WE move on now in the gospel narrative some 30 years, when in the timing of God Jesus would commence his ministry. At this time God also prepared John the Baptist to minister to prepare people for the coming of the Saviour.

Let us notice first and foremost one grand principle of salvation. John was sent to prepare the way of the Lord. His message was repentance. Before anyone can appreciate Christ and his saving work for us, a person must appreciate their need. Our need is to be saved from our sins and their consequence of judgement, death and hell. If we don’t appreciate we are sinners, and that we deserve punishment from a just and holy God, we will never appreciate Christ as Saviour, or if we do in some measure, we shall not appreciate him rightly and in a saving way.

So we see that John came and preached “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near”. Let us take to heart the importance of repentance, and our need for repentance. There is no human being that is free from this need to repent. We are all sinners before God, and we have sinful dispositions which are in rebellion against God. We are all under the sentence of death for our sins. This sentence is already upon us, and is seen in that death is the end of all in this life. This sentence of death is on account of sin. This sentence will be carried out to the full unless we repent and are saved. The fulness of this sentence comes after death when we shall be cast out of the presence of God forever, and cast into hell with the devil and all his angels. If we do not repent we shall never be saved from this awful condition. There is no way we can escape it except through repentance and the salvation which Christ won for us. But repentance must come first. Christ will not save us unless we are sorry for our sins, and hate the sinfulness within us, and we admit that we deserve death and hell, and we come to Jesus crying for mercy. Jesus never has and never will turn away anyone who comes to him like this. His death is sufficient to pay the price of all our sin. It is for this reason John came and was given this message.

This message was urgent because the kingdom of heaven was near. The kingdom of heaven is the kingdom of God. The meaning of the kingdom to be near is that the way into the kingdom, and the opportunity to enter it was near. It was near because the Saviour, who would unlock the gate of heaven for all who believe, was near, and just beginning his ministry which culminated in his giving his life to the death we deserve in our place, so that we may enter this kingdom of joy and blessing. The kingdom is still near, because Jesus is still offering himself to us as our Saviour. It has been near all down history since Jesus came, died and rose again. It is still near, but we do not know how long it will remain near. Jesus will come again, and the days of grace and the opportunity to enter the kingdom will end, then it will be too late. It will be too late for all who have not repented before they die. We do not know when it will be when Jesus comes, or when physical death will overtake us. Jesus told the parable of the man who had many barns, and when he had filled them he felt he could retire and live happily ever after. What he did not anticipate was that God would require his soul the next day. He had lived only for this world, and so although he had great riches in this life, he had lost all. Jesus also said, what does it profit anyone if they gain the whole world and lose their soul. The urgency for us to repent is so urgent and pressing. The kingdom of heaven is near so let us enter now while we can.

Matthew again mentions the fulfilment of prophecy. God had foretold through Isaiah that John the Baptist would come, and what his ministry would be like. We see in this prophecy the importance of this ministry of John. He was sent to a desert. A desert is a parched and desolate area. This is not referring to the fact that John preached in the wilderness, and lived a Spartan life. The desert is a description of our world which is a spiritual desert. The hearts of human beings are parched and waterless. They are hard and unyielding. The water of God’s message of love in Christ can’t reach this hardened inner condition. The desert needs to be levelled and broken up and watered by the Spirit of God. This hard condition of our hearts need to be made straight by repentance. Only then will people heed the message of salvation in Christ. So John was sent to do this work by preaching the message of repentance.

There is a tremendous lack of this ministry today. Because there is little consciousness of sin in people’s hearts, there is little appreciation of Christ and his death for us. Because there is little appreciation and understanding in the hearts of ministers of the terrible desert of sin in the human heart, the message of repentance is not pressed, and the preaching of Christ and him crucified is neglected.

There are many sermons preached today, and there are many books written. The quality of these sermons and books is excellent, but there are few sermons and few books which focus on the need for repentance, and the work of Christ which alone saves us from sin and its consequences. How the church needs to learn from the ministry of John the Baptist, not only in his preaching repentance, but as we shall see later in this chapter his preaching of Christ.