All Glory to God the Father and to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

Just one question today for review: Who have we been talking about for the last several weeks? Answer: John 1:6-8 6 There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light. Today I thought we would be covering John 1:9-13 but wanted to take one more swing at this Nazarite business. We find in Acts 21 that Paul and his friends had come back to Jerusalem after an extended stay in Gentile lands. They were considered, by those fastidious Jews, to be unclean, brushing elbows with a people they reviled. Little did they know that because of their hard hearted ways, God had included Gentiles in his saving Grace and that would really stick in their craw. Act 21:17-26 17 After we arrived in Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. 18 And the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. 19 After he had greeted them, he began to relate one by one the things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. 20 And when they heard it they began glorifying God; and they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the Law; 21 and they have been told about you, that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs. 22 What, then, is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. 23 Therefore do this that we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow; 24 take them and purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads; and all will know that there is nothing to the things which they have been told about you, but that you yourself also walk orderly, keeping the Law. This shaving of the head was a practice commonly associated with a Nazarite vow. Num. 6:18 25 But concerning the Gentiles who have believed, we wrote, having decided that they should abstain from meat sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication.” 26 Then Paul took the men, and the next day, purifying himself along with them, went into the temple giving notice of the completion of the days of purification, until the sacrifice was offered for each one of them. So you see that being a Nazarite, this special vow unto God that you would be sober minded in all things, in accordance to God’s will, carried some weight upon the shoulders of those that held this vow. Shaving their heads would be noticeable to all and out of the ordinary for the average Jew. Just travelling around with Paul had to be quite an experience. You would likely be included in beatings and the occasional stonings just for hanging around with the guy. Also take note that this part of Acts is just before the Jews seized Paul for basically forsaking his Jewish heritage and bringing the knowledge of the Light to the Gentiles. So, with that thought in mind let’s follow where Acts leads us. John will just have to wait a bit. Acts 21:27 27 When the seven days were almost over, (this being the purification process) the Jews from Asia, upon seeing him in the temple, began to stir up all the crowd and laid hands on him, These Jews from Asia had come to Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost. These same Jews had followed Paul around in Asia like a bad smell and knew him by sight. So they probably had been watching Paul eagerly as he passed in and out of the courts of the Temple. He was seized, with all the tokens of his purification still upon him (compared with Acts 24:18), about to offer sacrifices, and raised a cry which was sure to throw the whole city into an uproar. The standard period of time for a vow of a Nazarite was for 30 days. It could go longer, of course, but not shorter. And to complete the purification process, a sacrifice was called for. These Jews from Asia knew this and grabbed Paul before he could sacrifice. Paul, knowing that Christ had removed the need for sacrifice, was doing this because it was the traditional end of this kind of vow and more than likely for the men that were with him. We find in MacLaren’s Expositions, which is a commentary I quite often use, this bit of text describing Paul’s actions: “The stronger a man’s faith, the greater will and should be his disposition to conciliate. Paul may seem to have stretched consideration for weak brethren to its utmost, when he consented to the proposal of the Jerusalem elders to join in performing the vow of a Nazarite, and to appear in the Temple for that purpose. But he was quite consistent in so doing; for it was not Jewish ceremonial to which he objected, but the insisting on it as necessary. For himself, he lived as a Jew, except in his freedom of intercourse with Gentiles. No doubt he knew that the death-warrant of Jewish ceremonial had been signed, but he could leave it to time to carry out the sentence. The one thing which he was resolved should not be was its imposition on Gentile Christians. Their road to Jesus was not through Temple or synagogue. As for Jewish Christians, let them keep to the ritual if they chose. The conciliatory plan recommended by the elders, though perfectly consistent with Paul’s views and successful with the Jewish Christians, roused non-Christian Jews as might have been expected. This incident brings out very strikingly the part played by each of the two factors in carrying out God’s purposes for Paul. They are unconscious instruments, and co-operation is the last thing dreamed of on either side; but Jew and Roman together work out a design of which they had not a glimpse.” A disposition to conciliate, this is a pretty good description of what we all need to think about when it comes to other people’s faith. My sterner interpretation of scriptures is quite often at odds with a disposition to conciliate. I have had a problem with the “Faith, but” attitude I find in many people. I understand God to be sovereign over all things and I do mean all things. To the point that if God chose to make an example of me for my sterner than thou ways, I might possibly walk out of this room with leprosy. A disease that is not at all common in this land. And He might get a hearty round of applause for doing that. Paul went through a purification process and was going to carry through with a sacrifice that he knew was not necessary, but his brethren needed because their faith was not one where Jesus knocks you off your horse and asks you why you are doing what you have been doing. How do we handle our friends, family and others that are in fear of dying, in fear of catching the COVID 19, or anything at all, now? They are afraid of being closer to another human than a very arbitrary distance of 6 feet. We have people that have stopped coming to our church because they think we are in violation of the governor’s Emergency Powers Act of a strong recommendation of wearing masks and keeping our distance to other people no closer than 6 feet. However, if you are protesting, you are good to go. As of yet there is no mandate to wear masks, but still we have people that are convinced that mask-wearing is essential for something or other, and angry at you if you don’t wear one in their presence. So how do we handle these people? That their faith is not our faith, which I admit is a little bit troubling to think about. The Apostle Paul went the extra distance, to the point of almost being killed at the temple by these rabble-rousing Jews. Back to Paul, the whole city is in an uproar, and it’s a two-part outrage. First part, Paul who they have been dogging through all of Asia Minor is now standing in the temple in Jerusalem. They bring against Paul virtually the same charge as what they charge Stephen with and that is found in Acts 6 verses 11 to 13, so let’s go there. Acts 6:11-13 Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.” 12 And they stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes, and they came up to him and dragged him away and brought him before the Council. 13 They put forward false witnesses who said, “This man incessantly speaks against this holy place and the Law; So they charge Paul with speaking against Moses and God and generally making a nuisance of himself.. The second part is that he brought Greeks, uncircumcised Gentiles into the Holy Place. The specifics of this is beyond the middle wall of partition (Ephesians 2:14) which divided the court that was open to strangers from that which none but Jews might enter. We find in Ephesians 2:14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, Christ is our peace and brought Jew and Gentile together. He tore the curtain down the middle at his crucifixion, removing the barrier to coming to God without a sacrifice, because He was our sacrifice. And the Jews weren’t buying it, still aren’t buying it. Here’s an interesting bit of history that was dug up by the Palestine Exploration Society in 1871. They found a slab which illustrates the horror with which the Jews looked on such a desecration. Its contents show that it must have formed part of the low wall just mentioned:—“NO MAN OF ALIEN RACE IS TO ENTER WITHIN THE BALUSTRADE AND FENCE THAT GOES ROUND THE TEMPLE. IF ANY ONE IS TAKEN IN THE ACT, LET HIM KNOW THAT HE HAS HIMSELF TO BLAME FOR THE PENALTY OF DEATH THAT FOLLOWS.” This, accordingly, was the punishment which the Jews of Asia were now seeking to bring on St. Paul and his friends. Let’s jump back a bit, and again go through Acts 21:17 and beyond. Paul steps off the boat and gets a warm welcome. We’ll pick it up there. The Bible tells the story much better than I do. Act 21:17 17 After we arrived in Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. 18 And the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. 19 After he had greeted them, he began to relate one by one the things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. 20 And when they heard it they began glorifying God; and they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the Law; 21 and they have been told about you, that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs. 22 What, then, is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. 23 Therefore do this that we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow; 24 take them and purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads; and all will know that there is nothing to the things which they have been told about you, but that you yourself also walk orderly, keeping the Law. 25 But concerning the Gentiles who have believed, we wrote, having decided that they should abstain from meat sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication.” 26 Then Paul took the men, and the next day, purifying himself along with them, went into the temple giving notice of the completion of the days of purification, until the sacrifice was offered for each one of them. The next thing you know, Jews are pulling their hair out and wanting to kill him. For Paul that’s pretty much a typical day. Let us continue at verse 28: 28 crying out, “Men of Israel, come to our aid! This is the man who preaches to all men everywhere against our people and the Law and this place; and besides he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.” 29 For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple. 30 Then all the city was provoked, and the people rushed together, and taking hold of Paul they dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut. They closed the temple doors so they could piously claim that he was not killed in that Holy Place. We go back to MacLaren’s Expositions: “Notice the carefulness to save the Temple from pollution, which is shown by the furious crowds dragging Paul outside before they kill him. They were not afraid to commit murder, but they were horror-struck at the thought of a breach of ceremonial etiquette. Of course! for when religion is conceived of as mainly a matter of outward observances, sin is reduced to a breach of these. We are all tempted to shift the centre of gravity in our religion, and to make too much of ritual etiquette. Kill Paul if you will, but get him outside the sacred precincts first. The priests shut the doors to make sure that there should be no desecration, and stopped inside the Temple, well pleased that murder should go on at its threshold.” And we will leave it right here just like they used to do in the old black and white serial movies. A cliffhanger if you will. Paul and friends grabbed, about to be killed on the temple steps. Rom. 15:5-6 – May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Nazirite or Nazarite, both spelling are accepted. When a Nazirite completed a vow he was to cut his or her hair and present the locks of hair, which represented the duration of the oath of service, at the Temple in Jerusalem where it was to be burned on the sacrificial Altar with animal and grain sacrifices. The sacrificial requirements for a completed vow were an expensive undertaking and often wealthy Jews would sponsor a poor Nazirite who had completed a vow. The required offerings are described in Numbers 6:13-21: a ritually perfect male lambs to be entirely burnt up on the Altar a ritually perfect female lambs as a sin sacrifice which after having been roasted on the Altar the Old Covenant priests will eat. a ram to be boiled and then eaten by the offers and their families in the Holy Place as a communion offering along with unleavened bread and wine to accompany the sacrificial meal. the appropriate cereal offerings and wine libations for the Altar sacrifice and the sacrificial meal. In addition to the “ram without blemish” for the communion (peace) offering, the Nazirite had to provide a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine wheat flour mixed with oil, and wafers of unleavened bread anointed with oil in addition to the regular meat offering and wine libation [Numbers 6:14, 15]. The Mishnah explains how and in what proportions the unleavened bread that accompanies the communion sacrifice was to be prepared and that all was to be offered in one vessel. The sin offering [which the offerer could not eat but would be eaten by the priests] was the first sacrifice presented, then the holocaust sacrifice which would be wholly consumed in the fire of the Altar, and finally the sacrifice which was the communion or peace offering, which reestablished fellowship with Yahweh after He had accepted the offerer’s atonement for sins in the sin sacrifice. According to the Mishnah, after the required animal, grain and wine sacrifices, had been offered by the priest the Nazirite withdrew to the Nazirite’s chamber which was located in the Court of the Women. There the peace offering cut up and was boiled in a cauldron and cutting off the hair that had remained unshorn during the length of the vow, the hair was then thrown into the fire under the cauldron. The priest then “waved” the offering as it is described in Numbers 6:19 & 20, and the fat was salted and burned upon the holy sacrificial Bronze Altar in the courtyard of the Temple. The breast of the sacrificed animal, the fore-leg and the boiled shoulder of the peace offering as well as the waved cake and wafer of unleavened wheat flour belonged to the priests. The loaves of unleavened bread and the remaining meat of the communion sacrifice were eaten by the Nazirite and his friends and family. In Acts 21:18-26, James the first Christian Bishop of Jerusalem requested that St. Paul, as a sign of good faith and solidarity with his Jewish brethren, sponsor 4 Nazirites who had completed their vow period: So the next day Paul took the men along and was purified with them, and he visited the Temple to give notice of the time when the period of purification would e over and the offering would have to be presented on behalf of each of them.” Paul in obedience to James submitted to a Old Covenant ritual which no longer had any real meaning in the New Covenant of Jesus Christ for every Christian had now been consecrated to accepting a lifetime vow of service in the royal priesthood of believers who received the sacrament of baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. The Latin word sacramentum is translated as “oath”. In the Sacraments we swear our oath of consecrated service to the Most Holy Trinity and claim that one perfect sacrifice that is ours for all time and eternity. In the Book of Hebrews, St. Paul writes:”He says first You did not want what the Law lays down as the things to be offered, that is: the sacrifices, the cereal offerings, the burnt offerings and the sacrifices for sin, and you took no pleasure in them; and then he says: Here I am! I am coming to do your will. He is abolishing the first sort to establish the second. And this will was for us to be made holy by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ made once and for all.” Hebrews 10:8-10. In this sense all New Covenant believers serve God as perpetual Nazirites who are not defiled by death for our Savior has conquered death. In our vow of holiness we offer our lives as a living sacrifice in service to Christ: “I urge you, then, brothers, remembering the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, dedicated and acceptable to God; that is the kind of worship for you, as sensible people. Do not model your behavior on the contemporary world, but let the renewing of your minds transform you, so that you may discern for yourselves what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and mature.” Romans 12:1-2 By Michal Hunt, https://www.agapebiblestudy.com/documents/The%20Nazirite%20Vow.htm

All Glory to God the Father and to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

We will start with a bit of a review from last week.

Question 1: What were the names of John the Baptist’s parents?

Answer: Luke 1:12-13
12 Zacharias was troubled when he saw the angel, and fear gripped him. 13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John.

Question 2: Where did John the Baptist grow up?

Answer: Luke 1:80
“And the child grew and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel.”

Question 3: What was John the Baptist’s life dedicated to from birth on?

Answer: Luke 1:15
“For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.”
The term for this is Nazarite. There was some confusion last week over what a Nazarite was. At all times a Nazarite was to control his appetite and passions to be in harmony with God’s moral law. There is more to it than that of course and for a complete study of it, I would refer you to Numbers chapter 6, Judges chapters 13 and 16 and Amos chapter 2. These are all the areas I found to have references to describing what a Nazarite is and the particulars of being a Nazarite.

Question 4: As a Nazarite, what were the foods that John ate that made him stand out from the average Jew?

Answer: Matthew 3:4
Now John himself had a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.

Question 5: Who were the two prophets that prophesied that a man would come and be a herald of the coming of Christ?

Answer: Isaiah 40:3
A voice is calling,
“Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness;
Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.

Malachi 3:1
“Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the Lord of hosts.”

So the Jews had ample warning that their Messiah was coming and that a man preaching from the wilderness and clearing the way, as seen in both Isaiah 40:3 and Malachi 3:1

We ended last week with the beginning of John the Baptist’s ministry. Matthew 3 describes all of Judea and the surrounding districts as going out to be baptized in the River Jordan by this man wearing camel hair and preaching to them to repent of their sins. John’s mission can be summed up by one word, “prepare.” He was to prepare the way for the coming of Christ.

Matthew 3:11
11 “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

Hundreds, if not thousands, were immersed by him. And his success was solely in the message he proclaimed.

The multitudes said that he performed no “sign,” though they regarded his message concerning Christ as true:

John 10:41
“Many came to Him and were saying, “While John performed no sign, yet everything John said about this man was true.”

This passage appears to indicate that John did not perform demonstrative miracles, as Jesus and the apostles did, found in:

Matthew 10:1
Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.

The power of John’s preaching, together with the void in Israel’s hearts, did what the Pharisees and Sadducees, with rules added to the backs of the Jews, could never do. You could never be righteous enough according to the law and that was the whole point of the coming of Christ. He, the Divine Light, would come and remove the need for animal sacrifice for atonement. A great example of this in Matthew 22, verses 34 to 46:

34 But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together.

35 One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him,

36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”

37 And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’

38 This is the great and foremost commandment.

39 The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

40 On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question:

42 “What do you think about the Christ, whose son is He?” They *said to Him, “The son of David.”

43 He *said to them, “Then how does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying,

44 ‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
Until I put Your enemies beneath Your feet”’?

45 If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his son?”

46 No one was able to answer Him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask Him another question.

The Pharisees and Sadducees also came to John the Baptist wondering if he perhaps was the Christ, this is where we left off last week, with John berating them as a brood of vipers, which must have been very satisfying to those in the crowd that had heard this exchange.

The high priests had gotten curious as to why so many people were traveling to the Jordan River and from the reports that they had received, along with their knowledge of the scripture, they started thinking that perhaps this might be the Christ. So they sent their boys, these soon to be called Vipers, down to the Jordan River to talk to a hairy man with a camel skin garment, to ask him “Are you the Christ?”

John 1:19-23
19 This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”

20 And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

21 They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” And he *said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”

22 Then they said to him, “Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”

23 He said, “I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”

You can understand their confusion, they had read the scripture, and this guy was doing his baptism thing in the river, telling people to repent for judgement is coming. This fits their idea of who the Christ might be. John the Baptist says “No, I am not the Christ.” You have to remember the term Christ means Messiah. When we say Jesus Christ, what we are really saying is Jesus the Messiah.
Messiah comes from the Hebrew word, Mashiach, meaning “the anointed one,” or “the chosen one.”

Now these vipers grasp on to the next possibility, which is Elijah. Scripture says he’ll come again.

Malachi 4:5-6
5 “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord.

6 He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.”

“Well, who are you then so we can report back to our masters and what do you have to say about yourself.” A bit of paraphrasing there. Reading that from scripture, from something that was written more than two Millennia ago, you can just hear their frustration. They’re going to have to go back to their masters and say no, this man says he is not the Christ, and he is not Elijah, just a man crying out in the wilderness, preparing the way for the True Divine Light. And I like that John the Baptist can quote Isaiah 40 verse 3, the very scripture that prophesied of a man in the wilderness crying out, making the path straight for the coming of the Lord.

And all the while more and more people were traveling out to the Wilderness, to the River Jordan, to hear this man and be baptized, repenting of their sins, for that is what he was teaching.

With that out of the way the next event that happened in John the Baptist’s life was the realization of the prophecy, Jesus came to be baptized.

Matthew 3:13-17
13 Then Jesus *arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him.

14 But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?”

15 But Jesus answering said to him, “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he *permitted Him.

16 After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him,

17 and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

This must have been a very bittersweet moment for John. The very reason for his existence, predicted so long ago. The reason he did not drink wine or eat grapes, the reason he spent his life in the wilderness and felt compelled to baptize people with water, knowing that he was just the messenger. Jesus walks into his life and says baptize me. What do you do when your creator says to do something? You comply and do it.

And so he did it, and shortly afterward he heard Jehovah Himself telling everyone within earshot “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”

That was pretty much the culmination of John the Baptist’s work. As we go through the scripture, we will see other references to John the Baptist, of him introducing his disciples to Jesus the Lamb of God. He continued his work, pointing out to his disciples, Behold the Lamb of God. So we will leave John right here, having met Christ, baptizing Him and hearing God the Father saying He is well pleased.

Numbers 6:22-26
“The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.”

All Glory to God the Father and to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

Please turn to John chapter 1.
After talking to our new Pastor of First Baptist Church, Aaron, whom you met last week, he gave me a few new and interesting ideas for Bible Study. Aaron was a teacher and since Bible Study is teaching, he stated that repetition and review are very good at getting people to retain things. Of course you also have to have an interest in what you are studying and since you are sitting here with me, I’ll assume that you have an interest in this subject. I have 8 questions from the material that we have covered in the last 3 weeks and you can use your bible to help with the answers.

1. The first three words of John are the same as the first three words of Genesis. What are the three words? (John 1:1)

Answer: (John 1:1) In the beginning.

2. John says that “the Word was with God”. Then he says something else. What does he say? (John 1:1)

Answer: (John 1:1) “The Word was God.”

3. According to John, did the Word exist with God in the beginning or was God alone in the beginning? (John 1:2)

Answer: (John 1:2) He was in the beginning with God.

4. According to John, what relationship does the Word (who was God) have to everything that has ever been made? (John 1:3)

Answer: (John 1:3) All things were made by him, and without him nothing was made that ever was made.

5. What was in the Word who was with God? (John 1:4)

Answer: (John 1:4) In him was life and the life was the light of humanity.

6. When the light of Christ shone in the darkness, what was the result? How did the darkness react? (John 1:5)

Answer: (John 1:5) The darkness did not overcome it (or did not comprehend it).

7. God sent someone to bear witness of the Light. Whom did God send? (John 1:6-8)

Answer: (John 1:6-8) There was a man sent from God whose name was John… This man came to bear witness of the Light.

8. John the Baptist came to bear witness to the Light, namely Jesus Christ the Word who was in the beginning with God. What was the purpose of John’s witness? (John 1:7-8)

Answer: (John 1:7-8) This man came… to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe.

The life of John the Baptist.

Luke covered the birth of John quite well, so we’ll start out with something we already went over, but it’s good to review.

Luke 1:5-7
5 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

6 They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord.

7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years.

They were old and childless and for a priest that had to be a rather uncomfortable circumstance. As a priest, people would look at you as a paragon of virtue and holiness, at least that’s the way it’s supposed to be. With his wife being childless, his fellow priests might have thought that there was some sin in his life so that God had prevented them from having children. In the minds of the people of that day, there was a very direct correlation between what you did in your life and how God chose to show his displeasure over your sins.

We know that Elizabeth was related to Mary, probably through marriage, and she came from the line of Aaron, the first priest as designated by God, who was a brother to Moses. All this we covered the last few weeks.

We also know that his birth was a prophecy way back in the Old Testament by Isaiah and Malachi, telling that a man would come out of the wilderness to herald the coming of Christ. That would be Isaiah 40 verse 3, and Malachi 3 verse 1. It was also said that he would come with the power of Elijah, that would be Malachi 4 verses 4 and 5.

The scriptures are silent as to the fate of John’s parents although there is a legend that Zacharias was slain by Herod the Great, forcing Elizabeth to flee with her babe into the wilderness area of Judea. And since the scriptures do not say anything about this, it is not important to the message that God is giving us. This historical legend is a possible answer to Luke 1:80 “And the child grew and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel.”

There happens to be a desert or deserted area that stretches from Jerusalem to Bethlehem Eastward some 20 miles down river and the Dead Sea. It is a barren region of rugged hills and valleys.

We also know that John was a Nazarite from birth. The angel Gabriel said to Zacharias:

Luke 1:15
“For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.”

At all times a Nazarite was to control his appetite and passions to be in harmony with God’s moral law.

The Bible speaks about being a Nazarite this way:

Numbers 6:2
“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When a man or woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazarite, to dedicate himself to the Lord,
3 he shall abstain from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar, whether made from wine or strong drink, nor shall he drink any grape juice nor eat fresh or dried grapes.”

And also:

Judges 13:5
For behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”


The Bible describes John in Matthew 3 verse 4 this way, “Now John himself had a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.”

The hair cloak might have been rough fabric woven from camel’s hair or camel skin itself, the text doesn’t really make that clear. It was very similar to certain Old Testament prophets, particularly Elijah.

Scripture refers to that in:

Zechariah 13:4
Also it will come about in that day that the prophets will each be ashamed of his vision when he prophecies, and they will not put on a hairy robe in order to deceive;

And:

2 Kings 1:8
8 They answered him, “He was a hairy man with a leather girdle bound about his loins.” And he said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”

What John ate was generally consumed by the poor elements of society; he stood in bold relief to the wealthy, indulgent Jews of his day. His very presence was a sermon in itself.

Scripture also says that John was somewhat reclusive. Jesus said in Matthew 11 verse 18 “John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He has a demon.”

Eating and drinking stood for socializing – the prophet was not a socialite. His aesthetic lifestyle appeared almost demonic, like those possessed of evil spirits who apparently frequented the desolate areas. There are references in scripture of Jesus having to deal with demonic people in remote areas. Mark 5 talks of Jesus meeting a Gerasene man with a legion of demons in him.

When John the Baptist started his ministry, he did not seek out the multitudes, rather he attracted them.

Matthew 3:5-12
Then Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea and all the district around the Jordan;

6 and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins.

And this is my favorite part coming up in verse 7, continuing:

7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

8 Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance;

9 and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.

10 The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

11 “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

12 His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

We will stop right here and pick it up where we left off, next week.

Romans 15:5-6 – May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

All glory to God the Father and our Savior Jesus Christ

Please turn to the book of John and we will explore verses 7 and 8.

Before we start, let us review what we have learned so far in this book of John. We know that John was among the 12, with his brother James, chosen as Disciples of Jesus Christ. These two were chosen while in their father’s boat, and this disciple was known simply as the one whom Jesus loved. He wrote this book while a very old man and also wrote John 1, John 2 and John 3 along with the book of Revelation.

The first 5 verses are;
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.
5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

So, we know this speaks of Christ, of our Savior being eternal and being the agent of creation. He is the Light of men, and that Light overcomes darkness, the darkness of men’s souls before they are drawn to the Light.

Last week we discovered the other John in the Bible. John the Baptist, whose birth was foretold in a prophecy by Isaiah 600 years before his coming.

John, son of Zacharias and Elizabeth was destined, by the hand of God, to be the herald of the coming of the Messiah, and apart from Christ himself, is probably the most theologically significant figure in the Gospels. And you may ask, why is that? Jesus said of him in Luke 7:28, “I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John.”

His birth was meticulously recorded ( Luke 1:5-25 ). His entrance into the world was marked by angelic proclamation and divine intervention ( Luke 1:57-80 ). John’s birth not only parallels that of Jesus, but echoes the momentous occasion of the birth of Isaac to Abraham and Sarah ( Gen 17:15-22 ; 21:1-7 ).

Although his formative years were lived in obscurity in the desert, this is found in Luke 1:80, And the child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

His public ministry ended nearly four hundred years of prophetic silence. John was that voice crying in the wilderness preparing the way for the coming Messiah, referred to in
Isaiah 40:3, A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness;
Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.

In this sense his message and ministry marked the culmination of the law and the prophets, but heralded the coming of the kingdom of God. So John was truly a transitional figure, forming the link between the Old and New Testaments.

Today’s discussion, verses 7 and 8 reads as follows.

John 1:7-8
7 He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him.
8 He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.

So this man was foretold by Isaiah hundreds of years before his birth. He came as a witness of the coming of the Lamb of God. John was an end-times prophet. The original end time prophet. An image comes to mind of a scruffy man in a beard standing near a busy highway, shaking a cardboard sign at cars, with the words Repent Now For The End Is Nigh. John the Baptist is who they are emulating. He conducted his ministry with divine authority that demanded immediate action. He taught that judgment is at hand. The axe is laid to the roots and God will thoroughly purge his threshing floor

Matt 3:10-12
10 The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
11 “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
12 His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Luke 3:9
9 Indeed the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; so every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

Luke 3:17
17 His winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

And the true repentance was evidenced in very practical terms: share with those in need, eliminate graft, and prohibit extortion.

Luke 3:11-14
11 And he would answer and say to them, “The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise.”
12 And some tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?”
13 And he said to them, “Collect no more than what you have been ordered to.”
14 Some soldiers were questioning him, saying, “And what about us, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages.”

But today’s verses deal with witnessing of the Light, not clearing the threshing room floor or burning the chaff, although that is much needed in today’s society as it was back then.

The terms “witness” or “to testify” receive special attention in the gospel, reflecting the courtroom language of the Old Testament where the truth of a matter was to be established on the basis of multiple witnesses

Here are a few examples of witness in the scripture.

The Samaritan woman: John 4:29 Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?”
She witnessed to the headmen of her village as to this amazing man she just met.

The works of Jesus: John 10:25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me.
Jesus is witnessing to his people, the Jews, who incredibly, do not believe him.

The Father: John 5:32-37 There is another who testifies of Me, and I know that the testimony which He gives about Me is true.

Witness of John:
John 5:33-35 You have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth.
34 But the testimony which I receive is not from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved.
35 He was the lamp that was burning and was shining and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.

Witness of Works:
John 5:36 But the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish—the very works that I do—testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me.

Witness again of the Father:
John 5:37 And the Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form.

We now see what it means to witness, according to God’s word. How do we bring that lesson back here to July 1st 2020? How do you witness or testify to somebody? Your family, your friends, people you meet. Maybe on a street corner with a cardboard sign?

I am doing that right now, to you, as to the truth and inerrancy of the Bible. It is a frightening concept to step out of your comfort zone. John was able to do it in a forthright manner, because the Holy Spirit was within him while in the womb. True believers also have the Holy Spirit within them. My question to you is do you feel the Holy Spirit within you? If you are a believer, one drawn to the Light, you have that same capability of testifying that John did. Ours is not a timid God. Use the gifts that God has given you.

John knew that he was not the Light ( John 1:8 ) but he was sent to bear witness of that Light, and you too can and should bear witness of that Light. That Light that has changed your life. Being a believer should show. Not in a splashy prosperity preacher style, but in gentleness of spirit, in hospitality, in a kind word and most importantly obedience to His word. Those are the works of the spirit.

There is so much fear in this world, but what is fear to a child of the God who created all? And that God loves you and has your back. How do we know this? Because He sent his only begotten Son to die on the cross and be raised again on the third day that we may live. Go forth and be witnesses of the Light.

Now while you are mentally chewing on that, I will give you another thing to chew on. I ran across Pastor John Piper’s quote on the Covid virus and really liked it. “This is not a season for sentimental views of God. It is a bitter season. And God ordained it. God governs it. He will end it. No part of it is outside his sway. Life and death are in his hand.”
You see, there is simply no room for “I have Faith, but..”.

“Grace and peace be yours in abundance, through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” 2 Pet. 1:2