Mark 1:3

THE VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS

‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness.’

Mark 1:3

In dealing with the character and work of John the Baptist as the forerunner of our Lord’s first coming, it may be pointed out that neither the man himself, nor his work, and the effects it produced, are, perhaps, sufficiently regarded. Archbishop Trench, following Augustine, has pointed out that John only claimed to be the Voice, while our Lord was the Word, and that ‘a voice is nothing unless it be also the vehicle of a word,’ but ‘goes before it in the act of communication,’ and, ‘this being accomplished, the voice has passed away,’ as John did so soon as he had accomplished his mission. Yet we must never forget that our Lord said of him that ‘amongst them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.’ A man of the deepest humility and self-abnegation, he was fired by an intense earnestness and fearless courage which winged his direct and plain-spoken appeals to the hearts and consciences of all; and the whole nation was stirred by his mission to its very depths.

I. Whose the voice was.—Isaiah prophesied of ‘the voice of one crying in the wilderness’ (Isaiah 40:3), and this was now being fulfilled in the ministry of our Lord’s forerunner. Note these particulars of John the Baptist:—

(a) He was the son of Zacharias and Elizabeth his wife. Born six months before Christ, he entered on his ministry of preparation six months earlier than our Lord did on His.

(b) His dress betokened the prophet. ‘Clothed with camel’s hair,’ that is, with a mantle of camel’s hair. Elijah wore such a mantle (2 Kings 1:8), which he gave to Elisha to show that the prophet’s office descended to him (2 Kings 2:13); he had ‘a girdle of a skin’=a leathern girdle worn round the waist over the inner clothing.

(c) His food was the plainest and commonest, just what Nature supplied: locusts, an insect which when dried forms a palatable food, permitted by the law (Leviticus 11:22), and wild honey, the produce of wild bees, for which the land was famous (Deuteronomy 32:13).

II. Where the voice spake.—‘In the wilderness of Judea,’ a wild, rocky, desolate region between Hebron (probably John’s birthplace) and Dead Sea, stretching north along valley of Jordan to the fords of Jordan, opposite Jericho, where he baptized. Probably he lived there some time (Luke 1:80). The place was suitable for the man and for his work—alone with God, with time for prayer and quiet meditation.

III. What the voice said.—This voice delivered God’s message. John ‘did preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins’; that is, the need of repentance in order to receive forgiveness. If we search we may find out a little more of what the voice said.

(a) ‘Prepare ye the way of the Lord’ (Mark 1:3), the Lord whose kingdom was at hand. Under this figure Isaiah (Isaiah 40:3) pictured the work of the Baptist, a work of preparation, to make the Lord’s progress easier.

(b) ‘Repent ye’ was the keynote of his teaching (Matthew 3:2). Repentance=change of mind, accompanied by sorrow of heart and leading to newness of life.

(c) ‘A mightier One is coming’—mightier in His Person (the Son of God), His preaching (He was ‘the Word,’ John only ‘a voice’), His miracles (‘John did no miracle,’ John 10:41), and in the effect produced. ‘I indeed have baptized you with water,’ which only washes the surface; ‘ He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost,’ who will melt the heart and change the life. So he pointed to Jesus.

IV. How the voice was heeded:—

(a) It was listened to.

(b) It influenced the people.

(c) It led to confession of sins.

(d) It led to baptism.

—The Rev. R. R. Resker.

Illustration

‘Within that rugged exterior, the grace and power of the Holy Ghost dwelt, though, unlike Christ, John the Baptist had no authority to convey that grace to others. His call to his special work was internal. He preached because he must. It had become an irrepressible necessity of his nature. No tirade against Temple abuses do we hear. The hermit-preacher directs his artillery against men’s personal sins. He is blunt, direct, earnest, fervid. In his intense earnestness about “the one thing needful” he makes men forget all passing disputations; all minor distractions. As if he were a herald direct from heaven, he fixes all eyes on their inward need—their need of righteousness. His words seem like red-hot bullets. Men’s duty is summed up in one word—“Repent.” But the climax of all his preaching was Christ. Like every true messenger, John hid himself in the shadow of his Master.’