Josh Benner

Tag: faith

  • Sermon: studying the Exodus plagues. Disease and boils. Exodus 9:1-12

    Sermon: studying the Exodus plagues. Disease and boils. Exodus 9:1-12

    Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. 2 For if you refuse to let them go and still hold them, 3 behold, the hand of the Lord will fall with a very severe plague upon your livestock that are in the field, the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks. 4 But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing of all that belongs to the people of Israel shall die.” ’ ” 

    5 And the Lord set a time, saying, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land.” 6 And the next day the Lord did this thing. All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one of the livestock of the people of Israel died. 7 And Pharaoh sent, and behold, not one of the livestock of Israel was dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go. 

    8 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from the kiln, and let Moses throw them in the air in the sight of Pharaoh. 9 It shall become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and become boils breaking out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt.” 10 So they took soot from the kiln and stood before Pharaoh. And Moses threw it in the air, and it became boils breaking out in sores on man and beast. 11 And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils came upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians. 

    12 But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had spoken to Moses. 

    Introduction 

    We’re continuing in Exodus this morning, and we’re in a section that looks at a series of ten plagues which were brought upon the Egyptians when Pharaoh refused the Egyptians permission to leave Egypt as the Lord had commanded. 

    Last week we look at plagues two, three, and four. 

    This week, we look at the next two plagues. 

    One thing I’d like to say at the beginning. On a personal note…

    I love Exodus. I love these passages. It’s my favorite book of the Old Testament. 

    And part of why I love these passages is because we see these pictures, and on the one hand, they’re such extreme situations. But at the same time, they’re also very applicable. 

    Because while it was a long time ago and while it was in a different part of the world in a different culture, people are still people. Faith is still faith. Sin is still sin. And God is still God. 

    And so while it can all seem so far off and far removed from us, one thing that we see over and over in the Exodus is that we’re really not so different from people of the past. 

    At the outset, I want to highlight the commentary of Philip Ryken on Exodus which I’ve found especially helpful with this ninth chapter of Exodus. 

    And so we’ll begin with the fifth plague. 

    Fifth plague: plague on livestock 

    Verses 1-4: 

    Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. 2 For if you refuse to let them go and still hold them, 3 behold, the hand of the Lord will fall with a very severe plague upon your livestock that are in the field, the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks. 

    4 But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing of all that belongs to the people of Israel shall die.” ’

    In the preceding four plagues, we had seen times where Pharaoh was warned. 

    We had seen times when he had agreed to free the Israelites, until to renege. 

    But God gives another warning when Moses tells Pharaoh that if he does not release the Israelites, there will be a plague upon his livestock. 

    Verse 2 into 3 says: if you refuse to let them go and still hold them, 3 behold, the hand of the Lord will fall with a very severe plague upon your livestock

    The verse says that the hand of the Lord will cause a severe plague. 

    It’s noteworthy that in chapter 8, when the Lord brings a plague of gnats, that is the first plague that Pharaoh’s magicians are unable to recreate and they tell Pharaoh this is the finger of God. (Exodus 8:19). 

    And here, the Lord says that it will be from his hand that this plague comes. 

    There does seem to be an intensification of these plagues. 

    This fifth plague is the first plague that brings death. 

    There have been plagues where death is a result. For instance, fish die when the Nile is turned to blood in the first plague. But the plague was primarily the Nile turning to blood. Or to give another example, during the second plague when there’s an infestation of frogs, the frogs ultimately die.

    But the entire purpose of this fifth plague is that it brings death. 

    And it also foreshadows the death which will happen in the last plague when God strikes dead the firstborn of all of the Egyptians. 

    That the early plagues were very severe and significant, but they were largely nuisances. 

    But here, the stakes are getting upped. 

    The ESV calls this a severe plague.

    Some translations will use the word pestilence. 

    The King James Version uses the term “murrain,” which is not a common word in modern English but refers to an infectious disease. 

    We don’t know specifically what this plague was, but it does seem to be some zoonotic disease, or multiple diseases which were to cause death among Egyptian livestock. 

    The passage says: 

    a very severe plague upon your livestock that are in the field, the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks

    So this plague will be wide ranging in its impact. 

    It will impact the food supplies, it will impact the economy. 

    I made this point last week, but one of the common things that we see in the plagues is a lot of language which mirrors the creation account in Genesis. 

    Genesis talks of the Lord’s orderly creation. 

    The plagues are an orderly un-creation. 

    In Genesis, man is given charge over the animals. 

    Genesis 1:26: 

    26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 

    But here, the livestock is taken away. 

    Something else that’s noteworthy compared to the other plagues. As I’ve mentioned, many of them are in direct confrontation to Egypt’s pantheon of deities. 

    Among other things, the Egyptians believed that their creator God Ptah embodied a bull named Apis and that Apis was an intermediary between humanity and the Egyptian pantheon. 

    The Egyptians would actually keep a live bull in the temple at Memphis which was worshipped. When those bulls died, they were given funerary rights similar to what a Pharaoh was given. 

    The fact that the bull was such a significant symbol of the divine and of communication with God makes it interesting that shortly after the Israelites were freed from the land of Egypt, when things weren’t going their way, in Exodus 32, in their frustration, they make a golden calf. 

    There were also other Egyptian deities who could be associated with horns and other cow-like features. 

    But here in this fifth plague, the livestock of Egypt are under attack. 

    Continuing in our passage. 

    Verse 4, as we had seen last week in the fourth plague, the Lord says that he will spare the Israelites from the destructiveness of this plague.’

    Verses 5-6:

    5 And the Lord set a time, saying, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land.” 6 And the next day the Lord did this thing. All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one of the livestock of the people of Israel died.

    Something that’s worth nothing in this verse. 

    The passage says in verse 2 that the plague will be upon the livestock that are in the field. 

    Verse 6 says when the plague happened all the livestock of the Egyptians died. 

    Does it mean literally every single animal that belonged to any Egyptian died? I don’t think the text supports that because later plagues will make references to Egyptian livestock. 

    So either the word “all” there is hyperbole and simply means “a lot of the livestock died.” 

    For my sensibilities, such a rendering doesn’t bother me. It’s possible that this is what it means. 

    Or perhaps it means all livestock that was in the fields, because those were the animals who were contracting diseases from each other.

    Or perhaps it means all kinds of livestock saw death, but is not meant to be taken as exhaustively referring to every single animals. 

    The ultimate point is pointing us to the vastness of the destruction. 


    7 And Pharaoh sent, and behold, not one of the livestock of Israel was dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go. 

    Verse 7 is very subtle. 

    Pharaoh sent. 

    That’s almost awkwardly worded in English. 

    It can be easy to overlook because it’s just two words. 

    The plague has been inflicted. Egyptian livestock have died. 

    And Pharaoh sent. 

    What that means is that Pharaoh sent people to investigate the conditions in the Israelite territory in the Land of Goshen. 

    It’s also ironic. 

    Because in the Hebrew, the word “sent” is used twice in this passage. At the beginning when talking about letting the Israelites go – sending them out. And here in verse 7, where it talks of how Pharaoh sent people to investigate Israel. 

    In other words, he sent his people to investigate the Israelites, but he did not send the Israelites into the wilderness, as he had been commanded. 

    So Pharaoh sends people to scout out Goshen and sees that the Israelites did not suffer the same consequences that the Egyptians had.

    Application – a time for choosing

    Philip Ryken has a helpful observation on this situation as Pharaoh’s investigation. 

    And what Ryken gets at is the idea that there can be a time and place for healthy skepticism and questioning. Especially for someone who is not a Chrisitan or who does not believe in God. 

    There can be a time to investigate the claims of Chrsitianity, to look into the person of Jesus, the evidence for his historical ministry, the evidence for the resurrection, and a number of other topics in the Bible. 

    But there also becomes a time to trust, a time to believe. 

    I had a friend in seminary. I’ve tried to get in touch with him over the years, but unsuccessfully. 

    I don’t think he’s walking with the Lord today. 

    Brilliant guy. 

    One of the few people I’ve ever known who I will not hesitate to acknowledge that I know he’s smarter than me. 

    And he had had a church background before seminary. 

    But it hadn’t been the healthiest church that he had grown up in and he had a lot of questions, and he had a lot of things he wanted to figure out. 

    Again, there’s nothing wrong with questions. 

    But for some people, the questions never stop. 

    And it’s like you have to have it all figured out before you can believe. 

    You will never get there. 

    More than a century ago, mathematician, Alfred North Whitehead and philosopher Betreand Russell wrote their famous book Principia Mathematica – Principles of Mathematics.

    In establishing the basic axioms and proofs of math, they famously took 379 pages to get to their definitive proof that 1+1+2. 

    We can’t explain the whole world before we can live in it. We can’t know everything about God before we can believe in him. 

    There’s a time to question but then there comes a time to believe. 

    Pharaoh continues to be given evidence but continues to disobey. 

    We come to the sixth plague. 

    Sixth plague: boils 

    Similar to what we had seen from the third plague, this one comes with no warning. Beginning in verse 8: 

    8 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from the kiln, and let Moses throw them in the air in the sight of Pharaoh. 9 It shall become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and become boils breaking out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt.”  10 So they took soot from the kiln and stood before Pharaoh. And Moses threw it in the air, and it became boils breaking out in sores on man and beast.

    Boils. 

    Just as a reminder from what we’ve seen in these plagues. 

    Plagues of the ecosystem when the river is turned to blood and the frogs are driven from the river. 

    We’ve seen plagues which caused nuisances such as the gnats and flies. 

    We’ve seen plagues that impact the animal kingdom such as the death of the livestock. 

    And now we see physical suffering with this plague of boils. 

    It’s some sort of skin disease. 

    Various conditions such as leprosy, smallpox, and skin anthrax have all been suggested as possible causes. 

    Whatever it is, it’s undoubtedly unpleasant. 

    Moses is told to take handfuls of soot from the kilns and to throw them in the air. 

    Bricks without straw

    There is irony in that. In Exodus 5, Moses first goes to Pharaoh with the command to let the Israelites go into the wilderness in order to have a feast to God in the wilderness. 

    Pharaoh goes out of his way to punish the Israelites and make their lives just a little bit more difficult. 

    Exodus 5:6-8:

    6 The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen, 7 “You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8 But the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them, you shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle.

    Straw was used in the brick making process because it helped add some stability to the bricks and also helped with the drying process. 

    Apparently, the Israelite brickmakers had been given straw but when Moses asked Pharaoh to allow them into the wilderness, as a punishment, Pharaoh made them get their own straw without reducing their quota of bricks. 

    Now when we come to our passage in chapter 9, the residue from those bricks that the Israelites had been forced to make is taken from the kiln and thrown into the air and the Lord uses that to bring a judgement upon the Egyptians. 

    This sixth plague inflicts both man and beast.

    As we’ve seen in other plagues, this one takes aim at the religion of Egypt. 

    The Egyptians had several deities associated with healing, and yet here the Egyptians are afflicted with boils but not upon the Israelites. 

     11 And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils came upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians. 12 But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had spoken to Moses. 

    Once again, we see a scene which is almost comical. 

    The magicians are the people who had recreated the first two plagues. 

    The plague of gnats, they could not duplicate. 

    The third and fourth plagues, they didn’t even try to do.

    And now we’re at a plague of boils, and they’re in so much pain that they can’t even stand up in front of Moses. 

    They’re totally ineffective. 

    It’s also a play on words with verse 10 which says that Moses and Aaron took soot from the kiln and stood before Pharaoh.

    But the magicians cannot stand before Moses. 

    It’s true physically, and it’s also true Spiritually.

    They and their false gods have been totally defeated.

    Pluralism

    In our day and age, pluralism is the flavor of the month. 

    We like to affirm what others believe and treat other ideas like they’re all equally valid. 

    But we cannot do that when it comes to faith. 

    Yes, we must always be courteous, and loving, and gracious. 

    But we cannot compromise on what we believe. 

    We can be loving but also lovers of truth.. 

    I made this point last week, but for the various sentiments that people give about religion of “no faith is any more true than any other” or “all roads lead to god” or “all religions are basically teaching the same thing.

    All throughout the Exodus, we’re seeing the Lord God and the fake gods of the Egyptian pantheon and it’s again and again pointing us that the Lord is true and that the Egyptian religion was false. 

    But that’s true today for any competing religion. 

    When people say that no religion is any more true than any other or that all religions are equally valid, that is making an absolute statement about the religions of the world. 

    That’s not open minded. It’s arrogant. 

    If there is one thing that all religions agree on it’s that they’re not all the same as every other religion. 

    Throughout the Exodus, the Lord is showing himself to be true. 

    Throughout the history of his people in the Old Testament, God showed himself to be true. 

    Through the ministry of Christ, God has shown himself to be true and for his promises to be true. 

    Through the resurrection of Jesus, God has shown himself to be faithful. 

    And God has been faithful to his church for almost 2,000 years. God has been faithful to change lives. God has been faithful to bless his church and to bless the ministry of the gospel as it has gone throughout the world. 

    It says in our passage that the magicians couldn’t stand. I take that both literally and figuratively. 

    That they couldn’t stand because of the painful boils, but that they also could’t stand up to the Lord. 

    Similarly to what the Psalmist says in Psalm 1.

    Blessed is the man 

    who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, 

    nor stands in the way of sinners, 

    nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 

    2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord, 

    and on his law he meditates day and night. 

    3 He is like a tree 

    planted by streams of water 

    that yields its fruit in its season, 

    and its leaf does not wither. 

    In all that he does, he prospers. 

    4 The wicked are not so, 

    but are like chaff that the wind drives away. 

    5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, 

    nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; 

    Psalm 1 contrasts the person who delights in the Law of God against he person who does not. 

    And in verse 5 says that the wicked will not stand in judgment. 

    And the point of that is that the wicked have nothing to stand on before a holy God. 

    And Pharaoh’s magicians cannot stand a they’re afflicted by this plague, because they are in sin and are opposing God. 

    We cannot stand before to a holy God. 

    But the good news of the gospel is that we have someone who could, because he was the Son of God, he was righteous, he was sinless, he was holy, he was God himself, the word of God who became flesh. 

    Jesus. 

    While we are fallen, he is gracious and allows us to be forgiven and to go into the presence of the Lord. 

    That’s the good news of the gospel. 

    That when we believe in Jesus, 

    the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:10-11).

    Thanks for listening! I hope this sermon blessed you.

  • Why John the Baptist’s purpose is our purpose too. Exploring John 1:29-34

    Why John the Baptist’s purpose is our purpose too. Exploring John 1:29-34

    John the Baptist came to point to Christ, to witness to Christ, to be the bridge between BC and AD. 

    In John 1:29, John the Baptist sees Jesus. 

    The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

    It’s very possible that John himself did not realize the full magnitude of what he was even saying when he uttered those words. 

    But it’s impossible for a Christian to miss the meaning. Behold, John commands. Look to Jesus. Look upon the lamb who takes away the sins of the world. A profound theological statement about Jesus and what he did.

    Sacrifice and the lamb

    Jesus is the perfect and spotless lamb who is sacrificed for sins. It’s a theme that we will see throughout John’s Gospel. 

    Many of the Old Testament sacrifices call for a lamb. Isaiah 53 has a passage of the suffering servant and talks of a perfect lamb being led to slaughter. There’s the Passover sacrifice where the Israelites scarified lambs before the Exodus and where it was an annual holy day. 

    And here Jesus is called the Lamb of God. 

    The ultimate and greater sacrifice. He’s the lamb who takes away the sins of the world. It’s not that sin is just written off or no longer matters. Just the opposite. Sin matters a great deal but it is Jesus who takes away sin, takes away the penalty for our sins. 

    He takes away the sins of the world. That’s not saying that he takes away the sins of every individual person. John talks about “the world” several times in his gospel and other writings. It is Jesus who bears the penalty for a fallen humanity and for everyone who believes in him. 

    John the Baptist continues speaking in verse 30: This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.

    This is similar to verse 15. There John said: ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’ 

    And what John is doing is looking back at his early prophesy, as pointing to one who was greater than him and he sees Jesus, and he says “this is that man.” John gets at his specific purpose. 

    Verse 31: I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.”

    Where John says he did not know Jesus, don’t get too caught up in that. The point isn’t that John the Baptist literally did not know Jesus but that he did not previously know Jesus for who he was: the promised messiah. John was called to baptize so that the savior of the world would be revealed. That’s not primarily about John, it’s about the Lord and the divine plan. 

    John’s call to repentance, John as the voice of one in the wilderness, John as a witness to Jesus, all of this was part of the divine plan for John’s ministry and purpose in the world as the forerunner to Jesus. 

    Verse 32: And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

    This is referring to when Jesus was baptized. 

    All four gospels agree that John was a witness to the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus. The Holy Spirit is another significant theme of the Gospel of John. Jesus promises to give the Holy Spirit to his believers in John chapters 14, 15, and 16. 

    In the Old Testament, there were passages that talked of the Spirit being with God’s anointed one. 

    Isaiah 42:1:

    Behold my servant, whom I uphold,

    my chosen, in whom my soul delights;

    I have put my Spirit upon him;

    he will bring forth justice to the nations.

    There are others, but just to give a sense of it. John sees that moment.  We see Jesus: fully God and fully man having the Spirit descend on him. I used to think “why would Jesus need the Holy Spirit when he’s God? 

    But I was asking the wrong question. “Why wouldn’t Jesus need the Holy Spirit?”

    All three persons of the Trinity are God. All three of them work in perfect unity. They are all equal in eternity, holiness, glory, and power.Again, Jesus is both fully God and fully man, but it is because he is fully man that he needs the Spirit. 

    And just as he enjoyed fellowship with God during this ministry, because Jesus is also fully God, it makes sense that Jesus would likewise enjoy the fellowship of the Spirit during his ministry. 

    John sees this moment. He’s a witness to the Spirit descending upon Jesus. And John says in the text that He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’

    The same Spirit who filled Jesus during his ministry is given to all people because of Jesus’ ministry. The Spirit equips us with gifts, convicts us of sin, sanctifies us to God. 

    Romans 8:16 says that the Spirit bears witness that we are children of God. 

    The Spirit bears witness to those who believe. The one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than John the Baptist. Because we’re blessed to have more of the story. 

    We have the risen lamb.

    Believe in the lamb. Turn away from sin. Point others to him. 

    Final thought  

    John the Baptist had a ministry to do for a time in history. 

    He was not perfect. He was just a man. He lived a shorter life than Jesus. Much of his life was spent in seclusion.But he was faithful. 

    Yes, we don’t have the ministry that John the Baptist had. 

    He had a once in history ministry. He was the forerunner to Jesus. 

    But just because someone has a different ministry or a different way to serve, that doesn’t mean that the ways you can serve the Lord are insignificant. No one would know who John the Baptist was without Jesus. Jesus is the thing that gives relevance and meaning to his life. 

    But for anyone who’s a follower of Jesus, that’s the case. It’s Jesus who gives meaning. John’s ministry was to point people to Jesus. But that’s the ministry in which every follower of Jesus still shares in. 

    Pointing people to Jesus in word and deed. Following where the Lord leads. Walking in faith. Standing up for the truth of God. 

    Those things are a call which all Christians share. 

    In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus talks of John the Baptist and says: 

    I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he” (Luke 7:28).

    No one before John was greater than he. 

    Yet Jesus says that for those who come after, the one who is least in the Kingdom of God is greater. The reason isn’t because we have anything great in ourselves. 

    It’s because we have a fuller picture of who Jesus is and a fuller picture of God’s revelation to the world. 

    John did have a once in history ministry to fulfill but he didn’t live long enough to see the fruition of Jesus’ ministry. He never heard about the resurrection or saw the risen Christ. 

    What are you doing to serve the Lord today? It can be tempting to think that we don’t have what it takes to serve God.It’s not about your own abilities and your own power. John the Baptist was an effective minister without a lot of resources. 

    You don’t have to have a lot of money to serve God faithfully. John the Baptist certainly did not have that. He came from the wilderness. Other gospels tell us that John wore a garment made of camel’s hair. 

    You don’t have to have all of the degrees and credentials. John the Baptist didn’t have that….he came. from. the wilderness. 

    You might think you’re too old. John the Baptist had a ministry that was shorter than Jesus’s. His public ministry was incredibly short lived. You don’t have to have decades of ministry to have a ministry that matters. 

    You just have to follow the Lord, to love the Lord, to serve the Lord. 

    What are you doing to serve the Lord? What are you living for? 

    Thanks for reading! If you liked this piece, please share and subscribe.

  • Not the Christ, not Elijah, not the Prophet. Who is John the Baptist? Studying John 1:19-23

    Not the Christ, not Elijah, not the Prophet. Who is John the Baptist? Studying John 1:19-23

    John the Baptist is one of the most intriguing people we meet in the gospels. He has a unique role in history as being the forerunner to Christ. In John 1, John the Baptist is being questioned about his identity. He helps clarify who he is by clarifying who he isn’t. 

    Verse 19: And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”

    It’s reasonable that they would want to find out who he is. I think it’s important to understand the time in which they lived. For centuries, the Old Testament had pointed forward to one sent from the Lord. 

    People had all sorts of expectations for the type of ministry that this sent one would have. 

    This was fulfilled in Jesus but people didn’t yet know Jesus. So all they had were their expectations and assumptions. What Jesus actually did was not quite what anyone expected. 

    A lot of people expected a great religious teacher. Jesus certainly was that but he was ore than that. But his purpose was to bring freedom not law. 

    A lot of people expected a great king. Jesus is that too, he’s the king of kings. But he did not have the mighty earthly kingdom that people expected. 

    Others expected a great general who would lead Israel to victory and back to a restoration of their land in the face of Roman oppression. Jesus is the one who leads his people to battle evil and leads us to Spiritual victory. 

    And people believed various ideas from those categories. 

    So you suddenly have this man who’s calling people to repent, who’s baptizing. In the other gospels, we see John calling out religious authorities.

    And so people are curious. 

    Maybe he’s connected to the promised savior. Maybe he IS the promised savior. Others might have been skeptical and thought it would lead nowhere. 

    Before Jesus, there had been people who claimed to be the promised savior of the world. 

    Who are you? 

    They ask. 

    The Christ

    John’s first response to the Jewish leaders is given in verse 20: He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

    First thing John confirms. He is not the savior. 

    One thing that’s important to understand. The word “Christ” is not Jesus’ last name. It’s his title. Jesus’ parents were not Joseph and Mary Christ. Jesus is The Christ. 

    Christ comes from the Greek word “Christus” which means “anointed.” It’s the Greek word for the Hebrew word “Messiah.” They both mean the same thing: anointed. 

    The significance of that is that in the Old Testament, various divinely assigned offices such as the king and the high priest would be anointed with oil at the beginning of their term. Some of the Old Testament prophets were also anointed. 

    There are also passages in the Old Testament which were understood as pointing forward to a future deliverer who was anointed. 

    John the Baptist had an important ministry. But he was not the Lord’s anointed, he was not the Lord’s Christ, and so he’s quick to point that out. He’s not the anointed savior. 

    Elijah

    Verse 21: And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.”

    Elijah was a prophet in the Old Testament. Much of his ministry revolved around calling people to faith and proper worship of the Lord. He was obedient to the Lord in his life and ministry. 

    There are several miracles that God does during the time of Elijah’s ministry. Two more things that are noteworthy about Elijah. The Old Testament tells us that God brought Elijah directly to heaven without dying. 

    2 Kings 2:11 

    And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven

    Secondly, the book of Malachi, which is the last book found in our Old Testament concludes with these verses from Malachi 4:5:

    5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 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.”

    So God says that he will send Elijah before the great and awesome day of the Lord. 

    So some expected a literal second coming of Elijah. For those reasons, it’s a pretty reasonable question for the leaders to have asked this of John. But he tells them no. 

    John is not Elijah however it should be noted that John’s ministry is really fulfilling this prophecy about Elijah. John is not a reincarnated version of Elijah or a second coming of Elijah, but he is the one who is sent from the Lord with a divinely given ministry to call people to repentance. 

    But John confirms that he is not Elijah. So they try again: 

    The Prophet

    Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”

    When they ask John if he’s THE prophet, they’re actually referring to a specific passage. Deuteronomy 18:15 tells Israel about a successor to Moses. This passage also came to be understood as pointing to a grater prophet. 

    Verse 15: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—

    They wonder if John is this person. In reality, that passage is ultimately pointing forward to Jesus. But once again, John answers the question in the negative. He is not the prophet. 

     So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

    John isn’t the Christ, he’s not Elijah, he’s not the prophet. 

    So then who is he? 

    He answers that in the following section.

    Who is John?

    Verse 23: He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said

    They’ve seen who John isn’t. This is who he is. He quotes the text from Isaiah 40. That passage is applied to John in all four gospels. 

    Isaiah 40 is a passage talking of a future time of deliverance for the people of God. It’s an incredibly hopeful passage. It talks of God’s faithfulness to his people in spite of their sin. It talks of God’s restoration. 

    The heart of what this is getting at for John is that his purpose is to call people to repentance and preparation for the coming Messiah. And it was John’s job to point us to that messiah.

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  • Who is John the Baptist? Exploring John 1:22-27

    Who is John the Baptist? Exploring John 1:22-27

    One of the most intriguing people we meet in the Gospel of John is a man named John the Baptist. 

    Who is he? 

    He is not the same John who wrote the Gospel of John. They’re two different men. 

    He’s often called John the Baptist. That title is referring to what John did rather than a denominational affiliation. It’s not that we had John the Baptist, Peter the Presbyterian, and Paul the Methodist. 

    John the Baptist is mentioned in all four gospels, and in all of the gospels, he’s introduced prior to the ministry of Jesus. So he’s pretty important. 

    Between the gospels, they give us accounts of both John’s birth and his death. I can’t think of any other New Testament figure besides Jesus where that could be said. 

    We find out in the Gospel of Luke that John’s mom, Elizabeth, is a relative of Mary which means that John the Baptist is related to Jesus. 

    John is a few months older than the Lord. After John the Baptist is born, his father gives a prophecy to his son’s life. 

    Luke 1:76-77:

    76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, 77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins,

    Luke chapter 1 ends with an interesting note about John: 

    Verse 80:

    80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

    He was in the wilderness until the day of his publican appearance in Israel.

    There’s not a whole lot of elaboration on that. 

    We know nothing about his formative years. He was in the wilderness. Some scholars suggest the possibility that John may have actually be raised within a small community within the wilderness. That’s speculation, but it would make historical sense. 

    John is related to Jesus, but the gospels tell us nothing about how well they may have known each other. It doesn’t seem like they grew up going to a family dinner every week.  When his ministry began, it quickly grew in popularity: 

    Matthew 3:5-6 says: Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, 6 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

    Several years after John’s death, the Apostle Paul is ministering in Ephesus in Acts 19. Ephesus is several hundred miles away from Judea but people talk of the baptism which John practiced, showing that his name and reputation were known throughout the region. 

    John also faced persecution during his life. 

    He was arrested and later executed under the Romans in Matthew 14. John the Baptist is mentioned throughout the first chapter of the Gospel of John. 

    John 1:6-8: There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

    That’s the first thing the author tells us about John. He was sent from God. His ministry was not arbitrary. It was not on a whim. It was not something he just chose to do. He was chosen by God. 

    Second thing we find out about him: his purpose. Verse 7 says that he came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him. 

    John came into the world to point people to the light of the world. 

    John 1:19-34 talks more about John and his unique ministry as a forerunner to Christ.

    In John 1:22, John the Baptist is being questioned about who he is. In the preceding section, he’s given a series of denials of who he is not. He is not Elijah, he is not the Christ, he is not the prophet. 

     So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

    So then who is he? 

    While John isn’t answering in the affirmative to any of his questions, that does not mean he’s insignificant. 

    Verse 23: He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said

    They’ve seen who John isn’t. This is who he is. He quotes the text from Isaiah 40. That passage is applied to John in all four gospels. 

    Isaiah 40 is a passage talking of a future time of deliverance for the people of God. It’s an incredibly hopeful passage. It talks of God’s faithfulness to his people in spite of their sin. It talks of God’s restoration. 

    The heart of what this is getting at for John is that his purpose is to call people to repentance and preparation for the coming Messiah. 

    They ask John about his baptism. 

    25 They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

    Baptism was instituted in the New Testament for followers of Jesus. But baptism was not a foreign idea prior to that time. 

    In the first century, when non-Jews would convert to Judaism, they would sometimes do something similar to baptism which was meant to be a cleansing ritual to symbolically wash away impurity and sin. 

    A difference with John was that he administered baptism. The leaders question his authority. 

    And he responds by turning the question right back to his purpose in the world. 

    John 1:26-27: 26 John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, 27 even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”

    John says that it points to someone who’s shoes he’s not worthy to untie. In other words, he’s unworthy of even doing the most menial and humiliating task. John would need a promotion in order to be worthy of untying Jesus’ sandals. 

    John has authority to baptize because it’s been given to him by God but that baptism is meant to point to something greater. 

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    This post is part of a larger study through the Gospel of John. This specific post is part of a 3 part series on John the Baptist from John 1:19-34

  • Why the world missed Jesus (and why we miss him today) – Exploring John 1:4-13

    Why the world missed Jesus (and why we miss him today) – Exploring John 1:4-13

    In one of his stand-up specials, the comedian Jim Gaffigan talks about camping. In the monologue, Gaffigan mentions that his wife enjoys camping and says that it’s a tradition in her family. 

    But he points out that it used to be a tradition in everyone’s family before we invented the house. 

    He asks “If it’s so great outside, then why are all the bugs trying to get in my house?”

    During the bit, Gaffigan describes himself as being “indoorsie.”

    Full disclosure. 

    I don’t enjoy camping. I don’t understand leaving the comfort of home, of a bed, of air conditioning, of indoor plumbing, of restful sleep. I’m not judging you if you like camping. 

    But it’s interesting to consider leaving my house to go into the woods. 

    And I think about that and I think of what Jesus left to come into the world. 

    Jesus left heaven to come into the world. 

    I like my home. 

    But that’s not heaven. 

    Jesus left the most perfect and spectacular place in creation to come into our world. 

    He left a sinless place to come into a fallen world. He left a place of perfect beauty for a world that has gray skies and thunderstorms. He left a place of adoration for a world where he faced condemnation. 

    1. A righteous God 

    In the opening verses of John 1, it’s establishing the divinity of Jesus. 

    Jesus is eternal. He exists in fellowship with God. He is God. He made everything. 

    But as this passage continues, it will also point to the righteousness of Christ. 

    Verse 4: In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

    Life is found in Jesus. This is true both in terms of all physical life but it is also true of eternal life that comes through Jesus. 

    All life is in him. 

    And we’re told that his life is the light of men. Verse 5 says:  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

    Jesus was and is the true light. 

    The light of Christ shines in a dark and sinful world. Verse 9 says The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

    In this metaphor, light is good because it is light which provides illumination, truth, and enlightenment. 

    John 8:12, Jesus says: I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life

    Jesus will talk at greater length of light in darkness in John 3. The Lord contrasts light and darkness with good and evil specifically. 

    He’ll talk of himself as the light that is in the world and people who love the darkness of sin more than the light of God.

    the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” 

    Light and darkness is an almost universally recognized metaphor for good and evil. 

    The light is associated with the goodness, and righteousness, and truth of God. 

    John 12:46, Jesus says:

     I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.

    Jesus associates life through following him because he is the light. He is righteous and holy. 

    Numerous texts in the New Testament speak to Christ’s sinlessness. 

    2. A blind humanity 

    So far, we’ve been talking about the divinity and righteousness of Jesus. 

    He is sinless. He is the light of the world. 

    But the world is both sinful and blind to Christ. 

    John 1:10-11 says:  He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

    The God who created the world was not recognized by his world. 

    The only appropriate response to the Lord entering into creation would be to bow down and worship him, to behold his glory, to listen to his teaching, to bask in the glow of his light. 

    But the world was so sinful that that was not what happened. He was despised and rejected. His teachings led many to hate him. And his teachings still do that. 

    The world is often offended by the very words of God on earth. The world hates the gospel. 

    1 Corinthians 1:18 says:  For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God

    People dislike the exclusivity of Jesus. They dislike that they have to turn to him for salvation. People dislike his moral teachings which expose our sin. The world loves its darkness, and when the light of Christ shines on our darkness, many reject the light. 

    everyone who does wicked things hates the light

    Our passage says that the world did not know him. 

    The world did not know what they had. 

    John 1:10 says He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him (John 1:10).

    Jesus came to his world. It was his creation. And the world did not know him, the world did not respond to him as it should have, the world did not worship him. 

    And it’s doubly ironic by the fact that Jesus came to the world that he made in order to die to save a world that was sinful. 

    How sinful? 

    So sinful that the world didn’t even accept our own creator when he came into the world. 

    Many did not recognize Jesus for who he was. 

    3. A worthy savior

    John 1:10-11 focuses on the world and its failure to receive Jesus. 

    But that’s not the case for everyone. In John 1:12-13, the Apostle writes: But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 

    Jesus is God. He is the light of the world. His world has largely rejected him, even though the world desperately needs him. 

    But there are those who receive and believe in the message. That is the good news of the gospel. Notice that it doesn’t say opportunity. It doesn’t say chance.

    If you believe in Jesus, because of his tremendous goodness and grace, he gives you the right to become a child of God. 

    It has nothing to do with human goodness but our salvation is entirely by the will of God.  

    Of Jesus, John has already said “he was in the world” and that “he came to his own” and that the light was coming into the world. 

    Thanks for reading! If you liked this post, please share and subscribe. This post is the third in a series looking through the Gospel of John. For more posts in this series, please click here.