenger who will come first. He’s going to prepare the way for God’s own coming. And he will be like a voice crying in the wilderness, and his entire ministry will be like a plough making way for the Lord’s entrance.

Think about this: John’s entire ministry is about helping people prepare for their meeting with God. That’s a remarkable ministry. How do you prepare people for the coming of the Lord? How can people be prepared for the day of Christ’s coming?

This is actually a question that every person must ask. How do you prepare to meet God? In fact, that’s really the job of every pastor is to prepare his people for their appointment with God.

Like in Pilgrim’s Progress, Great Hearts job is to bring people safely to the river, to cross into the Celestial City. Really, as Christians, we want to help people prepare to meet God.

How did John do it? He was the ultimate “preparer” -- that was his whole ministry to prepare people for their encounter with God. What did he do? How are people prepared to meet God?

First, People must hear about Christ

Verse 4: “4 John appeared,

Here’s the one who prophesied. We call him “John the Baptist” although it might be better to call him “John the baptizer.” Mark doesn’t give his backstory. In the other gospels, we get the story of his unlikely birth, the angel that names him. From Luke we see that John’s purpose of being the messenger who prepares the way of God’s entrance into the world was clear even when John was a baby. He grew up with a strong sense of identity and calling.

Now what’s his ministry? Verse 4: “baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”

God sends John and appoints him to preach. You see that word there “proclaiming” a baptism of repentance. If you look down at verse 7, you see “ And he preached.”

John is fundamentally a preacher. He’s not an activist. He’s not a healer. He’s a preacher. This is what was prophesied: Behold I send my messenger -- what’s a messenger do? He’s one with a message. He’s a “voice of one crying in the wilderness.” He’s a preacher.

Verse 5 And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. John’s ministry is captivating. He’s announcing the coming of the King of Kings, and everyone wants to hear him.

Verse 6 gives us an odd piece of information: 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.

Mark doesn’t include his background, his calling, his lineage, his pedigree -- but we do get his clothes and his diet. But I think there's a good reason for this.

Look again at John’s clothing: “camel’s hair” -- this would have been coarse, thick hair woven together to make a heavy, hairy garment. Not exactly fashionable, even in those days. And he’s got a “leather belt” around his waist. What’s the big deal?

The details were actually important because they allowed the people to identify who John really was. For instance, Zechariah 13 speaks of a day when false prophets will be no more, and he writes in verse 4 “He will not put on a hairy cloak in order to deceive.” You see that? Why would he want to put on a hairy cloak to deceive? Because apparently that’s what prophets wore.

This is confirmed in 2 King 1:8, when Elijah the Prophet -- one of the most important prophets in the Old Testament, is described like this: “He wore a garment of hair, with a belt of leather about his waist.” That is almost identical to Mark’s description of John the Baptist. The hairy clothing and the leather belt is apparently the way to look like a prophet. They didn’t look like everyone else, they stood out, different from the crowd, and their clothing indicated it.

I remember hearing a story of a Bible Professor who loved to always stump his class. “Who’s the most important prophet in the Old Testament?” And the students would shout out their answers: “Isaiah!” or “Elijah” or “Samuel” or “Moses!” And they would give just about every possible answer before they’re strumped. And the professor would say, “John the Baptist.” And the students would moan and groan, “But he’s not in the Old Testament!” And the professor would say, “Sure, he appears on the pages of what we call the New Testament, but he’s an Old Testament prophet - he comes to Israel under the Old Covenant, to prophesy to coming of the Messiah who will inaugurate the New Covenant.”

That’s right - John the Baptist is an Old Covenant prophet, just like Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Micah - but he had a unique role -- he came to prepare the way of the Lord.

He had the responsibility to be the one who proclaimed -- the Greek verb is kerusso, it’s an announcement, a declaration, like one handed down from a king. And in verse 7 is a summary of what he preached -- obviously, he preached more than this, but Mark wants to get to the heart of John’s preaching ministry: “saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

The way John prepared the way for God was to preach about him. His entire ministry was centered around preaching Christ. It’s about his majesty. And it’s about his ministry.

Jesus’s might. “After me comes one who is mightier than I.” Now I want you to see something -- John was clearly a mighty preacher. How mighty? He’s preaching in the wilderness (vs. 4), and he’s preaching an unpopular message, about sin and the need of repentance, and look at verse 5: “All the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.”

It’s impressive if someone can preach and fill a church. It’s impressive when one can preach in the open air and draw a crowd -- like Whitefield used to do. But Whitefield went to the people. It’s even more impressive that one could preach in the wilderness, and draw the crowds to him. They flocked to him. They responded to him. He was a mighty preacher -- but John’s message is that there is coming someone who is far mightier than I. You think this is powerful? This is nothing. He is the mighty one. He’s mighty in truth. He’s mighty in love. He’s mighty in power. He’s mighty in forgiveness. He’s mighty to save. He’s mighty to judge. He’s mighty to restore, to redeem, to heal, to fix. He’s the mighty one.

Jesus’ majesty. He goes on to say the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. John says, “This one is so mighty, is so wonderful; I am not worthy to do for him the basest of things.” This is a prophet speaking. He was admired.

Have you reflected on how majestic Jesus is? How worthy he is? John the Baptist -- a great and powerful man -- was not worthy to serve him. You know what this means? We are not worthy.

We’re not worthy to his equals, for sure, but we’re not worthy to be his slaves, we’re not worthy to stand in his presence. His greatness is unmatched -- and notice John’s humility -- true humility only comes when we grasp the majesty of Jesus Christ.

Jesus’ ministry. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” He compares his ministry to Jesus and essentially says, “What I’m doing is external, it’s a dunk in the water. But he’s going to give the Holy Spirit -- I may cleanse the body, he will cleanse the soul, he will bring life, bring faith, bring repentance, bring transformation.”

He is proclaiming to all, telling them clearly, “I can’t change you inside, I can’t give you a new heart, I can’t make you a new person internally, I can’t save you from your sins. I can symbolically point you to your greatest need externally, but Christ can actually rescue you and transform you internally.

God sent John to be a messenger to herald the reality of his Son Jesus Christ. In fact, God has, in all ages and at all times, raised up messengers. None like John -- he was unique -- but God has always called faithful preachers to proclaim the might of Jesus, the majesty of Jesus, and the ministry of Jesus.

Church fads come and go, to trust in innovations and clever marketing strategies to build the church and reach the world will never bring true revival. It is always faithful Christ-centered preaching. I’ve heard it said that this is not the age of the eye, where we get to see Christ. This is the age of the ear, where Christ is known through preaching and preachers.

From John the Baptist, to the apostles, to the early church fathers, to men like John Chrysostom, to Ambrose. Moving further along - Martin Luther preached Christ, George Whitefield preached Christ, Charles Spurgeon preached Christ, Lloyd-Jones preached Christ -- and countless other faithful men have proclaimed the mighty, majestic, ministry of Christ. Our hope and prayer is that we will stand in the long line of faithful men who preach Christ.

Friends, the way people are prepared to meet their God is by hearing of Jesus Christ. God wants the world to know Jesus Christ, and as Romans 10:14 says, “And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” and “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” God wants the world to hear about Christ, this is why John came, and this is why we are here.

You and I exist to lift high the name of Jesus, just as John did. This is how God prepares his people. Are you seeking to tell others about what he has done for you? This is why John came -- because God wants his son to be known.

Second, People Must Repent of their Sin (7-8)

Now remember this: John’s whole ministry is to prepare the people for their king. Prepare to meet your Lord. Prepare to meet your God.

He called for a decisive break with sin and trust-filled obedience. Verse 4 says, “Proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” Verse 5 says that people were “confessing their sins.”

He’s calling people to be baptized as a symbol of their repentance and forgiveness of sins. This was unprecedented, it has no Old Testament parallel. The call to repentance was always a part of the message of the prophets, but not baptism. This is why John gets the label “baptist” - it’s not because he liked potlucks. With his diet he never would have been invited to one. Baptizing the distinguishing mark of his ministry.

John called for repentance. What’s that?

I want you to see a word that’s repeated a couple times in these verses. The end of verse 4: “forgiveness of sins.” The end of verse 5: “confessing their sins.” How do you prepare people to meet a Holy God? You’ve got to talk to them about their sins.

Our sins have separated us from God. As the Bible says, “The wages of sin is death.” The penalty for sin is death -- spiritual death, we have been separated from him; and what’s worse, the Bible goes on to say that if we stay committed to our sins, we are his enemies. As long as we resist Jesus Christ, we are enemies of God.

In essence, John is speaking to a bunch of God’s enemies saying, “God’s coming. Things must change. Things cannot remain the same. You have a giant problem called sin, you’ve sinned against God, you’ve made him your enemy, and you need to respond to this reality.”

If people will be prepared to meet with God, they must forsake sin.

This doesn’t mean become perfect. But it does mean that I line has been drawn in the sand, and Christ says choose one or the other. If you choose your sin, you can’t have Christ. Choose Christ, and he will remove all your sin.

What does repentance look like? If you’re not a Christian, but you want to become one, listen up -- this is the way to salvation.

First of all, confess your sin. That’s what they were doing in verse 5. Confession comes from the Greek word “homologeo” which means, “to say the same thing as” or to “agree with.” In other words, confession is not some, “Yeah, sorry I did that. Let’s move on.” To confess means to agree with God about your sin, to see it like he sees it. That means, you see your sin as offensive, repulsive, repugnant, something to you expelled from your life, to be dismissed or dismantled. It is to say, “God, you’re right about my sin. It is grievous, it is deep, and it is damning. I need a savior.”

Second, Embrace the Savior. Remember what John was preaching about. He was preaching about the mighty one coming. The one who would give the Holy Spirit. The one who is greater than all. To embrace John’s message is to embrace Christ. And they embraced it so deeply that they made it public, they were baptized there in the water.

Third, turn from your sin. John preached a “baptism of repentance.” Repentance is a full-hearted reorientation. Repentance is a change of mind and heart so deep it changes the direction of your life. Repentance is declaring moral bankruptcy and seeking Christ for forgiveness. Repentance is admitting guilt and seeking cleansing. Repentance is an admission that you cannot be your own master, you need Christ to be your Lord.

Third, make it public.

This was the design of baptism. Jesus made it clear that his people ought to be ready to declare their allegiance to him before men. While John’s and Jesus’ baptisms have some distinctions, there are principles that are the same. God wants your allegiance public. And as an expression of your faithfulness to Christ, you can make it public in baptism.

To be baptized was to admit “I am spiritually dirty, I am far from God, and I need to be cleansed of my sin and reconciled to God.” It symbolized their repentance and their cleansing.

Now what happens to people who do that? Who confess that they’re desperate sinners in need of mercy, who hate their sin, who repent of it, who come with all their burdens to Christ -- what happens to them?

Do you see it? “Forgiveness of sins.” Washed away. Cleansed. That’s part of the symbolism of baptism.

Let me ask you: have your sins been forgiven? God does forgive sin. But contrary to some popular beliefs, he does not forgive every single person’s sin, no matter what. People must respond to Jesus Christ. And God wants people to respond to Jesus Christ.

Oh, some of you may be under a weight of sin, a big heavy burden of sin, perhaps you feel the guilt of your sin, the nagging shame of your sin. And what would you do to be forgiven?

Your filthy heart, cleaned? Your nagging guilt, removed? Your dirty mind, washed? Your shameful past, forgotten? Your enslaving addictions conquered?

There are people driven insane over their guilt. There are people who would pay all their money to have their guilty consciences assuaged. People beat themselves up to pay for their own sins.

But the message is simple: confess, embrace Jesus Christ, turn -- and all the cleansing, all the forgiveness, all the healing, all the power of the Holy Spirit -- it’s yours!

Listen to what God has said, “Come, though your sins are like scarlet, I they shall be as white as snow!” God has said that as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our sins from us!”

How do you prepare to meet God? Come to him in contrition, in repentance, pleading for mercy, seeking forgiveness -- and you will have it.

Add if you’ve done that, continue to live in humble thankfulness, joyful obedience.

Psalm 103: “Bless the Lord O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord O my soul, and forget not all his benefits! Who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good, so that your youth is renewed like the eagles!”

Conclusion: What does God want for you this morning? As it was long ago, so it is today: God wants you to be prepared to meet Jesus, to get to hear about and learn about Jesus, so you can trust him, have your sins forgiven, and turn your life to him in obedience -- and rejoice with all your might in his great name.