John the Baptist Part 6

VI. John “...waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts until the day of his shewing unto Israel” (LUK 1:80). A. That day came at a notably identified time. LUK 3:1-2. 1. The sceptre had departed from Judah: they were a subjugated nation under Gentile dominion. Therefore the time of Shiloh/Messiah was at hand. GEN 49:10. 2. The seventy weeks of Daniel’s prophecy of Messiah’s anointing could be generally known as being current by chronologies and genealogies. Could the promised kingdom of God be at hand? DAN 9:24-27; 2:44 c/w LUK 3:15. 3. The priesthood in Judah was as corrupt and contemptible as Malachi had declared. MAL 2:1-10. 4. The long dormant voice of prophecy was awakening, as witness the prophetic utterances of Elisabeth and Zacharias (LUK 1:41-42, 67) and this should have aroused the godly concerning the expected prophet, Elijah. MAL 4:5. B. John likely began his ministry at about his thirtieth year (c/w LUK 3:23) in keeping with the Law concerning the beginning of priestly ministration. NUM 4:3. C. By this time, under the care of godly parents who knew the scriptures and that John was slated to be a special messenger, and the fact that “...the hand of the Lord was with him” John the Baptist 6-29-25 Page 9  (LUK 1:66), John was well studied in the scriptures himself of things of God in general, of the times, of the priority of Messiah, and of his own role. He had indeed waxed strong in spirit. With the light he had, he spoke with authority and was not “...A reed shaken with the wind...” (MAT 11:7). D. Remember that there are three distinct O.T. passages that spoke of John the Baptist. MAL 3:1; 4:5; ISA 40:3. 1. The gospel evangelists used both Malachi and Isaiah in describing John. MAT 3:3; 11:10-11; MAR 1:2-3; LUK 3:4. 2. But John only cited ISA 40:3 when he was asked what he said of himself. JOH 1:22-23. 3. It seems that John gave particular attention to the prophecy of Isaiah, and with good reason. E. The Book of Isaiah (the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, LUK 3:4) is rich with prophecy of Christ, His work, His kingdom and His times, and penned by a man who had seen the LORD, yet lived. ISA 6:1-10 c/w EXO 33:20. 1. Isaiah declared the virgin conception and virgin birth of The mighty God Who would reign continually on David’s throne. ISA 7:14; 9:6-8. 2. Isaiah saw the sufferings of the LORD Christ as integral with His glory. ISA 6:9-10; 53:1 c/w JOH 12:37-41 c/w HEB 2:9; 1PE 1:21. 3. The Lord Jesus Christ preached His first recorded sermon from this book. LUK 4:17-21. 4. Isaiah’s chapters parallel the entire number of books of the Bible (66) and the fortieth chapter which announces comfort to God’s people is the beginning of the gospel era by John. ISA 40:1-5 c/w MAR 1:1-4. 5. “There are not so many quotations in the gospels out of any, perhaps not out of all, the prophecies of the Old Testament, as out of this; nor such express testimonies concerning Christ, witness that of his being born of a virgin (ch. 7) and that of his sufferings, Isa 53:1-12. The beginning of this book abounds most with reproofs for sin and threatenings of judgment; the latter end of it is full of good words and comfortable words.” (Matthew Henry Commentary) 6. There is so much of Christ in Isaiah that he has been called the Fifth Evangelist, and Paul refers to Isaiah’s words as the gospel. ROM 10:15-16. 7. Isaiah speaks of: a. An eschatological outpouring of the Holy Spirit associated with the wilderness and water. ISA 32:15 c/w MAR 1:3, 8; ISA 35:1-10; 40:3; 41:18-19; 43:19-20. b. Israelites as the children of Abraham. ISA 51:1-2 c/w MAT 3:9. c. Unfaithful Israel portrayed as a brood of vipers. ISA 59:5 c/w MAT 3:7. d. Wind/breath/spirit and fire compared to a river in which one is immersed. ISA 30:27-28, 33; 43:2 c/w MAT 3:11-12. e. Israel as the threshed and winnowed one. ISA 21:10 c/w MAT 3:12. f. Israel washed clean. ISA 1:16; 4:3-4; 52:10-11 c/w MAR 1:4. g. Works of righteousness attached to washing. ISA 1:16-17 c/w MAT 3:8, 11; LUK 3:10-14. h. The Messiah as God’s sin-bearing Lamb. ISA 53:6-7 c/w JOH 1:29. 8. “Two other qualities must be noted in Isaiah — his spirituality and his tone of deep reverence. The formal, the outward, the manifest in religion, are with him absolutely of no account; nothing is of importance but the inward, the spiritual, the ‘hidden man of the heart.’ Temples are worthless (Isaiah 66:1); sacrifices are John the Baptist 6-29-25 Page 10  worthless (Isaiah 1:11-13; 66:3); the observance of days is worthless (Isaiah 1:14); attendance at assemblies is worthless (Isaiah 1:13); nothing has any value with God but real purity of life and heart — obedience (Isaiah 1:19), righteousness, ‘a poor and contrite spirit’ (Isaiah 66:2).” (Pulpit Commentary) 9. Isaiah showed that God's redeeming mercy is likened to the flood of Noah when sin was buried under water and the survivors exited their ark-coffin to new beginnings. ISA 54:7-10 c/w 1PE 3:20-21. 10. For the better part of thirty years, John was waxing strong in spirit, and evidently much so in the Book of Isaiah which spoke so much of Christ, His kingdom, cleansing and washing away of sin, spiritual religion, etc., and of himself as the Lord’s messenger from the wilderness to go before Him to prepare the people for Him. John the Baptist 6-29-25 Page 11