Chapter # 1 Paragraph # 2 Study # 7
October 16, 2018
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
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Thesis: The heart of John's "message" is the
call for "repentance" on the basis of a
promise of forgiveness.
Introduction: As we have considered Mark's presentation of John as the fulfillment of the Isaiah/Malachi prophecies, we have seen that a large aspect of his presentation is the correlation that exists between the content of the prophecies and the historical realities embedded in John's "appearance" on the stage of history. This evening we are going to pursue this issue of "correlation" by looking into how John's "message" fulfills the prophetic scenario. We touched upon one of the aspects of this correlation last time in the distinction we made between "spiritualizing" the words and "applying the type of meaning in the words to a different realm". Many of our words have their most concrete meaning in the realm of God's "physical" creation and those words are then used in ways that apply to the realm of God's "relational" creation. We get a good part of our understanding for the "relational" realm from our grasp of the "physical" realm. However, there is, in this issue of "differing realms" another aspect of "meaning". We are going to look into that this evening as we consider Mark's argument that John was a fulfillment of prophecies given long years before.
- I. The Issue of "Implied" Meanings.
- A. It should go without saying that the unity of Truth automatically means that there are "connections" between all of the expressions of Truth.
- 1. There is nothing that is true that is not "connected" to everything that is true.
- 2. This does not mean that human beings can always identify, or understand, those connections.
- 3. But it does mean that as human beings do identify and understand those connections, those human beings "grow" in their wisdom.
- B. Most of these "connections" are unstated in any given particular statement.
- C. But the fact that they are "unstated" does not mean that they are not part of the meaning.
- D. An example: I am going to drive down to the store to pick up some bread.
- 1. This statement has a host of "implied" meanings (my ability to handle a vehicle; the vehicle's condition as "drivable" -- including no flats, no faulty engine components, etc.; the presence of either money in sufficient quantity to pay for the bread, or the mindset of a thief and all of the skills involved; the existence of "bread" in the store and all of the elements involved in that presence; etc., etc.).
- 2. None of these "implied" meanings are "spiritual", and most are not applicable to a different realm.
- II. Mark's Large Picture.
- A. Jesus as the Gospel's focus upon "salvation from sins".
- B. Christ as the Gospel's focus upon the ultimate realization of human beings being allowed to participate in the Eternal Kingdom of God.
- III. Mark's Narrower Picture.
- A. The "connection" that exists between "John" as a "forerunner" and the Large Picture.
- B. The prophecies focus upon the preparation of a highway in the wilderness upon which the Lord and His people will travel.
- 1. Therefore, the focus is upon the future traveling [the actual travel of the Lord upon the road].
- 2. This focus is "Christ" oriented and its realization will not come until He comes to establish the Kingdom of God over which He is to rule.
- 3. But the entire scenario of His coming to rule requires the prior activity of providing a way for "sinners" to be "qualified" for participation; i.e., the "Jesus" factor.
- 4. Thus, anything/everything that is "implied" by the prophecies of the coming of the future ruler is an integral part of those prophecies.
- C. It is these "implied realities" that form the basis of Mark's argument that "John" fits the prophecies.
- 1. He is not the "forerunner" of the Christ of the Second Coming, thus he denies the Elijah identity.
- 2. He is the "forerunner" of the Jesus of the First Coming, thus he claims his "voice in the wilderness" identity.
- IV. His "Preparation" Message.
- A. His preparation is that of the people who are to walk upon the highway (Isaiah 35:8).
- B. His use of the analogy between the physical wilderness that makes travel so difficult and the relational reality of the wilderness of the heart is simply his attempt to "prepare" the people for the Second Coming by getting them to embrace the First Coming.
- C. The two parts of his message.
- 1. The summons to "repentance".
- a. John saw in the realities of the wilderness a way to get the people to see the issue(s) involved in a "faith" relationship with the Savior.
- b. Isaiah, himself, gave John this "way to see".
- 1) He used wilderness realities as metaphors of human attitude issues.
- a) In Isaiah 2:11-15 he used the obstacles to travel as a metaphor for the human attitude problem of "pride".
- b) In Isaiah 40:4 he multiplied these obstacles in a preponderance of terms that are similar and, thus, point to the same basic problem, with one exception: the deep places with the steep walls.
- c) This exception simply points to the same basic issue (difficulty in travel) but from the opposite "attitude" issue: despair.
- 2) John, picking up on Isaiah's record, simply recognized that "preparation" requires the alteration of the human heart-attitude before anyone would be willing to actually build the road, or to greet with enthusiasm the Coming Christ.
- c. Thus, John summarized the entire "attitude alteration" under one word: "repent".
- 1) This means that we can learn what it means to "repent" by simply recognizing the two major obstacles: pride and despair.
- 2) This also means, however, that "repentance" is fundamentally "humility and faith" and secondarily the various actions human beings take.
- a) Arrogance and despair drive behavior choices and it does no good to "repent" of individual "sins" without addressing the drivers.
- b) Humility and faith also drive behavior choices and there is no significant need to focus upon individual "sins" if those drivers are in place.
- c) But, it is the actual realities of "pride and despair" and "humility and faith" that devolve into confusion by the wilderness of the heart, so a focus upon specific "sins" is a helpful, and included (at least as an implied meaning), issue.
- 2. The promise of "forgiveness".
- a. Mark only mentions this issue by this specific word twice (1:4 and 3:29).
- b. But the issue involved is the main thrust of his entire record since his "beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ" necessarily focuses upon the "Jesus" part (the beginning of the good news is that of forgiveness and the culmination is the establishment of the Kingdom).
- c. This is the "faith" part of "repentance" where God has made a promise-commitment that He expects us to embrace.
- d. There are two realms of application for this promise.
- 1) The judicial realm where "forgiveness" is comprehensive and final (Romans 8:1).
- 2) The relational realm where "forgiveness" is extended upon "confession" in the particulars of life and actions (1 John 1:9).
