The Nativity of St.
John the Baptist
June 24, 2018
Text: Luke 1:57-80
The
Nativity of St. John the Baptist is a dry run for Christmas. John is the forerunner of the Christ, our
Lord Jesus. He prepares the way of the
Lord. Not just in preaching, but in his
birth, his Baptism, and in his martyr’s death.
John’s birth parallels our Lord’s in so many ways. Both births were prophesied from of old, from
ancient times. In our Old Testament,
Isaiah tells us of the voice who will cry in the wilderness to prepare the way
of the Lord by calling for repentance and comforting with forgiveness (Is.
40:1-5). He’s talking about St.
John. The same prophet tells us that the
virgin will conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His Name “Immanuel,” which
means, “God with us” (Is. 7:14). He
tells us this Son will grow up to be the promised Suffering Servant who will
bear our griefs and carry our sorrows, be wounded for our transgressions and
crushed for our iniquities, yet in making this offering unto death for our
sins, He will see His offspring, His days shall be prolonged, and the will of
the LORD will prosper in His hands. That
is to say, He will rise from the dead.
This beautiful prophecy of our Lord Jesus Christ is found in Isaiah 53.
The
births of the two are both miraculous.
John is born of an old woman well past her prime, Elizabeth, bringing to
mind the miraculous conceptions and births of the Old Testament, particularly
that of Sarah who gives birth to Isaac in her old age. All the miraculous births in the Bible point
us to the greatest of miraculous births, our Lord Jesus Christ, born of the
Virgin Mary.
Both
of the boys receive their names from the angel, and one points to the
other. The son of Zechariah and
Elizabeth is to be named John (Luke 1:13), much to the surprise of the crowds
(vv. 59-63), and his name points to his vocation as forerunner. John means “Gift of YHWH,” and that is what
he is: a gift to this barren couple in their old age, a gift to the world in
his preaching and pointing to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the
world (John 1:29). The Son of Mary, the
Son of God, is to be named Jesus, which means “YHWH saves,” for that is what He
has come to do, to save His people from their sins (Matt. 1:21). Both boys receive their name at 8 days old,
in the shedding of their blood by circumcision, John first, the forerunner,
Jesus the fulfillment. It is the first
shedding of our Savior’s precious blood for our redemption. He is saving His people from their sins. He is doing His Name, Jesus, YHWH saves.
And
there are so many other parallels. John
always comes first, preparing the way.
Jesus always comes as fulfillment.
John decreases. Jesus
increases. So it must be. It is the plan of God from all eternity. John baptizes with water, but Jesus baptizes
with the Holy Spirit and fire. John’s
baptism is prophetic. Jesus’ Baptism is
fulfillment. You are baptized by Jesus,
Baptism in all its fullness, in the Name of our Triune God, Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit, delivering all that John’s baptism prophesied and foreshadowed.
And
of course, John’s forerunning would not be complete apart from his martyr’s
death. John is imprisoned in a dungeon
and spills his blood for preaching the truth to Herod and Herodias: It is not
lawful for a man to have his brother’s wife.
Adultery and divorce are detestable to God. Even then, preaching biblical truth about
marriage and sex brought down the wrath of the government. John’s head is delivered on a silver platter
as a reward for Salome’s lewd dance. How
is that for foreshadowing? John dies for
the sins of the Herod family. In his
case, his death doesn’t make atonement, but it is the direct result of sin, and
it is the righteous one dying for the sins of the unrighteous. It all points us to Jesus, arrested for
preaching the truth that He is the Son of God and the Savior of the world, put
to death for the sins of the people… all people, and that means you. The Righteous One dies for all the
unrighteous ones. But His death does atone for sin. His death undoes death. And this time, He goes first. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. He’ll raise St. John, head and all. He’ll raise you, and give eternal life to you
and all believers in Jesus Christ.
John
is the forerunner, and so at his birth, his father Zechariah sings a Christmas
carol. The Benedictus, we call it, which means “Blessed be,” and we still sing
it today in the morning office, Matins.
Zechariah, remember, was struck dumb when he failed to believe the
angel’s prophecy of John’s birth (Luke 1:20).
But the moment he wrote, “His
name is John” (v. 63; ESV), his tongue was loosed, and his first words were
this hymn of praise. And they’re all
about Jesus! They’re all about what
Jesus does. Remember, praise is not just
some endless string of exclamations about how great God is, like He needs some
kind of affirmation for His self-esteem.
Praise is telling what it is that’s so great about God, what He’s done
for us and for our salvation. And
Zechariah does not disappoint. God has
visited and redeemed His people, Zechariah sings (v. 68). He has come, in the flesh, to be among us and
be one of us, and to give His life into death for us, that our death be turned
into life! God has raised up a horn of
salvation for us in the house of His servant David (v. 69). The King is being born, the Son of David who
is greater than David, David’s Lord and ours.
It’s what He spoke by the mouth of the holy prophets. It is salvation from our enemies (vv.
70-71). It is the end of sin, death, and
the devil. It is the mercy of God
promised to Abraham and all our fathers, to remember His holy covenant, the
covenant forged in blood, not just the blood of bulls and goats, but the blood
of this Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (vv. 72-73). All of this so that we be reconciled to God
and serve Him all our days, without fear of punishment, without fear of
rejection or condemnation, in holiness and righteousness forever (74-75). Then, and only then, he gets to John. But it’s still all about Jesus. “And
you, child,” John, my son, you “will
be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to
prepare his ways” (v. 76). John is
the forerunner. And He will prepare the
way of Jesus Christ by preaching. He
will preach the knowledge of salvation.
He will preach the forgiveness of sins.
He will preach the tender mercy of God.
God is not against us. He is for
us. He sends His Son. And this news, this Gospel, is light for
those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death. It guides our feet into the way of peace (vv.
76-79).
“Comfort, comfort my people,” God says
through the prophet Isaiah, as He promises the birth of John (Is. 40:1). John is born, and does just that. He comforts God’s people by preaching. And in the preaching, all things are leveled
and straightened. Every valley is lifted
up. The poor have good news preached to
them. Sinners are forgiven. The dying are brought to life. And every mountain and hill is made low. The haughty are leveled. Pride goes before a fall. Pharisees and good Christian folk are told
that tax collectors and sinners march into the Kingdom of God before them. Repent.
Repent of your sins. Repent of
your self-righteousness. For the glory
of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it (vv. 4-5). It will be a terror to those outside the
faith and forgiveness of Christ. It will
be the eternal joy of those who are in Him.
This is the whole sum and substance of John’s life and preaching and
baptism and death.
Everything
about St. John the Baptist is, finally, all about Jesus. And now we know how to read the Bible and how
to hear preaching. The Bible talks in
some places about St. John, and in other places about any number of other
people and things. But all of it, in
every place, is about Jesus. When a
preacher preaches, his topic may be about any number of the teachings of the
Scriptures, the particularities of Christian faith and life, this or that
episode in biblical history, and it may relate to any number of things going on
in your life and in the world today. But
all of it, in every place, is about Jesus.
It is about Jesus Christ for you.
Or at least it should be. This is
how you can evaluate a sermon. Is it
about you and how you can live a better life by following steps x, y, and
z? That is not a Christian sermon. That preacher is being unfaithful. Or is the sermon about Jesus Christ and what
He has done to save you from your sins, reconcile you to the Father, and give
you eternal life? That is what every
sermon should be about. Sure, there will
be Law. Do this. Don’t do that. Repent of your sins. But the Law accuses you so that you know just
how much you need Jesus. The Law serves
the Gospel. The Law robs you of any
righteousness of your own. It imprisons
you under sin, and ultimately, it kills you.
The Law is good. But you are
not. And that is why the Law has its way
with you. The Gospel gives you Jesus,
who releases you from your bondage and raises you to new and eternal life. A sermon that leaves you in the Law, leaves
you dead and damned. A sermon that
preaches the Gospel gives you Jesus, who gives you His life and salvation.
It’s
not quite Christmas in July, but this morning and every June 24th we
get a little forerunner of Christmas in the Nativity of St. John the
Baptist. How appropriate. John goes before. But even as he goes before, he fades from the
scene so that our eyes focus on Jesus.
John decreases. Jesus
increases. It’s all about Jesus. Jesus crucified. Jesus risen from the dead. Jesus for you. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son
(+), and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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