What does
‘repent’ mean, and why is John the Baptist’s message in the book of Mark so
important?
1 The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah,
the Son of God,
2 as it is written in
Isaiah the prophet: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare
your way”—
3 “a voice of one
calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths
for him.’”
4 And so John the
Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the
forgiveness of sins.
5 The whole Judean
countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their
sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
6 John wore clothing
made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts
and wild honey.
7 And this was his message: “After me comes the one more
powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and
untie. 8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
In the very first
verse, Mark announced that he would write about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
It is surprising, therefore, that he did not start out by telling about Jesus
Himself; instead, he described the work of John the Baptist. This was because
John was to prepare the way for Jesus. John fulfilled this mission by preaching
to get people ready for the coming of the Lord.
John's message
focused on two themes that will help us get ready to receive Christ.
First, he preached
about repentance. To repent means to decide to change. John was telling his
hearers that they had to reverse their life's direction to get ready for
Christ; those unwilling to change could not come to Him.
Second, John declared the greatness of Jesus. He said Jesus
was so great that he himself was not even worthy to stoop down and untie His
shoes. This was an amazing declaration because one does not have to have much
worth to untie somebody's shoes. In fact, in John's day, untying shoes was
considered to be a slave's lowest duty -‐ John wasn't worthy to be Jesus'
humblest slave!
So, for us to be
ready to receive Jesus, we must repent (change our lives) and recognize His
awesome greatness. Keep thinking about it
• John the Baptist was a fulfillment of prophecy made years
earlier by Isaiah. What does the fulfillment of prophecy show you about God?
• John was preaching
about repentance to the people. If John talked to you today, what might he ask
you to repent of?
(Adapted from message of GodLife)
