Just Who Does John the Baptist Think He Is? (Mathew 21:23-27).
length: 61:54 - taught on Oct, 1 2025
Class Outline:
Wednesday October 1, 2025
1. Jesus answers the question of his authority with the authority of His forerunner who pointed to Him.
Who is John the Baptist?
John was the appointed herald and forerunner of the Messiah. The leaders, educated in the prophets, knew that this one was to come.
"Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming," says the Lord of hosts. 2 "But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. 3 "He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness. 4 "Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.
While the people still questioned whether God is just, God was going to send His messenger to prepare the way of the Lord.
Remember the law of Moses My servant, even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel.
The Law leads a person to the Messiah. (the whole of it, moral, Levitical, civil). GAL 3:24
"Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. 6 "He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse."
The angel Gabriel quotes this passage in reference to John (see in a minute) who the angel says “It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah.”
Let’s see more about John in Luke.
These are the last words of the Nevi’im, the Book of the Prophets.
"It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, TO TURN THE HEARTS OF THE FATHERS BACK TO THE CHILDREN, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."
From birth John was famous - establishing his popularity in Israel so as to ready them for his ministry when it began.
And he asked for a tablet and wrote as follows, "His name is John." And they were all astonished. 64 And at once his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he began to speak in praise of God. 65 Fear came on all those living around them; and all these matters were being talked about in all the hill country of Judea. 66 All who heard them kept them in mind, saying, "What then will this child turn out to be?" For the hand of the Lord was certainly with him.
"And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
For you will go on BEFORE THE LORD TO PREPARE HIS WAYS; [MAL 3:1]
77 To give to His people the knowledge of salvation
By the forgiveness of their sins, [symbolized by his baptism]
78 Because of the tender mercy of our God,
With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us, [MAL 4:2]
79 TO SHINE UPON THOSE WHO SIT IN DARKNESS AND THE SHADOW OF DEATH, [ISA 9:2, also in MAT 4:16 - His ministry in Galilee]
To guide our feet into the way of peace."
80 And the child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel.
John’s baptism:
A ritual cleansing dependent on confession of sins in anticipation of the coming Messiah who would baptize with the Holy Spirit.
they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins.
“As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
His baptism was the identifying sign of his ministry. It was a religious rite signifying confession of sin and commitment to a holy life in anticipation of the coming Messiah. Remember, the law leads one to faith in the Messiah.
And he came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
John’s baptism would not have actually forgiven sins, no more than animal sacrifices did, but it symbolized a forgiveness which was to come, which Jesus’ own baptism by John would symbolize, and the foretold baptism of the Holy Spirit would actually do, not ritualistically, but really.
For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
"And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'
For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.
The fruit of John’s ministry:
The fruit of John’s baptism was that all believers would repent before the Law of God, which leading them to Messiah, in this case, the actual Messiah whom John was pointing to.
2. Israel had a choice to believe John and Jesus.
The rejectors manifested fear.
The acceptors manifested fruit.
God gives us choice. Let’s not miss the significance of volition.
The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
The leaders saw these people completely change and still did not repent so as to believe John, and make no mistake, to believe John was to believe Him.
The fruit of rejecting John and Messiah was fear and ignorance. These two always go together.
And they began reasoning among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say to us, 'Then why did you not believe him?' 26 "But if we say, 'From men,' we fear the people; for they all regard John as a prophet." 27 And answering Jesus, they said, "We do not know."
Then the chief priests and the elders of the people were gathered together in the court of the high priest, named Caiaphas; 4 and they plotted together to seize Jesus by stealth and kill Him. 5 But they were saying, "Not during the festival, otherwise a riot might occur among the people."
Matthew masterfully compares them with a lone woman who is so free from care for the world, unafraid of life, that she is willing to give a years wages just for the chance of anointing the Lord before He is gone.
Now when Jesus was in Bethany, at the home of Simon the leper, 7 a woman came to Him with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume, and she poured it on His head as He reclined at the table.
Mary is so free and fearless that she can clearly see a once in a lifetime opportunity. [the disciples in the next line still need time - that should be encouraging to us all]
The authority for Christ’s actions were from God the Father.
The authority for John’s baptism was from heaven, meaning, from God.
The contingency of the offer: The offer of the kingdom was a contingent offer. God knew full-well the response of the nation Israel to the offer of the kingdom, yet the establishment of the theocratic kingdom depended upon the repentance of the nation, the recognition of John the Baptist as the promised forerunner, and the reception of Jesus Christ as the theocratic King.
Jesus said of John,
"And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come.
But they rejected Him.
But not the aching loneliness that this must have given Him, nor the mocking, arrest, physical punishment, abandonment by His disciples, public denial, nor even the vicious Roman cross would stop Him from doing what He came to do, what His Father willed for Him to do.
This now is your Savior; your Master, your Lord and High Priest who will never abandon you. Even if you fail in your faith and deny Him as Peter did, He will not deny you, but will come to you and comfort you in complete forgiveness.
The gift we now possess in Christ is immense beyond words. The King that was promised to the world since the fall in GEN 3:15 is now our Lord who indwells us. Why are we so blessed?
God would not withhold what He promised through the King, Son of David, Son of Man and He gave an age, never known, in which believers in Christ as their Savior, believing what that generation denied about Him, who would receive a portion of those promised blessings. That would not make us Israel. We are not. That would not make us the kingdom. We are not. That would make us unique and unknown in the history of prophecy - members of Christ, in Christ, members of the kingdom to come, washed by His blood, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, endowed with Christ and wed to Him, and living in a fallen world, one which they do not know, that He is coming back.
We are to evangelize. And guess what? We will be treated like John and Jesus. But look at them now. They did not cave into the pressure and look at them now.
Be bold and confident believer. Know that the One who has all authority is your Lord forever.
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