Lessons from John the Baptist

Ian Grant Spong

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July 12, 2009

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- He prepared for Jesus
- He confessed freely, "I am not the Christ"
- He said, "I must decrease"
- Jesus said that there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he
- Some who testify about Jesus are weird, but that's not important
- God chose John for a special mission long before he was born
- John's message of preparation for Jesus was repentance
- A change of heart is always the best preparation for Jesus
- John never veered from his role, not even to become a disciple of Jesus himself
- John's imprisonment and execution did not occur because of Jesus, but because he criticized Herod
- unlike his condemnation of the Pharisees' stubbornness, Jesus was merciful towards John's crisis of faith
- Jesus assumed that John actually was part of this reign, so a crisis of faith, doesn't necessarily keep us out of the kingdom of heaven
- Preparing for Jesus ought never prevent us becoming disciples of Jesus
- never spend so much time in spreading the message of Christ, that we fail to come to Christ
- someone can indeed create a very impressive ministry and still not have come to discipleship in Christ

.............................any other thoughts?

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Mike N Laura July 29, 2009

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- John's imprisonment and execution did not occur because of Jesus, but because he criticized Herod

I noted this too in a recent blog. In fact, here's the paragraph I wrote about J the B:

It has been pointed out that John the Baptist was one of the most vocal social activists of his day. However, I’d point out that a) his heart wasn’t filled with the Holy Spirit, b) he was a man with a very specific calling in history, a unique appointment, and perhaps not coincidentally, c) the end of his ministry, and his life, came after an apparent change in focus from preparing the way for Christ to calling out the sin of one particular political leader (Herod). To my knowledge, scripture never instructs us to follow John the Baptist’s example, either. However, it does explicitly tell us to follow the example of Jesus, the Heart Changer.

Ian Grant Spong July 29, 2009
Interesting comments Mike. I think John is somewhat of an enigma with many unanswered questions. Jesus insisted that he be baptized, even though John protested. One commentator said that baptism was the outward sign of whose disciple you were, so Jesus was baptized by John, not the other way around. However, Jesus did not become John's disciple, and John did not become Jesus'. So, the question remains, did Jesus intend for John not to become his disciple, but continue his preparation ministry, or was that ministry to be concluded once Jesus arrived on the scene?

John leaves a lot of questions, but your comment is a good conclusion in my mind.