Lesson 4: “Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord”

Matthew 3-4
John 1
Mark 1
Luke 3

Purpose: To inspire class members to draw near to the Savior by repenting of their sins, keeping their baptismal covenants, and withstanding temptation.

Lesson Development

1. John the Baptist prepares the way of the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist.
3. Jesus withstands Satan’s temptations in the wilderness.
4. Some of John the Baptist’s disciples decide to follow Jesus.
1. Insights from the Savior’s baptism
2. Jesus shows respect and love for his mother
3. Jesus shows reverence as he cleanses the temple

Scriptural Discussion and Application

Introduction

As we all remember, Judea was governed by the Roman Empire during the mortal lifetime of Jesus and during the time of Paul and the other apostles whose records make up the New Testament. Relations between the Roman rulers and the Jews in Palestine was never very harmonious, and in the year 66 a full scale Jewish rebellion broke out. It started in Caesarea as a religious conflict between Greeks and Jews, and quickly became a political protest over taxation. Jews attacked Roman citizens; Romans plundered the Jewish Temple and executed thousands of Jews in Jerusalem; Jewish rebels seized the Roman military garrison in Judea; Rome sent in additional armies; and by the year 70, much of Jerusalem, including the Temple, lay in ruins, with tens of thousands of Jews taken as slaves to Rome.

After all of the attacks and enslavements and restorations that had happened throughout Israel’s history, this really was the last and the worst. Until the 20th century and the formation of Israel, the Jews never again had a political kingdom, and they became scattered throughout the world.

It’s easy to imagine the desperation of the Jews during that war with Rome. If ever they needed the Messiah to come and save the Jews from destruction, they must have thought, it was then. And indeed, some men, especially military men, tried to rally Jewish fighters by claiming to be the Messiah.

Meanwhile, the new Christians, the followers of Jesus, who lived in Palestine, suffered along with everyone else. They must have watched one man after another claim to be the Messiah, then be defeated. Perhaps their faith in Jesus as the Messiah began to waver.

It was during this war from 66 to 70 A.D. that the Gospel of Mark was written, the first of the four gospels of the New Testament. Realizing this background, what themes or questions might you expect the writer of Mark to include in his account? [Discuss. Accept anything reasonable, but reinforce suggestions such as: Recognizing Jesus, instead of these later claimants, as the Messiah; understanding that the Messiah’s mission was to overcome sin and death, not necessarily to fight earthly military battles.]

Discussion

Let’s see how Mark testified to his listeners that Jesus was indeed the promised messiah.

Mark 1:1-15

1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;

“The Son of God.” Mark doesn’t hesitate a moment, does he, in identifying Jesus Christ, and no political or military chief, as the Son of God. Mark uses the title “Son of God” at least seven times in his testimony, all referring to Jesus. If you want a topic for gospel reading this week, find out where that title is used, and how Mark uses it to reinforce his testimony that Jesus is in fact the Son of God, the Messiah.

2 As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.

3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

“As it is written in the prophets.” Throughout the New Testament, writers appeal to the Old Testament to support the legitimacy of Jesus Christ and his teachings. It can be good practice for us always to search out the Old Testament words, or else we might miss the evidence the New Testament is trying to give us. What does your footnote in v. 2 refer you to?

Malachi 3:1

1 Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.

If you are a Jew in the time of Mark, who has become a disciple of Jesus Christ, what does this prophecy tell you that should help you identify what man is the Messiah? [You would know that the Messiah wouldn’t simply stand up and claim that role – you would look for a Messiah who was preceded by a messenger in fulfillment of prophecy, one who announced his coming in advance.]

These words in Mark, the passage that he says is “written in the prophets,” do not all appear in Malachi 3:1, though. Mark is also quoting Isaiah.

Isaiah 40:3

The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

By quoting these words from Isaiah, Mark reminded his listeners of an earlier time in their history when the people looked for the coming of a savior. Isaiah made this prophecy in connection with the Exile, when the Jews were taken captive into Babylon.

What did Mark apparently want his hearers to remember by reminding them of Isaiah’s words? [Perhaps that the Lord had been their messiah on that occasion, when he brought them safely back to Jerusalem – and not by conquering Babylon with military force, either.]

Let’s continue with Mark’s account. He has said that the Lord would send a messenger before he revealed himself, and immediately Mark identifies that messenger.

4 John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.

Mark’s gospel is filled with subtle reminders to those early Christians of God’s goodness to them in the past. What might they have recalled about God’s goodness by finding John preaching in the wilderness instead of in a city or in a pleasant, park-like setting? [This evokes the Children of Israel in the wilderness with Moses, as God led them safely through one hazard after another until they arrived at the Promised Land. – again, the Lord saved his people generally without a great display of military might.]

5 And there went out unto him all the land of Judæa, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.

Many of the prophets with whom the Jews would have been familiar had emphasized repentance as the first step to approaching God and gaining his forgiveness. We read many passages in the Old Testament last year that warned Israel to repent, and promised God’s forgiveness when they did. I don’t think we read anything in the Old Testament that spoke of baptism, though.

Yet the people were familiar with the idea that under the right circumstances, they could be made clean spiritually as well as physically with the use of water.

Ezekiel 36:25

25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.

As Latter-day Saints, we might be uncomfortable with the word “sprinkling” used in connection with repentance and forgiveness, for fear that it suggests baptism by sprinkling rather than immersion. But the sprinkling of cleansing and healing waters would have called to mind, to John’s followers and Mark’s listeners, an even older cleansing ritual.

Leviticus 1:5

5 And he shall kill the bullock before the Lord: and the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

So we see that Mark had a habit, with almost every word, of reminding his audience that Jesus Christ was, in every way, the fulfillment of ancient prophecy, and that he fit into every pattern that God had established with his people. Returning to Mark:

6 And John was clothed with camel’s hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey;

Once again, Mark connects Jesus, through John, with prophets of the past. Elijah was one of the most powerful Old Testament prophets, who could seal and open the heavens, whether that meant commanding the natural world or raising the dead – two powers associated with Jesus himself.

II Kings 1:7-8

7 And he said unto them, What manner of man was he which came up to meet you, and told you these words?

8 And they answered him, He was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite.

Returning to Mark, we read that John continually pointed toward the coming Messiah, rather than taking any priestly or messianic honors for himself.

7 And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.

8 I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.

The coming of the Holy Ghost, or the Holy Spirit sent from God, was familiar to both John disciples and those to whom Mark was speaking. We read a few minutes ago from Ezekiel, about how the Lord would “sprinkle clean water upon you” as a prelude to giving his people a new heart. That cleansing and changed heart was to be followed by another blessing.

Ezekiel 36:26-27

26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

Since we’re focusing on individual testimonies borne by New Testament figures, let’s ask: What is the source of John’s knowledge and testimony of Jesus as the Messiah?

Luke 3:1-2

1 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar …

2 … the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness

Back to Mark:

9 And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.

10 And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him:

11 And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Joseph Smith taught that “The sign of the dove was instituted before the creation of the world, a witness for the Holy Ghost … [and that] the sign of a dove was given to John to signify the truth of the deed. [Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 276.] He also taught that the Holy Ghost did not assume the physical form of a bird. I admit that I don’t really understand what Joseph Smith was talking about when he refers to “the sign of the dove” as a witness for the Holy Ghost.

Some of the sources that I’ve consulted suggest that perhaps this goes all the way back to Genesis 1:2 – before the creation of the world. In the King James version, and in Moses 2:1, the scripture refers to God’s Spirit “moving” upon the face of the water – a phrase that other translators render as “hovering” upon the face of the water, perhaps trying to convey the image of a dove’s fluttering. But I don’t know that that is the case, and I don’t know how the witnesses to the Savior’s baptism who, if any of them did see the sign of the dove, would have recognized it for what it was. LDS writers, like James Talmage, say only that “this sign had been indicated to John as the foreappointed means by which the Messiah should be made known to him,” but without giving any clue as to how or when that sign had been indicated. [Jesus the Christ, 126]

Nevertheless, Mark writes as though we should naturally accept the dove as the Holy Ghost’s testimony that Jesus was the Messiah. While I don’t understand it, in the spirit of Doctrine & Covenants 46, I accept it: “To some it is given by the Holy Ghost to know … to others it is given to believe on their words.” (D&C 46:13-14)

There is no way to miss, though, the testimony that God the Father gives us here that Jesus is the Messiah. What is the testimony of God the Father?

Sometimes people joke about all the hardships that come to them after baptism. My father, for example, who was baptized when I was not quite five years old, used to joke about his own experiences: “I joined the Church and lost my job.” Are you aware of others who report periods of trial immediately after taking the steps to become disciples of Jesus Christ?

How about Jesus himself?

12 And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness.

13 And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.

The number 40 is significant in Biblical terms – it appears dozens of times in scripture and may be more symbolic than literal. What are some of the events you can recall that lasted 40 days or 40 years or 40 something else? What do these events have in common? [While there are some exceptions, they tend to be periods of trial or difficulty: 40 days of rain in Noah’s day, 40 years of wandering in the wilderness under Moses, God gave Nineveh 40 days to repent in Jonah’s day, Jesus fasted 40 days and nights per Matthew.]

Some of the other gospel accounts enumerate a few of the specific temptations placed before Jesus, but Mark is silent about the specifics. Do you have any opinion, any preference for hearing about Jesus’s trials, or do you like Mark’s account, where we learn only that he was tried, and that “angels ministered unto him”?

What testimony of Jesus could the angels have borne of this time in Jesus’s mortal life?

And then Mark closes his account of John the Baptist’s ministry, and the story shifts completely to the ministry of Jesus himself.

14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,

15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

In summary, let’s list those – human and divine – whom Mark enumerates as bearing testimony that Jesus – and none of those who arose during the war between the Romans and the Jews – was indeed the Messiah. [Besides those named in Mark, include the ancient prophets who Mark alludes to.]

Mark’s account spoke to the people of his day largely because they were familiar with prophecy, and Mark only needed to remind them and reassure them that Jesus filled those prophecies. Are there ways that we, living so long after the mortal ministry of John, can use Mark’s account to strengthen our own understanding that Jesus was and is the Messiah, and that John was the messenger sent to introduce him to the world? [We can become more familiar with the allusions made by Mark; we can compare and contrast Mark’s account with those of the other gospels; we can review John’s participation in the events of the Restoration; we can read what modern-day prophets and teachers have said about John.]

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[If lesson has gone much faster than anticipated, have the class read some parts of the accounts of John the Baptist in the other gospels, comparing and contrasting with Mark – let class decide which gospel to read based on their class preparation {ha!}]

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If in the course of discussion – perhaps in response to question about how John was prepared for his ministry – anyone brings up this bit in the lesson manual:

To protect John, “Zacharias caused [Elisabeth] to take him into the mountains, where he was raised on locusts and wild honey” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [1976], 261).

Don’t contradict, but suggest that that class member read Lynne Hilton Wilson, “The Confusing Case of Zacharias,” in Religious Educator 14, no. 2 (2013) 107–123
( http://rsc.byu.edu/archived/re-14-no-2-2013/confusing-case-zacharias ).