The Ministry of John the Baptist as Testified in the Bible [Bible Study 10]
Today’s writing is a summary of the sermon by Pastor Paul C. Jong, a servant of God from The New Life Mission.
You can freely download multiple sermon books authored by Pastor Paul C. Jong as e-books, audiobooks, and bilingual books by visiting The New Life Mission website.
[Matthew 3:1-17]
“In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand! ’ For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying: ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.”’Now John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, ‘Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father.” For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.’ Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me? ’ But Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he allowed Him. When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’”
Today’s text well shows the ministry of Jesus Christ and John the Baptist.
We must believe as it is written in the Bible.
In the Old and New Testaments, the Bible testifies about John the Baptist in many parts. In the Old Testament, Isaiah 40:3 says, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God.” This is how it testifies about John the Baptist.
Also, in Malachi 4:5-6, it says, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.” In this way, It is testified that the Elijah who was said to come was John the Baptist.
In other words, it is a word that God will send God's servant like Elijah in the Old Testament, and it means that John the Baptist would perform a ministry like Elijah of the Old Testament, turning God's people who had fallen into idolatry back to God. And it also states that those who do not turn back will be cursed by God.
Then what did Elijah do before God in the Old Testament?
At that time, the people of Israel believed in Baal, the god worshiped by the foreign queen who came to their country. So Elijah, the servant of God, competed with the servants of Baal to demonstrate which deity was truly the almighty God. Through this, he proved that Jehovah was truly the almighty God and turned the people of Israel back to God.
Also, how did Jesus testify about John the Baptist?
In Matthew 11:11, Jesus said, “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist.” In other words, Jesus said that John the Baptist represented all humanity.
Also, in Luke 1, there is a passage that speaks of the birth of John the Baptist and testifies that John the Baptist was a descendant of Aaron, the high priest.
Therefore, John the Baptist, as humanity's representative and the final high priest, ministered with the heart and spirit of Elijah by performing a baptism that was like laying on of hands to transfer all the sins of this world to Jesus, who came as the High Priest of heaven.
Therefore, we must know and realize through the Bible what kind of prophet John the Baptist was and what his ministry was before God, and turn back and be chosen as God’s holy children.
Before John the Baptist came to this earth, Israel had been without a servant of God for 400 years.
In the text, it says “Then”, which refers to the year when John the Baptist turned 30 years old. In the Old Testament, a high priest could only serve as high priest when he turned 30 years old. John the Baptist was the last high priest born as a descendant of Aaron the high priest.
In the year he turned 30, he gave the baptism of repentance at the Jordan River, turning people back to God. Therefore, as prophesied in Malachi “Turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers”, John the Baptist testified that Jesus, who is God, came by the Holy Spirit and will save you.
The next day after John baptized Jesus, when he saw Jesus coming toward him, he testified as recorded in John 1:29, “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’”
In this way, John the Baptist passed on all the sins of the world to Jesus through baptism, and all the sins we commit in the world were passed on to Jesus. As it is said, ‘He will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers,’ through the ministry of John who baptized Jesus, all those who had their sins washed away were brought back before God.
In the text, we see Jesus, whom God the Father sent as God's Lamb and humanity's Savior, being baptized by John the Baptist.
When Jesus came to John the Baptist and told him to baptize Him, John the Baptist said, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” becoming humble before Jesus. This shows that John the Baptist recognized Jesus as the Son of God and the Savior of humanity.
Then Jesus said, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” In other words, this means that all righteousness would be fulfilled when John the Baptist baptizes Him and Jesus is baptized, and all the sins of the world would be transferred to Jesus, fulfilling all the righteousness of God. This means that all who believe in this truth should be made into God's righteous people, free from sin.
Baptism carries the same meaning as the laying on of hands, and it is a word that means ‘to transfer,’ ‘to bury,’ ‘to pass on,’ and ‘to wash away’.
Therefore, through the ministry of John the Baptist, the last high priest of mankind, baptizing Jesus, and the ministry of Jesus receiving baptism and bearing all the sins of the world and being judged for those sins on the Cross, the sins of all the sinners of the world were eliminated.
This is how “all righteousness” was fulfilled.
In other words, through the ministry of John the Baptist, who transferred all the sins of the world into Jesus, and through the ministry of Jesus, who came as the Lamb of God, was baptized, and was judged on the Cross as judgment for sin, all the sins of all who believe in this truth are washed away, thus fulfilling God's righteousness.
Therefore, those who do not believe in this ministry of John the Baptist and Jesus, this truth of salvation, will be destroyed under a curse at the end times.
That is why it is written in Malachi 4,
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”
The Bible says that Elijah, who was to come, was John the Baptist, and that by believing in the ministry of John the Baptist, who was sent as the representative of mankind and the final high priest, baptizing Jesus, and the ministry of Jesus, who is God, being baptized and judged on the Cross for our salvation, we can be born again as the righteous people of God without sin.
We can obtain eternal salvation only by believing as the Bible says.
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