"The Prophet John - a good dose of reality"
"The voice
of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths
straight. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be brought
low and the crocked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made
smooth; and the rough ways shall be made smooth; and all flesh shall see the
salvation of God."
As we prepare for Christmas, we need to be ready. How do we make ourselves ready to receive
Jesus as our Savior and Lord? We can do
that by receiving the message of John. Without John, there cannot be the true
Jesus. The Father sent John to prepare people for the acceptance of Jesus
Christ.
John began his mission in the wilderness, as Jesus was
to do. We each have a wilderness inside us, a place of testing, where the power
of false gods are broken. It is a place of encounter with ourselves, with our
inner demons and with God. We should not be afraid of going into this wilderness.
Since it is there, that the word of God will come to us.
Isaiah had spoken of John when he said, "He is a voice shouting in the wilderness,
'Prepare the way for the LORD's coming! Clear the road for him! The valleys
will be filled, and the mountains and hills made level. The curves will be
straightened, and the rough places made smooth. And then all people will see
the salvation sent from God.'" — Luke 3:4-6 NLT
Isaiah had foretold of a "bulldozer from heaven" that would straighten the roads, level
the hills and fill in the valleys so people could find the Savior. Does your
life do these things for others? Does it help them see Jesus more clearly? Does
it show the transforming power of God at work? All of us are called to be like
John, to make the road to Jesus a little easier for others to navigate so that
the hard part about following Jesus is NOT finding our way to him.
If there is no sense of sin, can there be a need for a
Savior? If there is no repentance, there
can be no forgiveness. If there is no death to self, there can be no new life.
Because John is the only prophet, who prepares for the Savior's coming Jesus
calls him the greatest of all of the prophets. Let's see how John can give us a
good dose of reality.
1. To make us aware of sin. Who are
we? Are we born into this world good? Is
there some quality of worth in each of us?
Just quick glances of the Scriptures will tell us that we are far from
perfect. The Scriptures remind us, "the
soul that sins, it shall die." (Ezekiel 18:20) "There is not a man upon this earth that does
good and does not sin" (Ecclesiastes 7:20) “In sin my mother conceived me; in sin my mother bore me." (Psalm
51:5) Over and again, the Scriptures tell us that we are blind, dead, and an
enemy of God"
But even more damning and even more discouraging is
the sin that we commit by our thoughts, words and deeds. It is one thing to say that we are born in
sin. It is quite another to say that we have committed sin.
Again the Scriptures are quite clear in spelling out to
us that we are all guilty of sin. "If
we say that we are without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us,"(1
John 1:8) the Bible tells us. Our lives
spell it out.
Thus, we pray: I
have lived as if God does not matter but that we matter most. The Lord's name,
we have not honored, as we should, our worship and prayers have faltered. We
have not let His love has its way with us, and so our love for others has
failed. There are those whom we have hurt, and those whom we have failed to
help. Even our thoughts and desires have been soiled with sin.[2]
Briefly, we are all sinners.
Transition: Being convicted of sin should lead us to
repentance. But how do we do that? We cry out to God asking for His mercy and
compassion.
2. John was sent by God to lead us to
repentance. With the psalmist, we
pray: "Create in me a clean heart, O
God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Your presence,
and take not Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
and uphold me with Your free spirit." (Psalm 51:10-12)
This was the reason for John to come just prior to
Jesus. He came to turn our hearts away from ourselves to turn to Christ to
receive His mercy and grace.
We come repenting of our sin, and turning to Christ who
is able to restore and redeem us. We see and feel our sin. Our conscience
convicts us of our wrong. The Word shows us where we have gone wrong. This leads us to repent and to turn to Christ
our Savior who came to save us.
John proclaims a baptism of repentance that leads to
release from sins. Release (Greek aphesis) is the same word that Jesus
uses to describe his mission[3]:
“The Spirit
of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me … to proclaim release to the
captives and … to let the oppressed go free …” (Isiah 61:1)
The release or forgiveness that follows repentance
does not undo past sins, but it does unbind people from them. It opens the way
for a life lived in God’s service.
By proclaiming such release, John fulfills his
father’s prophecy: “you, child … will go
before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his
people by the forgiveness (aphesis) of their sins” (Luke 1:77).
This salvation looks like a new dawn for those trapped
in darkness and death’s shadow. It is light, which reveals a new path, the way
toward peace (Luke 1:78–79).
John stands as a true prophet to guide us to Jesus for
forgiveness. John simply said, "Behold
the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world"
Who is this lamb?
"This lamb
is Christ, the soul's great Friend, The Lamb of God, our Savior; Him God the
Father chose to send To gain for us His favor.” Go forth, My Son," the
Father said, "And free men from the fear of death, From guilt and
condemnation. The wrath and stripes are hard to bear, But by Thy Passion men
shall share The fruit of Thy salvation."[4]
Jesus came to earth to take unto Himself our flesh. He
came to be our substitute. He came to suffer and die for the sins of the world.
He came offer us forgiveness and life. That is why we can say that in Jesus
Christ, all sin is forgiven - period!
The Father’s ways lead to salvation. His glory will be
revealed in Jesus, the judge who comes to save us. This is the good news that
John proclaims, and it is good news not just for us, but also for the whole
world: all flesh will see the LORD’s salvation. This is the Father’s promise,
and our hope. Bring on the bulldozers. As John prepare the way.[5]
Are you ready for
Christmas? If you see your sin, repent,
and turn to Christ for life you are ready. Lord,
by your Advent may we be, fit and ready to worship Thee. In Jesus Name. Amen.
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