John the Baptist

Extract

John the Baptist
A. W. Pink

Part One

It might well be supposed that our Lord’s forerunner was no ordinary man. Before assenting to that idea, it is necessary to determine what is meant in that connection by “no ordinary man.” If it implies that John must have been one of social prestige and prominence, a highly educated and learned man, possessed of more than average talents, then, a serious doubt at once enters our mind, for it accords not with what is revealed elsewhere of the thoughts and ways of Him which are so different from ours. “The LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7). He is pleased to choose “the foolish things to confound the wise” and “the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty: and base things of the world, and things which are despised…that no flesh should glory in his presence” (1 Cor. 1:27 -29)—the primary reference being to His ministers, and the wider application to His saints in general. Thus, the ambassadors of Christ were for the most part unlettered fishermen, and when the Messiah appeared, he had no form nor comeliness in the sight of men.

Nevertheless, from the spiritual and divine side of things, the above expectation was fully realized. The one appointed to introduce the Saviour unto Israel was the subject of Old Testament prediction. He came from exceptionally pious parents. His very name was given to him by an angel before his conception (Luke 1:13). He was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb (Luke 1:15). His mission was a unique one. Yea, we are fully warranted in saying that God conferred upon him higher honours than on any other of the sons of men either before or since. He was “the prophet of the Highest” and sent “before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways” (Luke 1:76). He was the first administrator of the holy ordinance of baptism (and accordingly is named “the Baptist”), and had the great privilege of …