Ver. 1. In those days came John the Baptist] Whom Chrysologus fitly calleth fibulam legis et gratiae, the bond or buckle of both Testaments. He standeth as that angel, with one foot on the sea (the law), and with the other foot on the land (the gospel), Revelation 10:1. Preaching in the wilderness of Judea] A place wherein we find six cities with their villages, Joshua 15:62, but called a wilderness, because more thinly inhabited. In which sense we may say of Germany, that Aceldama or field of blood, and many other once rich and fertile countries, that they are become a wilderness, war being a tragedy that always destroys the stage whereon it is acted; but for the wickedness of them that dwell therein it is that a fruitful land is turned into a wilderness, saith David, Psalms 107:34. And the heathen historian, Herodotus, saith little less, when he tells us that the ruin and rubbish of Troy are set by God before the eyes of men, for an example of that rule, that great sins have great punishments. Iam seges est ubi Troia fuit. Now grain grows where Troy was. (Ovid.) Now alterius perditio sit tua cautio, saith an ancient: not to be warned by others is a sure presage of ruin. (Isidore soliloq.) Scipio beheld and bewailed the downfall of Rome in the destruction of Carthage. And when Hannibal was beleaguering Saguntum in Spain, the Romans were as sensible thereof as if he had been then beating upon the walls of their Capitol. (Livy.) A storm often times begins in one place and ends in another. When the sword rides circuit (as a judge) it is in commission, Ezekiel 14:17 Jer 47:6,7. And, “When I begin” (saith God) “I will make an end,” 1 Samuel 3:12. We cannot but foresee a storm, unless we be of those in Bernard, who seek straws to put out their eyes with. If we break not off our sins by repentance (that there may be a lengthening of our tranquillity, Daniel 4:27), a removal of our candlestick may be as certainly foreseen and foretold as if visions and letters were sent us from heaven, as once to the Church of Ephesus. God may well say to us, as to them of old, “Have I been a wilderness unto Israel, a land of darkness?” Jeremiah 2:31; or, as Themistocles to his Athenians, Are ye weary of receiving so many benefits by one man? Bona a tergo formosissima. Our sins have long since solicited an utter dissolution and desolation of all; and that we should be made a heap and a hissing, a waste and a wilderness. Jeremiah 25:9 49:2. Quod Deus avertat. Because God left. Qui festucam quaerunt, unde oculos sibi eruant.
Ver. 2. And saying, Repent ye] Change your minds now at the preaching of the gospel, as they changed their garments at the promulgation of the law. “Rend your hearts, and not your garments,” plough up the fallows of your hearts; grieve for your sins, even to repentance, as those Corinthians did, and as Simon Peter counselled Simon Magus, that snake that had cast his coat but kept his poison, for although he carried the matter so cleanly and cunningly, that Philip took him for a true convert and baptized him, yet Peter soon saw that he was “in the gall” or venom “of bitterness” (for the word used, Deuteronomy 29:18, whereunto the apostle alludes, signifieth both), and therefore prescribes him an antidote, the very same that John doth here to this generation of vipers, “Repent, if perhaps the thoughts of thy heart may be forgiven thee,” Acts 8:22,23. His wicked thought is called επινοια: the godly change of mind that the apostle persuadeth him unto is called μετανοια, he that by some mischance hath drunk poison (שׁ אר χολη), must cast it up again as soon as he can, ere it got to the vitals. Repentance is the soul’s vomit, which is the hardest kind of physic, but the wholesomest. Happy is he that by the dung gate of (Nehemiah 3:14) his mouth (in a sorrowful confession) can disburden himself of the sin that both clogs and hazards his soul to death eternal. We ran from God by sin to death, and have no other way to return but by death to sin, Hebrews 12:1. For the kingdom of heaven is at hand] q.d. Ye have a price put into your hands, a fair opportunity of making yourselves for ever. Will ye (like the vine and olive in Jotham’s parable, Judges 9:9) not leave your sweetness and fatness, your dilecta delicta, beloved sins, although it be to reign, yea, and that in God’s kingdom? Knowest thou not, that the goodness of God should lead thee to repentance? Romans 2:4 Ps 130:4. Is there not mercy with God therefore that he may be feared? Should not men rend their hearts, because God is gracious, and turn to the Lord, because he will “multiply pardon?” Joel 2:12 Isa 55:7. To argue from mercy to liberty is the devil’s logic, and makes God repent him of his favours to such, as David did of his kindness to Nabal. Rather we should argue from mercy to duty, as Joseph did to his master in a temptation; from deliverance to obedience, with David, Psalms 116:8,9. And therefore return to our father’s house, with the prodigal, because there is bread enough; therefore repent, because his kingdom is at hand, and would be laid hold on. As John the Baptist was Christ’s forerunner into the world, so must repentance be his forerunner into our hearts. Ad mentem redite. Erasmus. As the prodigal came to himself, who, till converted, had been beside himself. See a like phrase, 2 Chronicles 6:37.