September 8 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Matthew 14:1–12

Devotional

The disciples of John the Baptist had to lay the body of their master in the grave. How difficult this farewell must have been for them. They had followed John in his preaching of condemnation and justice. John had preached the demands of the law and accused men of violating the law. He uttered, as Christ called it, “lamentations”—lamentations of man’s lost state, outside of grace.

The disciples who now buried him had submitted to his convicting preaching. They had agreed that his message was the truth. They followed John, even though they were smitten by the demands of the law. In recognizing their sins they knew themselves to be condemned. In sorrow and humility they repented of their sins.

And yet, they could not stay with John. It was necessary that they say farewell to him. Could John save them? Certainly not. He could show them the law, but what he could not do, was fulfill the law. He had pointed sinners away from himself to “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). John showed the accusations of the law, but not the deliverance from the curse of the law.

The teaching of the law is necessary to expose sin. Woe to them who are strangers to this, because only by a true discovery of one’s guilt can room be made for the Lamb of God. This was exactly the work of John the Baptist. He made room for grace through the preaching of sin. Only where guilt becomes guilt can grace become grace. That is why a farewell to John was such a necessity for John’s disciples. But it was a blessed farewell. They graduated from the school of John the Baptist to the school of Jesus. They understood the harshness of the law; now they were introduced to the comfort of the gospel, for Jesus Himself is the gospel.

God’s Holy Spirit still teaches the same lesson. He convicts people through the same law and they become debtors to God’s holy law. And in their approach of repentance they try to satisfy the law. But the law keeps demanding. At the school of the law, man’s debt can only become greater. They will perish if they are not brought to the school of the Surety. There a sinner is taught that satisfaction of God’s wrath can only be offered through Christ Himself.

After the death of John the Baptist, his followers began to follow Christ. They received a new Master. With Him there was no wilderness, nor eating of locusts and wild honey. But with Him there was the taste of manna from Heaven, for He Himself said, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35). At His school, those who learn to die under the demands of the law receive life.

The law and the message of the gospel work perfectly together. For guilty people the law is a guide to Christ. And at the school of grace they will finally understand: “It is finished.” But to be enrolled in the school of His finished work, we first need to be under the instruction of John, the preacher of the law.

 

From The Everlasting Word by Frans Bakker, compiled and translated by Gerald R. Procee. Reformation Heritage Books and Free Reformed Publications, 2007. Used by permission. For further information, click here.