Chapter # 1 Paragraph # 2 Study # 10
November 6, 2018
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
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Thesis: John constantly announced the coming of the Lord as the core-central issue of the prophecies Mark claimed pointed directly at him.
Introduction: So far in our studies of Mark's argument that "The John" was God's appointed forerunner of His "Lord", we have seen multiple declarations that made John "fit" the prophetic scenario to a "T". The significance of this "fit" is determined by the absolute gravity of the issue involved: man's "sins" against the Highest King of all Heavens, the Holiest of All without peer, and the Angriest Person imaginable by any thinking creature. The white hot heat of the wrath of "the God above all gods" because of "sins" is beyond comprehension and is the basis for Mark's desire to present Jesus Christ as the only possible, and supremely effective, remedy for guilty human beings. The offer of the "Gospel" is a total abandonment on God's part of every basis for His intentional wrath against "sinners". The danger is, of course, that this "offer" will be, like every other "good" that God has extended to men, rejected by deliberately willful, obstinate, and extremely arrogant creatures who have made themselves "gods" in their own minds.
This evening, we come to the last argument made by Mark regarding John: he "fits" the prophetic picture because of his "sub-message": The Lord is coming, just as soon as I have completed my task of baptizing you into the doctrine of "repentance that leads to God's total abandonment of His fixation upon the expression of His wrath against sin".
- I. "And John Was Preaching...".
- A. The verb is "imperfect indicative", meaning Mark was still "running the cameras" to create a mental video in the minds of his readers.
- B. The "preaching" involved "...saying...".
- 1. This verb signals the communication of "bottom lines": doctrine(s) that stand immutable and foundational.
- 2. This word is the verb form of the noun "Word" as in, "In the beginning was the Word...and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us..." (John 1:1 and 1:14).
- C. This "proclamation" was of "absolute Truth": The One prophesied to come is "just behind me" and will be on the scene before I am off of it.
- D. This "proclamation of absolute truth" is, for all of its extreme importance, a "sub-thesis".
- 1. When Mark "summarized" John's "message" in the single phrase, "Repent, and God will drop His fixed hostility toward you", he was giving us John's "umbrella" thesis under which all else was arranged.
- 2. Thus, the on-going declaration of the coming of the One following him is a "sub-thesis".
- a. "Sub" does not mean "unimportant".
- b. "Sub" means "a part of the explanation of the major thesis".
- 1) The major thesis is that the God Whose wrath against sin is white hot is willing to completely "cool off" if a person is willing to "repent".
- 2) The sub-theses are explanations of "How?" this works (How can God "cool His wrath" in light of its identity as the expression of Justice?).
- II. "The Mightier Than I Is Coming Behind Me".
- A. John's choice of "Mightier" is deliberately foundational.
- 1. The "problem" is bigger than any man has ever imagined: Justice generating white-hot wrath.
- 2. Thus, the "solution" must be even bigger.
- 3. The word translated "mightier" is one of three "options" among the choices of words to express the "How?" issue of "Justice shut down".
- a. There is "dunamis", which is used when the tableau is the "aftermath" of a great battle and "victory" has been won.
- b. There is "kratos", which is used when the question is raised as to how this victory was won: the skillful plans of the officers in their utilization of their warriors and machines of war.
- c. And there is "iscus", which is used when the question of most basic assets is raised: how many troops, weapons, machines of mobility, and other resources are available.
- 4. John's choice is the "adjective" developed from "iscus".
- a. This means that John is declaring that the One coming behind him is "the One with all of the necessary attributes" for dealing with the pacification of the impending Wrath.
- b. Interestingly, John's focus is not upon "The Stronger One" as an opponent of Rome.
- B. The "Mightier One" is "mightier than I" and "coming after I have done my part".
- 1. John had a profound impact upon the nation as a whole as seen from the response he got.
- 2. But John was only dealing with things at a very superficial level: proclamation is not realization, and "calling" for a "total personal immersion" into a "doctrinal thesis" is not "enabling".
- III. John's Weaknesses.
- A. Include a flaw that is fundamentally "moral".
- 1. His "I am not worthy to loose the thongs of His sandals" is, at root, a weakness of moral status.
- a. The necessity that John be "filled with the Spirit from his mother's womb" indicates a host of moral weaknesses that required a supernatural dominion over him from the beginning to the end.
- b. There is no record of any moral flaw in John, or any failure to do what he was appointed to do; but that does not mean the roots of such flaws and failures did not exist in him.
- c. John "felt" the heat of God's purity in holiness even if he had no cause.
- 2. The "Stronger Than I" is One Who has no moral flaw.
- a. John was not introducing another like himself: His "follower" was "the Lord".
- b. What Paul called "the great mystery of godliness" (1 Timothy 3:16) was inherent in the Coming One.
- B. Include a poverty of ability.
- 1. His "baptism with water" was the extent of his "ability" and that is easily reduced to nothing.
- 2. The One Coming After is contrasted by the reference to His "Ability" to baptize with the Spirit.
- a. This "baptism" is effectual to the end desired (a way to cool the heat of Justice).
- b. This "baptism" is never given as "effectual" to erase the problems at their roots (nowhere are we promised that the Spirit will make us morally perfect in our attitudes and actions).
