The Kingdom's Rough Herald
Introduction: The Necessary Disruption
We live in an age of soft-focus spirituality. Our generation wants a Jesus who is a life coach, a therapist, a divine affirmation machine. We want a gospel that soothes, a message that strokes, a religion that fits comfortably into our lives like a new throw pillow. And into this plush, padded, and pathetic scene, the Bible throws a man like John the Baptist. John is a jagged rock. He is a disruption. He is the divine interruption to our self-centered slumbers.
You cannot get to the Jesus of the Gospels without first going through the wilderness with John. If you try to bypass John, you will inevitably create a domesticated Jesus, a tame lion. John the Baptist is the great gatekeeper to a right understanding of Christ, because his message establishes the non-negotiable terms of engagement. And the terms are not, "Come as you are and stay as you are." The terms are, "Repent, for the King is coming."
John's ministry was not an invitation to a discussion group. It was a summons to unconditional surrender. The kingdom of God does not arrive by committee vote. It invades. It confronts. It overthrows. John is the herald, the one sent ahead of the royal procession to shout at everyone to get out of the way, to clear the road, because the Monarch of the universe is about to appear. His message is harsh to our modern ears because it is a message of law. It is a message of preparation that reveals our utter unpreparedness. It is the necessary surgery before the healing can begin. And without it, we will mistake the King for a court jester.
The Text
Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet, saying, "THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, 'MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD, MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT!'" 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. Then Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea, and all the district around the Jordan; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins.
(Matthew 3:1-6 LSB)
The Man and His Message (vv. 1-2)
We are introduced to the man and his thunderclap of a sermon.
"Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'" (Matthew 3:1-2 LSB)
First, notice where he is. He is in the wilderness. He is not in the temple courts. He is not in the synagogues. He is outside the official, corrupt, and compromised religious establishment. The living word of God had departed from the marble halls of Jerusalem and was now being spoken in the desert. This is a profound judgment on the religious leaders of the day. When God wants to do a new thing, a genuine work of reformation, He often begins on the margins, far from the centers of power.
And what is he doing? He is preaching. The word is kerusso, which means to herald, to proclaim as a king's envoy. He is not sharing his feelings. He is not offering helpful tips for better living. He is delivering a royal edict. The message has two parts, and they are inseparable. The command is "Repent." The reason is "for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
Repentance, the Greek metanoia, is not simply feeling sorry for your sins. It is a complete revolution of the mind. It is a change of allegiance. It means to stop thinking your way, and to start thinking God's way about everything. It is to turn your back on your own petty kingdom of self and to swear fealty to the one true King. It is a fundamental reorientation of your entire life. You were going west; you now go east.
And why this radical command? Because the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The rule and reign of God is breaking into human history in a new and decisive way. The King is approaching the city gates. This is not a distant, abstract reality. It is imminent. It is here. The presence of the kingdom demands a response, and the only appropriate response is repentance. You don't negotiate with an invading king; you surrender. John's message is that the time for playing games is over. The King is here, and you must either bow the knee or be crushed.
The Prophetic Authority (v. 3-4)
Matthew is quick to show us that John is not some self-appointed wild man. He is the fulfillment of ancient prophecy.
"For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet, saying, 'THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, 'MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD, MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT!'" (Matthew 3:3 LSB)
This quote from Isaiah 40 is crucial. In the ancient world, when a monarch was going to travel through a region, a herald was sent ahead to command the people to do road work. They were to level the hills, fill in the valleys, and make a straight, smooth road for the king's chariot. John the Baptist is the spiritual road crew. His preaching is the bulldozer. The crooked paths are our sins, our deceits, our self-righteousness. The hills are our pride. The valleys are our despair. Repentance is the hard work of leveling the ground of our hearts so that the King can have clear passage.
John is simply "the voice." He is not the main event. He points away from himself to the one who is coming, the LORD, Yahweh Himself, who is coming to His people in the person of Jesus Christ. John's entire identity is derivative. He is the signpost, not the destination.
"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." (Matthew 3:4 LSB)
This is not just a fashion statement. This is a theological uniform. This is the exact description of the prophet Elijah (2 Kings 1:8). The last book of the Old Testament promised that God would send Elijah before the great and awesome day of the Lord (Malachi 4:5). John's very appearance is a sermon. He is the new Elijah, the prophet of confrontation, the man who stood against the corrupt King Ahab and now stands against the corrupt King Herod and the corrupt temple system. His diet of locusts and wild honey shows his complete separation from the world. He is sustained by God in the wilderness. He cannot be bribed, he cannot be threatened, and he cannot be bought. He is God's man.
The National Response (v. 5-6)
The response to this raw, uncompromising message is staggering.
"Then Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea, and all the district around the Jordan; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins." (Matthew 3:5-6 LSB)
A massive, national revival is breaking out. Notice the direction of travel. The people are going out from Jerusalem, the center of religious life, to the wilderness. They are leaving the spiritually dead institution to find the living word of God. This is a grassroots reformation, a popular uprising of spiritual desperation. They recognized the bankruptcy of their leaders and were hungry for the truth, no matter how harsh it was.
And what was the result of their repentance? They were being baptized and were confessing their sins. The baptism was an outward sign of an inward reality. The Jordan River was the original entrance to the Promised Land. By being baptized in it, they were symbolically re-entering the covenant, but this time on the basis of repentance, not ethnic identity. It was a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, preparing them for the one who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
And it was accompanied by confession. This was not a private, quiet affair. They were publicly acknowledging their sins, agreeing with God's verdict on their lives. True repentance is never silent. It speaks. It admits its guilt. It calls sin what God calls it. This public confession was the evidence that the road work was actually being done. The crooked paths were being named, identified, and made straight.
Conclusion: The Unchanging Summons
The ministry of John the Baptist is not a quaint historical prelude. It is the permanent pattern for how men come to Christ. The message of the gospel still begins in the wilderness of our sin. It still confronts us with a non-negotiable demand: Repent. Turn from your kingdom. Surrender to the true King.
The modern church has too often tried to build a bypass around the ministry of John. We want to invite people to Jesus without first demanding that they repent. We want to offer the crown without the cross. We want to present the King as a friend before they have acknowledged Him as Lord. But this is to preach a false gospel and a false Christ.
The kingdom of heaven is still at hand. Christ has come. He has died, He has risen, He has ascended, and He is reigning now. His kingdom is advancing in the world through the proclamation of the gospel. And that proclamation is still the same as the voice from the wilderness. It is a summons for men and women to lay down their arms, to confess their rebellion, and to make their crooked paths straight. It is only after we have heard the thunder of John's call to repentance that we can truly appreciate the beauty of Christ's offer of grace. For the King who is coming is not just a judge; He is the Savior who became the road for us, the way, the truth, and the life. But you cannot walk on that road until you first get off your own.