1. Share a time when God was silent in your life, when you yearned to hear a Word from him but there was none.

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2. Read Matthew 21:33-41. Discuss how John had one foot in the Old Testament and one foot in the New Testament.

Who was this man John anyway and where does he fit into the big picture? Jesus I think tells us in a parable he told later on, the parable of the vineyard. Let me read you this parable. Jesus tells this toward the end of his ministry when John had already been killed. Matthew 21:33-41____. This is a picture of much of the history of the O.T. All through the Bible the vineyard is used as a symbol of the Jewish nation. The servants of God who go to the tenants of the vineyard are the prophets. The prophets are messengers sent by God to those who have broken their promise – their covenant – their contract with God. The prophets came and said, “Listen you guys, you have broken your promise, it’s wrong, you agreed to obey God and you have disobeyed Him and the judgment of God will be on you. Repent and turn around before it’s too late.” This was the role of the prophets. To warn the people as well as to offer them hope.

Now John the Baptist – although we read of him in the N.T. - was the last of the O.T. prophets, the last of the servants God sent to the vineyard to say, “Listen, people, the game is up. You’ve been rebelling against God and God will judge if you keep carrying on in this direction.” And so in the whole framework of the Bible, John the Baptist is one who has one foot in the O.T. and one foot in the N.T. John was sent by God to give the last ditch ultimatum before the Son himself is to come to demand obedience from the people.

3. Read Matthew 3:7-12. Who will face Jesus as Judge? Is it difficult for you to think of Jesus judging and punishing people? Why or why not?

There are two main things in John the Baptist’s preaching about Jesus. 1) The first thing John says is that this Jesus is the King and the Judge that is coming. Jesus will bring judgment. Back in Matthew 3:7-10_____. The time has now come for God’s judgment. He is going to pick up the ax and he is going to start swinging. The other image here is of a winnowing fork v. 12____. This one who is coming, this Jesus, is going to separate the wheat from the chaff and burn the chaff in fire. So the first image John gives of Jesus tells us who Jesus is – he is the King and Judge – and what he will do – he will judge. And John’s message is repent so that you will not be one who will be judged. Jesus is the one who comes to claim the authority of God on earth and who will judge those who do not repent of their sins.

4. Read John 1:35-36. Who will face Jesus as the Lamb of God?

The second thing in John’s preaching about Jesus is that he will be the Lamb of God. When Jesus came into the wilderness where John was, we are told John looked up and said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” John ties in the coming of Jesus to the Passover Lamb of Exodus 12 and the whole Passover ceremony that the Jews had been repeatedly following ever since. All the little Passover lambs that foreshadowed that one special Lamb of God who would one day die on the cross and take away the sin of the world.

And friends do we understand? In John the Baptist’s teaching about Jesus we learn that we will face this Jesus either as judge or as the lamb of God. If we hold on to our sin in rebellion against God we will face this Jesus as our judge and we will be destroyed eternally or having repented of our sins we will hold on to Him as our lamb and live eternally with him. That’s John’s message to us regarding this Jesus.

5. Why would the Jews who went out to the desert to hear John preach be so shocked when John the Baptist told them they needed to be baptized?

John came with a message from God but he also came baptizing. People flocked out to the desert to see and hear John and many were baptized by him in the River Jordan. What was that all about? Well, in order to understand John’s ministry we do need to understand what John’s baptism meant. It might be of interest to many that the ritual of baptism can be traced back to around 150 B.C. It was a rite the Jews used for Gentile proselytes. In other words, when a Gentile – be that a Greek, Roman, Persian, Egyptian – wanted to convert to Judaism, wanted to become a Jew, along with the requirement of circumcision and learning all the ceremonial laws, that Gentile would have to undergo baptism. The baptism represented cleansing from sin. It signaled being made clean and whole in the sight of God. Baptism was performed by the Jews on Gentile converts all over the Roman Empire at the time. It was a widely known practice.

Now get the picture. Baptism was performed on Gentile converts to Judaism which signaled their being cleansed from sin. Here is John in the desert preaching to fellow Jews and saying to them “you have to be baptized!” The Jews looked down their noses at Gentiles. They called Gentiles “goya” = the dogs who were unclean. And they said, “If you want to become like us, become a Jew, you have to go through all these ceremonies to become clean and you then need to be baptized which shows you unclean dogs have become clean.” John is here saying to his fellow Jews, “You too have to be baptized. You who look down your noses at the dirty people need to be baptized. You too have to repent and be baptized. You too need to be forgiven of your sins for you are under the judgment of God.” John is saying, just your Judaism, your Jewishness is no guarantee of salvation. And the people got very uptight! It set the noses of the authorities very much out of joint. So John is treating the Jews, even the Jewish establishment – all the priests, as outsiders to the Kingdom of God! He is treating the Jews just as the Jews had treated the Gentiles – the one thing they were not used to. This is why they kept asking, “On what authority do you baptize? How dare you baptize people in this way! Who are you?” In order for you to do what you’re doing, in order for you to have such authority, you would have to be someone great like Elijah. Are you Elijah? Are you the great Prophet Moses spoke of? You must be the Christ – are you the Christ? And John says, “No, I am not the Christ. I baptize with water but there in One who is coming after me.” John is always pointing to Jesus.

6. John’s message was one of repentance (Matt. 3:1) What place does repentance have in becoming a Christian? What importance does repentance have in the living of the Christian life?

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7. For 150 years Jews had baptized Gentile proselytes (converts to Judaism). How does the background of this Jewish rite help us understand the meaning of Christian baptism?

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8. Why do you think the sinless Son of God asked John the Baptist to baptize him?

It was at this moment when Jesus came out into the desert to John. Now John the Baptist was used to shocking people. He said to the Jewish religious establishment, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come. Repent and be baptized!” But now it was John’s turn to be shocked, to be caught completely off guard. John had said of Jesus that he was not worthy to untie Jesus’ shoes. John had said of Jesus, “He must increase and I must decrease.” John had said of Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” And what does Jesus do? He asks John to baptize him! Listen as I read from Matthew 3:13____. Now that makes John’s mind tilt. And he balks at this and says, “Wait a minute. You’ve got this completely mixed up! It is you that ought to baptize me. Surely you don’t mean that I am to baptize you because who am I and look at who you are.” But that’s exactly what Jesus did – wanted – demanded. V. 14_____.

Now “why?” we ask. Why would Jesus ask to be baptized? Baptism was for unclean sinners! Why did Jesus insist that John baptize him? I think what is going on here is right here from the very start of Jesus’ ministry, and this was the beginning, Jesus was identifying himself with sinful men and women. Here is this line of people leading down to the edge of the River Jordan, and Jesus just steps in line with the others, waiting to be baptized by John. Here in his public debut, here as he comes out of silence, he makes this incredible statement – that God the Son takes his place among sinners, not just as a man – it is not just that he has become a man, but he identifies himself right along with the others standing in a line of sinners to receive baptism.

9. Can you think of an experience in your life with which Jesus cannot identify? How does that make you feel?

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