Jesus - A Glimpse Of God Part 7

A Voice Calling in the Wilderness

 

Welcome back to our series, AGOG – A Glimpse of God. We are on Day 7 of our adventure, looking together at the life of the most amazing person in human history - Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Today we will look at the forerunner to Jesus Christ of Nazareth, his cousin John!

Mark 1:1-3 The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet:“I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way — a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’”

Matthew 3:1-12 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness! ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’” John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Who was John the Baptist?

Other parts of the Gospels, tell us more about this man, John the Baptist. We can see that his conception by the aged parents, Zacharias and Elizabeth, must have been a form of miracle and together with his birth were predicted, and that John would be filled with the Holy Spirit of God - even in his mother’s womb! This signifies his coming in order to prepare the way for the world’s Redeemer – his cousin Jesus Christ! He is known as John the Baptist, because he immersed, or baptised, people in water. Jesus Himself, later on tells this about John “Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” (Matthew 11:11).

When John came When John the Baptist appeared on the scene, no prophetic voice had been heard within Israel for almost 400 years. His coming was part of God’s perfect timing, for everything that relates to God’s Son is always on time (Galatians 4:4; John 2:4, 13:1)

How John came Dressed and acting like the Old Testament prophet Elijah, John came to the area near the River Jordan, preaching and baptizing. He announced the arrival of the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 3:3) and urged the people to repent. John’s baptism looked forward to the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

Why John came John the Baptist was a voice “crying in the wilderness” (Isaiah 40:1-5; Luke 3:4; John 1:23). Spiritually speaking, the nation of Israel was living in a state of unbelief and twisted spiritual reality. The people desperately needed to hear a voice from God, and John was that faithful voice. It was John’s work to prepare the nation for the Messiah and then present the Messiah to them. John is compared to an axe-man cutting down trees that down bear fruit (Luke 3:9) or a farmer who burns useless chaff (Luke 3:17). Many Jews of the time thought they were destined for heaven simply because they were descended from Abraham. In Luke 3:7, John depicts the crowds as snakes.

John’s Teaching John the Baptist also was a teacher. He taught people to live their new faith (Luke 3:10-14). He told them not to be selfish, but to share their blessings with other people. Tax collectors were told by John to do their work honestly. Soldiers were to stop using their jobs for personal gain. John clearly stated that Jesus was “the Lord” (Luke 3:4) and the Son of God (John 1:34)

Come back tomorrow for Day 8 of our series AGOG, as we continue to look together that extraordinary man, Jesus Christ, through the Gospel accounts! We will be looking at Jesus’ Baptism! See you soon!

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