In what way do you think that the doorkeeper (see John 10:3) was necessary for the whole purpose of introducing Christ? Why did God decide to use John the Baptist to introduce Christ?
This text is from a transcript of a talk by David Gooding, entitled ‘Four Journeys to Jerusalem’ (2009).
That is a good question to ask, though I think it is easier to start the other way round and say, 'God did it,' and then ask why.
It was a sign to Israel, but it was a necessary preparation. Isaiah 40 says: 'Prepare the way of the Lord.' It wasn't simply that God sent his Son without any preparation, all of a sudden. God sent John the Baptist to 'prepare the way of the Lord,' or at least to call upon the nation to prepare the way of the Lord. It is like when an ancient king or emperor came to one of his provinces and the town people would go out and flatten the roads. Any boulders in the road would be pushed to the side, and the holes would be filled up and the road flattened out, so that the emperor would come riding in on his chariot along a smooth road into the city. So Israel were called upon by John the Baptist to prepare the way of the Lord, to make it easy for the Lord to come.
A voice cries: 'In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.' (Isaiah 40:3–4)
And John the Baptist came to do that job, to call upon the nation to repent and confess their sin and get right with God, for the Messiah was coming! Such preparation therefore was necessary if the people were to be ready for the coming of Christ.
And then our Lord challenges the people subsequently about why they had rejected John.
Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: 'What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are dressed in splendid clothing and live in luxury are in kings' courts. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, "Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you." I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John.' (Luke 7:24–28)
He put them over it: 'There are thousands of reeds in the wilderness, of course you didn't go out into the wilderness to see a reed! Did you go out to see men dressed in fine clothing? No you didn't! People like that are not in the wilderness but in king's palaces. But you did go into the wilderness, didn't you, by your hundreds? What was all that splashing about in the Jordan? There was something happening, wasn't there? You went out to see a prophet, and more than a prophet.'
Many thousands of them had been baptized by John, professing to repent, but they had no more repented than had the man in the moon! And now they were staying, 'Listen to this John the Baptist, warning us to flee from the wrath to come and all that. God wouldn't expect us to listen to that kind of fiery oratory!' So they rejected him. They said he had a demon and was mentally unbalanced. He came neither eating nor drinking and they said he had a demon. Now the Son of Man has come; and he came eating and drinking, with a lovely message of repentance and forgiveness. And did they all say, 'This is the kind of message we like'? No, they didn't; they didn't want that either. They neither wanted the wrath of God and repentance, nor the forgiveness of God. They wouldn't have either. They just wanted their nice, neat little religion (see Luke 7:29–35).
That they went back on their profession under John, I am afraid is true of hundreds and thousands of them. But some of them were genuine—the apostles, for instance, and these others who were baptized by John. And when John said, 'Behold the Lamb of God', they began to leave John, and they followed Christ.
Now then to answer your question, John was very necessary:
to get the people prepared for the coming of the Messiah; and
to identify the Messiah.
Though, of course, when the Messiah came he offered them evidence going far beyond what John could possibly give.
