The primary reason for John baptizing, therefore, was that this was the means by which God would reveal His Son, the Savior of the world. Baptism was the door, so to speak, through which the Son of God would be revealed to men, and enter into His ministry. The secondary reason was the culturing of a people to receive the Christ.

 

               The “wilderness of Judea” (Matt 3:1), in which John was baptizing, was an outward environment that reflected the spiritual surroundings of the time. Jerusalem and the surrounding area was an arid spiritual desert, desolate and spiritually impoverished. People were actually sitting in “darkness,” and were occupying “the region and shadow of death” (Matt 4:16). This area was the “dry ground” of which Isaiah spoke when he wrote of the coming Savior, “For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground” (Isa 53:2). Thus John began his ministry in a place that paralleled the miserable moral and spiritual condition of the people. He was, in fact, breaking up “the fallow ground,” so that the Gospel seed did not fall “among thorns” (Jer 4:3; Hos 10:12).

 

               PREACHING THE BAPTISM OF REPENTANCE. Luke reads, “Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness” (Luke 3:2). John was thirty years old when he began his ministry. It was six months before Jesus was revealed, who was Himself “thirty years of age” (Luke 3:23). When Mary was told she would give birth to the Son of God, Elizabeth, John’s mother, was in the “six month” of her pregnancy (Lk 1:26,36). He was, therefore, six months older than the One he came to announce.

 

               We do not know much of John’s life prior to when he began preaching “the baptism of repentance.” His first thirty years are referred to in this way: “And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel” (Luke 1:80). Thus John was separate from defiling influences until “his manifestation to Israel.” ^NKJV The notion, therefore, that servants of God must first mingle with those to whom they minister was not embraced by John. His ministry required a separation from the world.

 

               Notice, John “preached the baptism of repentance.” Luke says John came “preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” (Lk 3:3). Peter said that “preaching peace by Jesus Christ” began “after the baptism which John preached” (Acts 10:36). Paul speaks of this “preaching” with even more precision. “John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on Him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus” (Acts 19:4). John’s preaching, therefore, focused on the One who would come after him – Jesus.

 

               Therefore, John’s preaching informed people of the necessity of repentance, the means by which it was expressed (baptism), and the objective of that baptism (the remission of sins). This was the way in which he prepared the way of the Lord, making ready a people for the Lord. In other words, preparing the people for the Savior involved becoming keenly aware of their need of a Savior. People who have lost a sense of sin cannot possibly see the need for a Savior.

 

THE PEOPLE WERE DRAWN TO JOHN

               “ ⁵ And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.”

 

               THERE WENT OUT UNTO HIM. John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus, but no person was sent to prepare the way for him! Among men, there was no survey that took place in order to prepare the way for John. He did not reserve a Temple court, or a place near one of the pools, in which to hold meetings. If you wanted to hear John, you had to leave the normalities of life and go where he was dwelling. No herald was sent to summon the crowds to him. The people came to John in the manner of which Hosea spoke, “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her” (Hosea 2:14). Later Hosea accounted for a change that would be found in Israel: “I drew them with the cords of a man, with bands of love” (Hos 11:4). Through Jeremiah God testified to the people, “therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee” (Jer 31:3). Solomon referred to such a drawing when he wrote, “Draw me, we will run after thee” (Song of Sol 1:4). Jesus spoke of the Father drawing people to Him (John 6:44). He also affirmed that if He was “lifted up from the earth” in death, He would “draw all men” unto Himself (John 12:32).

 

               There is such a thing as an inner compulsion that drives a person to the Lord, or to a messenger of the Lord. God, who can turn the heart of a king, can cause such a thing to happen (Prov 21:1). God can cause His people to be “pitied” by ruthless captors (Psa 106:46). He can even turn the hearts of enemies “to hate His people, to deal subtly with His servants” (Psa 105:25). Oh, how there needs to be a greater sense of the Lord’s drawing power – inclining the hearts of men!

 

               If men doubt that such a thing is possible, we have the example of John the Baptist, to whom the people came. “THEY went out to him!” There is only one possible way to account for this: it was of the Lord. At this beginning John was not a public figure. The people were sitting in “gross darkness” (Isa 60:2), and lifeless and vain religion dominated the people. Yet God worked!

 

               ALL THE LAND OF JUDAEA. “And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem.” Matthew reads, “Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan” (Matt 3:5). The people poured out of Jerusalem, came from throughout Judaea, and all “the district around Jordan.” ^NASB They went out to hear a new kind of preacher, with a new doctrine, who practiced a new ordinance.

 

               There was a certain freshness to John’s preaching that was not found in the learned dissertations of the Pharisees and the detailing of the Law by the Lawyers. There is no doubt that John’s message actually clashed with what the people were used to hearing. He shined the light in neglected areas, and spoke of things that were not common.

 

               Later, when Jesus was preaching, He reminded the people of the unusual nature of John the Baptist – something they all had realized. “What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet” (Mat 11:7-9).

 

               WERE ALL BAPTIZED OF HIM. There were some people whom John did not baptize. When confronting “many of the Pharisees and Sadducees” who came to his baptism,” John shouted out to them, “O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” He challenged them to “bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance” ^NASB (Matt 3:7-8). It is said of these people, “But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him” (Luke 7:30). They are not included in the “all” of this verse. They were outsiders, and are treated as such by the Holy Spirit.

 

               It is said of those who responded in faith to John’s preaching, “And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John” (Luke 7:29). Everyone else, as Paul would say it, “not a Jew” (Rom 2:28).

 

               CONFESSING THEIR SINS. Here we see a new Divine thrust among men. The confession of sin on a large scale was exceedingly rare prior to John – and never of such an order as this. Adam and Eve never did say “We have sinned.” Cain did not say “I have sinned.” The first person of record to acknowledge personal sin was Pharaoh, and he did not do it out of true repentance (Ex 9:27). When Aaron and Miriam spoke against Moses, and Miriam was stricken with leprosy, Aaron cried out “we have sinned” (Num 12:11). When God sent fiery serpents among the people, they rushed to Moses confessing, “we have sinned” (Num 21:7). Several other such confessions are recorded (Judges 10:10; 1 Sam 12:10). All of these confessions were made under the pain of the chastening of the Lord.

 

               However, this is not the manner of confession that attended the baptism of John’s hearers. They were not being chastened. No fiery serpents had been sent among them. Rather, they were touched with a message of a coming Savior, and of the time when He would “throughly purge His floor” (Matt 3:12). John’s preaching moved the people to repent.

 

JOHN’S CLOTHING AND DIET

               “ ⁶ And John was clothed with camel's hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey.”

 

               Jesus said John was not a “man clothed in soft raiment,” or “fine clothes” ^NIV (Matt 11:8). “Soft clothes” are luxuriously comfortable clothes as compared with the coarse and scratchy clothing of the poor. In this we see a most vivid picture of the incompatibility of a convenience-centered approach with the work of the Lord. While convenience is a manner that has been exalted to the position of an idol in our time, it has no genuine place when it comes to the work of the Lord. While it is not proper to make laws concerning the general apparel of the people of God, it is in order to adopt a posture in which one can more readily “keep under” the body, and “bring it into subjection” (1 Cor 9:27).

 

               CLOTHED WITH CAMEL’S HAIR. This garment was not of spun camel’s hair, which would have been considered “soft” or “fine clothing.” It rather appears be clothing made of the camel’s skin, with the hair upon it, or a “rough garment” (Zech 13:4)made of unsoftened camel’s hair. Such humble attire did not draw undue attention to John himself. Also, he had been living “in the deserts till the day of his showing,” and “soft clothing” certainly was not appropriate to such a dwelling place.

 

               The clothing of John matched the doctrine that he preached – repentance and a certain disdain for then world. He so attired himself as not to clash with what he preached.

 

               It ought to be noted that he who came “in the spirit and power of Elijah” was attired in much the same way as that prophet. It is said of Elijah, “He was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins” (2 Kgs 1:8). The phrase “hairy man” probably referred to his clothing, as the NIV indicates: “He was a man with a garment of hair.”

 

               A GIRDLE OF SKIN ABOUT HIS LOINS. A “girdle” corresponds to our belt. As a practical help, it was used to gather loose clothing about the waste, so as to make for more free movement. Jeremiah wore a “linen girdle” (Jer 13:1). Soldiers held their armor together with a “girdle” (Isa 5:27). The point here is that John was modestly and practically attired. He was not a man of luxury and fair clothing. His outward appearance matched his spiritual and mental posture – “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober”(1 Pet 1:13). He was a man of inner and spiritual focus and discipline.

 

               HE DID EAT LOCUSTS AND WILD HONEY. Like Daniel and his three colleagues, John did not have a rich diet. It was nutritious and well adapted to his manner of life, but totally unappealing to those who were basically of this world. According to the Mosaic law, locusts were lawful to be eaten.”Even these of them ye may eat; the locust after his kind, and the bald locust after his kind, and the beetle after his kind, and the grasshopper after his kind.” (Lev 11:22). These clean insects fell into the approved category of a flying thing “which have legs above their feet, to leap withal upon the earth” (Lev 11:22).

 

               Thus John’s fleshly diet paralleled his character. Locusts depicted a life of contemplation that was able to leap, as it were, above the earth. His thoughts were not nailed to the world. Honey is also set forth as a type of spiritual richness and satisfaction. Thus the Lord spoke of making Israel “suck honey out of the rock” (Deut 32:13). The Savior is depicted by Isaiah as eating “butter and honey” in order “that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good” (Isa 7:15). The satisfactory ingestion of the Word of God is also referred to as being “in my mouth as honey for sweetness” (Ezek 3:3).

 

               Thus everything about John – his habitat, clothing, and diet – reflected the nature of his ministry. While he was “in the wilderness,”separated from the world in body, in manners, and in thought, it is written of him, “the word of God came to John the son of Zecharias in the wilderness” (Lk 3:2). It was a word that he was to preach “in the spirit and power of Elijah.” There was to be no compromise of his message, no watering down of its contents. He was preparing the way of the Lord, making the way straight for the Messiah to come to men, and for men to come to Him. Such a message cannot be delivered by one who is wed to the very domain which men are commanded to leave.

 

               The way to Jesus is still set forth by men and women who are themselves separated from the world, and who do not feed upon its husks. While it is true that a great deal of professional religion is found within spiritual Babylon – religion that has a certain appeal to those who are “carnally minded” Rom 8:6) – let it be clear that no such approach can be found in the kingdom of Christ. If we are introduced to Jesus by separation from the world and contrition for sin, it is certain that we cannot maintain an association with Him where such qualities are not found. God be praised for the example of John the Baptist!