- John the Baptist sang the dirge and prepared the way for Jesus’ first coming—the flute and dance.
- But who will be the forerunner of Jesus return?
- You might not like the answer,
- or maybe it will excite you beyond all else.
Play Audio:
1. The Funeral Dirge: John the Baptist
and the Dance: Jesus
Matthew 11:7–19
- As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?
- What did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? Behold, those who wear fine clothes are in the homes of kings.
- What did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.
- This is the one about whom it is written, “Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’
- 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.
- From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.
- For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John,
- and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.
- The one who has ears had better listen!
- “To what should I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces who call out to one another,
- ‘We played the flute for you, yet you did not dance;
we wailed in mourning, yet you did not weep.’ - For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’
- The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him, a glutton and a drunk, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”
- Some children want to play but they are having trouble getting the others to join in
- Let’s play weddings... (No, we don’t feel like it)
- ok, well let’s play funerals then... (No! We don’t want to play funerals!)
- John the Baptist’s message was:
- “You need to turn away from the bad things you are doing now, and turn back to God”
- “If you don’t, God will judge you”
- Then did not like this message, and John was killed in the end
- Jesus’ message was about a new kingdom
- of justice and healing, freedom and forgiveness
- Where the poor and oppressed would be exalted over their wealthy oppressors
- Where there would be a wedding feast ushering in a new era
- God is about the most amazing project
- to turn mourning into dancing,
- to turn death into life
- to turn funerals into a wedding
- But Jesus is saying that people don’t want to hear either message
- So the song of mourning is John the Baptist. He is a forerunner, preparing the way for Jesus
- You actually have to play both games
- You accept the forerunner’s warnings, and you can go to the party
- There is a death, and then a wedding
- We could end the sermon here
- And talk about the amazing party that Jesus has prepared for us
- Jesus is the bridegroom, and all of God’s people who have ever lived, are somehow united into the bride
- And he will wipe all the tears from our eyes.
- but we are not going to stop, we are going to continue...
- John was the last of the Old Testament prophets
- He did what they all did—call the people to turn away from sin and turn back to God
- In other words, “Repent!” —and John was very practical in terms of what this meant
- So John was the last and greatest of the old
- But what about v.11?
- This seems like a strange way of putting it
- How can John the Baptist be the greatest, and yet be less than the least?
- The clue is in the expression “among those born of women”
- If we go over to John’s gospel, we see it put in starker terms:
- Later on it is even clearer:
- Now John had the Holy Spirit, but not in the same way that he is available to us
- Everything after John is different
- We are now in a totally new era
- In God’s grace we have a gift that they did not enjoy—the presence of the Kingdom, the indwelling presence of the King
- Jesus’ coming brought a new level of indwelling. The Spirit is now our
- comforter
- encourager
- the channel of the Father’s love to us
- the felt presence of Jesus
- EVERY SINGLE ONE of us has more than John the Baptist
- Jesus’ coming brought a new level of indwelling. The Spirit is now our
- I could stop here and make this a very encouraging message about the blessings of being in the Kingdom
- Even though John was so great, we have more!!
- The honour and blessing of being in the Kingdom is so wonderful!
2. The Past: the same pattern
Elijah
- But I am going to go on and take this message to another level, that we might not find so comfortable
- What is the connection between John the Baptist and Elijah?
- Is it re-incarnation?
- John the Baptist compared with Elijah
“Elijah with Ahab & Jezebel”
- Elijah appeared at a very bad time in Israel’s history
- The nation was ruled by the notorious pair, Ahab and Jezebel
- Both preached a message of warning people to turn back to God
- Just like John, the Spirit was on him powerfully and he lived in the wilderness (not desert)
- He worn rough clothing and lived a very basic lifestyle “Clothes made of camel’s hair and a leather belt”
- There’s a story back in the Old Testament (2 Kings 1:7,8) about the king’s servants who encountered a prophet.
- But John was preparing the way for Jesus, who was Elijah preparing the way for?
- Just as John pointed out Jesus, and then baptized him, launching his ministry,
- So Elijah commissioned Elisha (“God is my salvation”)
- Elisha was a “Jesus” figure.
- He made food multiply, healed lepers, raised the dead, opened blind eyes
Moses
- In this passage we only have the connection between John the Baptist and Elijah mentioned
- But very often in the Bible, Moses and Elijah are put together
- Key idea that there is a pattern of preparing for God doing a new thing
3. The Future: the End of the World
The Two Witnesses
- We are now going to look at a passage in Revelation
- This is a notoriously hard book, but I have had the joy of teaching courses on Revelation on many occasions and have been able to study it in depth.
- Although on the surface it seems hard, and even weird, when you study it in depth you see that virtually all the images are build on other parts of God’s Word,
- The meaning of symbols in Revelation can be understood from what they mean in the rest of Scripture
- In Revelation 11, we have a pictorial parable of the last days
- Jesus is about to return
- Just as John the Baptist prepared the way the first time, there will be a preparer before the second
Revelation 11:3–15
- And I will give power to my two witnesses to prophesy… dressed in sackcloth…
- They have the power to shut the sky so that it does not rain during the time they are prophesying.
They have power to turn the waters to blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague whenever they want. - When they have completed their testimony, the being that comes from the abyss will make war on them and conquer them and kill them…
- But after a short time a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and tremendous fear seized those who were watching them.
- Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them: “Come up here!”
So the two prophets went up to heaven in a cloud while their enemies stared at them… - Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven saying:
“The kingdom of the world
has become the kingdom of our Lord
and of his Christ,
and he will reign for ever and ever.”
based on NET Bible
- 11:5, 6 Moses & Elijah imagery
- 11:7–10 Persecution and martyrdom
- except they can’t ultimately be killed
- This old earth is getting worn out
- The New Creation is coming
- This generation, I believe, is called to prepare the way for the new
- I will give my reasons next time1