Mark 1:4

‘John came, who baptised in the wilderness and preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.'

Here was the Elijah who was to come (Mark 9:13; Matthew 11:10; Matthew 17:12; Luke 1:17). The name John, given directly by God (Luke 1:13), meant ‘God is gracious'. In him God was about to reveal His graciousness to man. So John came preaching a ‘baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins' and baptised men in ‘much water' (John 3:23). As Matthew 3 and Luke 3:1 both confirm (compare Mark 1:8) this drenching with water spoke of the coming of the Holy Spirit like rain from Heaven to bring fruitfulness among His chosen (Isaiah 32:15; Isaiah 44:1), resulting in true repentance of heart and a total change of life (Isaiah 1:16).

The angel, prior to John's birth, had stated that ‘many of the children of Israel will he turn to the Lord their God, and he will go before His face in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to walk in the wisdom of the righteous' (Luke 1:16). Thus as the new Elijah he proclaimed this message, the need for ‘repentance'. The word means a change of mind and heart, and a turning to God, which would lead to the forgiveness of sins. It is used in the Greek Old Testament (LXX) to indicate regret for sin and turning away from evil (e.g. Jeremiah 8:6; Jeremiah 18:8), and as well as to God in mercy ‘changing His mind' (taking up a new stance) about His dealings with men (1 Samuel 15:29; Amos 7:3; Amos 7:6).

‘Who baptised in the wilderness and preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.' What is certain above all is that John's ministry centred on repentance and open admission of sin, resulting in forgiveness, and on subsequent baptism. This is constantly stressed (Matthew 3:2; Matthew 3:6; Matthew 3:8; Matthew 3:11; Luke 3:8), and Luke details the kind of changes required (Mark 3:10). The stress on ‘in the wilderness' may also indicate that Mark saw Israel at that time as being precisely that, a people whose hearts were barren and unfruitful. But the question is, what did his baptism signify? Certainly by being baptised the people indicated their repentance and looked for the forgiveness of their sins, but what did the baptism itself mean? To answer that question we have only to look at his ministry. It centres on the ideas of fruitfulness and harvest, and in the light of these references water could only point to the rain that came from the heavens and the resultant springs of water flooding up from the ground (Isaiah 44:1).

Matthew 3 and Luke 3 both speak of the Pharisees as like vipers fleeing from cornfields, of the need to produce good fruit (the result of plenteous rain), of the axe laid to the root of trees (because they had withered), of the fruitless tree cast into the fire, of the One who has the threshing instrument in His hand, of the separating of wheat from chaff, the one stored in barns the other burned up. Thus John's vivid imagery is mainly drawn from agriculture. We also know that John contrasts his own drenching with water with that of Him Who will ‘drench in Holy Spirit and fire', and significantly in the Old Testament the pouring out of the Spirit is described as being like the rain from heaven (Isaiah 32:15; Isaiah 44:1). The first part of the phrase ‘drench in Holy Spirit and fire' must surely therefore be connected, in context, with the gathering into the barn of the grain which the rain has caused to grow, and the second part with the burning of the useless chaff in the fires of judgment, the one being blessed and having purpose for the future, and the other being judged unfit and only suited to destruction.

In the light of this, and of the constant references in the prophets, where the coming of the Holy Spirit is likened to the pouring down of the rain with its resulting fruitfulness, it is clear that John's baptism has in mind, and pictures, the drenching, life-giving rain from heaven (baptizein means ‘to drench'). Thus Isaiah 32:15 says ‘-- until the Spirit be poured out from on high, and the wilderness become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest, justice shall dwell in the wilderness and righteousness shall abide in the fruitful field'. Here we have, as with John's message, the wilderness bearing fruit, with the pouring out of the Spirit as rain resulting in the fruitful fields and trees.

This is then applied specifically to people in Isaiah 44:3, ‘for I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and streams on the dry ground, and I will pour My Spirit upon your seed, and my blessing upon your offspring, and they shall spring up among the grass, as willows by the watercourses.' Compare also Isaiah 55:10 where the rain and snow from heaven, watering the earth and making it fruitful, ‘bringing to birth' the grain, are likened to the going forth of the word of God to accomplish His purposes, spoken of in terms of flourishing trees of the right kind; and Isaiah 45:8 where the heavens drop down ‘from above' (LXX 'anothen - as in John 3:3) and the skies pour down righteousness so that the earth is fruitful in salvation and righteousness is caused to spring up. ‘Birth from above' (compare John 3:3) is specifically in mind in these verses.

Reference to the Spirit in terms of water from heaven is also found in Ezekiel 36:25 where it cleanses by giving a new heart. But Ezekiel thinks in priestly terms and the sprinkling of water there rather has reference to the water (‘clean' water) which has been treated with the ashes of the heifer (Numbers 19:17), but even there Ezekiel links it with fruitfulness and restoration (Ezekiel 36:29; Ezekiel 36:33), while Joel also links the pouring out of the Spirit (Joel 2:28) with the times of refreshing, the coming of the rain and the floors full of wheat (Mark 2:19; Mark 2:22), as well as with the spiritual inspiration of men and women chosen by God.

So by his baptism John was indicating by an acted out parable that these baptised people were being separated to God in preparation for the coming of Holy Spirit as promised by the prophets in order that they might become acceptable to God (be ‘cleansed'), be restored, and might become fruitful. He was acting out their future blessing. They were in the future to enjoy the ‘drenching in Holy Spirit' from the Messiah, the life-giving spiritual rain which would produce fruitfulness in their hearts. Notice the phrase ‘he baptised in the wilderness'. It was in the wilderness that the waters would come and would make the desert blossom as a rose resulting in ‘waters -- in the wilderness, and streams in the desert' (Isaiah 35:1; Isaiah 35:6). That his baptism was a prophetic acting out, and not actual in terms of the new beginning, is stressed in Acts 19:1 where the disciples of John are seen as being devoid of the new Spirit. And yet the Spirit Who was proclaimed by John, was undoubtedly to some extent experienced under him (Luke 1:15; Matthew 21:31). It was, however, to be Jesus Who ultimately drenched men with the Spirit and brought to fulfilment what the prophets had promised (Mark 1:8).