Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon this morning is the Gospel, which was read earlier.

In a popular song by The Who called “Who Are You”, the chorus repeats a line time and time again: “Who are you?” That is the question that is asked to John the Baptist in our Gospel reading for today. As we see in the text, it tells us who John the Baptist is: “He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.” Even though John the Baptist is not Jesus, there seems to be an identity crisis on behalf of the priests and Levites. There were those who thought that John the Baptist was the promised Messiah. They went to him to be baptized, seeking something more than he could provide. They expected him to be more than who he was; they expected him to do more than he was capable of doing. But he had a single mission: “to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.”

There are many times where we confuse the messenger with the message. If we receive bad news from a doctor, we often blame the doctor for the illness, even though he has nothing to do with. John the Baptist clearly understood that his purpose was not bearing witness to himself and his own greatness, but glorifying the Savior. The great privilege of his calling was expressed in the life of John, for he was true to his conviction: “He must become greater; I must become less.” But for the priests and Levities, they wanted to know exactly who he claimed to be and what it was that he was going to do.

For the Jews, they needed an answer to who this John was. They sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him who he was – not trying to trap John in what he says but instead merely wanting to know who he is and what he is about. John took no pleasure in pretending to be someone whom he was not. He very easily could have said that he was the promised Messiah and no one would have been the wiser, at least for a while. John did what he was called to do: proclaim Christ. He’s not the Christ. He’s not Elijah. He’s not the prophet Moses promised back in Deuteronomy 18, the prophet who would, in fact, be one and the same as the Christ. John was content simply to announce the coming Lamb of God.

In John, we see a prophet doing what he is supposed to do. A prophet is supposed to confess the Christ. When the priests and Levites from Jerusalem asked him, “Who are you?” he did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” A true prophet is a true prophet because he proclaims the truth. He proclaims the truth because that is what God gave him to proclaim. The truth might make people sad. The truth might terrify people. The truth might make people angry. In fact, the truth might make people angry enough to kill the prophet. Nevertheless, the prophet tells the truth that he received from God. What is that truth that John received from God? “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

The sad thing in today’s Gospel is that the men in the delegations wanted to know who John was, but they didn’t want to hear his message. When John told them that the Lord was in the crowd standing among the people, they weren’t impressed. As far as they were concerned, no one in the crowd looked especially Messianic. Jesus has no special form or comeliness that makes Him stand out; apparently, there is no beauty about Him that makes Him attractive or desirable. Jesus is just another face in the crowd, and a face in the crowd simply couldn’t be the Messiah. Their problem was that they had preconceived notions of who the Messiah was to be and Jesus didn’t fit the bill. John, the forerunner of Christ wasn’t who they thought the herald of the Messiah would be. Here stood before them a man eating wild honey and locusts. He probably was more unkempt than others were. He didn’t exactly shout forerunner of Christ. Their preconceived notions blinded them to John and his message of Jesus. Their preconceived notions blinded them to Jesus, the one who would save them from their sins.

Nothing has changed in 2000 years. There are still those today whose preconceived notions dictate to them who Jesus is and what He has come to do. People see Jesus as a great moral teacher, but nothing more. People see Jesus as just one of the many ways to heaven. People see Jesus as an example to live by. People see Jesus as their personal life coach. Jesus is not a moral teacher. Jesus is not one of the many ways to heaven. He is not an example to live by. Jesus is not a life coach. Jesus is the Babe in the manger, come to live a sinless life for you. Jesus is the Babe in the manger, come to die on the cross on behalf of you to forgive you all of your sins. That is who Jesus is and that is what John the Baptist came proclaiming.

Jesus is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John’s message is about the One who’s infinitely greater than we, because He was before us all, for we are the work of His hands, even as we are also the creatures of His own redeeming. He came among us as one of us precisely so that He could serve all of us. He shouldered our sins as He carried His cross, and He died our death and shattered our hell, and by overcoming the sharpness of death He opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers. Truly, the Son of Man did not come among us to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as the ransom for many.

As the season of Advent approaches its midway point, John the Baptist does the Church the service of focusing all the joy of the Church entirely on Christ. John’s words remind us that the joy of the coming days isn’t found in presents and a jolly man in a red suit, but the unspeakable joy is found in the One who came into this world through a manger to meager parents, to be our Immanuel, God with us. It is this Jesus who was the unexpected Messiah, who came to give you life in His name. Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon this morning is the Old Testament which was read earlier.
The prophecy was told of long ago in Isaiah: a Savior was coming. Today is about John the Baptist. Today is about the message that he is proclaiming: “Prepare the way of the Lord.” The message that John the Baptist is one “proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” John is the one who is coming to herald the coming of Christ. As you can imagine, this must be a daunting task. Just for a moment, put yourself in the shoes of John, proclaiming the coming of Christ. You are the forerunner to the Christ. You are the opening act with Jesus as the headliner. The message that you proclaim is one that needs to be less about you and more about Christ. That is exactly what John the Baptist did.
For the Israelites of old, they were in exile in Babylon. They were displaced and unhappy. Many of them were without hope. They recognized that God was punishing them but believed this was only temporary. Everything that God had promised to them now lay in ruins. Surely God would not allow this to go on forever. But as one generation passed, and then another, the Israelites’ hope dwindled. Some argued that God cannot keep His promises. Others said that it was even worse than that, that God had cast them off forever. Ultimately, there was little hope that God would take action and rescue them.
What the Israelites failed to realize was that everything happened on God’s timetable and not theirs. Isaiah records, “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.” Not only did God not abandon them, God continued to provide and care for them. And to make things all the richer for the Israelites, God is giving them double for the sins they have committed!
Now if you’re an Israelite, then this is very good news for you. It means that God has not forsaken them as they had thought. It means that not only has God forgiven them of their sins, He grants to them double. How strange that must sound. For every sin that they had committed, God grants to them twice the blessing. Things can’t get any better for them, or can they?
This message of Isaiah to the Israelites is also a message of hope and comfort to you as well. This tiny Baby who will be born in a manger has come for you. He has come to pardon your iniquity. He has come to give to you double for all of your sins. That message is what John the Baptist came preaching.
God did not want His people Israel in exile to despair. He sent His prophet with a message of great hope and comfort to them. The prophet called for Israel to look forward eagerly, to expect God to return them from exile and set up His rule and glory for all to see. What a remarkable message – if you could dare to belief it!
Why couldn’t they belief it? This was what had been promised for so long. When did God ever go back on His promise? When did God ever totally abandon His people? There was no reason why they should doubt it. Isaiah’s message was a message to remind them of God’s promises.
What was the message that Isaiah preached? It was the message of Jesus. It was the message of a Savior. As Isaiah records, “And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” These weren’t just foolish dreams and wild musings on the part of Isaiah. These were the prophecies that God revealed to him. It can’t be foolish dreams and wild musings if they come from God. God gave Israel a new lease on life, and vindicated His prophet who dared Israel to hope.
John the Baptist took these words to heart. Actually, John reinforced these ideas for the people. He proclaimed that he was himself “the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the LORD,” not by making himself the focus but by turning to the Lord, by turning to the One whom the Lord had spoken of, Jesus Christ. John the Baptist came “proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”
Then, the glory of God came in the person of Jesus. God sent to us His Son to live and to die a criminal’s death. Does that sound like God’s glory to you? Yes it is! It is the glorious suffering that Isaiah speaks of in chapter 53: “he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.” This is what Christ came to do. This was what John the Baptist came preaching and this is what Isaiah prophesied.
God called on His people in exile to take comfort and hope in His impending rescue. Today, He calls on us as well to take heart, for He is taking over and caring for His people throughout history since the promise was made in the Garden.
When we are a people in exile, where God’s promises and power seem far from us, where shall we find hope? The answer is in God, of course. In the hints of His glory that is breaking through, one sees the face of Jesus. In Him, God’s glory is breaking in, setting up God’s rule. God’s love pours through the lives of His people in the promised Savior, Jesus.
The Gospel is our hope and our comfort, and the changing winds of time cannot touch it. People come and go, but God’s Word is true, His promises are unchanging, just as Isaiah says: “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” Our salvation is sure because God is guaranteeing it. Our sins have been forgiven. This comfort doesn’t rest upon us or our opinions. It isn’t a fad or a fashion or some other creature of time. It is the Word of God. It is the truth of God. It is the gift of God. It is the Gospel, and it is the power of God for salvation to all who believe!
It cannot be changed. Don’t get me wrong, people are always trying to change it. But, if we change it, it is no longer the Gospel! It doesn’t need to be improved. It cannot be destroyed. We can abandon it, but it will not abandon us. We can mess it up, and proclaim something else much more in keeping with the times – but that ‘something else’ won’t have the power to save. It won’t have God’s promise of salvation. It won’t have the power to comfort anyone. And God calls to us through the centuries, through His unchanging Word, to proclaim His Comfort. The Comfort we are looking for, the Comfort that we need comes to us in Jesus, heralded by John the Baptist, prophesied by Isaiah, given to you in a manger. In Jesus’ name, amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.