We never done it like this!

Mark 1:4-5

“John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 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.”

What was the draw to get people to come out into the wilderness to be baptized in the river Jordan, and confess their sins?  These are Jews, and the place of worship is the temple or synagogue, and sin atoned by a blood sacrifice.  So once more I ask, what is happening and how do you think the religious leaders are feeling about this guy named John?  It seems as if his call for a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins was inclusive both the country folks and the urbanites were drawn to this wilderness preacher and baptizer. 

Up to this time, all that had been promised was the blood of a lamb that would cover your sins until the next year, but John seems to be offering something very different.  He was asking them to change directions, to quit sinning and to confess sins, and to follow or obey the commandments of God.  If you turn to Malachi 4:5-6, we see a promise made to the Jewish people.  “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”  It is my opinion that this scripture is for the second coming of Christ, but John did come in the spirit of Elijah.

John was not only chosen by God but had God’s anointing to introduce His Son into His ministry.  John was different from all the others of his day in both dress and what he ate.  But John’s dress was like Elijah’s, and Mark suggests that John was Elijah.  In Mark 1:7-8, “And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

I have read that the job of untying the strap of a Jewish man’s sandals was set aside for a Gentile slave, and he is making it clear that the One coming is superior to him.  And this may be the first time they have heard the term the Holy Spirit.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice