Why did John baptize?

"The Testimony of John the Baptist"

(John 1:19-34, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, December 28, 2008)

John 1:19-34 ¹⁹ And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" ²⁰ He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ." ²¹ And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" And he answered, "No." ²² So they said to him, "Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?" ²³ He said, "I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord,' as the prophet Isaiah said." ²⁴ (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) ²⁵ They asked him, "Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" ²⁶ John answered them, "I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, ²⁷ even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie." ²⁸ These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing. ²⁹ The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! ³⁰ This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.' ³¹ I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel." ³² And John bore witness: "I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. ³³ I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' ³⁴ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God."

Who are you, John? (19-24)

Throughout history it has been a great temptation among religious people to make great claims about themselves and about the things that they do. If they go this way long enough, they gradually find that they think very little about the greatness of God and what He alone can do. They are much more interested in their own role in the drama of redemption. It is very refreshing to meet in John the Baptist someone who so thoroughly rejects this way of being religious.

The part that John was given to play in the revealing of the true Messiah was actually very significant. In a sense it was more significant than anything done by any prophet that came before him. After John began to attract crowds, people started to wonder about him. They may have wondered who he was, or at a minimum they wanted to know who he thought he was. Did he imagine himself to be a part of the cast of expected figures who would bring in the new Messianic kingdom that many were hoping for? Was he the prophet who would bring in a new day? Did he somehow have the spirit of Elijah in him? Could it be that he supposed that he was actually the Messiah?

The Pharisees had sent some representatives out to the desert where John was baptizing in order to get some answers. His answer is a very refreshing and sweeping denial of self, and a focus on the one essential of his divinely given role. First the denial: No. He was not the Christ. He was not Elijah back from the dead. He was not the Prophet that some were expecting who would restore Israel to independence and glory. Secondly, the simple affirmation of his call: He was the fulfillment of Isaiah 40:3. He was the one that God had appointed to go to the desert, and to preach the coming of the Lord, thus making a straight highway for Someone else to walk upon, Someone who was Himself the Lord of glory.

Why are you baptizing? (25-28)

There must have been some expectation that things would change when a new age came. There must have been some hope of the fulfillment of so many passages from the Old Testament, passages like Jeremiah 31 that spoke of a coming new covenant. To go out into the wilderness and to institute a new ceremony of washing wrapped around the preaching of repentance, what is it all about? Such a movement can be ignored if it attracted only a trickle of interest. But here is a man who should not have been popular, and large numbers of people are coming out to hear him preach about preparation for the Lord through repentance, and he is instituting a new ceremonial washing of the kind only Gentile converts had received. But now Jews are listening to what he says, and they are being baptized.

This concerns some of the more well-placed religious authorities, just as people will be concerned about what Jesus will do when He goes into the temple and overturns the tables of money-changers. John had told them that he was the person that Isaiah wrote about in Isaiah 40:3. There are many good questions that they could ask him at this point if they were sincerely interested in what God was doing through this man. Instead they seem to completely ignore his answer, as if he has just said that he has come up with all of this on his own. That is not at all what he said. He said he was the fulfillment of Isaiah 40:3, that he is the one who would prepare the way of the Lord. They apparently are not interested in that. They just want to know by what authority He is out in the desert baptizing people. His answer, or lack of an answer, is intriguing. He speaks of One who is coming, and he speaks of this one as being in every way superior to him.

John baptizes only with water; this other One apparently does something much better than that. John is known to them; this other One, though He is among them, is unknown to them at present. John, though he came before this other One in some way, he must be way behind Him in another way, because John is like one who is below the lowest slave in this Man's house, the one in charge of washing feet, lower than that one, not worthy to untie His sandal. This coming One is like the greatest of all kings. Given this response, and the fact that John had said that He was preparing the way of the Lord according to Isaiah 40:3, can there be any doubt as to who this amazing unknown Visitor is? Yet the sin of man… How slow we are to bow before God when He comes. Many people came to be baptized by John, and his ministry draws the notice of important Pharisees, yet no one seems to be particularly ready for the Lord that John will point to.

The Lamb of God (29-30)

They do not have to wait a long time to see Him. The next day John points Him out. He calls Him the Lamb of God, and he says that this Lamb takes away the sin of the world. He also states again that this One was from before Him, and that He ranks above him, though He seemed to come after John had already become famous. Look at all of the facts that are brought forward here. 1. Jesus is the Lord who came before John the Baptist. 2. Jesus is going to die as the real sacrificial offering. 3. In His death Jesus will atone for the sins of the world. These are three amazing points of central Christian doctrine boldly stated by the man who had gone into the desert to prepare for the coming of the Lord. John the Baptist tells everyone that the Lord who had come would fulfill His ministry by dying for their sins, and not only for the Jews, but for the whole world. This is a staggering affirmation of faith that would not be lived out appropriately until about twenty years later when the Council in Jerusalem, described in Acts 15, took place. Even then it was hard for Jews to believe that Gentiles could have sins forgiven without circumcision.

John reveals his purpose (31-33)

The day before, representatives from the Pharisees had asked why John was baptizing. He did not actually answer the question. He just spoke about the superiority of the One who was coming. Now he gives an answer when Jesus is revealed on the next day by a miraculous display, identifying Him as the one who is full of the Spirit of the Lord. This One who would baptize with the Holy Spirit was the reason for everything that John did, included his baptizing in the wilderness. That's why He states in verse 31, "For this purpose I came baptizing with water, that He might be revealed to Israel." God had sent John to baptize with water in order to prepare the way for the Lord, and to reveal Jesus to Israel. John baptized with water, to reveal the One who would baptize with the Holy Spirit.

What is this baptizing with the Holy Spirit? Some have equated this with an experience of great growth in holiness or Christian giftedness beyond conversion. Even though the expression, "the baptism of the Holy Spirit," has come to be used in that way, the Bible does not ever use the term precisely like that. The Scriptures do speak about being filled with the Holy Spirit. If you wonder whether You have been filled with the Holy Spirit, the clearest biblical description of this that I can find is in Ephesians 5:18-21, and I would be happy to talk to anyone further who desires to understand that passage or the kind of life that it describes. Nonetheless, that is something different than this idea of Jesus baptizing with the Holy Spirit as compared to John baptizing with water.

These same words of John are quoted in the Book of Acts related to the coming of the Age of the Gospel and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, first to the Jews, and then to the Gentiles. All this must have something to do with the New Testament sacrament of baptism, and something to do with the Holy Spirit, the promised gift of God to all who are His own. But this must not be about men baptizing with water, and then claiming to be the source of the Holy Spirit operating in the life of a person, in such a way that men receive the glory and Jesus does not. These words of John make it clear that all of our attention should be focused on Jesus as the one who baptizes His New Covenant people with the gift above all gifts, the down-payment, the earnest, the deposit, that will be received in perfect fullness upon your translation to the heavenly expression of the Lord's kingdom.

Life beyond baptism: The glorious Son of God (34)

Baptism is a sacrament of initiation into the New Covenant, just as circumcision was for the Old. However, we need to remember what the Apostle Paul said, "Neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God." And in another place, "In Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love." And finally, "Neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation." Christ the Lamb of God brings the new creation and the faith and obedience that flows from His gift of the Holy Spirit. We have no more interest than John did in exalting ministers or the sacrament of water baptism. If God uses either of them, it is only to point toward Christ. He does use them, but the key is Christ and His power. Ministers are nothing and can do nothing. Christ is everything and can save to the uttermost. It is far better for the minister to make himself nothing, than to in any way obscure the glory of Christ. What John saw with his eyes, we are affirm by faith. Jesus is the Lamb. He is the Son of God. He gives the Spirit.

Questions for meditation and discussion:

1. What seems to be the real purpose of the representatives that came to John from the Pharisees?

2. What was the purpose of John in everything that He did?

3. What is your understanding of the biblical use of the concept of the "baptism of the Holy Spirit?"

4. What might be a balanced and biblical approach concerning the importance of baptism consistent with John 1?

Is there peace beyond Christmas?

"The Word Became Flesh"

(John 1:14-18, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, December 24, 2008)

John 1:14-18 ¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵ (John bore witness about him, and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.'") ¹⁶ And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

Introduction – Dangerous Expectations

As I walked through Wal-mart the other day, there was a Christmas song playing quietly. The words of one of the less-frequently sung stanzas of "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" got me chuckling. It was something like this: "So let's give thanks to the Lord above, 'cause Santa Claus is comin' tonight." It was just one of those combinations of Christ and culture that make me laugh.

Holiday times make for good memories at certain phases of life, but it is a fact that many people have expectations of holiday blessings that are too high. Christ will not disappoint you, but Christmas definitely may. Many people put more emotional weight on the celebration of Christmas than any holiday can actually bear. Sometimes those expectations seem to be met. My niece sent us a link to a video of her little girl singing "The Twelve Days of Christmas" in front of the family Christmas tree that was exceptionally cute. There is something that is frankly adorable about things like that. I know that I have many great memories of my childhood when we all went out Christmas caroling with Dad. Mom always stayed behind and brought us the happy news that a red-faced overweight visitor had come bearing gifts while we were out, and they were all in front of the tree. It was all a wonderful surprise every year. We also have great memories of giving our children different presents, though they told us years later that some of their wonderful reactions were practiced dramas, since they had searched out things days before and did some serious peaking. All of it was fun. Nonetheless, Christmas comes and goes, and people grow up and even move away, sometimes far away. There may be some peace and joy for you at Christmas, but I have to say that this kind of peace is not permanent. The question we need an answer to is this: Is there peace beyond Christmas? Is there something better than joys that are, frankly, temporary?

The miracle of the God/Man (14)

The Word became flesh. We had heard about Him from the Prophets. Then He came in person, and tabernacled or tented among us, and that has made all the difference. We heard about Him when Abraham was commanded to take his son, his only son, and offer him up as a burnt offering to the Lord. Of course, Isaac did not have to die. God provided a ram to take his place, and we heard about Jesus. We heard about Him when Samson was announced by an angel, announced to his parents before his birth, and even when this warrior died as a surprising hint of a Savior to come. We heard about Him when David was told that He would have a Son who would reign on His throne forever, and we wondered how that could be. We heard about Him through prophets like Isaiah who spoke of the Servant of the Lord who would be born to a virgin and who would be "Immanuel," God with us. He would suffer for our sins and somehow be victorious beyond death. At around the same time, another prophet, Micah, told us the detail that this baby would be born in Bethlehem.

If this all sounds more serious than the Wal-mart song, it is because it is very serious. The odd thing is this: All the light-hearted things can leave us strangely disappointed. But the heavy miracle of the God/Man who came to die for us actually satisfies. We had heard of Him, but now He has come. Mary and Joseph got to see Him. So did the shepherds, and later some wise men came from afar. Herod wanted to see Him, because he wanted to kill Him. There were large crowds that seemed to be amazed by His power and His teaching. They saw Him, and they rejected Him. Especially many important spiritual leaders were deeply troubled by Him and envious of Him, and they wanted to kill Him too.

When John says here that Jesus dwelt among us, He is especially speaking about the chosen group of disciples. They were witnesses of the transfiguration of Jesus, when his face was shining like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. They saw Him after His resurrection, when they were behind locked doors for fear of the Jews, and Jesus came and stood among them and spoke peace to them and showed them His hands and His side. They were glad. They had seen His glory. They knew that He was the only Son from the Father. They heard a voice from heaven at His baptism saying, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." They were witnesses of large numbers of amazing miracles, and even saw Him ascend into heaven on clouds of divine glory.

These disciples knew that He was full of grace and truth. Grace means hope for the guilty. It is more than a pardon. It means sonship for abandoned orphans. It means being heirs of heaven for the formerly hell-bound. It means reigning with the Lord of glory for those who were once prisoners of sin and death. Jesus is full of that grace, and this grace is not mythological, because He is also full of truth. The peace that He brings is for you personally, but it is also for a society of His redeemed, and it is eternal. We have been brought into a true land of everlasting peace.

John and the Messiah (15)

Beyond the witness of the disciples who beheld His resurrection glory, there was one additional witness mentioned here, John the Baptist, who had the particular role of pointing to the Messiah. The former prophets like Jeremiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel wrote of the Messiah. John went further than them. He was able to see Him, and to touch Him. He was able to accurately testify to the fact of Him, the amazing Him of Christmas. The Him who, even though His ministry began after John's, the fact is that He Himself was before John. This Him is the Word, the eternal God. Of course He ranks before John, because He was way before John. He is the I Am. Later in His ministry there were those listening to Him who were beginning to wonder whether He was somehow claiming to be greater than the patriarch Abraham who live two millennia before the birth of Jesus. His answer to the skeptics: "Before Abraham was, I Am."

Grace upon grace (16-17)

Note to self: Is the reason why I have so little peace because I am trying to gain peace through Law?

This great Jesus Christ is the One who brings us every blessed thing from His abundant eternal divine fullness. From His fullness we are told that we have all received. Just think of those words: "from His fullness." What do you suppose that Jesus has stored for you right now in all His fullness? And by the way, He really is coming to town at just the right time. Until that day, while there are things that we must suffer, we don't have to do it without peace, and we don't have to do it without grace. In fact He has growth in peace for us, and growth in grace for us, and the suffering fits into that growth somehow in ways that we may get a glimpse of, but which are hard for us to see when everyone seems happier than we feel at a holiday party.

So why is it that you may not have the peace that you would like to have at Christmas. I want to leave you with two thoughts. First, your lack of contentment could be perfectly reasonable. It could be that your past memories are better than your present moments, and you don't see how that will ever change, and maybe you are feeling a little sorry for yourself. That's fine too, and it may just have to be that way for a little while. But don't forget that He is there to add peace to your peace, and to give grace to your grace, so that even now you can grow in grace and peace, not through Christmas, but through Christ.

But there is one more thing that could be the problem, and this is the second thought of the two I just mentioned. You may be trying to get peace through some system of law, or some way of trying to win the praise and admiration of people. Remember this: The Law came through Moses, and it cannot bring anyone peace, because we have violated the Law, and that is the whole reason that Christ had to suffer. If we were Law-Keepers then we would not have needed someone to die on a cross for us. But we did need the cross. From the Law came, not peace, but the knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20). But grace and truth have come to us through Jesus Christ.

Peace with God through knowing God (18)

This Jesus is the only God, because there is only one God. It's just that He exists eternally in three persons. We see some of that complexity very clearly in our final verse. Verse 18 speaks plainly about the Father and the Son, indicating that they are both God, and also affirming that there is only one God. John has not forgotten the Holy Spirit either, but that is a story that will become very clear in later chapters. For now, let's just rejoice in the wonder of these facts of the One Godhead: The invisible Father is God. There is a God who is at the side of God the Father, and that God is the Son of God. This God the Son is the only God, just as surely as God the Father is the only God, because there is only one Godhead. This is not simple, but it is also not irrational or simple wishful thinking.

One more thing: The Son of God has made God known to us. If God has grace and truth for us consistent with the fullest, most wonderful, and lasting peace, what better person to make that grace and peace known to us than Jesus, God the Son. Is there someone who knew God better than Jesus? Jesus has made the unseen God known. Because of that fact we have not only the birth of Christ, and the resurrection of Christ, and the miracles of Christ. We actually have Christ. He is our grace. He is our truth. He is our peace. And so we have peace with God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Is there peace beyond Christmas? Most definitely, for there is Christ beyond Christmas.

Questions for meditation and discussion:

1. "The Word became flesh." What is the significance of this phrase for our faith?

2. In what ways were glory, grace, and truth made manifest to the disciples of Jesus Christ?

3. What does "From His goodness we have all received, grace upon grace" tell us about the Christian life?

4. What should our expectation be concerning the benefits of Law? What more is ours through the grace of Christ?

Why is Jesus called "the Word?"

"The Word"

(John 1:1-13, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, December 21, 2008)

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴ In him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. ⁶ There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. ⁸ He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. ⁹ The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. ¹¹ He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. ¹² But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, ¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Introduction – Various beginnings that the Bible talks about …

As we come to the beginning of a new book, a book which starts by talking about beginnings, it may help us to think about various beginnings referred to in the Bible. Beginnings can be very personal, as in the case of Job. His losses mark such a change for him that God says that his life before that point was totally different. In Job 42:12 we read that, "the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning." A personal spiritual change can certainly be like that, where someone has one life before and another life after, which must be one reason why Jesus says to Nicodemus in John 3, "You must be born again." We need a new beginning personally.

But most beginnings in the Bible are more than personal. One beginning came with the pouring out of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2. This was the beginning of New Testament church life, and Peter speaks of it that way in Acts 11, referring back to the events of Pentecost. The resurrection of Jesus is also said to be a new beginning in Colossians 1:18, where Paul writes of Jesus, "He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead." Even before that, the ministry of John the Baptist, especially with the baptism of Jesus, marks something new with the public appearing of the Messiah. The New Testament authors refer back to this as one important beginning. Peter says in Acts 1:22 that the one who would take the place of Judas should be one who had been with them, "beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us- one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection." Pentecost, the Resurrection, the baptism of Jesus,… even the Old Testament has its moments of beginning. When the Israelites were delivered out of Egypt by God in the first Passover, that beginning marked the start of the year for the Jews. God said in Exodus 12:2, "This month shall be for you the beginning of months." But especially, when we think of the Biblical idea of a beginning, we cannot help but be reminded of creation and the first words of the Bible, which John quotes here: "In the beginning." In Genesis 1:1 we read, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In John 1:1 we find this weighty statement, "In the beginning was the Word."

God with God in the beginning (1-3)

When John writes "Word" He is utilizing a term that some wanted to use in order to deny the full divinity of Jesus Christ. They would want to say that there is God who created, and then there is His word, which is some spiritual entity that is not God. That spiritual word, they thought, may have hovered over the man Jesus Christ, but it was not the same as God. Nor was it exactly the man Jesus Christ either. It is very provocative that John used words that would have reminded people of the God of creation, "In the beginning," and then indicated that Jesus, the Word, was the God of creation. This fits the purpose of this gospel, which John states at the end of the twentieth chapter. He wanted people to reject any lesser spiritualized Jesus. He wanted them to know that Jesus was the Christ, that He was the Son of God, even the God of creation, and that by believing they might have life in His Name. That's why He begins what He has to say with these sentences: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made." Here John is boldly equating the Father and the Son in their divine works in the beginning, just as Jesus Himself will later say in John 10:30, "I and the Father are one."

Here we have a very complex reality presented to us in these beautifully simple words. We know that John is referring to Jesus as the pre-existent divine Word here. In verse 14 we read, "And the Word was made flesh." This can only be Jesus. This Word, John says, was not only with God, this Word was God. When John says, "He was in the beginning with God," there is no doubt what beginning He is referring to, since John writes about God's works of creation, saying that all things were made through this Word of God, this Word who was personal, and was and is God with God. Proverbs 8 speaks of a Wisdom of God was daily God's delight, rejoicing before Him always, rejoicing in His inhabited world and delighting in the children of man. This same Word of God has always been the perfect expression of the heart of God to us, for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks. Jesus is the abundance of the Father's heart. He is the Word of God, a Word which is God. You can hear the voice of Jesus all the way back in Genesis 1, for He is the Word in the beginning who says, "Let there be light."

Life and Light in a dark day (4-5)

It is interesting that the first words of God in the Bible involved the giving of light and life. Since sin entered into the world through Adam, we have lived in a dark day. When Jesus came to the Israelites as the Messiah and Savior, He came to what He called an evil generation. These are the same words that Moses used in describing the generation that God delivered out of Egypt. We live in a world with much darkness. Every year, at that point when we experience the shortest day of the 365 that we are given, it is a good time for us to appreciate what it means to have light come into the world. From that day forward, we are given an increasing glimpse of the light of life, something that reminds us of the Son of God. He said, "Let there be light." And there was light. And it was good. As dark as this world may get, there is a light from the Son of God, a light that is shining through the words of prophets and apostles in the Scriptures. This Word will appear again in His resurrection glory. It is something of an understatement to admit that the darkness has neither comprehended nor overcome the Light of God.

Yet this Light, Christ, died for us. That was a dark day. When Judas left the Supper to do his work of betrayal, John writes (13:30), "And it was night." It was a night that became darker in Gethsemane and at Calvary, when the Son of God gave His life for sinners. Yet in the seed of that dark moment was the defeat of darkness. There we find the light of what will one day be the glorious flower of the final resurrection. Even now through the proclamation of Christ, 1 John 2:8 says, "the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining." We gladly hear the word of His promised return and of the kingdom that He is bringing. The Apostle Peter urges us to pay attention to it "as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts."

A witness to the Light coming into the world (6-9)

John the Baptist came as a witness to the Word, the divine Light that was coming into the world. In a time of darkness, true light from God is appreciated by those who are able to see it. Yet the Baptist, a different man that the Apostle John who wrote this gospel, was determined to tell us that Jesus was a brighter Light than the one who baptized Him. John the Baptist was sent from God as a prophet, and he did his appointed task of bearing witness to the greater Light of the Son of God. John was not in the beginning with God. It was not the voice of John that said, "Let there be light." John was not the one through whom everything was made. He did not give the light of conscience and the gift of a soul to every human being. John could not die as the sacrifice for sinners, laying down his life as our atoning substitute and picking it up again as our resurrection Lord. Jesus did these things.

Something of a surprise: The world does not want the light (10-11)

Yet when Jesus came to show the light of His love through His death for us, something surprising happened. He was unwanted. Though He was the One through whom the world was made, the world did not know him. When He came to His own people, the Jews, the Old Covenant people of God who had the written Word of the Law and the Prophets, even they did not receive Him. The Age of the Law was swiftly coming to a close. The people of God would play a strange part in the drama of redemption known to God from before the creation of the world. They would reject their Messiah. Though they would see the signs of His many works, and hear His wonderful words of eternal life, for their part they would shout out these words, "Crucify Him, crucify Him!"

Born of God (12-13)

Yet, amazingly, the cross that they demanded would lead to the greatest display of divine love ever known. Many of these who had so rudely abandoned Him and rejected Him, within just a few months of His death, would receive Him. The Age of the Gospel would have a fresh beginning by the power of the person of the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the church. Even Gentiles would receive Him by hearing the Word preached. That Word, the same Word that was in the beginning with God, would now be proclaimed by men who would declare forgiveness of sins in the Name of Jesus Christ, and sinners would believe in His Name.

And then something amazing would happen. Those who believed would be given the right to become children of God. Through this Word, this divine Son of God, even millions of Gentiles would become sons of God. We would be born again. We would have a new beginning. The life before we received the Word would be a life that was now gone, a life that we would never return to. The life that we began when we received Him would be our new, eternal life. This birth would not be a matter of our own blood, the goodness or badness of our natural descent, our participation in any race or ethnic group, or even the decision of our own wills. We would become children of God because we would be born of God according to the will of God who sent His Son, the Word of God, that we might have life. As we go through this great gospel do not miss the point. John says, these words were written "so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name."

Questions for meditation and discussion:

1. What is the Biblical context for the words, "In the beginning," and how does that help us understand this text?

2. Why does John refer to Jesus as the Word?

3. Why might it have been important that John's readers understand that John the Baptist was not the greater light?

4. What does it mean to receive Jesus Christ according to this passage?

The Great Commission

"He is Building a Resurrection Temple"

(Matthew 28:16-20, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, December 14, 2008)



Matthew 28:16-20 16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."



Introduction – The story of the temple revisited

A strong case can be made that Matthew is the gospel of the King. It begins with a genealogy that features all the kings of Judah. It ends with this passage where Jesus Christ speaks as the divine King on the mountaintop giving His Great Commission as a decree to the people of His kingdom. It could also be said that it is a gospel of the temple. We have particularly seen that in the final ministry of Christ in the vicinity of Jerusalem. The Lord has revealed the coming destruction of the Old Testament temple building, and He has spoken about the gathering of a living temple throughout this age, the gospel age, a temple of people filled with the Holy Spirit.



These two alternative ways of viewing Matthew's gospel are not mutually exclusive. The concepts of the King over God's people and the temple where God dwells are very closely connected in the Old Testament Scriptures. It was King David Himself who had a desire to build a temple for God in the first place. He gathered many of the materials for this work, and his son, King Solomon, supervised the building of the temple and was the central figure at its dedication. Later kings were involved in the maintenance of this wonderful place of God's presence. In the heavenly temple, the Lord God reigns as King. Even now He is building His resurrection temple, and He will be King over that kingdom forever. The resurrected Jesus in the conclusion of Matthew's gospel is not only our King. He is the Temple of the Holy Spirit.



Worship and Doubt

What a moment it must have been, when the eleven remaining disciples went to meet their King in order to hear His Word to them, His direction of their affairs at this new beginning! It is interesting that the Lord chose Galilee for this resurrection appearance. It was not necessary that they all go to the Old Testament holy city of Jerusalem. The temple building on Mount Zion would not be the place for the King's decree. They all went to the region they had called home, Galilee. This was a place from which the contemporary religious thinkers expected no prophetic Word. Yet this home region for these men needed the Word of the good news of Jesus just as thousands of hometown spots all over the globe would one day be on the receiving end of the commission that Jesus gave that day. All over the world, cities, towns, and villages need to hear the Word of Jesus and His Kingdom. This will not just be about Jerusalem, or even Rome. This will be about the entire earth.



When they came to the place that Christ had appointed for this meeting, we are told that the disciples worshipped Jesus. This is very instructive for us. Here was the Son of God, the One who is very God Himself. The disciples knew this. They were not like the superstitious dwellers in pagan lands who would throw themselves at the feet of any miracle worker, ascribing deity to someone other than the Lord God Almighty. They were Jews who had come to see that Jesus, the Son of God, was truly the great "I Am." The Lord did not correct them in this, which is what the Apostles later did when anyone tried to worship them. It is appropriate to worship Jesus. His Father is not offended by this. Jesus is God, just as surely as the Father is God, and the Spirit is God. Though the disciples knew Him to be God at this point, we are told that some doubted. It is a fact of our current existence in this world of sin and death that worship coexists alongside of doubt. This is not the case in the present heaven, and it will not be the case when the Lord establishes His perfect resurrection temple in the renewed earth at the return of Christ.



All authority in heaven and on earth

It is into this world of both worship and doubt that God speaks an authoritative Word from the place where there is no doubt at all, the place where Christ has gone ahead of us to reign. That place is the real home of Jesus, a better place than anywhere in Galilee. Though we speak into a world where there is much doubt, the Word that we speak into that world has the fullness of the divine authority of the resurrected King. He announces that as a matter of first importance. We need to know that the Lord is not merely offering one among many religious opinions available in the marketplace of ideas. As a result of His resurrection and as a result of the fact that the Father has set the Son to reign over all, Jesus is completely certain that He has received all authority in heaven and on earth. We need to understand His Word this way. It is from a mouth that pours forth certainty, not mere probability. He is not a Man of doubt. He rules over the earth, but He also has all authority in heaven, a place where the faith is now sight. We must listen to Him and follow Him as the Man of Resurrection certainty.



Make disciples

With this said, we are eager for His directive to the church. His instruction to us is extremely clear. The sentence contained in verse 19 and the first part of verse 20 has only one main verb. A main verb can be qualified or explained by words that tell us more about the action of the main verb. Here the main verb is a command, "Make disciples!" The way the church is to make disciples is through going, baptizing, and teaching people to observe the commandments of Christ.



It is interesting that the Lord does not tell the apostles to merely make converts. The making of disciples is not simply for the beginning of the Christian life, but for the whole of our days until we die. The church is to go everywhere, to mark people with the waters of baptism, and to teach these disciples over the course of many years, as long as the Lord is pleased to grant to His servants life and breath. This is the way that the Resurrection King will build His temple. He will use the church, according to the various gifts and callings of her leaders and members, to make disciples, not only of Jews, but of all nations.



In the beginning of this gospel, wise men travelled from Gentile lands to worship the great king whose star they observed in the skies. Jesus is telling the apostles that the church is not permitted to wait for Gentiles to travel to them. Part of making disciples is "going." It is also part of making disciples to mark them with the sacrament of Trinitarian baptism. The Lord cares about the clarity of knowing who is in His church. Baptism is the mark that He has instituted for this distinction. It is to be administered in the three-in-one Name of the Almighty. But it is not enough to simply declare someone to be a part of the Christian family with baptism. The church must teach people the fullness of what it means to be followers of Christ, and we are to see that they not only know the Law in this New Covenant setting, but that they actually observe the Law of Christ. This is the Lord's charge to the disciples.



I am with you always, to the end of the age.

This is a very weighty mission given to us by a very impressive King. Yet we immediately feel our own limitations in this enterprise. There are two things that we cannot do which absolutely must be done for God's temple to be built. First, we cannot change hearts. Only God the Holy Spirit can do the work of taking a spirit that is dead in sin and giving it new life in Jesus Christ. This is simply beyond our abilities. If God will not do this, there will be no one to baptize, no one to teach, and no particular point in going anywhere. The second thing that we cannot do is to make anyone rise from the grave. The kingdom that is being built is a resurrection kingdom. If faith in Christ were only for this mortal life, it would not be the good life that we really need. We need something more than health, pleasures, and possessions. But even if we have personal fulfillment and joy, and then we die, that is far short of the good life that Christ has won for us through His death on the cross. The King who is talking to them on the mountain that day is a Resurrection Man. We need life from the dead, and that is something that only God can do.



The Promised Land is not the old Jerusalem. It is not Galilee, or any other spot, however beautiful, on a world that is perishing. The Promised Land is a Resurrection Land, a Land that is born in the renewal of this earth when heaven and heaven's host come here to live. That is why it is such good news that Jesus will be with us to the end of this gospel age. He will be in us as the hope of resurrection glory, and He will lead us through the wilderness of this world into the shining glory of the land that will be ours in the age to come. The meek shall inherit the earth. Our risen King is preparing the people of His resurrection temple from His place of authority in heaven, where those who have gone before us are even now reigning with Christ. The end of the age is coming. At just the right time Jesus will return with the fruit of His perfect labor in the glorious body of Christ, and He will make all things new.



If you have heard this good news of the coming kingdom, it should be very apparent to you whether or not you are a disciple of Jesus Christ. The church has gone to your town this morning to bring you this message of hope. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the King of the coming Resurrection Age died on a cross to satisfy the debt that You owed God because of your sins. What is your response to the forgiveness and glory that is yours in Christ? Have you been baptized? If you have not been baptized, you are not a disciple of Jesus according to His own definition. Are you willing to be taught to observe the Lord's commandments, to understand the faith and to live it out? If you are unwilling to be taught by the Lord's church day by day, you are not a disciple of Jesus according to His own definition. The time for clear thinking and decisive action may be very short. Only God can give you life in your soul, and only God can raise your body from the dead. Be baptized, and yield yourself to the teaching of God's Word. The King of the kingdom is the Lord of the Temple. He calls you to be alive in Him.



Questions for meditation and discussion:

1. What are the surprising facts of this final episode in Matthew's gospel?

2. What is the main idea in this "Great Commission?"

3. What is Jesus' definition of making disciples?

4. What encouragement does Christ give to us regarding this commission?

Why should you care about the resurrection?

"Risen"

(Matthew 28:1-15, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, December 7, 2008)

Matthew 28:1-15 Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. ² And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. ³ His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. ⁴ And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. ⁵ But the angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. ⁶ He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. ⁷ Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you." ⁸ So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. ⁹ And behold, Jesus met them and said, "Greetings!" And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me." ¹¹ While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. ¹² And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers ¹³ and said, "Tell people, 'His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.' ¹⁴ And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble." ¹⁵ So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.

Introduction – When did the New Testament begin?

If I were to ask you to think about a natural way to divide your Bible into two sensible parts, I am sure that many of you would decide to split it up into the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament ends with these words in Malachi 4:5-6, "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction." The message of the end of Old Testament Israel and the end of the Old Covenant era is picked up some 400 or so years later in the opening chapters of all four gospels, as we hear of the one we call "John the Baptist," the Elijah-like figure who prepared the way for the Messiah, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who will come again to judge the living and the dead.

We have been following the story of this Jesus through Matthew's gospel for some time now. We have seen that story unfolding in an environment that is a distinctly Old Testament environment. Even though the gospels are in the section of the Bible that we call the New Testament, a strong case can be made that New Testament life had not yet fully begun when Jesus was alive. The Old Testament is the covenant document for the Age of the Law. The New Testament together with the Old rightly understood through the lens of Christ and the resurrection is the covenant document for the New Testament era, the Age of the Gospel. But when did that New Testament era begin? There is a sense that we need to wait all the way to Matthew 28 to see the dawning of that new day.

A new dawn (1)

It is fitting that the account of this event comes as the sun is about to rise on the first day of the week. All of the other Sundays before this have been the day after the Sabbath. Now the Jewish Sabbath will be part of an old way of doing things under the age of the Law. In this age of the gospel, our week begins with our gathering together in covenant assembly. The fact that we worship on Sundays has everything to do with what happened so long ago on that first new Sabbath, when the God/Man who was the Passover Lamb became the Firstfruits of the Resurrection.

The women that are mentioned in connection with this event are the same ones who were witnesses to the cross, the death, and the burial of our Lord. These women went out to complete their care for the deceased body of a man they greatly loved. They expected to come to a place of death. What they found was something very different.

An angel of the Lord: "He has risen!" (2-7)

Matthew writes of an earthquake. There had been one at the time of the death of Jesus. Now there is another one at the time of His resurrection. Something major is happening in these events that God will not let us miss. Matthew's gospel has an angelic visitor in the first chapter, and now we have another one in the final chapter. This shining heavenly creature does something and says something. He rolls away the stone, and he gives the women who are witnesses there the news of the resurrection.

There's lots of news in these verses. We have news about the guards. They are completely overwhelmed by the events that they have beheld. We have news about the tomb. You can look in and see the place where Jesus was laying. We know from John's gospel that there was a story to tell just from the placement of the grave clothes. We have news about the immediate future concerning a meeting in Galilee. Of course the coming of an angel, a messenger from heavenly realms is itself amazing news. Jesus has talked about angels on several occasions throughout this gospel, particularly when speaking of the coming end of the age when the Son of Man returns. Angels appeared to Joseph, the husband of Mary, to direct him in the early years. Angels strengthened Jesus after He was tempted in the desert. But now an angel is speaking to some special women about an empty tomb.

And that's the biggest news – not just of this passage, but the biggest news since Adam ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that fruit about which God had warned that if he ate it, he would surely die. The biggest news of all time is this: "He has risen." This resurrection is a sign of something. Back in the beginning of this gospel, when an angel spoke to Joseph, it was revealed that the name of the child should be Jesus. There was a reason attached to the instruction: "He will save His people from their sins." But how do you see the forgiveness of sins? In chapter 9 the Lord healed a paralytic that some people brought to him. Remember before He healed him, He said, "Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven." Who says? How would anyone know? Some people took offense, so Jesus said, "Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise and walk'?" Then He said, "Rise and walk." Still we could only take His word for it that sins could actually be forgiven until this very moment. If sins are forgiven, then there will be resurrection. Death came through sin. Truly forgive sin, and you have life. Jesus was our Sin-Bearer. What He did has brought us forgiveness. The big news is, "He has risen." Your sins are forgiven. And it appears that He rose on the Old Testament feast of Firstfruits. We know without doubt that He is the firstfruits of a larger resurrection from the dead. We also shall rise. Our sins are forgiven.

Jesus met them (8-10)

If an angel from heaven tells you to go and give a message to some people about the resurrection of the Christ, then you go. They departed quickly. But who met them as they were running? He met them. "Greetings!" "Rejoice!" Remember all the bad things that happened to His body before, the beating, the scourging, and the cross? Remember that they saw Him when He was put in the grave. He could not have looked good. Now He looks good. Now He is alive, and they fall down at His feet and worship Him. He has done what He said He would do. He has accomplished what no one thought He could do. He has laid down His life as the Sin-Bearer, and He has picked it up again as the One who declares sins forgiven, and as the source of life extending way beyond the curse of Adam.

This is a life beyond fear. This is a life beyond leprosy. This is a life beyond a woman who has been bleeding for years, or another one who has been bent over for years and can't get up, or another one whose daughter is dying and all she wants is a crumb from His table. This is a life where you stand up again, where demons are gone and people are in their right mind, and where we finally know what it is to have complete victory over sin.

The story of man and the story of God (11-15)

That's the real story. That's the resurrection and that's what happened on the first Sunday of the New Testament era, the gospel age. That's why an angel told Joseph to name Him Jesus. He has saved His people from their sins. Do you believe that story? It's the story of God with us. There is another story for those who do not like the story of the resurrection. It is the story that desperate men made up, the chief priests, the guard, the elders, the soldiers, that His disciples had stolen the body at night while the soldiers were sleeping. There is a problem with this story. How do those soldiers know who stole the body if they were sleeping? When did they wake up? Did they see them all running away with a dead body, but they could not catch up with them?

The story does not work very well, but with a little bit of money and enough people saying the same lie, some people who don't think very hard about it might believe it. It is somewhat amusing that this is the best thing they could come up with. The elders took counsel regarding this, and this was their decision? Before you and I are too critical of their solution, you have to ask yourself whether there is any better story that you could invent. What possible reasonable explanation is there for an empty tomb that had been guarded by soldiers? The disciples were all afraid. Why would they want to take away the dead body of Jesus? Wouldn't it just remind them that the whole thing was over, and that Jesus was not the Christ after all? They had nothing to gain in any earthly sense from an empty tomb. I have tried to think of what the reason might be for that empty tomb. I have read things in the past that others have suggested. Nothing makes any sense. The story of God is the true story. He has risen.

There is another question that needs to be asked. Why would anyone not like the story of the resurrection? We need to realize that the root of unbelief in us is very strong. Jesus said in one of His parables that if we won't believe Moses and the prophets then we will not believe even if someone comes back from the dead to tell us the truth. Not only that, but the additional problem with the resurrection that people would rather not admit is that the resurrection of Jesus demands our complete surrender, and most people are looking for a more manageable savior, where they still get to be king. But if you do believe in Jesus and the resurrection, then your sins truly are forgiven. Your own destiny is resurrection life, and you really must surrender to His love.

Questions for meditation and discussion:

1. What are some of the important facts of the resurrection of Jesus Christ presented in Matthew's gospel?

2. What are the various problems with the false story that was circulated among the Jews?

3. Why would anyone want to deny the resurrection?

4. What is the connection between Christ's resurrection and our resurrection? Consider the links between these truths in 1 Corinthians 15.