(21) And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. (22) Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? (23) He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias. (24) And they which were sent were of the Pharisees.
John 1:21-24
Explanation
In these verses, the questions continue to come from the people who were sent from the Jews. They’re asking John: “Okay, since you’re not the Messiah, are you a prophet that’s come back from the dead?”
There were those who thought that when the Messiah would come, this voice crying out in the wilderness described in Isaiah would be Elias (Elijah). John essentially says that he’s not Elias or Elijah (Elias is the Greek form of Elijah). He says, “I’m not him.”
When they ask, “Are you the prophet?” he answers again based on the fact that they’re using their own interpretation of the Old Testament—and it’s a wrong interpretation. He’s not agreeing with their interpretation. So he’s saying, “No. If you want to know who I am, I am a fulfillment of prophecy. I’m a voice crying in the wilderness,” which comes out of Isaiah. “Make straight the way of the Lord.”
This was John’s message. He was calling for people to repent. His baptism was a baptism of repentance. There was a large group of people getting right with God. That’s what he was coming to do. He was trying to get people to do right, to repent, to be brought back to God. There needed to be a spiritual awareness of what God was doing, of what God had revealed, of what God had prophesied, to prepare the people to receive their Messiah.
This was John’s role. And interestingly, preparation for the Messiah—preparation for Christ and what He wants to do—included repentance, spiritual responsiveness, and listening to what God was doing.
There is an interesting note here: those who were sent were from the Pharisees. This is foreshadowing of the kind of relationship that Jesus would have with the mainstream, with the establishment of the religious Jews. They had questions. Those questions were definitely not coming from a sincere or genuine place.
Application
It’s interesting that the prescribed message of John was one that he did not make up. It was one that was given to him. It was one that was prophesied that he would have: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make His paths straight. Repent. Be spiritually responsive and aware.” That’s what he was trying to get people to do, and it starts with the inside.
He wasn’t saying just have a religious devotion to ceremonial practice. Although I’m sure he was obedient to the law at that point, he was aiming at inner change. He was aiming at heart work. That’s what was happening. That’s what he was emphasizing: repent, make the paths straight, make straight the way of the Lord.
We have a similar message. The message of the gospel is a message of repentance. It’s a message of getting your heart right with God. It’s a message that says there’s good news—that God sent Jesus to die for our sins and to give us new life. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. The old is gone, the new has come.” There is heart change. It comes by way of repentance—turning from sin and turning to Christ by faith.
While there is some difference because of dispensation, there’s not a huge difference in terms of the heart of the message. We repent of sin. We repent of our own sinful desires and our own way of thinking, and we submit to God and to what His message is—turning to Christ as Lord, as Savior. That’s the message we proclaim. That’s the message we submit to.
Response
Here are a couple of questions:
- Is there anything that I need to repent of? Do I need to preach repentance to myself today?
- Is there anybody I need to prepare the way of the Lord for? Is there anybody I need to communicate about Christ coming and about their heart being softened and open to what He wants to do in their lives?