I WAS ASKED BY OTHERS TO DO THE NEW TESTAMENT GOSPELS IN MODERN SIMPLE ENGLISH FOR CHILDREN TO READ— Keith Hunt
Chapter Six:
John Begins His Ministry
We must not forget about John, the child born to the priest Zachariah and Elizabeth his wife, also in a miraculous way. Many years have now passed, a dozen or more, since the account of Jesus at the Passover when at the age of twelve. It was now the appointed time from God for John to fulfil his ministry, for which he was especially born. It was in the days when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great (whom was the Herod in our previous chapters) was ruler over Galilee, that John did his preaching and teaching in the wilderness of Judea. He went into the region about Jordan and so fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, "Behold, I send my messenger before your (the Messiah's) face, who shall prepare your way." John preached a baptism of repentance, and so became known as John the baptist. Luke says, "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 brought low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God' " (Isaiah 40: 3-5). Many prophecies have a dual meaning and fulfilment. As we look at this prophecy in the fortieth chapter of Isaiah, as we note the whole context before and after, it becomes evident that this is one of those dual prophecies. It was to have a fulfilment at the first coming of the Messiah, but it is to have a fulfilment also at His coming with power and glory, with a strong hand and when He is to rule and do much work during the time the book of Revelation calls the 1,000 years (see Isaiah 40: 10, 11 with Rev.20: 1-4). The things to be made straight, the hills to be brought low, the rough to be made smooth, and the salvation to be seen, in the first fulfilment at the time of John and into Jesus' ministry, was an analogy and typology of spiritual and repentance matters, being humbled and finding the straight and smooth truths of the salvation of God. Matthew records that John wore a garment of camel's hair, and a leather girdle around his waist, and that a good part of his diet was wild honey and locusts (Matthew 3: 4). There are strong indications from what the angel said about John when announcing his birth to Zachariah and Elizabeth (which we saw in earlier chapters), that John may have been under a Nazarite vow (mentioned in Numbers 6) from birth. If so, then his hair would have never been cut. By the time he started to preach in the wilderness of Judea, his hair would have been extremely long, probably reaching half way down his back or even more. From what Matthew records we may want to jump to the thought that John looked something like a wild cave-man type person we often see in school books on the history of mankind. This thought could be very wrong. Garments of camel's hair could be spun and made to look quite attractive. It would also be very warm for him as he faced the cold nights that could come in the desert of Judea. We today do not think twice about wearing leather belts around our waist, so a leather band around John's waist should not cause us to think of him as a wild cave-man type. Tens of thousands today eat wild honey in many different countries around the world as part of their regular diet, so nothing unusual about that per se. As John was preaching in the wilderness, his honey eating would have been from the wild bees, as opposed to those in towns and villages who had bee hives, and so what we would call "domestic" bees. To our Western ear the strangest thing might be the fact that John ate locusts. But, that is mainly because in our Western nations we have never practiced eating locusts. We do not even import them to eat as food. God, in giving Israel His food laws as found in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14, gave the laws regarding what insects were fit to eat and which ones were not. It was all a matter of how He had created them in the "cell" and "atom" construction to jive with our cell and atom construction. Some, for health purposes we could eat and some God has never wanted us to eat. The locust was within the "good" food laws as given in the books of Moses. Maybe most of the city dwellers in Palestine, were not in the habit of eating locusts, hence Matthew records that John ate locusts. Different maybe, but certainly not outside of the food laws of the Lord God. John preached and taught with such power and conviction the Gospels say that most people from Jerusalem and all Judea with the region about Jordan, went out to hear him, and most of them were baptized by him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins. This was indeed a time of great spiritual revival and humble repentance before God. John was preparing many hearts for the coming of the work of the Messiah Jesus. John was indeed different from most of the religious preachers of his day. He did not mingle with the established popular religious leaders of the two main theological groups or "denominations" as we would call them, the Pharisees and the Sadducees. John lived in the desert and was certainly known as an independent preacher of the word of God. He also knew that much of the teaching and practicing traditions of the Pharisees and Sadducees were way off base from the truth of God's word. He knew that a great deal of their theology was founded upon wrong ideas and interpretations of the Scriptures, as well as man-made customs and traditions that had crept into their religions over the centuries. He especially had insight into the heart and mind of most of the teachers of those two religious parties. He knew they did not want to know the pure truths of the Lord, that they were quite content to maintain their religious positions with its "status quo" - keep it as it had been for centuries. He knew they were not of a humble, teachable, repentant mindset, willing to be corrected and to change when shown and proven to be wrong in their teachings, beliefs, and practices. John had become very popular with the masses of the people, they thronged to go out and hear him speak the word of God. All this of course was noticed by the religious leaders of the two dominant denominations. One day many of them as a group looked at each other and said, "This man John is causing quite a commotion of sorts. The people are flocking to hear him. Many are being baptized by him. We as a group of theological leaders need to go and see this man in action, so we can first-hand get a better plan as to how to combat him and safe-guard our positions that we have held with the people for so long a time." So, off they went into the desert by the river Jordan to hear John preach, but it sure was not because they wanted to repent of their wrong teachings and practices. Some were even willing to be baptized by him in order to try and gain his respect for them, and to fool the people into believing they were really humble repentant fellows. Matthew records that John knew some of them were willing to go as far as being baptized by him, but he knowing their hearts, seeing them come, looked upon them with righteous anger, and lifting up his voice with power and clarity, said to them in front of all the crowds around about, " You brood of snakes! Who warned you to flee God's coming judgment? Prove by the way you live that you have really turned from your sins and turned to God. Don't just say, 'We're safe - we're the descendants of Abraham.' That proves absolutely nothing of and by itself. God can change the stones here into children of Abraham. Being physical flesh of anyone, even Abraham, does not automatically mean you are the children of God in the spiritual sense." Looking upon them with further discontent, John went on to say, " Even now the axe of God's judgment is poised, ready to sever your roots. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire." Most of the crowd hearing these words were sincerely struck in the heart and wanted to know from John, in specific ways, what they needed to do to be on the Lord's side and to have His love and mercy and favor. John answered them by saying, " If you have two coats, give one to the poor. If you have food, share it with those who are hungry." John was telling them that real true Godliness, wanting to walk with the Lord and to do His will and way of life, contained a very practical aspect. You had to not only be religious in beliefs and attending church, reading the Bible, praying, fasting at times, but you had to serve others in a down-to-earth manner. It meant giving to people in tangible ways, some of the physical blessings that God had given you. A willingness to share with others less fortunate than yourself, some of the physical goods you possessed. Some of the corrupt tax collectors came to be baptized of John, asking him what they needed to do to get their lives in order with God. John told them, "Be honest, show your honesty in how you collect taxes for the Roman government. Do not collect more taxes than is required by the Roman authorities." Some you see, collected more taxes than required, so they could line their own pockets with extra money, above that which the Roman government paid them for collecting taxes. Even soldiers employed by Rome, came to John asking what they should do to be in favor with God. His rely to them was, " Rob no one by violence or by false accusation." It would have been relatively easy with the authority and the physical skills and weapons they had as soldiers, to rob people in a forceful and violent manner, as well as by false accusation of alleged wrongs (people fearing what would happen to them, and so paying the soldiers money) they could bring to higher government leaders, which could have led to imprisonment and even death. This would be termed "bribery" today. The soldiers would say to people that they would report them as having done this or that evil (when not having done so) unless the person gave them a certain amount of money. John also told the soldiers to be content with their wages. It is probably very easy when employed by the National Government in work that is dangerous and could cost you your life, such as those employed as soldiers and police and firemen, to moan and groan and complain that you should be paid a wage twice or three times more than what you are receiving. While people with dangerous jobs should be well paid, it is just a fact of economic life that governments just do not have a never ending wealth of money to pay astronomical wages to such persons in dangerous government occupations. Hence John told them there comes a time when such people must learn to be content with their wages. Luke in his third chapter records that many people were in expectation of the coming of the promised Messiah. They knew the time was near from what God had written in the prophets of old, that the Messiah would appear. Some were questioning in their minds if this promised Messiah was not in fact having its fulfilment in this very unusual man who was preaching and teaching the word of God with such power and conviction, in the desert. Many were thinking that John was indeed the Christ, the anointed one to come. John himself answered them by saying, "I baptize with water; but someone is coming soon who is greater than I am - so much greater that I am not worthy to untie His sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. He is ready to separate the chaff from the grain with His winnowing fork. Then He will clean up the threshing area, storing the grain into His barn but burning up the chaff with fire that cannot be put out." It is said that John used many such warnings and analogies as he prepared the way for the Messiah to come. In the analogy above John was saying what the twentieth chapter of Revelation and other passages of Scripture (such as Malachi 4; Psalm 37; 2 Peter 3) tell us. Namely, that God will in His plan give everyone a chance to know the truth, to repent, to accept Jesus as the saving Messiah, and to enter the Kingdom of God, through the power of the Holy Spirit. All that will refuse shall be destroyed in a worldwide fire that shall burn them and this earth up, that cannot be put out by humans hands, at the end of the 1,000 year reign of Christ on earth. Then shall come the new heavens and new earth and all that is foretold in Revelation 21 and 22. Luke also tells us that John was bold enough to publicly criticize and denounce Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee, for taking Herodias, his brother's wife, and for many other wrongs he had done. Herod finally put John in prison, but had no intention of executing him, for he feared the people would rise up in armed revolt against himself, as they held John with such admiration. It was through some trickery that Herod gave command to execute John. How that came about we shall see later. As to the story behind John's denouncing Herod Antipas for his taking of his brother's wife, it goes like this. Herod's brother was called Philip, and his wife was named Herodias. They had a daughter called Salome. Josephus the Jewish historian of the first century, says that this marriage of Herod Antipas with Herodias took place while he was on a journey to Rome. He stopped at his brother's; fell in love with his wife; agreed to put away his own wife, and Herodias agreed to leave her own husband, and live with him. There was no Roman or Biblical law from God that allowed them to do such a thing. This was pure lusting after another man's wife, which in the first century A.D. even Roman law frowned upon men taking another man's wife through covertness. Then adding to all this, Herodias was grand-daughter of Herod the Great, who was the father of Herod Antipas. This relationship would have been classified as "incest" and not allowed under God's law. Close relatives were not permitted to marry under the laws of the Lord. As Herod was governor of a part of Palestine, and so was also upholding Jewish laws, allowing them freedom of religious faith and proclamation of it, John would have felt quite at liberty to denounce Herod for this and other wrong conduct in his life. JESUS IS BAPTIZED BY JOHN Going back again to the time John was living and preaching in the wilderness by the river Jordan, one day Jesus came to him to be baptized. John was shocked at such a request from Christ the Messiah, and with amazement said to Him, "It is I that need to be baptized by you. Why on earth do you request to be baptized by me? No, this should not be Lord. I do not understand why you request this." Jesus, with a soft tone of voice and an understanding heart as to why John would think this way, replied, "Let it be as I request, for it is right and proper for me to fulfil all that is the righteousness of God." The Father God decreed that water baptism was a part of His righteousness and was to be practiced by anyone wanting to be His child, Christ set us His example to follow, by being baptized. He had no sin! But said it was the righteousness of God. A study on water baptism with show from the Bible and from history, that baptism from the beginning was by fully going under the water completely and rising from out of it. It is a shock to some who study water baptism that they find the Roman Catholic Church for hundreds of years did full immersion baptism. They have found places of worship by the RC church by digging into the ground, that contained full immersion baptism baths. |
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