Listen to the Lord’s forerunner(s)!

Sermon for Advent 4 – Rorate Coeli

Isaiah 40:1-8  +  Philippians 4:4-7  +  John 1:19-28

We’ve spent the Advent season preparing for Christ’s second coming. Today is no different. God prepares us for Christ’s second coming in the same way He prepared the people of Israel for His first coming: by turning our attention to the ministry of the forerunner.

John the Baptist was the great forerunner of Christ, the one announced ahead of time by the prophet Malachi and by the prophet Isaiah, the one announced, at least in private, by the angel Gabriel to his father Zacharias. He was six months older than Jesus, and so we assume he began his ministry at least six months before Jesus began His.

His ministry consisted in preaching God’s message of repentance to the people of Israel and in baptizing those who repented. So the Jews had every right to ask John on whose authority he was preaching and baptizing, as they did in today’s Gospel. No one was allowed in the Church of Israel, just as no one is allowed in the New Testament Church, to just get up and start preaching or administering the Sacraments in God’s name (or, in John’s case, performing a new Sacrament in God’s name) without a rightly ordered call. And since John had no call from the Church of Israel to preach or to baptize, he was either a rogue who deserved to be arrested, or he had a direct call from God.

But no one in Israel had had a direct call from God for over 400 years, since the prophet Malachi. So the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”

Well, there were only two possible legitimate answers to that question. The prophet Malachi had indicated that two men would be directly sent by God after him: first, the messenger who would prepare the way before the Lord, and then, immediately following, the Messenger who was the Lord, that is, the Christ. The first messenger would be the forerunner, preaching repentance, or as Isaiah put it, “making straight in the desert a highway for our God.” The second would be our God, the Christ, the One whom God calls “My Son,” the One who would be anointed to be Israel’s true Prophet, Priest, and King, the Ruler over Israel, the One who would perform miracles, who would preach and teach, who would be despised and rejected by the people, who would bear the sins of the world, be crucified, and rise again from the dead. So, if John’s call was legitimate at all, he either had to be the forerunner, or he had to be the Christ.

John narrowed it down for them immediately. He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” That only left one other possibility, according to Scripture. He had to be the forerunner!

But then, the Jews, or at least the Jewish leaders, didn’t understand their own Scriptures very well at that time (which should make us wary whenever we read anything about Jewish interpretations of the Old Testament). They asked him, What then? Are you Elijah? Now, why would they ask him that? Remember what Malachi, the last prophet Israel had heard, had said in the last chapter of his prophetic book: Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse. Those were the last recorded words of the Old Testament, left ringing in the ears of the Jews for 400 years. It’s true, according to Malachi 4, “Elijah” would come. And according to Jesus, John was that promised Elijah whom Malachi was referring to. But the Jews show here how poorly they were understanding their own Old Testament Scriptures. They envisioned the same Elijah who was taken to heaven in a fiery chariot descending again to preach and perform miracles. And John rightly said, No, that’s not who I am.

Are you the Prophet?, they asked. We assume they meant the Prophet of whom Moses spoke in Deut. 18: The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear. But again, they were not understanding their own Scriptures very well. That prophecy was pointing to the Christ Himself, not some other prophet. So again, John said, no.

Who are you, then?, they asked. Since he had already ruled out being the Christ, John identifies himself as the forerunner with the words of the prophet Isaiah: I am The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the LORD.”

See how John at once highlights the importance of his ministry while at the same time minimizing his own importance. His importance lay, not in attracting followers to himself, but in getting people ready to follow the Christ: Make straight the way of the Lord! As Isaiah continued, Every valley shall be exalted. That is, everyone who has sunken down into despair over their sinfulness will be given new hope, will be called up to a Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And, every mountain and hill shall be brought low. That is, every high and mighty person, secure in his sin, will be accused, will be brought down by the preaching of God’s Law, will be called down to a Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

And in that Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, in that Baptism which pointed to the coming Christ, John fulfilled the words you heard in the First lesson this morning: Comfort, yes, comfort My people! Says your God. Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her, That her warfare is ended, That her iniquity is pardoned; For she has received from the LORD’s hand Double for all her sins.

How was Jerusalem delivered from her warfare? She wasn’t delivered from earthly war, but from the war she had been fighting with God. Christ is the peace treaty! The Christ was coming with a pardon for all who sorrowed over their sins. The Christ was coming to give God’s waiting people twice as many divine benefits as they had committed sins against God. That was the forerunner’s task, to prepare Israel for the coming of the Lord. Be ready! The Lord is at hand!

John the Baptist may have been the great forerunner, but he wasn’t the only one. St. Paul was also one. He wrote in the Epistle, Rejoice, the Lord is at hand! Now, the Lord no longer stands among us visibly. He will! Soon! But until then, He has sent all kinds of forerunners, starting with the apostles themselves. Ministers, to preach repentance, as John did, to those who are secure in their sins, who think they have something to offer to God. Ministers to preach comfort, as John did, to those who know their sins and are afraid. Ministers to point to Christ, as John did. The Lord is at hand! He is near! He will come again for judgment against the impenitent and for the salvation of His waiting people. For now, He has made Himself near in ways that are just as powerful, if not as glorious. He is near where His Word is preached and His Sacraments are administered. It’s Jesus preaching. It’s Jesus baptizing. It’s Jesus handing out the bread and wine, and together with it, His own body and blood that are truly present, to be eaten and drunk for the forgiveness of sins.

So repent! He’s coming! Take an accounting of your heart, of your life. Don’t let Him find you proud when He comes, but humble. Not mistreating your neighbor, but letting your gentleness be known to all men. Not anxiously worrying about the things of this life, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, letting your requests be made known to God. Listen to the Lord’s forerunner John! Listen to His forerunner Paul! And to all the forerunners whom the Lord sends to point you to the coming Christ! Amen.