Tag Archives: John the Baptist

If My People …

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“And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.” Matthew 21:32b ESV1

Read Matthew 21:28-32

You have undoubtedly heard it quoted and seen it in print as much as I have—2 Chronicles 7:14—“If My people … pray … I will hear from Heaven … and heal their land.” Believing in the power of this promise, many sincere Christians gather and call out to God pleading for His intervention in a variety of situations that affect them, those around them, and the countries in which they live. But when those prayers are seemingly unanswered, most of those who came together to pray, go back to their normal lives disillusioned with the power of prayer and doubting the goodness of Almighty God. The trouble is, whether by intention or merely through emphasis, we have reduced the promise of 2 Chronicles 7:14 to the words above. There is a whole lot more to that verse than we usually stress or remember. The following parable which Jesus told to the sincerely religious who questioned Him reveals that which they, and we, so often overlook.

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No Time to Yourself

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Now when Jesus heard [that John the Baptist had been killed], He withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by Himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed Him on foot from the towns. Matthew 14:13 ESV1

Read Matthew 14:12-36

Jesus had just received some heartbreaking news. One of His best friends, one of His close relatives, the person whom He probably respected most out of everyone on Earth, John the Baptist, had just been brutally murdered. John had been in prison for standing up for what was right. Now, there was no hope that this innocent man would be released; he was dead.

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The Power of a Woman

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And Herodias had a grudge against [John the Baptist] and wanted to put him to death. But she could not, for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. Mark 6:19-20a ESV1

Read Matthew 14:1-12 & Mark 6:14-29

I am a woman who is more than fifty years old. I am a daughter, a sister, a mother, a grandmother, and a friend to other females. I have spent decades of my life ministering to women. In all these years of being a woman and interacting with women, I have discovered that we are powerful creatures.

God has given the woman a marked capability that has the potential of being used for good or for evil. This endowment can be used to tear down or build up. It can be used to give life or bring death. The women we will consider in today’s text used their God-given female power to destroy.

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Greater Than

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“Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.” Matthew 11:11 ESV1

Read Matthew 11:11-19 & Luke 7:28-35, 16:15-17

Why did Jesus declare, “’Truly, I say to you, … there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he’” (Matthew 11:11)? Similarly, what did Jesus mean when He said, “’Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in Me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father’” (John 14:12)? And why did Jesus comfort His disciples by saying, “’I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send Him to you’” (John 16:7)? It is because something magnificent happened when Jesus completed His mission on Earth and went back to His Father in Heaven. It is something even better than hanging out with Jesus on Earth. In fact, it is something that is grander than humans could have imagined.

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When Doubt Creeps In

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Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to Him, “Are You the One who is to come, or shall we look for another?” Matthew 11:2-3 ESV1

Read Luke 1:13-17, 39-45; Matthew 11:2-11; Mark 1:4-8 & John 1:6-7, 23-34

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, John knew Jesus was the Messiah from his very beginning. The angel Gabriel told John’s father, Zachariah, that John “would be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb” (Luke 1:15b). Shortly after Mary became pregnant with Jesus, she went to visit her relative, Elizabeth, Zachariah’s wife, who was pregnant with John. “And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, [John] leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women and blessed is the Fruit of your womb! And why is it granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy’” (Luke 1:39-44). When John first “met” Jesus, he knew Jesus was special.

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It’s Not About Me

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“He must increase, but I must decrease.” John 3:30 ESV1

Read John 3:22-4:3

One day, “Jesus and His disciples went into the Judean countryside, and He remained there with them and was baptizing” (John 3:22) … Although Jesus Himself did not baptize, but only His disciples” (John 4:2). Jesus’ ministry was getting more and more visibility. Many of the people who heard Him speak and saw His miracles wanted to get right with God. To show their commitment to a changed life, they desired baptism. Jesus’ disciples were happy to help. But, without their realizing it, their actions began to cause an uproar.

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Removing Obstacles

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As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’” Luke 3:4-6 ESV1

Read Matthew 3:1-12, Mark 1:1-8, Luke 3:1-18, and John 1:6-28

All four Gospels begin their accounts of Jesus’ ministry with the ministry of John the Baptist. Luke goes as far as to identify the exact timing of John’s appearance on the ministry scene through the reign of a king, a governor, three tetrarchs, and two high priests (see Luke 3:1-2). Scholars far more knowledgeable than I have used that information to pinpoint John’s ministry as having taken place between the winter and spring of AD 26. Why was it so important to start explaining Jesus’ purpose for coming with the relatively short ministry of another?

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Introducing Others to Jesus

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The next day again John [the Baptist] was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as He walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus … One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. John 1:35-36, 40-42a ESV1

Read John 1:11-51

Andrew came to faith in Jesus by the testimony of John the Baptist. Andrew had been a disciple, or a follower, of John. As is the nature of being a disciple, Andrew had likely spent a great deal of time with and listening to John. And John spent much time talking about the coming Messiah. So much so that even casual observers of John were able to say, “Everything he [John] said about this man has come true” (John 10:41). Because of his close association with John and John’s teachings, Andrew was ready to follow the Messiah as soon as John identified him. “‘Behold, the Lamb of God!’ The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus” (John 1:36b-37).

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The Bigger Picture

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There was a priest named Zechariah … He had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.   Luke 1:5-7 ESV1

Read Luke 1:5-25 & 57-80

Zechariah was a priest. He had spent his life serving God. He was from a family of priests who had served the LORD for generations. His wife, Elizabeth, also came from a family of priests who honored God and ministered to His people. They “were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But (emphasis mine) they had no child” (Luke 1:6-7a). Though they were doing everything right, something was not right in their lives. Their prayers for the thing they wanted most weren’t being answered.

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