1:22
The priests and Levites had been sent to provide an answer on who John the Baptist was, or who he claimed to be. So that is why they are not happy with his denials to be the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet. If he wasn’t any of these, and yet was behaving in the way he did (seeking to have a major impact on people, and succeeding), who did he think he was?
The priests and Levites were fixated on who John was, what they should have focused on was who Jesus is.
1:23
John gives them an answer by quoting from Isaiah 40:3. He is the one calling in the wilderness to make straight path for the Lord. Matthew (Matt 3:3), Mark (1:3) and Luke (Luke 1:4) all make reference to the same verse.
After the Babylonian captivity the people (or at least some of them) had returned from captivity to Jerusalem. However, the history of Israel after that had not been particularly happy. They had problems at various times from various nations, and were now under Roman rule. The great promises in Isaiah, and elsewhere, had clearly not been anything like completely fulfilled.
Jesus is the one who brings fulfilment, and we need to repent in order to prepare the way for Him.
No comments:
Post a Comment