I. PREPARATION FOR CHRIST IS NEEDED. The Jews were not fit to receive their Messiah; they needed the preliminary work of the prophet of the wilderness to make them rightly susceptible to the new influences of the kingdom. The world will not welcome its Saviour till the way has been made ready for his approach. Individual men and women are far from the kingdom of heaven, and the intervening district is wild and impassable till God makes a providential path across it. The ploughman must precede the sower. It is the work of John the Baptists to break up the fallow ground. Sometimes the messenger comes in the form of a great sorrow. Men are arrested and aroused, made to feel their helplessness and their need. Then, but not till then, they may receive the kingdom.

II. THE METHOD OF PREPARATION MAY BE VERY UNLIKE THE METHOD OF SALVATION. John the Baptist is very different from Jesus Christ. The one is a recluse, the other a brotherly, sociable Man; the one lives in a wild, antique fashion, the other quite simply and naturally; the one speaks in thunder, the other in the still, small voice of sympathy and "sweet reasonableness." Nevertheless, John prepares for Jesus. The furnace that melts out the ore is harsh and fierce, yet it is making the metal ready for the goldsmith to work up into his beautiful design. Most un-Christlike experiences may bring us near to Christ.

III. THE ESSENTIAL PRELIMINARY TO THE RECEPTION OF CHRIST IS REPENTANCE. The burden of the Baptist's message was "Repent!" It is not to be supposed that he only preached the word. He must have laboured to produce the thing; he must have made it his aim to lead his hearers to a deep sense of their sin. Until a man owns his guilt he will not seek pardon. The reason of this is obvious directly it is perceived that salvation is just deliverance from sin; for who would wish for such a salvation while still clinging to his evil habits? To such a person Christ would appear not at all as a deliverer, but rather as an invader, as a robber who came to steal the choice treasures of the heart.

IV. REPENTANCE IS ENCOURAGED BY THE PROMISE OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. That kingdom is near at hand; therefore the Baptist urges his hearers to lose no time in making themselves ready for it. The vision of the better life reveals the shame and horror of the life of sin. If there were no hope there would be no repentance; in such a state the awakened conscience could only plunge the soul into remorse - which is hell. Therefore the message of the Baptist must be twofold. It is not right or wise to preach of sin by itself, nor to try to induce repentance chiefly by painting the guilt of the past in the blackest colours. The anticipation of Christ is the best inducement to repentance. - W.F.A.

I. HE WAS NOT MERELY CALLED TO BE A PROPHET WHEN THE TIME CAME - THE TIME OF BIRTH, OF TRAINING, AND OF ENTRANCE UPON PUBLIC LIFE - BUT HE WAS ANNOUNCED AND HE WAS THE SPECIALLY ANNOUNCED, OF PROPHECY. (Vers. 2, 3.)

1. This circumstance places John the Baptist in a very small and select number. Many prophets there had been, and many things did they prophesy; but they did not prophesy of many persons.

2. The circumstance must equally stamp with a special peculiarity the prophet so announced. For such a man there must be some very special work.

3. To be long foretold by prophecy must wonderfully stretch the usefulness, or at all events the use, of the person so foretold. Through centuries his name is ordained to be a power. Faith attaches itself to it; hopes cluster round it; love invests something in it.

4. The fact itself must act as a lesson of non-merit and of non-boasting to the person who is all the while exalted by it. A man may be betrayed, perhaps, to think that what he is and what he does, and the consequences and results of his character and doings, are to his own praise (as, if these are wrong, they certainly redound to his own blame); but the use that came of him before ever he was must be all the work of a higher power. He can take nothing to himself for this.

5. In the light of the fulfilling of prophecy, the advent and career of John the Baptist is not only an evidence in the matter of revealed truth, but it is a leading, first-class evidence. It multiplies by a thousand the force of impression of that kind of evidence, when compared with all that results from the fulfilment of a mere event foretold.

III. THE FAITHFUL ATTITUDE OF HIS OUTER LIFE TO HIS VOCATION OR MISSION. The kingdom of God is indeed not meat, nor drink, nor dress. Yet these may have a tale to tell. They rarely fail, in fact, to bear testimony one way or another. They serve to a large degree the part of a test of the mind and the spirit that rule in any one, and certainly not least in one, a large portion of whose life is lived in public.

1. Plainness of dress, abstemiousness in diet; a strict if not severe hold upon the habit of life, shall neither constitute conclusive evidence of the inner life, nor constitute under any circumstances merit; but if the man be honest in these outside "appearances" they do constitute virtue, and are an evidence of wisdom and of goodness; even as their Opposites, ostentation, intemperance, vanity, and heedlessness, are faults that soon hasten to number themselves in the rank of vice and sin.

2. In the dress and diet of John the Baptist there may sometimes seem to be an approach to the ostentation of austerity. We may correctly hold that a certain proclamation of temperateness and severity was intended to be heard. But as these were real, of ostentation there was nothing. The degeneracy of many a day, many a period, the extremes of "purple and fine linen" and "rags." betokened a state of things that required to have most plainly preached, the plainest gospel of plain dress, plain food, and plain, simple manner and speech.

3. The particular burden of the ministry of John the Baptist did simply demand a faithfully corresponding, practical illustration, in the presence of his audience, so to say. Otherwise nothing would have been, in this case, easier than for the whole congregation of the people to observe, to think, and to utter it forth, that their prophet of denunciation was one who "said, but did not." Harmonies there are in the vast ranges of nature - in its highest and in its deepest things; in its sights most open to vision, and its subtleties most veiled with secrecy. And let us learn that it is ours to make harmonies true and genuine in what shall seem all the littlenesses of our daily life, our outer life, our life of sense as well as of soul.

4. We are not to imagine that John the Baptist exhibits this temperateness and plainness simply as the prophet non-imitable (as the priest of old wore garments of splendour not to be assumed by others), but as the example, who is set forth for this purpose, to be imitated, and imitated of all. There is therefore no more uncertain witness beneath the sun than that of him whose sarcastic motto has been written, "Do as I say, but not as I do."

III. HIS ONE EXHORTATION TO THE PEOPLE. (Ver. 1.) As there are epochs and turning-points in the history of the individual, so also in the history of a nation, and even of the world. Such a one had notably come in the time of the Flood. But now one very different had arrived. The nation of "Jerusalem and all Judaea" was hoary in sin. Yet it led the world in Divine appointments. The short, sharp summons to it, that meant from the lips of this prophet all mercy, was one of:

1. Alteration; the alteration of the kind that the word "repentance" carries. This is an alteration

(1) deep from conviction of mind;

(2) deep bathed in sorrow of heart; and

(3) developed into a reformed life.

2. The altering was challenged upon one ground, viz. the finding of a new principle of rule on earth - that which could be described as the kingdom or rule of heaven. The principle by which all heaven was ruled was to learn to acclimatize here on earth. Oh, wonderful grace and hope! If the "pattern of the tabernacle" once on a time came down from heaven, much more the pattern of this new-born rule, the not-passing, not-decaying, not-vanishing regime of human society. "For the kingdom of heaven is at hand." So this great practical repentance, rooted in all the deepest of spiritual thought, conviction, and feeling, is pleaded for because of the

(1) novel opportunity;

(2) unparalleled splendour and hope; and

(3) tremendous responsibility that lay couched in the fact that "the kingdom of heaven was at hand."

And this meant the regeneration of the world after long process of ages, through the regeneration of the individual.

IV. HIS FIRST RECEPTION ON THE PART OF THE PEOPLE, AND HIS VARIOUS TREATMENT OF THAT RECEPTION.

1. He was received with attention and obedience on the part of the great bulk of the sinful and sin-burdened people (vers. 5, 6); and he baptized these, with the manner and, no doubt, with some words of approbation and encouragement.

2. He was repaired to by "many of the Pharisees and Sadducees." This meant either a very great and real change already in them, or it meant less than none at all in any good direction, but, on the contrary, an adherence too faithful to their ingrained foolishness, their long blindness, and their rooted hypocrisy. The treatment accorded to these men by John the Baptist proves that the latter was the real state of the case with them. Notice in this treatment:

(1) Its utter plain-spokenness. Fearless of the fearless must John the Baptist have been when he apostrophized such men in the terms, "O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" Events proved that it was from no entrenched position that could reckon on safety, let a man say what his tongue might, that John spoke thus.

(2) Its consenting still to believe that there was a chance, and, therefore, still holding to the words of exhortation: "Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance."

(3) Its measured, faithful warning, with urgency added (vers. 9-12).

(4) Its self-disclaiming (ver. 11.)

(5) Its vigorous, fervent exalting of "the Mightier (vers. 11, 12). The language John held in reference to his greater Successor Jesus, in vers. 11, 12, is not only an exalting of the Person of Christ, but a description unsurpassed of his Divinest energy, as baptizing with the Holy Ghost;" of his purifying and discriminating energy with fire, and fan in hand, and cleansing of the threshing-floor; and of his consuming energy, "unquenchable fire" for the "chaff."

V. HIS MODEST RECEPTION OF JESUS, WITH ABSOLUTE SELF-RENOUNCING, IN HIS PRESENCE. The attitude of John the Baptist at this unexpected crisis was indeed to be expected. The thing to be observed is that it did not belie expectation! The mark of this great character was made indeed in those days. And the picture is engraved on the page before us, like a lively portraiture indeed. Would that more, many more, of the true servants of God and disciples of Jesus Christ were as transparent and as straight and as charged with sacred energy and reverent modesty! - B.

I. JOHN'S APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER. He claimed to belong to the old prophetic line by appearing clad in the prophetic garb, the single rough garment of skin. His manner of life harmonized with his dress; leaving the comfortable home and well-provided life and fair prospects of a priestly family, he adopted the meagre, comfortless life of an ascetic. To entangle himself with the world would have tended to blind him to its vices and silence his remonstrance. He gathered round him a few men like himself, and "taught them to pray." Thus he became "a voice." The rough garment, the long, uncared-for hair, the wiry, weather-beaten frame, the ascetic life, were all eloquent. In any age, in order to become a voice for good, a man must be unworldly, consistent, himself the most convinced. The men who have few desires for earthly gain and comfort are accepted as the messengers of Heaven. There is no power on earth like the power of a consecrated life.

II. JOHN'S WORK WAS TO ROUSE THE PEOPLE TO PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD; to make ready for the coming of their King. (For illustrations of the figure, Stanley's 'Through the Dark Continent' may be consulted.) The herald of a royal progress has generally nothing to do but proclaim the approach of the king; triumphal arches are extemporized by the meanest village, unseemly things are swept away or hidden, the entire, population turns out to shout a welcome. But John had to turn the thoughts of men from lifelong pursuits; to convert, not an individual, which is hard enough, but a land. He had to prepare the way of One who came with power to bestow the Holy Ghost and make men the sons of God - a King who could be acceptable only to men thirsting for God and righteousness. Who are prepared to welcome Christ? Who are in a condition to hail as good tidings salvation from sin?

III. MEANS USED BY JOHN.

1. He preached and baptized. John preached that repentance was needed as a preparation for the coming King. He taught the people that it was a spiritual, not a physical, condition which qualified for entrance into the kingdom; that if it was a mere question of furnishing a number of Abraham's children as subjects for the Messiah, God could turn the stones into children of Abraham. In fact, he excommunicated the whole of Israel, and assured them they could enter the kingdom only by repentance and by the grace of him who would baptize with the Holy Ghost.

2. He put this teaching in a symbolic form. He baptized. The rite characterized his ministry. He was the Baptist. He made the born Jews undergo the rite proselytes underwent. Three things, say the Jews, make a proselyte - circumcision, baptism, sacrifice. And the law for the baptism of a proselyte was: "They bring the proselyte to baptism, and, when they have placed him in the water, they again instruct him in the weightier and lighter matters of the Law, which, being heard, he plunges down and comes up, and behold he is an Israelite in all things." Baptism was the symbol whereby the new birth was expressed to the eye. The Gentile went down into the water as into a grave, in which his old man was left, and he came up a new man, born now a Jew and not a Gentile - born of the water. To ask Jews to submit to this ordinance was to ask them to acknowledge that their physical birth as children of Abraham was insufficient to prepare them for their King. Points for homiletic elaboration: connection of word and symbol in sacraments - relation of sacrament to grace conferred - John's New Testament use of the title "Holy Ghost."

IV. RESULTS OF JOHN'S WORK. There was a fascination about him which drew all classes. The very sight of an old prophet of the extinct type was worth a day's journey to the wilderness. It became the fashion to see John and be baptized. The authorities paid him a compliment they can have paid to very few - they sent a deputation to ask him if he was the Messiah. But a public character or a preacher may be very popular, and yet the impression he makes may be superficial and transitory. Some were guided to Jesus by John, but it is difficult to say how far he succeeded in his object.

V. TESTS OF THE REALITY OF THE IMPRESSION HE MADE WERE GIVEN BY HIMSELF. No one was more surprised than he was at the kind of people that came to him. "Who hath warned you?" They professed repentance, but it was not profession which fitted them for the kingdom,' but the reality. Jesus was to come "with his fan in his hand," to make a thorough separation between bad men and good. Meanwhile judge of your repentance:

1. Not by its present expression in misery of mind or shame. Some derive a deceptive comfort from the remembrance of the wretched days they spent, the tears they shed, the shame they felt, when first they awoke to their sin. Others suspect their own repentance because it brought no such sorrow. Other griefs have struck them so fair and indubitably, have left so distinct a mark, have forced them to so genuine an expression of their pain, that they are staggered on finding no such evident sorrow in their repentance. But there are various temperaments, and you must not measure your grief with the grief of other men. And repentance is not like a worldly loss - it resembles not a fever or acute illness that seizes a man suddenly, but a chronic ailment, which hangs about him always, never making him cry out with pain, but always there, altering his whole life.

2. Judge by the fruits. Wait to see if it destroys sin in the life. Only a trained eye distinguishes the different kinds of corn in the blade, but any passer-by knows the difference between an ear of wheat and an ear of barley. Sunset is often a good deal like sunrise; but wait a little, and the difference is unmistakable. Fine spirit is like water; but apply a match, and the difference is apparent. Compare repentance about a worldly matter - investing in a bad concern; how careful a man is afterwards! The man whose repentance is genuine will not be able to indulge in sin as he did. Especially his characteristic sins will be abandoned. CONC Matthew LUSION. Christ is now revealed the Giver of the Holy Ghost. This is the gospel preached to us - that there is a river into which we may be plunged, and from it rise new creatures, the whole past swept away, and ourselves started on a new life. We have been baptized in sign that the Holy Ghost is freely given to us. God has by baptism opened to us individually this greatest Gift. We need the outward symbol, for we disbelieve in the Spirit's indwelling. So superficial has been our repentance, so unhelpful, so deceitful, that we always feel as if we were left to struggle alone against sin. We need to listen still to John, whose message was, "There standeth One among you who baptizeth with the Holy Ghost." - D.

I. THAT JOHN CAME IN THE QUALITY OF ELIJAH.

1. In this quality he was predicted.

(1) Gabriel stood at the right side of the altar of incense, evidently in response to the prayer of Zacharias which had ascended with the incense. Gabriel promised Zacharias that he should have a son in his old age, gave directions for the ordering of the child, adding, "And he shall go before the face of the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the heart of the fathers to the children," etc. (Luke 1:11-17).

(2) Gabriel's words clearly allude to those of Malachi, "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers," etc. (Malachi 4:5, 6).

(3) "Elijah," in these passages, comes in two senses, and on the same principle it is evident that the place in Isaiah (Isaiah 40:1-3), in the text applied to John, is in its ultimate sense also applicable to the Tishbite.

2. John accordingly behaved like Elijah.

(1) His dwelling was in the wilderness. There he was brought up (Luke 1:80). There he exercised his ministry. Note: We get our moral strength for the rough work of life by retirement with God.

(2) John applied to himself the words of Isaiah, "I am the voice," etc. (see John 1:28). Note:

(a) John was simply the "voice," Jesus is the "Word."

(b) This voice arose out of silence.

Zacharias was dumb until he pronounced the name of "John." So we, until visited by the pledges of his mercy and grace, are dumb before God.

(3) His diet was the wild food of nature. "Locusts" were "clean" (Leviticus 11:22). Our conversation should be pure. "Wild honey," whether from the rock in which the bee had swarmed, or the saccharine exudation from the palm, date, or olive trees (see Deuteronomy 32:13; 1 Samuel 14:26). Note: Men of heavenly tempers are not epicures in earthly food.

(4) He wore a rough garment. This appears to have been the usual dress of the prophets (see Isaiah 20:2; Hebrews 11:37). Therefore psuedo-prophets assumed it (Zechariah 13:4). John's garb particularly resembled that of Elijah (2 Kings 1:8). The girdle of dried skin, rough and strong, denoted the wearer to be a man of resolution, like his prototype (Luke 12:35; 1 Peter 1:13). Note: If John's dress was plain in the sight of men, he was himself "great in the sight of God" (Luke 1:15). Let us not plume ourselves upon our clothes, or value our fellows by outward appearances.

3. Yet is John distinguished from that prophet.

(1) He distinguished himself. When priests and Levites demanded it' he were Elijah, he said, "I am not" (John 1:21).

(2) Jesus also distinguished him. "If ye are willing to receive it, this is Elijah which is to come. So after John's death he said, Elijah indeed cometh first and restoreth all things" (Matthew 11:14; Mark 9:12). John Baptist did not "restore all things."

(3) It is evident that in these prophecies there is a double sense. They point to two advents of Jesus. In the first he came to set up a spiritual kingdom, and was heralded by Elijah in "spirit and power." In the second he will come to establish a visible kingdom, and will be heralded by Elijah in person.

II. THAT JOHN CAME TO HERALD THE KING MESSIAH.

1. His testimony was unequivocal.

(1) The "Lord" whom he proclaimed is styled "Jehovah" in Isaiah. John pointed out Jesus of Nazareth as that very personage (see John 1:15, 29).

(2) Herein was John the greatest of all the prophets (Matthew 11:9-11). Other prophets gave marks and tokens by which Christ might be known. John pointed him out in Person. The greatest triumph of prophecy is to bring men to the personal Jesus, in their very soul to see him as the saving Christ.

2. His qualifications were unimpeachable.

(1) John was indicated as a prophet of the Lord in the extraordinary circumstances of his birth (Luke 1:5-25). In these he resembled Samson and Jeremiah (Judges 13.; Jeremiah 1:5).

(2) He had his commission immediately from heaven (Luke 3:2).

(3) The Jews acknowledged him. Multitudes of them came to his baptism (ver. 6). No one disputed his claims Matthew 21:26; (Matthew Mark 11:32 Luke 20:6).

(4) The testimony of John to Jesus is therefore most valuable. The marks by which John identified Jesus as the Christ were Divine and inimitable (John 1:32-34). It is difficult to conceive how the unbelieving Jews can dispose of John's testimony.

III. JOHN CAME ALSO TO HERALD MESSIAH'S KINGDOM.

1. He heralded it as the kingdom of the heavens.

(1) The Christian discipleship is a kingdom.

(a) It has subjects.

(b) It has a King.

(c) It has laws.

(2) It is called the kingdom of the heavens.

(a) Its principles are those of heaven.

(b) In the heavens its principles are made eternal.

(c) It prepares its subjects for translation to the heavens.

(3) It is in "spirit and power" the "kingdom of the God of heaven" described by Daniel (Daniel 2:44; Daniel 7:13, 14). In the other Gospels it is called the "kingdom of God."

(4) John, though a priest, never officiated in the temple. But he introduced the Lord of the temple (Malachi 3:1). Was there not here an intimation that the priesthood of Aaron was now to give place to that of Melchizedek?

2. He proclaimed its near approach.

(1) The coming of the kingdom in "spirit and power" dates from the ascension of Christ (cf. Psalm 110:1, 2; Luke 19:12-14). That event was indeed "at hand," but not the coming of the kingdom in visible glory.

(2) The spiritual kingdom is entered by faith. Believers do not pass out of it at death. In that "article" Jesus, however, comes in Person, though invisibly, to receive them to himself (John 14:1-3).

3. He therefore preached repentance.

(1) "The voice," etc. The imagery here is borrowed from the practice of Eastern monarchs, who on taking a journey or going on a military expedition, used to send persons to "form the road." So repentance must:

(a) Bring down the eminences of pride, presumption, ingratitude.

(b) Fill up the hollows of inattention, apathy, despondency.

(c) Straighten the crooked places of prejudice, censoriousness, covetousness.

(d) Smooth the rough places of sabbath-breaking, drunkenness, profanity, immorality, instability.

(2) John's garb and mode of living preached. His habits were in keeping with his doctrine. Sweet is the harmony between the lip and life.

(3) The time of his preaching was opportune. Jewish writers admit that their nation was then fearfully degenerated. They soon filled up the measure of their iniquity. No preaching was more needed than that of the Baptist.

(4) The place also was opportune. The mind of every man, whether Jew or Gentile, is like the wilderness in which John preached, and needs his stirring words. - J.A.M.

I. PREACHING AS PROCLAIMING A MESSAGE. The preacher is but the agency, or medium, by means of which a message is conveyed. So John calls himself a "voice," because what he said was the all-important thing. This is the idea of the prophet, who was the medium through which a message of God was carried into the minds of men. It is essential to every preacher that he should have something to proclaim; therefore what Christian preachers preach is called the "gospel," or "good news."

1. But the preacher must be sure of his message. Compare the expression used by prophets, "The word of God came to me." A preacher proclaims, not what he thinks, but what he knows; what he grips as the truth of God given him to declare. The "accent of conviction" is the test of the true preacher.

2. And they who hear must feel convinced of the authority of the messenger. Not an authority arising out of his office, but out of the evidence that he holds a commission, and has a message. In what sense can preachers nowadays be said to have their messages direct from God?

II. PREACHING AS PERSUADING TO RESPOND TO THE MESSAGE. This brings to view the personal force of the preacher. To be a herald he need but be a voice. To be a persuader he must be a voice with a tone in it; and that tone is the personal element. See, then, the kind of preachers that become men of power. They are men who "tell the truth;" but they are much more than this - they are men who, like John the Baptist, can "make the truth tell." - R.T.

I. WE CLAIM REPENTANCE BECAUSE GOD WILL JUDGE, Our plea is the sinfulness of sin, the certain consequences of sin, the future judgment on sins. "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men." This is right for the individual. Partly right. But even for the individual it may be doubted whether the revelation of Divine grace is not a more truly humbling force. "A sense of blood-bought pardon soon dissolves a heart of stone."

II. JOHN CLAIMED REPENTANCE BECAUSE GOD WILL SAVE. The "kingdom of heaven" is the manifestation of God's delivering grace and power, the fulfilment of the national hope. He says, because God is gracious, therefore repent. The apostle ventures to declare that the "goodness of God" should "lead to repentance." And that is true to human nature, though doctrinal theologies have tended to obscure the truth. Love is the great melting, humbling power. God's redemption is the true convicter of sin. - R.T.

I. THINGS THAT SEEM SUDDEN AND ISOLATED ARE ALWAYS ISSUES, AND ALWAYS STAND IN CONNECTIONS. illustrate by the coming of Messiah as prepared for by John and connected with his ministry. Take any event that ever has happened, modern scientific inquiry demands to know where it stands; how it is related; what it has come up out of; by what processes it is arrived at. Our Bible is really the history of the Divine series of preparations; and our very life is only apprehended aright when it is regarded as the preparation for the life to come.

II. THE ADVENT OF MESSIAH SEEMS SUDDEN AND ISOLATED, BUT IT IS AN ISSUE, AND IT STANDS IN CONNECTIONS. This opens a familiar line of thought. Preparations for Messiah are found

(1) in promises;

(2) in prophecies;

(3) in songs of hope;

(4) in historical events;

(5) in preaching demands, such as John's, etc.

The issue of four thousand years of Divine preparation. - R.T.

I. A MAN HIMSELF IS A POWER OF INFLUENCE. We are so constantly thinking of, and estimating, what a man does or says, that we are in danger of thinking that a man's power is exclusively his activity. Then we are likely to divorce character and work, and say, "It does not matter what a man is privately so that he does well publicly." But the fact is that the man himself does more than the man's activity. 'What he is is more important than what he does. His unconscious influence is more effective than his conscious. Here is the ministry of a man's words and works, but there is also the more searching ministry of the man himself. If John the Baptist had said nothing, he would have preached repentance by his clothes and by his food. From this impress the duty of making our dress and habits the simple expression of ourselves.

II. A MAN SHOULD CULTURE HIMSELF IN ORDER TO BE THE BEST POSSIBLE POWER OF INFLUENCE. Just this John did. He put his daily habits into severe self-restraint; reduced his clothes and food to the narrowest limits. And this because he intelligently set before himself a precise aim, and resolved to. secure fitness for accomplishing that aim. Impress the truth that a man is never his true self while he allows his personal influence to be a mere accident. Most men merely happen to influence. Noble men resolve to influence, decide how they will influence, and put themselves into holy restraints in order, to gain power. - R.T.

I. IT WAS A SEASON OF FAITHFUL PREACHING.

1. Christ was prominent in the sermon.

(1) "Make ye ready the way of the Lord ] ' was the" cry" of the "voice" in the wilderness. "He that cometh" was the grand theme - the Promise of prophecy, the Hope and Expectation of the world.

(2) The sermon set forth Christ in his dignity. "The Lord," equivalent to "Jehovah" in the Hebrew of Isaiah. If amongst men there had not arisen a greater than the Baptist, then who must that Person be whose shoes John was not worthy to bear? Maimonides says, "All services which a servant does for his master a disciple does for his teacher, excepting unloosing his shoes" (cf. John 8:58).

(3) It set forth Christ in his power. "Mightier than I." "God is able of these stones," etc., viz. as he raised up Adam from the dust. "These stones." "John was now baptizing in Jordan at Bethabara (John 1:28), the House of passage, where the children of Israel passed over; and there were the twelve stones, one for each tribe, which Joshua set up for a memorial (Joshua 4:20). It is not unlikely that he pointed to those stones, which God could make to be, more than in representation, the twelve tribes of Israel" (Henry).

(4) It set forth Christ also in his official distinction. "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire." John, though a priest, did not presume to wield the fire of the sanctuary. That was a Divine prerogative (cf. Luke 24:49; John 15:26). Apostles presumed not to claim it. Sacraments have no efficacy from those who minister them (cf. 2 Kings 4:31; 1 Corinthians 3:6).

2. It insisted upon essential things.

(1) John preached repentance in order to remission of sins. He insisted that true repentance will have meet fruit. Shakespeare well describes it as

"Heart's sorrow,
And a clear life ensuing." Those are not true penitents who say they are sorry for sin, and persist in sinning.

(2) John also preached faith in Jesus as the Christ. In the text he spoke of him as coming. Afterwards he pointed him out in Person (John 1:29). That is grand preaching which brings the sinner into personal relationship to his Saviour.

(3) John also preached holiness. His baptism was a ceremonial purification, of which the baptism conferred by Jesus is the spiritual complement. John's baptism was "with water," viz. which washes the surface; Christ's, "with fire," viz. which purges the substance. The regeneration of water is outward and ceremonial, that of the Holy Ghost is inward and spiritual.

3. Its lessons were closely applied.

(1) With encouragement. This was in the forefront. John's ministry was "the beginning of the gospel [or,' good news'] of Jesus Christ, the Son of God" (Mark 1:1).

(2) With entreaty. He besought the people to repent of their sins.

(3) With admonition.

(a) The lineage of goodness is no substitute for repentance. The Talmud says that "Abraham sits next the gates of hell, and does not permit any Israelite, however wicked, to go down there." John preached a different doctrine. Visible Church-membership will not save.

(b) "Think not to say within yourselves," etc. Do not attempt secretly to justify impenitence by things that you have not the courage to announce. Hide no lie that will ruin you.

(c) God is not restricted to any law of succession in his Church. "Of these stones - Gentiles, apparently without any covenant life, in opposition to fruitless trees," he could "raise up children unto Abraham" (cf. Romans 4:16-18; Galatians 3:22-29).

(4) With reproof. The Pharisees and Sadducees, who claimed to be children of Abraham, are described as a brood of vipers - the seed of the old serpent. They are also described as "trees" with leaves (of profession), but without fruit of performance. They are described as the "chaff" - light, hollow, hypocritical, having only the semblance of "wheat."

(5) With warning.

(a) The "axe" of judgment lay at the root of the trees (cf. Isaiah 10:33, 34; Daniel 4:11, 20, 23; Luke 13:7-9).

(b) The "fan" to separate the chaff from the wheat was in Messiah's hand (cf. Psalm 1:4; Daniel 2:35; Matthew 13:30, 49).

(c) The "wrath to come," or predicted destruction of Messiah's enemies (Malachi 4:6), was set before them.

(d) The "unquenchable fire" of hell was shadowed in the horrors of the judgments of God upon the city. Gurnell says, speaking of the lost, "Their torment makes them sin, and their sin feeds their torment, one being fuel for the other."

(e) "He that cometh" and "the wrath to come" are nearly associated (see 1 Thessalonians 1:10). It is evermore "wrath to come."

(f) The danger is imminent. "Even now," etc. Fools only can make a mock of sin.

II. IT WAS A SEASON OF STRONG RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT.

1. Multitudes were deeply moved. This fact is clearly set forth in the text (see also Luke 3:7).

(1) Here was a great honour put upon John. He was a man of retirement. God often confers the greater honour on those who court it least.

(2) These multitudes were not moved solely by John's eloquence. They were "a people prepared of the Lord" (Luke 1:17). The same Holy Spirit who called and qualified John moved the people to wait upon his ministry.

(3) The prayers of the faithful probably had much to do with it.

(a) Like his prototype Elijah, John himself was a man of prayer. This was the moral of his retirement in the wilderness.

(b) There were also those who "looked for redemption in Jerusalem" - those who, like Anna, "departed not from the temple, worshipping with lastings and supplications night and day" (Luke 2:37, 38).

(c) Who can say to what extent blessings come upon the Church and upon the world in response to the prayers of saints dwelling in obscurity (cf. Ezra 10:1)?

2. Notorious sinners were moved.

(1) Such there would naturally be amongst the multitudes.

(2) "Publicans and harlots" appear to have been baptized by John (see Matthew 21:32). None are too wicked to be saved but those who are too wicked to repent.

3. Unlikely sinners were moved.

(1) Of this number were the Pharisees.

(a) They were orthodox Jews, who believed in Church doctrines and traditions.

(b) They were formalists, strict in life, and who prided themselves upon their righteousness. What need could such persons feel for repentance?

(c) Yet many of them, their righteousness notwithstanding, had the viper's venom in their hearts. Formalism may consist with heart-malice.

(2) Of this number also were the Sadducees. They were the opposite of the Pharisees. They rejected Church traditions. They interpreted the Scriptures in the rationalistic spirit. They denied the immortality of the soul and the existence of the angels. They were materialists and deists. Of what use would repentance be to such?

(3) John was astonished to see these coming. He noticed how they came in company. So he treated them alike. Extremes meet.

4. The results of the movement were various.

(1) Some came under true religious conviction. They confessed their sins, i.e. took them home to themselves. With these there was no attempt to throw the blame, in whole or part, upon either God or man (see 1 John 1:8). Those who thus received the baptism of John were prepared to become disciples of Jesus (John 1:35-37).

(2) Some came 'because their neighbours came. Note here the power of

(a) example;

(b) fashion;

(c) numbers.

Men, like sheep, are gregarious. Of these some became true disciples. Others went back when the excitement subsided (cf. Ezekiel 33:31-33; John 5:35). Many come to ordinances the power of which they never feel.

(3) Some came from selfish policy. Forming conceptions of the coming kingdom suited to their gross affections, they thought it might offer them advantages of civil distinction. Upon discovering the spiritual nature of the kingdom, they were offended. Such were the majority of the Pharisees and lawyers (cf. Matthew 21:25; Luke 7:27-30). There are still those who join Churches for worldly ends. - J.A.M.

1. Acknowledgment of the sin.

2. Putting away of the sin henceforth.

It is not evangelical repentance we feel if we shrink from doing either of these two things. The moral value of repentance that finds expression in confession is exhibited in a very striking way by St. Paul. "What carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge!" (2 Corinthians 7:11). The special point which may be opened and illustrated is, that confession assures of personal thought and feeling. It is the expression of the aroused, awakened man, whose indifference is gone, who sees himself, and is oppressed with the sight. If a man really confesses, he must have got a real self-hold.

I. A RELIGION OF MERE ASSOCIATION IS WORTHLESS. Yet that is all the religion so many have. It has no confession in it, save the unintelligent, parrot-like repetition of a formula.

II. A RELIGION OF PERSONAL CONVICTIONS ALONE IS WORTHY. One of its earliest signs is confession: because as soon as a man comes to think, he is dissatisfied with himself, and finds that he wants to say so. Saying so is the way toward gaining relief. - R.T.

I. REPENTANCE MUST BE IN THE WILL AS WELL AS IN THE EMOTIONS. It is easy to feel sorry for the wrong one has done; yet this feeling may not carry with it any determination not to repeat the wrong. A wave of emotion may sweep over the soul, and during its passage all love of sin may be buried, and only the most becoming ideas appear on the surface. But they will be but froth and foam melting into nothing, and they will vanish with the retreating wave, leaving the hard rock beneath quite unmoved. There is no real repentance until the will is touched, until the penitent resolves to abandon his sin and to seek a better life. He may well see that he cannot do this himself; his sin is too strong for him, and the better life is above his reach. Repentance is not regeneration, but it is a sincere desire for a new life, an honest determination to seek it.

II. TRUE REPENTANCE WILL REVEAL ITSELF IN CONDUCT. It has its fruits. No one can be really turning round from sin and setting his face towards the light without some results appearing in his behaviour. He will not immediately step on to the pedestal of the saint. He will be still down in the darkness, feeble, depressed, guilty, and conscious of guilt. But every action will show that he is trying to reach after better things, even though they may be still far beyond his grasp. Lorenzo di Medici on his death-bed sends for Savanarola and, in terror of the torments of hell, begs to be assured of the Divine forgiveness. The stern reformer bids the dying man return their possessions to those whom he has robbed, and set his imprisoned enemies free, and he consents. Then Savonarola makes a third demand, that the tyrant will restore their liberties to the Florentines. This is too much for him; he turns away in silent refusal and dies unrepentant - and therefore unshriven.

III. IT IS THE DUTY OF THE PENITENT TO CULTIVATE FRUITS OF REPENTANCE. People sometimes distress themselves with the fear that they have not repented sufficiently to receive the pardon of God. But they make a mistake if they suppose that the exciting of deeper feelings of compunction or the shedding of more tears is what God requires. Let them leave their emotions to take care of themselves, and set their attention on their conduct. This does require thought and effort. Yet the very fact that repentance must bear fruit shows that it is more than a work of man's production. Therefore it is necessary to seek the "grace" of repentance, to pray for the Spirit of God to make the true fruits appear. Lastly, let it be remembered when they do appear they are not all we need; they are only the signs of a right state of mind fur receiving forgiveness. - W.F.A.

I. A GREAT DELUSION. (Ver. 9.)

1. Its excuse. The Jews prided themselves in their pedigree. They were Abraham's children, and they expected to be favoured on account of their great ancestor. Glorious promises had been made to Abraham and his seed; the Jews were the seed of Abraham; therefore they concluded that the promises were for them, and that no final harm could come near them. The same delusion is found in those people who comfort themselves with the thought that they belong to a Christian Church, that they are members of a Christian family, that in some way they are included in a Christian covenant, although there is nothing Christian in their character and conduct.

2. Its mistake. There is no such thing as hereditary salvation. The children of a saint will suffer the doom of sinners if they are sinners, quite as much as the children of a sinner; nay, even a worse doom, because their advantages are greater. It is true that great promises are laid up for the children of Abraham; but only they are his true children who have their ancestor's faith. The Jews could not but admit that the Arabs were children of Abraham, yet they did not extend to them the hope of Abraham's blessings. It might have been urged that the Israelites cannot perish because, if they were lost, God would not have a people on whom he could fulfil his rear promises to Abraham. This would be to limit the power of God, to forget his resources. If he wanted other children he could raise them from the very stones of the wilderness. He did raise them from the Gentile peoples. We are none of us necessary to God.

II. A NEAR DANGER. (Ver. 10.) This question of Abraham's family is not a subject for quiet speculation only. Soon the futility of the theory of the Jews with which they quiet their fears will be apparent. The axe is already lying by the root of the tree. The Roman power that is destined to cut down the Jewish state is close at hand.

1. Its unsuspected presence.

(1) The tree is still standing - a great tree, with massive trunk and spreading branches. An imposing presence suggests strength and security.

(2) The tree is vigorous. Its stem is not rotten. But it is bearing no good fruit, and it is cumbering the ground; in these facts is its danger.

(3) The axe is unseen. It lies at the root - perhaps hidden among the grasses. Yet the place where it lies suggests utter destruction. We do not see dangers lurking at our feet.

2. Its fatal power. That cold gleam of steel at the root of the tree - how frightfully suggestive it is I It is a small thing by the side of the giant of the forest. Nevertheless how soon cart it bring the proud tree crashing to the ground! No one can escape from the keen blows of the axe of God's judgment.

3. Its merciful warning. Why is the axe laid at the root of the tree? why is it not used at once? Here is mercy in the midst of judgment. The Baptist points to the axe that he may drive his hearers to repentance. Our attention is drawn to it that we may escape - though at the eleventh hour. - W.F.A.

I. Religious self-deceptions provide BODILY OCCUPATIONS AND RELATIONS in place of spiritual ones. Routines, ceremonials, relationships.

II. Religious self-deceptions put MAN'S AUTHORITIES IN PLACE OF GOD'S. Ministries of helpfulness man may provide; "dominion over faith" even the great apostle steadfastly refused to claim. - R.T.

I. THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE ADMINISTRATORS. John was regarded as the great prophet of his day; yet he considered himself to be infinitely inferior to the coming Christ. Wherein were the great differences between the Baptist and Jesus Christ?

1. In character. John was a holy man, but still a sinner. Christ was faultless, quite pure, and supreme in all goodness. Thus he was and is far above the best of men, as the stars are above the highest mountains; in comparison with the stars the distinction between mountain and plain sinks into insignificance.

2. In power. John was a strong and gifted man, yet how little could he do for the reformation of Israel, for the redemption of the world? He is but the labourer digging out the foundation; Christ is the Master-Builder who raises the great temple.

3. In office. John is the prophet, the messenger of God. Christ is the King. His office is regal, and his honour is the highest.

4. Its nature. John is but a man, though the greatest man of his day; Jesus is the very Son of God. This may not have been known to the Baptist, but an instinctive foreshadowing of the great mystery may have touched him with an awed perception of the wonderful greatness of the Coming One.

II. THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE SACRAMENTS.

1. The water-baptism. This baptism of John's was a token of repentance. It seemed to express the desire of the penitent to wash away his past sin. It was concerned with his guilt and with the need of cleansing it. But it contained no power for the future. It did not regenerate; it did not quicken the dead soul. Thus it must be recognized that repentance by itself is not enough. The penitent still waits for his renewal.

2. The fire-baptism. It might have been thought that the consuming element of fire was better adapted to the ministration of the terrible prophet of the wilderness, while the gentler purifying water would be suitable for the milder methods of the Son of man. Yet the prophecy of the Baptist was fulfilled. We cannot confine his words to the second advent of Christ in judgment. Christ came in his first appearance with flames to burn the evil out of the hearts of men in the consuming power of the Holy Spirit. For here the fire seems to stand for the Holy Spirit, as it did on the Day of Pentecost, when the Gift came in cloven tongues of fire. When Christ enters the soul he both burns up the old evil and kindles the fire of a new life. All life is fire. Even applied physiologically this idea is true; we only live by burning up our own bodies, and that is why we need food, which is fuel. Christ's baptism is the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the coming of that Spirit is the lighting of a fire in a man's heart. Thus it is life. - W.F.A.

I. WATER-BAPTISM IS THE TYPE OF PUTTING OFF SURFACE ACTS OF SIN. Attention should be fixed on the ministry of water. It washes off; it cleanses surfaces. "The result of John's baptism, even for those who received it faithfully, did not go beyond the change of character and life implied in repentance." Illustrate by the advice given to the different classes who came to John. They were to cease their wrong-doing, to put away their characteristic faults, to wash off their particular sins from the record of their lives. In a similar way Isaiah pleads, "Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil" (Isaiah 1:16). This is the proper beginning of moral reformation; but it is only a beginning.

II. FIRE-BAPTISM IS THE TYPE OF BURNING OUT THE SOUL OF SIN, THE LOVE OF SIN. Fire is a cleanser; it is, indeed, the supreme cleanser, because it searches into the very substance of a thing. So fire is applied to metals. The fire is to "try every man's work, of what sort it is." Christ is to deal with that spiritual condition out of which the acts of sin come. To put the matter sharply, John only dealt with actions and opinions. Christ deals with feelings, and will; cleansing the very thoughts of the heart. - R.T.

I. THE SEVERITY OF CHRIST'S WORK. Apparently John's seems to be more arresting and severe; but really it does not prove to be so. There is all the difference between "washing off" and "burning out." The very forces themselves, "water," "fire," suggest the distinction. Repentance seems severe; the after-time resolute dealing with sin and rooting it out is much more severe. Christian keeping on is much more stern than Christian beginning. Illustrate by the Book of Revelation. The living Christ is actually present in his Churches, and at work, making them altogether white; and all the forces, famine, war, commotions, disease, etc., are the fires in which he is burning away the dross, and making the silver shine perfectly white. He were no true friend of sinners if he withheld necessary severity.

II. THE CONTINUITY OF CHRIST'S WORK. What is presented to thought is, that nothing will check or stop the Divine fire-cleansing. That it will stop when its work is done is assumed. The fire will keep on consuming as long as there is anything to consume, but no one conceives evil to be eternal. Christ will burn on until his burning work is needed no more. - R.T.

I. LET US INQUIRE WHAT WAS THE MEANING OF THE BAPTISM OF JESUS.

1. Note some errors to be avoided.

(1) This was not a baptism of repentance. John saw that, and although lie did not yet know who Jesus was, the pure and spotless life of his mysterious Relative was evidently not unknown to him. He saw that Jesus did. not need the baptism as it was commonly understood.

(2) This was not a mere form. Christ continually contended against the hypocrisy of formalism. He could not have begun his public life with a purely formal action.

(3) This was not only intended as an example for others. In that case the action of Christ would have been simply a theatrical performance, unworthy of him, not to be countenanced by the serious Baptist. Moreover, the results of the baptism show that it had to do directly with the Person and work of Christ.

2. Consider the truths of the incident. Baptism has a double meaning. It looks forward as well as backward. As a rite in regard to the future it is a dedication, an act of self-consecration. Jesus had no sins of the past to wash out; but there was a great future to which he would dedicate himself in baptism. Then he was a Man, and he was humbling himself to the whole round of human duties. It was not in accordance with his mission that he should abandon the religious duties of his day. On the contrary, it was incumbent on him to "fulfil all righteousness" in connection with them. Thus the method of his self-consecration was an act of lowly obedience in connection with the deepest religious movement of the time.

II. LET US LOOK AT THE RESULTS OF THE BAPTISM OF JESUS. There were a vision and a voice.

1. The vision.

(1) The heavens opened. Self-surrender brings us near to God. The heavens open over the head of the utterly unselfish and truly consecrated man.

(2) The descending Spirit. The Spirit comes to Christ, and is in him without measure (John 3:34). The form was symbolical, but the fact was real. After this Christ displayed powers in miracle-working and teaching which he had never shown before. If Jesus needed this endowment of the Spirit, much more do we need it.

(3) The form of the dove. This is very significant. The Spirit takes many forms. On Jesus it appears in love and gentleness. "A bruised reed shall he not break." This form of the manifestation is peculiarly true to the nature of the Spirit. God is most of all present in "the still, small voice." By his gentleness he makes us great (Psalm 18:35).

2. The voice. The vision was especially for Christ's benefit. The evangelist says that "he saw the Spirit of God," etc., as though the people did not see the dove descending. John also saw the vision (John 1:32), and probably no one else. But the voice is not thus restricted. The spiritual grace is personal, for Christ himself; the revelation of the Son of God is for all who have ears to hear. - W.F.A.

I. ITS OCCASION. How long was Jesus to be known merely as the village carpenter of Nazareth? What is to transpire which shall show him that God's time has come for his public ministry? Ambition makes opportunities. In general, kings have only to wait the demise of their predecessors. To our Lord came at last a summons he could not misunderstand nor resist. John's hearers longed for that which only Jesus could give. He could no longer hide himself in Nazareth when a movement was afoot which he alone could guide, utilize, and prosper. When men truly seek Christ, he does not hide himself from them. He will not cause by his absence the defeat of any righteous movement.

II. ITS MEANING. John did not recognize its meaning. He was taken aback when Jesus presented himself for baptism. This was a difficulty he had not foreseen. He had foreseen trouble with scrupulous consciences; that he would be abused, perhaps endangered; that he would be the repository of disagreeable secrets - a nation's confessor. But this he had not foreseen. How could he baptize One who had no sin? John's refusal a strong testimony to the sinlessness of Jesus. He might not yet know he was the Messiah; it was his personal character and private conduct which had impressed him. He was abashed in his presence, and would have changed places with him. But Jesus demanded the performance of the rite, because, as one with a guilty race, he felt that baptism was for him. He was so truly one with us that he felt ashamed of our sins, grieved because of them, felt as if they were his. The father hangs his head, sickens and dies when the son is disgraced. The wife cannot persuade herself she need not be ashamed when the husband commits a fraud. Our Lord could not claim separation from those whom he more intensely loved than human heart has ever loved; nor could he help feeling a truer sorrow and a deeper shame for sin than the holiest of sinners or the most despairing has ever felt. The baptism may also be looked upon as an anticipation of his death; or, again, as the anointing of the King.

III. OUTWARD SIGNS ACCOMPANYING THE BAPTISM. Outward signs were required to identify the Messiah. John tells us he did not know the Christ till these signs were given. The dove, used in scriptural language as symbol of guileless innocence, here represented the Spirit. It was only the form of a bird which would not have seemed grotesque descending from above; and the dove, which would not settle on anything unclean, was the most appropriate symbol now. Luke adds, "in a bodily form," to remind us that it was not by one attribute or influence the Holy Spirit came upon our Lord, but in his complete Personality. For though Jesus was Divine, he regularly ascribes his power to work miracles to the Holy Spirit. He prays, as if to receive from without the aid he required. His body was sustained by bread, and not by the energy of the Divinity with which it was joined. So his human soul was sanctified by the Spirit, and his human nature empowered to do wonderful works by the same Spirit.

IV. RESULT OF THE BAPTISM. It was not only needful for the people that Jesus be proclaimed publicly as the Messiah, but he himself, when his consciousness of Messiah-ship was numbed by the contradiction of sinners, needed some sure word of God to fall back upon. The sign from heaven was given, no doubt mainly in order that John might be able to identify Jesus as the Messiah, but to Jesus himself it was a helpful sign on which, in times of outward discouragement, he could fall back. Compare instances in which our Lord needed such comfort (Matthew 11:27, etc.); and use to be made of our own baptism.

USES. The Spirit is given to Christ without measure, in a bodily form. The Father makes him Heir of all his treasure, and takes no account of all he takes. There is no gauge, no metre. The more that is used the better. This fulness he received as Man and for us. The head being anointed, refreshment is felt to the very skirts of the garments - to the least and last and lowest of the members of Christ's body. Claiming to be our King, it is this he claims - to give us his Spirit. That very Spirit which enabled him to be what he was and to do what he did, he gives to us. Had Jesus lacked anything which he needed for his office, had he found himself helpless to heal the sick, bewildered by the arguments of clever men, outwearied by the wretched blindness of sinners, unmanned by danger and the approach of death, this could only have arisen from his being abandoned by the Spirit; and when we fail and stop short, when we are overcome by outward difficulties or inward weakness, it is because we are trying to live without the Spirit. The finishing of his work is the guarantee that ours shall be finished. And the indwelling of the Spirit in Christ in a bodily completeness is the guarantee that we shall enjoy, not merely one, but all of his influences, and that in every part of our life he will be sufficient for all our occasions. - D.

I. WHY DID JESUS COME TO THE JORDAN?

1. That the Scripture might be fulfilled.

(1) At the Jordan God "began to magnify Joshua in the sight of all Israel," that he might be the successor of Moses (Joshua 3:7).

(2) Therein Joshua was a type of Jesus. Jesus and his gospel replace Moses and his Law. How fitting, then, that Jesus should be authenticated at the same Jordan!

3. Both authentications took place at the same spot. John baptized at Bethabara (John 1:28). This place had its name, the "House of passage," from the passage of Israel under Joshua through the Jordan there. What a tissue of wonders is the providence of God!

2. That the mission of Jesus might be indicated.

(1) How expressive is the language of signs! To have described the mission of Jesus in words would have been to have written the Gospels by anticipation. This is done in prophecy. We see it in the typical history of Joshua. The sign of the baptism at Bethabara calls attention to this.

(2) In it we see that, as Joshua became the successor of Moses there, so now Jesus comes to abolish the Law and to introduce the better hope of his gospel.

(3) Further, that as Moses died in the wilderness and left the people there, so the Law can bring us into its entanglements and terrify us with trumpet-blasts and thunders, but is powerless to bring us out. But as Joshua brought the people out, so can Jesus do by his gospel what the Law never could effect.

(4) Also that as Joshua became a captain over Israel to fight their battles, vanquish giants, and settle them in Canaan, so is Jesus become "the Captain of our salvation."

II. WHY DID JESUS COME TO JOHN?

1. John himself was astonished at this.

(1) Jesus was personally , immeasurably. John's superior. John, though amongst the greatest of men, was but a man. Jesus was Immanuel. He was that "Jehovah" of whom John was but the herald.

(2) Jesus was officially, unanswerably, John's superior. John baptized with "water." Jesus, with the "Holy Ghost."

(3) But how did John discover this? Previously, he only knew that Messiah had arrived (see John 1:31-33). He was a prophet, and saw as a seer (cf. 1 Samuel 9:15, 17; Luke 1:15; Luke 2:26). We see Jesus unto salvation when God opens the eyes of the soul.

(4) John had need of the baptism of Jesus. No man is so great as to be independent of him. The purest are most sensible of their remaining impurity, and seek the more earnestly the spiritual washing.

(5) But what need had Jesus of the baptism of John? It was the "baptism of repentance for the remission of sins." Jesus had no sins to confess. Therefore he "went up straightway from the water."

2. He came to fulfil all righteousness.

(1) The dispensation of John was "from heaven" as truly as was that of Moses (cf. Mark 11:30, 31; 1 Corinthians 10:2). It was therefore as necessary that Jesus should respect it as that he should fulfil the Law of Moses.

(2) In this, as in other things, Jesus is our Exemplar; and he teaches us to yield exact obedience to positive precepts. Questionings of reason that would make us hesitate must have no place. And as the baptism of the Spirit followed, we are taught to expect special blessing Upon such obedience.

(3) Jesus submitted to the baptism of John as our Surety; and he shows us that he took our sin upon him that he might wash it away. And the voice of Divine approbation which followed assures us of the effectual manner in which he did this for us. So listen to that voice that it may carry the heavenly witness to your heart. Through Jesus becoming Righteousness we may become righteous. Hence the plural, "Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness."

(4) "John forbade" Jesus, as Peter did when Jesus offered to wash his feet (John 13:6-8; cf. Luke 1:43). "Suffer it to be so now." No pretence of humility must induce us to neglect a duty.

III. WHY DID JESUS COME "THEN"?

1. He was then of the legal age to enter upon his ministry.

(1) (Cf. Numbers 4:3; Luke 3:28.)

(2) John had commenced his ministry six months earlier; for there was that difference of age. God has an order as well as a law. Both should be respected.

2. The juncture was fitting.

(1) It was while John was in the midst of his ministry. He had already spent six months of it, and within another similar term that ministry was closed. As Moses the Levite testified to Joshua, and passed away; so John the Levite - a representative of Moses - testified to Jesus, and passed away. The end of every holy ministry is to testify to Christ.

(2) John's reputation as a prophet was established. His testimony was conclusive (see Mark 11:29-32). Our influence, at its best, should testify to Christ.

(3) Joshua prepared for the passage of the Jordan three days before that passage was effected. This testimony at the Jordan was three years before Jesus crossed the Jordan of death. He was in his passage through that river in judgment "three days." The baptism of Jesus at the Jordan, that river being viewed as an emblem of death, gives emphasis and illustration to those words of Paul, "Are ye ignorant that all ye who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?" (Romans 6:3). It is through the death of Christ that we live. - J.A.M.

I. THE MODESTY OF THOSE WHO ARE TRUE MASTERS - MASTERS BY UTTEREST RIGHT; MASTERS BORN.

II. THE NOBLENESS OF THAT OBEDIENCE TO DUTY WHICH LEADS A MAN, WHOEVER HE MAY BE, WHATEVER HIS PLACE MAY BE, TO SERVE, WITH SOVEREIGN SURRENDER OF SELF, THE TRUTH AND THE RIGHT.

III. THE FAITHFUL REGARD THAT JESUS HAD TO THE LAW, UNDER WHICH HE HAD VOLUNTARILY AND SO CONDESCENDINGLY PLACED HIMSELF. HE REVERENCED IT AND MADE IT HONOURABLE BEYOND ALL IT MIGHT HAVE SEEMED BEFORE.

IV. THE UNAFFECTED MODESTY OF THE SERVANT ALSO, WHO KNOWS THE RIGHT MOMENT TO CONQUER EMBARRASSMENT AND TO PROCEED TO ACTION. - B.

I. THE CLAIMS OF THE RIGHTEOUSNESS WE KNOW. Every man must be judged in the light of his response to those claims. A man cannot be judged in the light of a righteousness that somebody else knows, or that he may get to know some day. He is responsible if he might have known of a higher righteousness, and made no effort to use his opportunity. From a later standpoint it would have been fitter for Jesus to baptize John; but from that standpoint it was the right thing for John to baptize Jesus. What is our idea of right to-day? And what is our conduct regarded as a response to our idea?

II. THE CLAIMS OF THE RIGHTEOUSNESS WE MAY COME TO KNOW. For the standard of righteousness can improve; it does change. Our Lord distinctly apprehended stages in the conception of righteousness when he said, "Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees." And the old standard ceases to be our standard when we have gained a new and a better. Illustrate by the disciples found who had only reached to John's baptism. St. Paul instructed them in the more perfect way, and they were baptized in the Name of Christ. So elevation of the standard of righteousness brings serious increase of personal responsibility. - R.T.

I. THE CRISIS AT WHICH THIS GLORIOUS ATTESTATION OCCURRED. The first profound act of public, spontaneous self-humiliation is alighted upon by the visit of a supernatural glorification. Immediately the act of baptism was over, the heavens opened, the Dove sped down, the voice of the Majesty himself of all the universe uttered itself forth, and glory was poured on Jesus.

II. THE CONSTITUENT PARTS OF IT.

1. The "heavens opened." We are certainly entitled by Scripture warrant, to say the least, in order to help our weaker understanding and thought, to consider heaven as a place, that place being the abode of God. These helps to human imaginings of the Unknown will not discredit our faith in the Divine omnipresence and in the fact that he is perfect Spirit; but they are needful to our present limitations of apprehension of the dim, vast, uncomprehended.

2. The Spirit descended, and in the form of a dove. No doubt it was now that an enormous accession of the Spirit was made to the human nature of Jesus Christ, And the "bodily form" of the dove was to betoken alike the soft flight and that tenderest gentleness of the Spirit, and the peace and love of him who was now more fully replenished with the Spirit.

3. A voice from heaven speaks. It is here said "a" voice. But the words spoken prove that it was none less than the voice of Heaven, the voice of the majesty of the Father, of the Glory - God himself!

(1) Great is the impression of voice.

(2) Great may be the absolute charm of voice.

(3) Great beside all else is the fixed, distinct certainty of voice, as e.g. compared with vision or with imagination.

God speaks in all creation with ten thousand voices, it is true. But when he speaks with that voice which utters words, the ear hears as in its own right. The words uttered by the voice of God assert

(a) the Sonship of Jesus;

(b) that he is the object of the Father's unqualified complacence; and

(c) because flint might be the complacence of feeling chiefly, by the analogy of human relationship, the voice asserts the Father's perfect approbation as well.

III. THE GREAT OBJECT OF THIS ATTESTATION. It appears to have been vouchsafed for the absolute warranting of the faith of John the Baptist. The simplicity, and what should seem in some light the narrowness, of this object invest it to a very large extent with its greatness.

1. What a testimony of condescending graciousness to that one man! He is to live for Christ, to work for Christ, to die for Christ. And to furnish him with exactly the enough satisfaction of evidence, faith, growing into knowledge, all the grandest apparatus of Heaven is brought into use!

2. What a testimony of real consideration to the world! Is a great trust committed to earthly vessels? Is it a trust of critical and tremendous responsibility? Are men, not angels, the ministers of truth, of life, of salvation to their fellow-men, in the name of Christ? Then alike it is mercy for those who are to be blessed, as for those who are to bless, that into these latter, though they should stand but one by one, and follow one another in narrowest line of succession, the whole force of absolute conviction should be thrown by Heaven's and God's own most approved methods. On this occasion we cannot doubt Jesus himself was refreshed with the vision of open heaven, with the alighting on him of the holy Dove, with the voice of the Father, and the words that voice spoke. But, in that John was the witness, and presumably the only witness hereof, the significance can be but one; and it is plain and most striking. - B.

I. THE SCENE MANIFESTED THE BLESSED TRINITY.

1. Here is Jesus, declared to be the Son of God.

(1) This is a Messianic title (see Psalm 2:7; also 2 Samuel 7:14, cited Hebrews 1:5; and Luke 1:35).

(2) It does not appear to be used to set forth the pre-existence of Jesus. It is even remarkable that John, when speaking of that preexistence, uses the title "Word;" but when he comes to treat of the Incarnation, then he uses this title (John 1:1-14).

(3) Nevertheless, as a title of the Incarnation, it expresses the Divinity of Christ. It sets forth Messiah as of the same nature with the Father (see ch. 26:63-65; John 1:18; John 5:18; John 10:36; John 19:7; Romans 1:3, 4; Hebrews 1.).

2. He is so declared by the voice of the Father.

(1) This voice was probably like thunder (cf. John 12:29; also Job 40:9; Job 37:4, 5; Psalm 18:13; Psalm 29:3, 4).

(2) Yet was it distinct from thunder, for it came in articulate phrase. It was therefore supernatural. It resembled the voice in which the Lord spake to Moses or answered the high priests who consulted him by the Urim and Thummim.

(3) The vision of the Father is reserved for the heavenly state. The angels do there continually enjoy it (see Matthew 18:10; Luke 1:19; cf. Esther 1:14). Hitherto man has not seen the Father (see Deuteronomy 4:12; John 1:18). The sonship of man will be revealed in the resurrection; then will also be revealed the Fatherhood of God. We hear of these things now by the hearing of the ear; the eye shall see them then (Romans 8:19).

3. The Spirit of the Father rests upon the Son.

(1) It came from the cloven heavens - from the "excellent glory." It was "the Spirit of glory and of God."

(2) It came as a dove. The stream of glory hovered as a dove hovers before it alights, and then rested upon him. Possibly also in the very form of a dove. In either case it was supernatural.

(3) "It abode upon him" (John 1:32-34). The gift of the Spirit as a Spirit of wisdom and power is to be distinguished from the indwelling of the same Spirit as a Spirit of holiness. The apostles are repeatedly said to be "filled with the Holy Ghost;" but of Jesus it is said once for all that he was "fall of the Holy Ghost" (Luke 4:1).

(4) Out of his fulness we receive the measures of grace (John 1:16; John 3:34, 35).

II. THE BAPTISM INTRODUCED JESUS INTO HIS PROPHETIC OFFICE.

1. As to the fact

(1) This is certified by Luke, who, after describing the baptism of Jesus, adds this note: "And Jesus himself, when he began to teach, was about thirty years of age" (Luke 3:23).

(2) It is also evident from the event. For immediately after his baptism Jesus was driven into the wilderness. There he engaged in conflict with Satan; and after forty days he entered a synagogue and opened his commission in these words: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach . To-day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears" (Luke 4:18-21).

(3) He had his commission in the voice. God spake in oh! time by the prophets. The Baptist was the last and greatest of these. "This is my Son." He now calls attention to the mission and teaching of Jesus (cf. Matthew 17:5).

2. As to the form.

(1) The Spirit of God came upon him. This is the indispensable qualification. When he descends upon the preacher, the light of heaven comes into his soul. Without the Spirit of God there can be no effective spiritual teaching.

(2) It came upon him as a dove. The Holy Spirit came upon the apostles in tongues or flames, of fire. There was something to he purged in them. Christ had nothing that needed cleansing. The dove is the emblem of innocence, purity, and meekness (see Isaiah 42:1, 2). These qualities should be sought and cultivated by all preachers (cf. Matthew 10:16).

3. As to the effect.

(1) It was illuminating. The glory streaming from the opened heavens was the symbol and sign of spiritual illumination.

(2) It was miracle-working. To the qualification of his baptism his doctrine and miracles are ascribed (see Isaiah 11:2; Isaiah 42:1; Matthew 12:28; John 3:34; Acts 10:37, 38).

(3) All God's people have the Spirit of sanctification. Special gifts are specially given.

III. THIS BAPTISM WAS THE FIRST ACT IN THE CONSECRATION OF JESUS TO HIS PRIESTHOOD.

1. In the complete consecration the baptisms are three.

(1) There was the baptism of water. "Moses brought Aaron and his sons" to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation and "washed them with water."

(2) This was followed by the baptism of oil. "Moses poured of the anointing oil upon Aaron's head, and anointed him to sanctify him."

(3) The baptisms were completed in that of blood. "Moses took the blood" of the ram of consecration, "and put it upon Aaron's right ear, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot."

(4) These baptisms had their counterpart severally in the consecration of Christ, viz. at the Jordan; on the Mount of Transfiguration; and in Gethsemane and Calvary.

2. We are here concerned with the first of these.

(1) As Moses the Levite washed Aaron with water; so John, also a Levite, washed Jesus with water, to mark him as the Antitype of Aaron.

(2) But the baptism which really inaugurated Jesus was that of the Holy Ghost, which followed the baptism of John. "It is the Spirit that beareth witness" in this case, not the "water" (cf. 1 John 5:6, 8, 9).

(3) The attesting voice comes now with fresh meaning. "My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Jesus came to do the will and fulfil the pleasure of God, which the Law failed to do or fulfil (cf. Hebrews 10:5-10).

(4) No eulogy could be greater. We, in Christ, may hear this voice of eulogy in the last day. We are "accepted in the Beloved (Ephesians 1:6).

(5) Bethabara had its name, the House of passage," from the passage of the children of Israel over the Jordan at that place. Then the river was cloven. Now the heavens are cloven. There the people went up into Canaan, the type of heaven. The gospel is the kingdom of heaven, and brings heaven near.

(6) Jesus at Bethabara represented his Church. There the glory of heaven came down upon him, though he did not then cross the Jordan. We must be baptized from heaven and with heaven before we can ascend into heaven. - J.A.M.

I. THE SPIRIT ON CHRIST UNDER THE DOVE-FIGURE. "The gift of supernatural power and wisdom brought with it also the perfection of the tenderness, the purity, the gentleness, of which the dove was the acknowledged symbol" (see Matthew 10:16). "Harmless as doves;" and compare the Baptist's figures, "Behold the Lamb of God!" Seeley says, "There settled on his head a dove, in which the Baptist saw a visible incarnation of that Holy Spirit with which he declared that Christ should baptize." "According to the symbolism of the Bible, certain mental characters appear expressed m several animals, as in the lion, the lamb, the eagle, and the ox. In this system of natural hieroglyphics the dove denotes purity and sincerity, and hence the Spirit of purity may be most fittingly compared with the dove. The coming of the Spirit like a dove denotes, consequently, that the fulness of the Spirit of purity and sincerity was imparted to Jesus, whereby he became the Purifier of mankind."

II. THE SPIRIT ON CHRIST UNDER THE BROODING FIGURE. The impression to be made both on John and Jesus was of the abiding, permanent endowment of Christ with the precise spiritual power needed for his Messianic mission. We are to distinguish carefully between the Divine nature of Christ, which was unaffected by this brooding Spirit, and the precise gift needed for the Messiahship. The Spirit dwelt in him. - R.T.

I. THE NATURE OF CHRIST AS THE SON OF GOD. It will not profit us much to plunge into the fourth-century speculations concerning the Divine Sonship of Christ in order that we may know him in so far as he has been revealed to us. In metaphysical considerations about the mystery of the being of the Son of God we may lose all living perception of what he is really in his life among us. The broad fact is what is most important to us. Christ is the Son of God. He is not one of God's sons as we may be through him, as in a natural sense we all are because "we are also his offspring" (Acts 17:28). He is the Son of God in a supreme and unique sense. Now, this is not merely a sublime truth of theology. It has important bearings on religion.

1. To know the Son is to know the Father, of whom he is the Image (John 14:7).

2. If the Son is our Friend, the Father cannot be our Enemy; for they are "One" (John 10:30). Therefore our fellowship with Christ carries with it our reconciliation to God.

3. Christ is able to save the world. The Divinity of Christ implies his unlimited power. So great a Saviour is equal to the tremendous task of redeeming a whole fallen world.

II. THE HAPPY RELATIONS BETWEEN CHRIST AND HIS FATHER.

1. He is God's beloved Son. This truth seems to belong to the very nature of Christ. It throws light on his permanent relations with God. God is love, and Christ is good and worthy of love. Through all eternity the love of the Father is directed to the Son. But now we see Christ on earth, incarnate, a Man, and in lowly estate. Yet God does not fail to own or cease to love him. He is known to his Father, though he may be despised by men. Surely this must have been a cheering and sustaining influence for Christ in the midst of his hard and toilsome life. In a lower way may not the same be true of us? God recognizes his human family; he owns all his earthly children. The shame of outward conditions does not blind his eye. Rejected by men, his children are still owned and loved by God; and it is better to be loved by God than to be praised by the world.

2. God is well pleased with him. This further truth seems to refer to the immediate condition, to the recent action, of Christ. Jesus has just been baptized; he had persevered in spite of the flattering resistance of the Baptist; he had felt that he must fulfil all righteousness; he had consecrated himself to his great work. God is well pleased with Christ for this.

(1) The obedience of the Son pleases the Father. If, like Christ, we delight to do God's will, he will delight in us.

(2) The good pleasure of God signifies his approval of Christ's work. This mission of saving the world that Christ has just consecrated himself to is well-pleasing to God. Thus God accepts the redeeming work from the first. Now the sacrifice of Christ, being acceptable to God, must be efficacious for man. - W.F.A.