V. THE ~Al'Tl8T's .~IISS!ON _WAS BUT A PROMIRR OF A RETTER DAM'ISlf, (Vert. 16-18.) ,, hen Johns preaching haJ proved so succeBBful, the people began to wonder if he were not Messinh himself; e.nd then it WM the.t he declined leadership and spoke of a greater Leader and a fe.r more important baptism. So great was his successor to he that Joh_n W8.!< not :W?rthy to unloose_ his shoe-latchet; and be we.a to have the grand prerogative of bapt1zmg the people Wlth the Holy Ghost and with fire, or, e.s It perhaps hRd better be," in the Holy Ghost e.nd fire (Iv ,n,,oµ.a..,., A;,C'I' ,ca.l tnJp()." 'fhe Spirit iee.n Afent, not a me-11n~ as we.ter is; and his agency has e.ll the purifying and eublimnting effect of fire, rendering those on whom he descends pure and e.rdent in the service of the Lord. This baptism of the Spirit is what characterizes the dis_pensation of Meesie.h,l But Messie.h will exercise e.uthority and execut.e judgment, e.s well as baptize with fire. He will separate by his doctrine, which is his fan, the wheat from the chaff; and those who demonstrate their worthlessness by rejecting the gospel, will be consigned by him to fire unquenchable. If we will not accept of fire e.s purification, we shall receive it in another form e.s fire of judgm~nt (cf. Godet, in Zoe.). Hence the solemn alternative which Jesus sets before us in his gospel. YI. '1'1rn REWARD THE WORLD GIVES ITS SPIRITUAL HEROES. (Vers. 19, 20.) It has been supposed that John accepted a crafty invitation from Herod Antipns to come to his court. The last act in the trRgedy of his life is when he appears before us as a courageous "court-preacher." 1 Here the Baptist would not take things ea~ily, as courtiers do, bnt denounced the infamy of the monarch. His reward is a duncreon. The f.nale is his murder. So has the world rewarded its spiritual he1oes. It bae nothing better for the noblest than a castle-dungeon and a beadsman's 8WOrd. This shadow is inserted in Luke's history by anticipation. But there is artistic power in so inserting it. It completes the picture of a great ministry.- The forerunner of Messiah has not a mnch better fate than Messiah himself. The age of heroes is beginning in the person of John, the heroes who had heart to die for truth. Their blood is truth's most precious seed, and the gospel which can comman<l "the noble army of martyrs" is destined io endure I B-R. M. E. .
Vers. 21---38.-The bapti.sm and gm«llogy of Jesm, From the general features of the remarkable ministry of the Baptist, summed up as it ie for us in the preceding verses, we now pass to the most notable instance of baptism performed by him. Thie was the baptism of Jesus. We are expressly told that it was when the movement under John he.cl become national, when all the people (4,rcurra. .,.b., ~a.&v) had submitted to the rite, with, of course, the Pharisaic exceptions already noticed (eh. vii. 30), that Jesus appeared at the Jordan to claim the rite too. We learn also from Matthew that John at first objected, feeling an incongruity in the case. Had he been allowed, he would have changed places with Jesus, and been the b&ptized rather than the baptizer. But Jesus never descended to the administration of water-baptism; be always main- tained his high prerogative as the Baptizer of men with the Holy Ghost and fire. Hence, while he insisted on receiving water-baptism, he left it to others to administer it (cf. John iv. 2). Let us, then, proceed to the following inquiries:- L WHAT WERE CHRIST'S REASONS FOB SUBMITTING TO THIS BAPTISM UNTO BEPBNT- ANCE? We must reject at once the insinuation of Strauss and others, that it implied some sense of sin. Jesus never was conscious of sin, 3JI his whole life and bis express testimony show (cf. John viii. 46; see also Ullman's 'Sinlessness of Jesus,' passim). ·w by, then, should he come uLder even the suspicion through a baptism unto repent- ance? The national character of the movement will holp to explain our Lord's act. The multitudes who submitted to baptism did so in Lope of a place in Mes11iah's kingdom. But as a "kingdom of God" the impeuitent aud unpardouccd could have no place in it. A way must be found for the pardon and purification and peuitence of sinners. Christ's identifice.tio_n of bimsdf, therefore, in baptiHm with_ the expecta~t people was his surrender of hunself so far as needful for the accomplishment of th1e 1 On this baptism of the Spirit, die GeiAestau/e, c(. Weise'a 'Leben Jesu,' erster band,
1 . 31_11, et,:,. • Of. Beraier's noble sermon on 'Un Predicateur !lo Cour,' Sermons, tome ii. p. 3. • Robertson's laat volume has two sermow, on • 'fho Character and Mission of the Ba1,tu,t; ' 11<1(: al110 Gcrvk's ' Pil~erLrod,' s. 3li. oe. tu. 1-38,] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. 83