A Biblical Vision, Part II: Mastering the New Testament Witness to Christ

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A B i b l i ca l Vi s i on, Par t I I : Mas ter i ng the New Tes tament Wi tnes s to Chr i s t

3. Perfect character (which grew more and more from childhood into adolescence), Luke 2.40 – And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.

4. Growth into manhood , Luke 2.51-52 – And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. [52] And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

IV. John the Baptist

Isa. 40.3-5 A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. [4] Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. [5] And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

John’s announcement of the Kingdom anticipated the fulfillment of the Old Testament expectation in a twofold direction. God is to act in his kingly power for the salvation of the righteous and the judgment of the wicked – the two central themes that run through out the Old Testament. The character of the judgment falls in the “apocalyptic” category. The judgment of fire does not contemplate an historical visitation when God would act through an historical nation, an “anointed” agent (Isa. 45.1) to visit Israel as a nation with an historical judgment of war. It is rather a judgment of individuals carried out by a messianic personage in apocalyptic fire. Such a judgment is anticipated in the Old Testament (Mal. 4.1; Nah. 1.6; Isa. 30.33), and the idea is developed at great length in the intertestamental literature.

~ George Eldon Ladd. Theology of the New Testament . p. 38.

A. The biblical citations: Matt. 3.1-12; Mark 1.2-8; Luke 3.1-20; John 1.19-28

Mark 1.2-8 – As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, [3] the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’ ” [4] John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. [5] And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. [6] Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.