Hi James. Mark 1:4: "John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins."
The way I understand this verse goes like this: 'John came baptizing in the wilderness and in his calling, he proclaimed the need to be (water) baptized as an act to declare & confess one's sinful condition, to repent of it & receive God's forgiveness & sin's remission'.
John was Jesus' forerunner, in that he was God's messenger to announce Christ's coming & to prepare people to hear Him and receive Him. Of course, John's baptism provided no salvation, just as believer's baptism doesn't, but through his baptism people were brought to a point of preparation & then the messages that Jesus preached, the miracles He did, & the sacrifice He made, would then have more relevance & acceptance. Though unstated, I feel that the disciples that Jesus chose to follow Him, might well have come under the sound & acts of John the Baptist.
The way I understand this verse goes like this: 'John came baptizing in the wilderness and in his calling, he proclaimed the need to be (water) baptized as an act to declare & confess one's sinful condition, to repent of it & receive God's forgiveness & sin's remission'.
John was Jesus' forerunner, in that he was God's messenger to announce Christ's coming & to prepare people to hear Him and receive Him. Of course, John's baptism provided no salvation, just as believer's baptism doesn't, but through his baptism people were brought to a point of preparation & then the messages that Jesus preached, the miracles He did, & the sacrifice He made, would then have more relevance & acceptance. Though unstated, I feel that the disciples that Jesus chose to follow Him, might well have come under the sound & acts of John the Baptist.
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