John the Baptist Part 10

E. NOTE: The sinless Jesus submitted to this ordinance administered by a sinner. Behold this great condescension of Almighty God which shows us that obedience in godly things is not absolutely conditioned upon the flawlessness of the one in authority. 1. As a child, he subjected Himself to sinful parents. LUK 2:51. 2. To qualify as a brother of the new spiritual kingdom, He subjected Himself to sinner John’s baptism. 3. As a civilian, He subjected Himself to sinners’ civil authority and tribute. MAT 17:24-27; 22:21. F. John would have handled the body of Jesus Christ to baptize Him but the apostles handled Him post-resurrection in His victorious state. LUK 24:39; JOH 20:27 c/w 1JO 1:1. 1. This is another example of their preferment and blessing over John. MAT 11:11. 2. John, though, may have seen the resurrected Christ in glory at His initial ascension John the Baptist 6-29-25 Page 17  before they saw Him on earth since his soul was in heaven after his beheading. JOH 20:17. 3. When John died, his soul/spirit went to the place where Moses and Elijah dwelt in glory, in whose presence Christ was transfigured. LUK 9:28-31. a. The disembodied John would be in that place of the perfectly bodied Christ and Elijah, his type in whose spirit and power he had ministered, per LUK 1:17. b. The type (Elijah) and the antitype (John) could together with Moses in that place praise the One of Whom they all prophesied, the Judge of quick and dead. ACT 10:42-43. c. The Apostle John may well have seen John, the one faithful beheaded saint recorded in Scripture, in glory. REV 20:4. 4. Did Moses, Joshua and Elijah open up a way to something better? a. Jesus Christ, by His blood, death, burial, resurrection and ascension opened a way into the holiest in heaven. HEB 9:8-12; 10:19-22 c/w JOH 14:1-6. b. The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ was the very thing that John’s baptism was figuring: the great story of life from the dead and death’s defeat. c. Christ would even describe His sufferings for our sins as a baptism of complete immersion under the sins of His people and the wrath of God when even the land was immersed in darkness. MAT 20:22 c/w PSA 69:1-2, 4, 9, 14-15, 20-21 c/w MAT 27:45. X. As noted earlier, John’s ministry was not only spiritual in calling men to the “...baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” (MAR 1:4), it was also very practical in showing men how to live godly in this present world and use its fashion without abusing it. LUK 3:10-14. A. His disciples adopted frequent fastings. LUK 5:33. 1. John also taught them to pray. LUK 11:1. 2. Given the devilish infection that was manifesting in Israel, fastings and prayers were very appropriate instruction for them, and also for us who wrestle with dark powers. MAT 17:21; 1CO 7:5 c/w EPH 6:11-12. B. John showed that God-blessed ministry is not defined by polished appearance and fine cuisine. MAT 3:4 c/w ISA 53:2. C. John showed that ministry may be called upon to reprove the powers that be, especially for their immorality. LUK 3:19-20. D. John knew that a people prepared for the Lord needed family order and to hearken to the just. LUK 1:17 c/w ISA 38:19; 45:20-25. E. John knew his place in the kingdom program: a forerunner, a rough grader to the Paver/Paviour, a Jonathan to a David, the friend of the bridegroom but not the bridegroom. JOH 3:28-29. 1. Knowing one’s place and abiding therein pleases God and is best for those under one’s care. PRO 27:8 c/w 2CO 10:13-18; 1TI 4:16; COL 4:17. 2. Those who get stuck with the likes of a Korah or Diotrephes have trouble. NUM 16:32-35; 3JO 1:9-10. F. Another practical side of John’s ministry was that he had disciples he taught. LUK 11:1. 1. He was a spiritual father who made known the truth to his children, per ISA 38:19. 2. Some of those disciples became Jesus’ disciples. JOH 1:35-40. 3. That John had discipled men who became Jesus’ disciples is another way in which he did “...make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (LUK 1:17). John the Baptist 6-29-25 Page 18  4. Apollos was another man who had been prepped for the Lord by John’s ministry. ACT 18:24-28. 5. John not only taught the multitudes but also schooled men for continuing the truth. c/w 2TI 2:1-2. G. There is also a very human side of John’s ministry seen when he was imprisoned by Herod. MAT 11:1-6. 1. Though being both personally and prophetically knowledgeable of the Christ, John wavered. Personal trials can do this to the most stalwart of saints. 2. The great man of faith, Abraham, wavered and bred an Ishmael. GEN 16:1-4. 3. Even Elijah ran off after the resounding victory at Mt. Carmel. 1KI 19. 4. Prophets were subject to the same human passions as others. JAM 4:17. 5. NOTE: When faith puts you in a place of feeling all alone, you’re not, and when circumstances seem to be contrary to your expectations of God’s promises and care, they’re not. The expectations, though, may need to be analyzed and adjusted. 6. Sometimes bad things happen to good people, as Job, or as Jesus. a. Jesus said of John’s fate at the hands of wicked civil authority, “...they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed [pleased, chose, liked]. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them” (MAT 17:12). b. John would, in his unjust treatment and death, precede Jesus’ unjust treatment and death: “...the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto his death” (PHIL 3:10). c. John preceded/went before Jesus in conception, birth, ministry, death and even in his soul/spirit’s reception in glory. XI. Before Herod imprisoned John, Jesus began to baptize men as John did. JOH 3:22-24. A. The actual baptizing was done by Jesus’ disciples. JOH 4:1-2. B. This represented a rival camp, which concerned John’s disciples. JOH 3:25-26. C. John was not fazed by this in the least for he knew his place and joyfully deferred to Christ. JOH 3:27-36. D. “The answer which the Baptist made, may be said to mark the high point of his life and witness. Never before was he so tender, almost sad; never before more humble and self- denying, more earnest and faithful. The setting of his own life-sun was to be the rising of One infinitely more bright; the end of his Mission the beginning of another far higher. In the silence, which was now gathering around him, he heard but one Voice, that of the Bridegroom, and he rejoiced in it, though he must listen to it in stillness and loneliness. For it he had waited and worked. Not his own, but this had he sought. And now that it had come, he was content; more than content: his ‘joy was now fulfilled.’ ‘He must increase, but I must decrease.’ It was the right and good order. With these as his last words publicly spoken,423 this Aaron of the New Testament unrobed himself ere he lay down to die. Surely among those born of women there was not one greater than John. That these were his last words, publicly spoken and recorded, may, however, explain to us why on this exceptional occasion Jesus sanctioned the administration by His disciples of the Baptism of John. (Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, p. 400) John the Baptist 6-29-25 Page 19