The Pulpit Commentary — Mark — Volume 1 — Section 62

temple, as we read in the G(lspel of St. John, xii. 28, "Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from hel\ven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will gl0rify it again." IX. TRIPLE RECORD. Again this acknowled~ment of the Father puts honour on the Divine \\'ord, for, from the three leading divisions or it-the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms-that acknowledgment is taken. 'fhe words, "Thou art my Son," are t~lten from the second Psn.lm; from Genesis, the first book of ,the Law, xxii. 28, we hn.ve the expression, "My beloved Son;" while in the Prophets, namely, Isa. xiii. I, we find the remaining clause," In whom I am well pleased." X. CHANGE IN THE BAPTIST'S PREACHING. The Galilean valley and the Judman desert were far separate. Though closely allied by kinship, and more closely still by oneness of spirit, John and Jesus had grown up apart; their first actual contact was at the baptism of the latter. Personal acquaintance there had been none;. or if there had it did not contribute to the Baptist's recognition of his Messiah. Either by a conver: sation of which we have no record, or by direct revelation immediately before the baptism, the important fact was made known to the Baptist. Be this as it may one very. remarkable effect rE;Sulted from it. . The st:rle, and indeed the subject, of the Baptist underwent an entire change. Previously his manner had been denunciatory • subsequently it became conciliatory. Before he had borrowed his imagery from th; harsh features of the surrounding desert-the rude rocks, the poisonous vipers, the barren tree; or from the rough ways and works of agricultural life, such as may have existed on the verge of the wilderness-the threshing-floor, the winnowing implement and the worthless cha.ff. But now he tempers and softens his mode of speech with figures from the sanctuary and its service-the lamb slain, the sin sacrifice, and the expiation. We hear no more of viperous broods-vipers themselves and sprung from vipers; no more of fruitless trees, fit only for the fire; no more of stones taking the place of sons, that is, of abanim becoming banim; no more of the sifting and; ;,eparating process by which the good grain would be garnered and the worthless residue gathered into heaps for burning. On the other hand, we read of the Lamb as the Sin-bca.rer, and salvation as the blessedness secured; in other words, we have the blessed truth first uttered by the Baptist's lips, "Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world! " The legal has given place to the evangelical. The first phase-equaily needful and equally useful, it is true-of the Baptist's preaching is exhibited by the synoptists; the second-softer, sweeter, and superior in tone and tendency-by the penman of the fourth Gospel, the evangelist and beloved apostle John. XI. THE BAPTIST'S FUNCTION THREEFOLD. The commission of the Baptist embraced three functions: 1. Herald-like, he was to prepare the way for the coming King by calling men to repentance. 2. He administered, on their full confession (<(oµ.o>..o-yovµ.evo,, equivalent to making a clean breast of it), the rite which served as a pledge that their conviction of sin was real and their service sincere-that, in fact, they wished to act in conformity with such a direction as that of the prophet, "Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes." In all this, however, they might merely have an eye to the penal consequences of sin, ar,.d to that sweeping storm of coming wrath to which sin exposed them; and thus proceed no further than legal repentance. 3. But a yet higher office was to announce the kingdom of heaven as come down on earth, and point to the advent of its King; in other words, to direct the eye of faith to Messiah as the great Sin-sacrifice and the only Saviour. Repentance alone, especially of the legal kind referred to, could not merit the remission of sins ; neither could baptism, nor_yet the combination of both togethe~: the ~ea! 1;11eritoriou~ cause was !he atoning sacnfice of the Son of God-the Lamb slam ; while faith, that faith from which true evangelical repentance is never separate, was the link of union between the soul of the penitent and l1is Saviour. Thus John virtually preached faith as well as repent- ance; for his repentance-baptism derived its whole. meanin_g and validity from faith in Christ. Evangelical repentance commences with Chnst, the cross, Calvary, and is" the tear in the eye of faith" directed thereto, for, looking to him whom we have pierced, •ive mourn. Of this we have tolerably plain proof in the words of St. Paul (Acts xii. 4), "Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repent- ance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, in Christ Jesus."-J. J. G. OB. I, 1-15.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. 59