1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate
was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch
of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene — 2 during the high
priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah
in the desert. 3 He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching
a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As is written in
the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: “A voice of one calling in the
desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. 5
Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The
crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. 6 And all
mankind will see God’s salvation.’”
- Luke 3:1-6, The New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan
Publishing House) 1984.
Dear Friends in Christ,
In our opening hymn we sang these words:
On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’s cry announces that the Lord is nigh;
Come, then, and listen, for he brings good news about the King of kings.
Then cleansed by ev’ry life from sin and furnished for a guest within,
And let us all our hearts prepare for Christ to come and enter there.
This hymn, last Wednesday’s midweek devotion and our text for today all center on John the Baptist and his work. He is a customary and appropriate individual to consider during the Advent season – and that is exactly what we’d like to do again this morning. What we will find is that John’s message is just as relevant, fresh and needed for us today as it was for those to whom he originally addressed these words.
Therefore, let’s turn our attention to this key New Testament figure and consider for our spiritual welfare
JOHN’S ADVENT MESSAGE
1. Anticipation
2. Preparation
3. Appreciation
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberias Caesar – when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanius tetrarch of Abilene – during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert. There are two particular items about John the Baptist that the inspired writer, Luke, wants every reader of his Gospel to know.
Number one is this simple fact: John the Baptist was real. We can’t help but notice that a significant amount of historical data is given. Luke does not begin his information about John the Baptist here by saying this happened "once upon a time." Rather, he gets specific. He pinpoints dates and years and events and people. Why? He is impressing upon us once again that what we have in the Scriptures are not just a collection of Bible "stories," but an assembly of historical accounts. He places John the Baptist squarely on the plane of space and time. He was not a mythical character, but a real flesh and blood man.
But not an ordinary man. The second thing we are to know is that John the Baptist was special. Because we are told that "the word of God came to him." In other words, John was divinely chosen and commissioned as the forerunner of Jesus by none other than God Himself. Consequently, he was not expressing his own ideas or opinions out there in the Judean wilderness. What he said and did came from God. The next verse tells us just what exactly that was.
He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Here we are given the scope of John’s work. He preached and he baptized.
John’s baptism, we are told, was connected with repentance. He talked about law and gospel, man’s sinfulness and God’s amazing grace. Those who were baptized made confession of their sins and found forgiveness in the Messiah, the long promised Savior, who was to come – and who, shortly after this, did come and reveal Himself to the world. That Savior, of course, was and is Jesus Christ.
Our text goes on to tell us that the work of John the Baptist was all part of God’s plan. That he was the fulfillment of an Old Testament prophecy is made quite clear to us in today’s final verses: As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: "A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all mankind will see God’s salvation.’"
Symbolic language is used here to explain how John, through his preaching and baptizing, was to prepare the people to meet their Lord. The mountains of self-reliance for salvation and the hills of work-righteousness were to be leveled, while the valleys of hopelessness and despair because of sin were to be filled in with the Gospel message; for with Jesus Christ comes "God’s salvation."
So far the text. At the beginning of this sermon I said John’s message is just as relevant and needed for us as it was for those who originally heard it. Let’s apply it to ourselves now and consider what John has to tell us during the remainder of this Advent season.
First we will note that embodied in John’s message is a spirit of ANTICIPATION. He was telling the people that the Savior was coming. This was something the people were excited about, because this is what they were waiting for – and had been waiting for throughout that period of time we know as the Old Testament.
The related question to put to ourselves, then, is this: With what type of anticipation do we view the celebration of Christmas and the holidays ahead? This is a very practical question and one worthy of honest consideration. Because oftentimes we find ourselves in just the opposite of an anticipatory mood. Sometimes we see Christmas as a deadline to be met, rather than an event to be embraced and celebrated. With two weeks left, we can feel overwhelmed with what we feel still has to be done, or saddened by what we know won’t get done.
All of which is to say that if the thought of observing Christ’s birth becomes secondary to doing all the Christmas stuff that surrounds it – well, we’re anticipating the wrong event. John directs us to anticipate Jesus, the bringer of "God’s salvation."
The second component of John’s Advent message deals with proper PREPARATION. And proper preparation is embodied first of all in repentance.
John preached repentance. He told people to meet their Lord by doing some personal housecleaning; that is, recognizing their sinfulness and their consequent need for a Savior. John instructed people to turn from their sinful ways, rejoice in the forgiveness that Christ brings, and then go forward with joy into a better life – a life of voluntary service to a Savior who paid the ultimate price so we might never have to confront the rightful consequences of our sin.
How do we prepare to meet the Lord in the two weeks that remain before Christmas? The same way. Through the practice of repentance.
Certainly repentance is not relegated to the Advent season. Repentance is to be a part of our daily lives as Christians. Martin Luther, you may recall, made that very statement in the very first of his famous 95 theses.
But maybe there are special areas that we need to reflect on and repent of at this time of the year. Maybe they have something to do with the particular vices that a commercialized Christmas can bring, such as tendencies toward self-centeredness. Or wrong priorities. Or giving God the short end of the stick. Or getting so caught up in observing the outward trappings of Christmas that its true, spiritual significance fades into the background. Whatever the case may be for each of us personally, John’s initial counsel to all of us on the subject of spiritual preparation is this: repent.
Related to that, another way to prepare ourselves for Christmas is to sharpen or realign our focus. Let me give you an illustration. Even if you have no interest in art, you are probably familiar with the name Rembrandt. He was a Dutch painter in the 1600’s. He was also a devout Christian who made Bible themes the subject of many of his works. One particular painting that comes to mind at this time of the year is a Christmas manger scene. What is significant about Rembrandt’s version is that he has a single shaft of light beaming down directly on the Christ Child. Everybody and everything else is in the shadows. And that’s the way he intended it to be. Jesus is the reason for the season. He is the One on whom our eyes are to focus. Preparation by meditation, we might say.
And still another way to prepare ourselves is to slow down. Note where John did his work. In the desert. Was this a poor choice? Couldn’t he have reached more people by going to the big city of Jerusalem? Perhaps. But by coming out to the wilderness, away from the hustle and bustle and distractions and pace of the city, people could slow down. Focus. Contemplate.
Good advice. For many of us the pace of life is fast as it is, but may get even faster during the holidays. The result can be feelings of stress and overload and irritation. Worse yet, it can prevent us from taking time to hear the voice of God in Scripture and meditating on our salvation. If we are too busy for that, we are just plain too busy. We need to carve out a personal wilderness area. We need to slow down as part of our preparation.
The final component of John’s Advent message to us is APPRECIATION. Recall the striking final words of our text: "All mankind will see God’s salvation."
"Salvation" is one of those religious words we hear and say so often that the impact of its meaning can be lost to us. The word itself in the original means to be delivered or rescued from a desperate situation – one from which we could never extricate ourselves on our own. Think of being trapped on the 20th floor of a burning building where there is no way out. Our survival depends entirely upon someone delivering us from danger. If left on our own, we would perish. We would need a savior to furnish us with salvation.
There is a spiritual parallel. On our own, we are unable to rescue ourselves from the death and hell that our sins deserve. Try as we might, there is no way out. Salvation lies outside of us. But the good news is that it is there. Salvation exists in the person of our Savior, Jesus Christ. And it is ours. The Apostle Paul put it this way in his letter to the Colossians: "For he [God] has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." This is the time of year to especially contemplate our salvation.
One way to do this is to try and imagine not having it. What would our lives be like if Jesus never came, or if we didn’t know Him? The Apostle Paul describes it as a life without hope. The Apostle Peter speaks of life without Christ as being empty. And King Solomon in the Book of Ecclesiastes talks about life without God at the center as being meaningless.
But those words don’t describe us. We have Him. Christ has come, not only into our history, but into our lives. And He brings with Him his perfect life, His sacrificial death in our place, and His glorious resurrection with which he sealed the deal. We have the salvation that John the Baptist talks about in its original, dramatic sense. Let us appreciate it anew during this Advent season.
We’ll bring our thoughts to a close. On Jordan’s bank the Baptist cries. And what he cries out to us is simple and straightforward. It is the Advent message of spiritual ANTICIPATION, PREPARATION, and APPRECIATION.
May God grant us responsive hearts to this heartfelt message of John – now and always. Amen.