Mark 1:2-8 - Homiletics

The ministry of the forerunner.

This evangelist enters, upon his treatise with no further preface than is to be found in the first verse. He has to tell the good news concerning Jesus Christ the Son of God. And he begins his narrative at once, with an account of the ministry of that grand, heroic prophet, whose great distinction it was to be the herald of the Messiah, and whose greatness was in nothing more apparent than in this—he was willing to be superseded by his Lord, and to be lost in him: "He must increase, but I must decrease."—In these verses we have—

I. A GLIMPSE OF THE FORERUNNER 'S PERSON AND CHARACTER .

1 . He was a priest . This we learn from St. Luke's narrative of his parentage and birth. John owed something of the respect and acceptance he met with to this fact. Yet his ministry was not sacerdotal, though his education and his associations must all have fitted him to testify to "the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world."

2 . He was a Prophet . As Christ himself bare witness, "a prophet, yea, and more than a prophet." He spoke forth the mind of God. He did not sacrifice for the people or reason with them; he declared to them the message he had received from heaven.

3 . He was an ascetic in the wilderness. In his dress and mode of life he resembled Elijah the Tishbite. He lived in the wilderness of Judaea, and in the wilder parts of the valley of the Jordan. His raiment was of cloth woven from coarse camel's hair; his food was that of a child of the desert, "locusts and wild honey." He wore no soft raiment; he was no reed shaken by the wind. Independent alike of the luxuries of life and of the approval of his fellow-men, he lived apart.

4 . He was a fearless, faithful preacher . He did not ask—Is this message what the people wish to hear? but—Is this the word of the living God? When the Divine commission was entrusted to him, no power on earth could prevent him from fulfilling it.

II. A STATEMENT THAT HIS MINISTRY WAS PROPHETICALLY FORETOLD . Mark quotes from Malachi, the last of the prophets, "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he will prepare my way before me." He quotes from Isaiah, "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God." The forerunner was himself conscious of this; for, disclaiming Messiahship, he claimed to be the voice of the King's herald. Jesus, too, made the same assertion, "If ye will believe it, this is Elijah, which was to come." All was ordered and predicted beforehand by the wisdom of the Most High.

III. A view OF HIS REMARKABLE SPIRITUAL MINISTRY . John did no miracles. But he spoke with a Divine authority; and he exercised an influence which was felt throughout the whole nation, and which was an historical and recognized fact. The elements of his ministry were these:

1 . The prediction that the kingdom of God, or of heaven, was at hand.

2 . An appeal to repentance , based upon the approach of the new kingdom.

3 . The administration of a rite symbolical of spiritual purification.

IV. An INSIGHT INTO THE REMARKABLE RESULTS OF THIS MINISTRY .

1. A general and profound impression was produced.

2 . The most sinful classes shared in this moral awakening.

3 . The religious leaders of the community were led to interest themselves in his message.

4 . The political rulers of the land came to some extent under his influence.

5 . The ardent and religious youth were at once attracted and awed by the presence and ministry of the prophet. The choice spirits of the generation rising up, the flower of the Hebrew youth, became his disciples.

6 . There resulted a widespread conscience of sin, and a hope and desire for a great Saviour.

V. A DESCRIPTION OF HIS GREAT OFFICE AND FUNCTION . Above all, John was the forerunner and the herald of the Messianic King, even Jesus. Even before he met his cousin, before he administered baptism to him, he bore witness concerning him. He witnessed:

1 . To his personal superiority, speaking of him as" One mightier than I."

2 . And to his ministerial superiority; for while John's baptism was one with water unto repentance, that of Jesus was "with the Holy Spirit and with fire." Events proved the truth of this testimony.

APPLICATION . To receive the witness of John is to acknowledge the Messiahship of Jesus, to yield heart and life to the Saviour, seeking through him the forgiveness of sins, the renewal of the heart, and the consecration of the whole being.