“And they asked him, and said unto him: ‘Why baptize thou, then, if thou be not Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?’
“John answered them, saying: ‘I baptize with water; but there standeth One among you whom ye know not. He it is who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am unworthy to unloose.’
“These things were done in Bethabara, beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.”
Now, this was the day, I say, when John was at the very zenith of his glory; but see how noble he stood. He did not take any honor or glory to himself, and in two different places he declared that he knew not this Stranger that he was the herald of--his Messiah.
Some are trying to make out that this was all planned by John and Jesus, that he should say he did not know Him. But he declares in two places that he did not know Him. They were brought up in two extremes of the country--one in the northern part of it, Nazareth, and the other at Hebron.
Talk about eloquence! John was one of the most eloquent men, I suppose, that ever lived. He was the herald of God, and when the nation was in a terrible state of excitement, and the chief priests of Jerusalem, and even the king himself, went to hear him.
There he stood on the banks of the Jordan. I can see the men and women on both sides of the river--little children, mothers with their babes in their arms--all intensely excited and leaning forward to catch what he says. “Now,” says John, “if you believe what I say, that if you have broken the law given at Sinai you have sinned, to be forgiven you must repent and come down into this Jordan, and I will baptize you in the name of the God of Hebron.”
The people went in by scores and hundreds, and there he baptized them. And as he stood there baptizing them I can imagine about twenty thousand people hanging upon his lips. There was a man came down through the crowd. I can imagine that John was a man who looked as though he was more like a mountain eagle, but his wings seemed to droop. That eye which had been so keen and so severe on the Israelites when he called them a generation of vipers became lusterless, his face fell and he shook his head, as this Stranger came.
I suppose, as He came walking along toward John, God revealed the fact to him and said: “This is My Son. This is the Savior of the world. This is the Prince of Peace.” And when John saw Him he quailed before Him, and he said: “I have need to be baptized of Thee.”
What excitement! How it must have thrilled the audience as John drew back and said: “I have need to be baptized of Thee.” John knew Him. John at once recognized Him. He knew He was the promised One of the law. John said: “I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me?” But Jesus said unto him: “Suffer it to be so now, that the law may be fulfilled.” Now, what excitement as these two men went down into the river together!
Oh, if Jordan could speak it could tell some wonderful stories! Wonderful scenes have taken place there. Naaman had gone into that river and washed, and had come forth clean. Elijah, going up with his mantle, struck the water and went over dry-shod, as also did Elisha after Elijah had ascended. But a more wonderful scene was taking place in Jordan than ever took place before. It was of transcendent interest to all mankind.
Our Lord was going down into Jordan to be baptized, and He was going to come up on resurrection ground. So He goes down with John the Baptist, and the moment He was baptized and came up out of the water the heavens were opened unto Him, and the Spirit of God descended upon Him like a dove, and alighted upon Him. Heaven witnessed the scene. God the Father spoke then. He broke the silence of ages. The God of the Old Testament was the Christ of the New. And he heard a voice from Heaven, saying: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Some one says that was the first time God could look down on the world since Adam fell and say that He was well pleased. In Hebrews, tenth chapter and seventh verse, we read:
“Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of Me) to do Thy will, O God.”
He was the Son that was born above. The heavens opened and the Holy Ghost descended upon Him. The Spirit of the Lord came down on Him, and God owns Him and recognizes Him.
Now, there is another thought to which I want to call your attention. John’s preaching changed. But he was not like many men of the present day, who want to reform the world without Christ, who set a good example and tell men to sign pledges and to do this or that, and to trust in their own strength.
The moment John got his eye on Christ he had one text: “Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world.” That is how you are going to get rid of your sins. Says John: “I bear record of this in the Son of God.” And he told his disciples: “Now, you follow Him. Go with Him.”