They said therefore to him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to those who sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?
A delegation from Jerusalem has run out of questions. John has told them what he is not. Now they press for something positive — a name they can carry back to the men who sent them.
The men in front of John were important, and their support was worth having. He would not take it.
His preaching caused a great stir in the land, so much so that priests and Levites came from Jerusalem to find out who he could be. But he was a faithful witness, and he would not let the support of these great and influential men turn him from his mission. He had come to speak of Christ, to prepare the people for their Lord, and he refused to talk about himself... He was a blessed and faithful servant. He kept himself out of his own message, so that his Lord might be everything in it.
The question narrows to the one subject John avoids.
It is unwelcome to any right-minded person to be asked to speak about himself. So, I have no doubt, John found it... But they wanted a positive answer. He had little indeed to say about himself. "I" had a very small place in John's thoughts.
Pressed for an answer, John names himself with a word that has almost nothing in it.
They were determined to have an answer, and he gives them one. They would compel him to speak of himself, and he does so. But look at his answer! Who or what was he? Nobody. He was only "a voice." Here was a man of real power and dignity, one of Christ's most honoured servants, in the very highest position. His preaching had stirred the hearts of thousands. Angels announced his birth; prophets foretold his ministry. He was the herald of the kingdom, the friend of the King. Yet force this remarkable man to speak of himself, and the most he will say is, "I am a voice." Not even a man, but only a voice.
A voice fades as soon as it speaks — and that is what fits it for the work.
A "voice" — barely a person. Its whole value lies in the message it brings. A voice must pass away, but it may do a work that will not pass. Here is a voice that would bring to the souls of men the imperishable Word which remains for ever... What are men, that a name among them and a following from them should be worth wanting?
To accept a title would have been to collect a following. John declines both.
He replies that he is only a "voice"... the voice Isaiah spoke of. He refuses to take a place as a gathering centre for the people of God; he refuses to take a name, to exalt himself among the people of God. He is simply a voice to speak of Jesus in obedience to the Word of God.
John's small word about himself points to the greatness of the One behind him. (The older translation reads "Jehovah" where the ESV has "the Lord.")
John does take his stand as a witness to Jesus, to His personal and divine glory. So when they challenged him about who he was, he used of himself the prophetic word attached to him in every Gospel: "I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord.'" Jesus was Jehovah. John was no more than a voice in a desolate earth — indeed, in a desolate Israel — to prepare the way before Him.
They asked so they could report. John gave them far more than a name.
These priests, sent by the Pharisees in Jerusalem, should have hurried back to those who sent them. What a message they had to carry! The man they had enquired about was none other than the forerunner of the Lord... What would they do? Sadly, the announcement did not move them at all. They were a generation without faith. They could not even see past John's message, and they went on asking him about himself.
Christ described the man who refused to describe himself.
Listen to His testimony to John — the one who said of himself that he was nothing but a voice. "Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist." How much better to hear this from the Master than from the servant! John said, "I am a voice." Christ said he was the greatest of prophets.
- Pressed. Officials wanted a label to report; John gave them the one word no one could turn into a title.
- Empty. "I" had a very small place in his thoughts — he was not even a man in his own account, only a voice.
- Passing. A voice fades; its whole worth lies in the message it carries, and that message does not fade.
- Pointing. By refusing a name, he refused to become a gathering centre. He left Jesus, whom he announced as Jehovah, as the one to follow.
- Praised. The servant who called himself nothing heard his Master call him the greatest of prophets — better said from that mouth than from his own.
He said, I [am] [the] voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the path of [the] Lord, as said Esaias the prophet.
John's questioners want a name and a title; his answer gives them neither. He answers with one line from Isaiah. That line says three things at once: who he is, what the nation had become, and who was about to arrive.
Pressed to define himself, John chose the smallest word available. That is startling, given all he could have claimed:
They were determined to have an answer, and he gives them one. They would compel him to speak of himself, and he does so. But mark his answer! Who or what was he? Nobody. He was only "a voice." … Here was a man of real power and dignity. He was one of Christ's most honored servants, holding the very highest position. His preaching had stirred the hearts of thousands. Angels had announced his birth. Prophets had foretold his ministry. He was the herald of the kingdom, the friend of the King. Yet when this remarkable man was forced to speak of himself, all he would say was, "I am a voice." Not even a man, but only a voice.
That word fits the Gospel it appears in. This Gospel opens by calling Christ the Word, and a voice exists to carry a word:
A "voice" — hardly a person. Its whole value lies in the message it brings. A voice must pass away, yet it may do a work that will not pass. Here is a voice that will bring to the souls of men the undying Word that lasts forever. We cannot help seeing that the voice in John stands in fitting relation to the Word, who is Christ, and of whom the Gospel speaks in this way.
A name gives people something to gather around. John would not give them one.
He replies that he is only a "voice." … He refuses to take a place as a gathering centre for the people of God. He refuses to take a name, or to lift himself up among the people of God. He is only a voice to speak of Jesus in obedience to the Word of God.
In the line John quotes, "the Lord" stands for God's own name, Jehovah. So his answer is a witness to Jesus, not just a description of himself:
Still, John does take his stand as a witness to Jesus, to His personal and divine glory. To this end, when they challenged him about who he was, he applies to himself the prophetic word attached to him in every Gospel: "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of Jehovah." Jesus was Jehovah. John was no more than a voice in the desolation of the earth — yes, of Israel — to prepare the way before Him.
John also stops the quotation short. The prophet's line goes on, "make straight in the desert a highway for our God," but John leaves that part out:
It means that the One he brings in is Jehovah. But he leaves out the prophet's words, "a highway for our God." Though He is acknowledged to be Jehovah, He comes in as a man in humiliation. Besides, Israel in its present state could not be put in the position of saying "our" God.
The setting is not just geography. It is a verdict on the nation, and it changes the kind of preaching John does:
This is why John the Baptist does not appeal to the people as a whole, like the prophets who had preceded him. He says, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness." Israel was a wilderness for God. From now on his appeal rests on their ruin beyond recovery. The appeal of the older prophets always assumed that the nation could still return to Jehovah.
The road work here is moral, not literal. It is about whose paths the people walk in:
In preparation for receiving Jehovah their King they were to make His paths straight. As His people they were to walk in His paths and not paths of their own choosing. What counted was reality and the evidence of it, not natural claim and empty words.
Repentance had a purpose beyond itself:
If they listened to John and repented, they were ready in heart to receive the forgiveness of sins through the One who was about to come. So the path before the Lord would be made straight.
- Voice — Asked for a name, John gave a sound. He was "not even a man, but only a voice."
- Word — A voice exists for the message it carries. John's whole worth lay in bringing men the Word who lasts forever.
- Jehovah — The line he quotes announces the arrival of God Himself. He leaves out Isaiah's "our God." The One coming came in humiliation, and the nation could not yet say "our."
- Wilderness — He preached in the desert because Israel had become a wilderness to God. His call to repentance rested on ruin, not on hope of a national return.
- Straight — The road-work is repentance: walking God's paths rather than one's own, so that hearts are ready to receive the One coming after.