Before Abba (our father in Heaven) could send us his son
Jesus Christ, he knew he had to get us ready. Otherwise, we might remain completely
deaf and blind to Christ’s words of truth and signs of freedom. He also knew
that the best way to prepare us was to have us repent of our sins; that is, of
our foolish devotion to false gods and our self-centered treatment of other
people. So he sent to us John the Baptist.
3 Now in those days John the Baptist
*came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, 2 “Repent,
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 3 For
this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet when he said,
“The voice of one crying in
the wilderness,
‘Make ready the way of the Lord,
Make His paths straight!’”
‘Make ready the way of the Lord,
Make His paths straight!’”
4 Now John
himself had a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist;
and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then
Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea and all the district
around the Jordan; 6 and
they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed
their sins (Matthew 3:1-6, New American Standard Version, here and following).
1 John the Baptist came, preaching in the
wilderness of Judea. In the Bible, the wilderness stands opposite in
meaning to the city. The first city was founded by Cain after he murdered his
brother Abel. The city always represents Satan’s counter-creation to Yahweh’s
good creation. It is the place where the six conventional yet false and
destructive gods of Olympianity attack us most strongly. At the same time, it
remains the greatest monument to our own self-centeredness as the place where
we seek to make a name, as at Babel, for ourselves.
So Abba didn’t send John to the city—not even to what
was, until the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the holy city of Jerusalem. He sent
John to the wilderness: his own creation; a place where the gods cannot bring
all their threats, seductions, and deceptions to bear; a place where we humans
have no works to boast about; a place, in other words, where the power-hungry
Olympian gods and our own power-mad Olympian personalities are weakest.
Perhaps Abba is preparing to send Jesus to us again
today. Perhaps he is preparing to have Jesus speak liberating words, perform
miraculous signs, and transform churches soon. If so, he will prepare us for
this new outpouring of words of truth and signs of freedom by sending
forerunners, similar to John the Baptist, not to big cities, but to small rural
churches in hitherto unimportant places. What else would we expect?
Let us note, however, one important way in which our
times differ from those of John. In our day, it’s not enough to live in the
country. Currently, the city and its gods extend their influence over even
remote places through the Olympian media of communication. Regardless of where
we live geographically, we keep ourselves minions of the gods and remain in their
counter-creation so long as we make our home in their media (TV, internet,
etc.) rather than the Bible.
If Abba is making preparations today for a new outpouring
of words of truth and signs of freedom, we need to keep minds and hearts open
to small rural churches leaving Olympian distractions behind and focusing on
the Bible.
2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand.” To repent means to acknowledge that one has been
traveling in the completely wrong direction, regret this, come to a complete
stop, and start moving in the opposite direction.
To prepare God’s people for God’s Son, God himself sent John to
tell them to repent. God’s people
needed to abandon their absurd devotion to the six conventional yet false and
destructive Olympian gods. They needed to halt their self-centered treatment of
one another.
at hand. If
we were heavily invested in the stock market and learned that, a week from
Tuesday, all stocks were going to lose 75% of their value, we would immediately
sell all of our stocks. No hesitation. That’s what at hand means. The outpouring of words of truth and signs of
freedom is about to start. We need to divest now of idolatry and indifference
or get burned.
The Kingdom of
Heaven. This is wherever Jesus is present in all his
fullness. As churches, we live as radiant witnesses to the presence of Jesus
wherever he frees us to share the light of his truth, warmth of his love, and
strength of his vitality with one another.
Right now, as churches we speak of Jesus but devote ourselves,
without even knowing it, to the dreary Olympian gods. We may easily discern
this in our complete lack of standards for membership. Churches routinely boast
of having members from diverse denominational backgrounds. This means that
denominational distinctives no longer matter. Some churches even boast of
having members from diverse faiths. This means that Christian distinctives no
longer matter. So what does matter? What does define the lowest common
denominator for which members participate in a church as an organized social
group? Sadly, the criteria are now Olympian; for example, politics.
Abba’s forerunners of Jesus today will have us please set biblical
standards for becoming and remaining members of the body of Christ.
3 For this is
the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet when he said,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
‘Make ready the way of the Lord,
Make His paths straight!’”
‘Make ready the way of the Lord,
Make His paths straight!’”
The Bible is a densely interconnected
narrative revealing complexly interrelated events initiated by God for our good
and his glory. Centuries before the public ministry of Jesus, God inspired Isaiah
the prophet to speak of Christ’s forerunner. Centuries later, God decided that
the kairos, the right time, had come
for him to fulfill his words. He sent John as that forerunner to get his people
ready for Jesus.
It may seem like a long time, perhaps
too long a time to our way of thinking, since churches have experienced an
outpouring of words of truth and signs of freedom. The word now, however, is
this: get ready!
4
Now John
himself had a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist;
and his food was locusts and wild honey. Following the imprisonment of John the Baptist, Jesus
described him as the forerunner foretold by Isaiah (Matthew 11:10). Four
hundred years before Christ, the prophet Malachi declared that this forerunner
would be Elijah. The prophet Elijah was described as a hairy man wearing a
leather belt (2 Kings 1:8). John came wearing camel’s hair and a leather belt. More importantly, Jesus affirmed
that John “is Elijah who is to come”
(Matthew 11:14). After John’s death, Jesus said, “Elijah
already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they
wished. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” Then the
disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist (Matthew 17:12-13).
During the rule of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel,
their subjects claimed to be the Lord’s people but devoted themselves to Baal.
The prophet Elijah challenged 450 prophets of Baal to a showdown on Mount Carmel. Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you
hesitate between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.”
But the people did not answer him a word (1 Kings 18:21). Smart.
All morning and afternoon, 450 prophets of Baal
called on their conventional yet false and destructive god to answer their
prayers with fire. But there was no
voice, no answer, and no response (1 Kings 18:29).
36 At the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice,
Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O Lord,
the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, today let it be known that You are
God in Israel and that I am Your servant and I have done all these things
at Your word. 37 Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that You, O Lord, are God, and that You
have turned their heart back again.” 38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the
stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 When all the people saw it, they fell on
their faces; and they said, “The Lord, He
is God; the Lord, He is God.”
That’s what it means to repent. Before God pours
out words of truth and signs of freedom on our churches again, he’ll send
forerunners drawing the sharp distinction, as Elijah did, between the only true
god we say we worship and the six cheap imitations we actually devote ourselves
to.
camel’s
hair, locusts. Christ’s forerunners will not
be wearing fancy clothes and their diet will likely be rather plain.
5 Then
Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea and all the district
around the Jordan, and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River,
as they confessed their sins. Our churches believe that by dropping biblical standards of membership, more
Olympians will seek to join them. Even when that happens, what’s the point?
Abba’s
forerunners will take a different approach. Following John’s demands of God’s
people in his day, forerunners in our day will ask Christians to be Christian
again. Like Elijah, they will invite Christians to stop
hesitating between two opinions and to choose either Jesus or the gods. Period.
In or out. When we as churches do that, only then will we see meaningful
participation in our congregations increase. When!
Copyright © 2018 by Steven Farsaci.
All rights reserved. Fair use encouraged.
All rights reserved. Fair use encouraged.
