Prepare the Way

For the past week the news media and the nation have been consumed by the Republican National Convention. Some were excited to watch every speech and absorb the pageantry out of love for their candidate. Others hoped to gain some insight as to how they should vote. Most watched to see how President Trump would respond after his near assassination. The convention itself is a grand affair, and I cannot imagine the people, money, time and resources that are required to pull off such a thing. I know there are campaign representatives that are there months before the event to ensure even the smallest of details. And even during the event, there is a great effort put into preparing the way for the candidate. There are videos that are carefully edited to tell a consistent story. There are musicians lined up to perform. There are speakers of all sort, assigned the mission of convincing every kind of American that President Trump should be their candidate of choice. There were appeals to the union worker from the President of the Teamsters. Trump’s granddaughter spoke to the youth. Hulk Hogan and Dana White charged up the salt of the earth. All of them wanted to convince America of the character, compassion, and goodness of President Trump, so that when he finally spoke, the nation would be paying attention and ready to receive what he said.

For every leader, a way must be prepared. The right message won’t be received if the people aren’t ready to hear it. There have to be witnesses who stand up and say, “This guy is the leader we need, listen to him.” The same was true of Jesus. As we saw last week, Jesus is the Messiah and the true Son of God. This truth is revolutionary. It is reality changing. People have to be ready to hear it. So, today we consider the way that God prepared the way for his Son, from Mark 1:2-8. From this text I want you to see the Messenger of the Way and the Mark of the Way.

First, from verses 2-4, see the messenger of the way. After announcing the theme of his gospel, Mark turns immediately to prophecy as a proof of his claim. In verses 2 and 3, Mark combines three different prophecies form Isaiah and Malachi to prepare his readers. These prophecies foretell of a messenger who would come before the Messiah to prepare his way. In verse 4 Mark reveals who this messenger is – John the Baptist. There are two ways that John prepares for Jesus. For one, his proclamation prepares the way. In ancient times, when a king won a great victory and readied to ride back into his kingdom, he would send a herald before him to announce his coming. The herald would walk through the streets announcing the coming king and calling on his people to make themselves ready. In response, the people would stop whatever they were doing, they would turn from their daily tasks and focus on the coming king. John does this for Jesus. He proclaims, like a herald, the coming of the king. He calls on the people to prepare themselves, to turn from what they are doing and focus on King Jesus.

This proclamation is important because it calls the people to repentance. The word “repentance” means “to change one’s mind.” We often speak of repentance as a change of action (to stop sinning), but that is not primarily what it means. Certainly, a turning from sin is the result of a turning of the mind, but repentance starts with a change of mind. So, what are we changing our minds about? We are called to change our minds about the king. Everyone in this world serves a king, whether they know it or not. As we discussed last time, the most apparent king that we Americans serve is the self. We worship our identity and self-determination. But, there is a king standing behind even our selfishness. Eph. 2:2 says that all of sinful humanity follows the “prince of the power of the air”, which is a title for Satan. Outside of Christ, we are all servants of Satan. So, this call to repentance is a call to change our minds about our king. It is a call to take self off the throne. It is a call to resist those desires that rule our lives.

This proclamation is also important because it announces the forgiveness of sins. John didn’t just call the people to change, but he brought good news. For millennia, the people of Israel had offered sacrifices for sin. Every year, on the day of atonement, the priest would place his hand on the head of a bull, declare the sins of the people, and shed the blood of that bull that the sins of the people might be washed away. Yet, everyone knew that the blood of a bull would never be enough. God told the people, through Isaiah, “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices… I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.” Those sacrifices meant something, but they weren’t enough to cover sins. But now, John proclaims that the time is near when sins will finally be forgiven through a perfect sacrifice.

Another way that John readies the people for Jesus is through his preparation. It’s interesting that in the prophecies that Mark quotes, there are two different Greek words for “Prepare”. In verse 2, when it says that the messenger will “prepare your way”, the Greek word is kalaskenazo, which means to create or build. We see, in John’s ministry, the beginning of something new. There is a new sign, which we will talk about in a bit. There is a new message of repentance. John was sent to build a road, to prepare a way for the people to receive Christ. The second Greek word for “Prepare” is hetormazo, which means to “get ready.” So, John’s ministry not only built a road for the king, but it also called the people to get ready to receive him.

Now that we understand the messenger of the way, let’s consider the mark of the way. John has an important name that singles him out in all of the Gospels. He is known as John the Baptizer (or as we Baptists like to remind everyone: John the Baptist). John didn’t just call people to repentance and to ready themselves for the forgiveness of sin, but he called them to receive a new sign – that of baptism. So, he camped out in the wilderness of the Jordan River valley, and people came to hear him preach and then be baptized in the river. This act of baptism was something new for the people of Israel. While there is very little connection with any ritual of the OT, there are two rituals that do hold some significance. One ritual is the ceremonial cleansing that priests were expected to carry out before they entered the Holy of Holies. This cleansing symbolized the washing away of sin and the purifying work of God’s Spirit, and this is certainly at play in the baptism of John and Jesus. There was also a ritual in which Gentile converts to the Jewish faith were expected to cleanse themselves through baptism. This cleansing symbolized their transition from their former life outside of the covenant of God to a new life in the covenant of Abraham. I think this ritual is particularly what John’s baptism built upon. I think this because, in Matt. 3:7, we find that the religious leaders come to see what John is all about, and John confronts them by saying, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father, for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.” Understand just how controversial this statement was to the religious leaders. John was saying that their lineage, as children of Abraham, did not mean they were automatically members of the new covenant that the Messiah is bringing. Jesus has come to establish a new covenant that is founded on repentance and faith in the forgiveness we have through his shed blood. No one has access to that covenant because they were born into it, or because their parents were devout believers, or because their daddy was a deacon or pastor. Everyone must come into this covenant through repentance and faith, and the symbol of that transition from the life of sin to the life of faith is baptism. This is why Paul says, in Romans 6:4, “We were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” Baptism is the outward symbol of what God has already done in the heart of a believer. It is a symbol of repentance and faith. And, I cannot say enough, it is the only way the NT gives for confessing our faith. There is no “sinner’s prayer” in the NT. There is no “walking the aisle” in the NT. There is no “every head bowed and every eye closed.” In every case, when someone believed the Gospel, they responded by being baptized, often immediately.

Friend, the king has come and he calls you to repentance and faith. Jesus Christ has brought forgiveness of sin through his sacrifice on the cross, and you can receive that forgiveness by believing in him. Won’t you make that known by following him in baptism?