The First Winner of the Voice

It is interesting to look at John the Baptist using his own words. I’ve decided to try, using the often-called Testimony of John the Baptist,  from the inspired writing of John the Apostle. So I have to, rather clumsily, make clear at all times which John I’m talking about.

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.” (John 1:19-23)  

In v19, the writer John tells us that “the Jews” sent priests and Levites (the Levites being, roughly speaking, assistant priests). John is not a self-loathing Jew using “the Jews” in a disparaging manner, rather here he uses “the Jews” to refer not to the Jewish people, but to the officials of Judaism. ¹ Whether this was the Sanhedrin or other “big shots” is unclear.

What is happening here is that John the Baptists has appeared virtually out of nowhere, dressed and behaving like a prophet of old, and going about baptizing. The people were clearly captivated. A delegation is sent to ask him, directly, “who are you?”. The delegation was soon to be frustrated.

The account of John the Baptist’s reply in v20 is enigmatic. The writer John tells us of the Baptist that “He confessed and did not deny” and then he records what sounds exactly like a denial: “I am not the Christ.”

I think there is something important in the odd phrasing, but I have no idea what it is.  At any rate John denied that he was the Christ. The implication in inescapable: people were discussing John the Baptist and some have offered the possibility that he was the Messiah. The Baptist unequivocally denies the rumor.

This is not a “duh, of course you are not the Messiah, don’t flatter yorself” awkward moment. Less than a century earlier the Maccabean revolt, led by Judas Maccabeus and his brothers, members of the priestly Hasmonean family, led the nation to victory against  the mad Macedonian king Antiochus. For eighty years the Jews maintained their national independence. Many Jews mistook this brief respite from foreign rule as the dawn of a long-awaited golden age.

Until, that is, the Romans took control of Palestine in 63 B.C.

For a season, Roman occupation might have been something of  a relief, because the ruling Hasmoneans turned out to be just about as bad as the pagan rulers before them. But by this time, nine decades later, not so much.

The net result of this political disappointment is that Israel was in a Messiah mood, as reported not by the apostle but by Luke: The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah. (Luke 3:15)

To some it appears to have made little difference that John the Baptist was of the tribe of Levi and not of the prophesied  Messianic line of Judah. Or perhaps his ancestry was not well known by those who were speculating on whether he was the One.

So, John the Baptist assures the dignitaries, he is not the Messiah. Strike One. Let’s move on.  

Now the delegation asks: “Are you Elijah?

This at least appears to be a reasonable question, even to our ears. In Malachi 4:5 God promises to send Elijah. John even resembles Elijah ²: They replied, “He had a garment of hair and had a leather belt around his waist.” The king said, “That was Elijah.” (2 Kings 1:8)

And of course no less an authority than Jesus identifies John as Elijah: and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. (Matt. 11:14)

John, however, denies that he is Elijah. Strike Two. 

Now they ask: “Are you the prophet?”

Nope, not him either. What prophet were they asking about? The second Moses:  “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—(Deut. 18:15).

There is no doubt, of course, that the second Moses is Jesus, not John.

Strike Three. Game over man.

At this point the delegation exhibits signs of frustration.  “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us”.

John gives them an answer. He is the voice prophesied by Isaiah: A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. (Isaiah 40:3) 

To the original hearers of Isaiah’s prophesy the voice was to make an express lane on the route home from exile. In its “new and better” understanding, the path under construction by John the Baptist leads us from the ultimate exile of rebellion against God to the eternal salvation offered by Christ.

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¹ Another example of this is found in John 7:1, this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. Here “the Jews” refers not to Jews in general (those in Galilee were Jews) but either the Jewish establishment or Jews in the confines of Judea.

² Putting on the clothes of Elijah to pretend was apparently a thing: “On that day every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies. He will not put on a hairy cloak in order to deceive, (Zech 13:4)