What was the King ready to fulfill?
He was ready to fulfill the covenant promises of being their King. With the King and Kingdom on the scene, John preached repentance and baptism, pointing to the mightier One coming after him, whose shoes John was not worthy to bear.
Les explains that John’s preaching of repentance and baptism was because the King and the Kingdom were on the scene. The King was now ready to fulfill the covenant promises of being their King. In verse 11, John says he indeed baptizes with water unto repentance, but the One coming after him—Christ—is mightier than he, whose shoes he is not worthy to bear. Earlier, Paul’s letter to the Ephesians speaks of sanctifying and cleansing with the washing of water by baptism, but Les clarifies that it is the Word that cleanses, not water baptism today; baptism was appropriate for the Jew, yet it has no cleansing effect now because the Word cleanses.