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He was an extraordinary man.
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His birth was extraordinary: foretold by prophets, announced by an angel, encircled by miracle.
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His lifestyle was extraordinary: a desert-dweller roaming the wilderness along the Jordan’s rugged gorge.
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His clothing was extraordinary: rough garments of camel’s hair.
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His food was extraordinary: locusts and wild honey, the fare of the untamed.
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His manner was extraordinary: when he spoke, crowds leaned in. He minced no words, but thundered truth with passion and power.
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His mission was extraordinary: to precede the Messiah and to prepare the way for Him.
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His message was extraordinary: Repent and Advent were his themes.
He was, in every way, an extraordinary man.
On this Advent Saturday, two weeks before we celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ, let us draw near and take a closer look at this extraordinary fellow and listen carefully to A Voice in the Wilderness.
Nearly four centuries before John the Baptist came on the scene, Malachi had prophesied: “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me.” Decades before John’s arrival, an angel announced to his father: “He will go on before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah… to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” At his birth, his father Zechariah saw great things for his infant son: “You, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins.” He came into the world with much fanfare: “The neighbors were all filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things.”
But that was thirty years earlier. The furor surrounding John’s birth—and that other birth in Bethlehem’s stable—had long since faded. The excitement had ebbed away; life in Israel had returned to its normal rhythm and routine. Business as usual. Yet, beneath the surface, all was not well. The world in general, and Palestine in particular, was degenerating spiritually. Meanwhile, John was growing spiritually far from the noise of towns and temples. God’s chosen training ground was not the palace or the synagogue, but the barren, desolate desert. In the solitude of the wilderness, John grew strong in spirit. There, stripped of any distraction, he was prepared for his extraordinary calling: the Forerunner of the Messiah.
At last, the time had come. John the Baptist stepped out of the wilderness training ground to fulfill the mission entrusted to him: “The word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.” The Voice in the Wilderness was about to be activated. It was about to be unleashed. And Lord knows the world needed it.
The old glory of Israel had faded. The land, and indeed the world, had become a spiritually barren wasteland and wilderness. Into this desolation, the Messiah was coming. But first, God raised up a herald – a Voice in the Wilderness – to prepare the way. John himself was a living parable. His wilderness background mirrored the bleak wilderness of the people’s hearts. His life was his sermon; his very existence was his teaching aid.
So let us lean in and listen. Let us hear from that Voice in the Wilderness…
I. It Shouts Repent
Our text says: “He went into all the country around the Jordan preaching a baptism of repentance.” The Voice In The Wilderness came “preaching.” The Greek word here points to the activity of a herald, who only proclaims what he has been commissioned to proclaim. Like the prophets of old, John the Baptist was called to communicate the truth as God’s Man of the Moment, His appointed spokesman.
What was that truth that he had been commissioned to preach? What was his message? We can understand it better by hearing Isaiah describe his mission: he was to “prepare the way for the Lord.” To accomplish that mission, he first had to convict his hearers of sin so that they would see their desperate need for a Savior. Hence his thunderous theme: REPENT!
John came preaching Law. He wanted people to shed their smug self-righteousness and face the truth: they are sinners. There can be no denying that. Our conscience and Scripture agree: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Sin literally means to “miss the mark” of God’s perfection, the standard by which He measures us. Its seriousness must be preached with the ring of eternity and the thunder of Sinai, where God laid down the Law in the first place.
The consequence of sin needs to be preached too. We all need to see the dire results of sin: “the wages of sin is death.” Not a pretty or pleasant message, but a necessary message. John wasn’t one to mince words, compromise, or pussyfoot around when it came to sin. He didn’t tell people what they wanted to hear; he told people what they needed to hear: Unrepented sin damns!
Our text says he came “preaching a baptism of repentance.” To repent means “to change one’s mind.” It involves a turning away from sin and a turning toward the One who cleanses from sin. It’s a complete about-face, a 180-degree turn. A person who repents has changed his mind about sin. The repentant heart no longer delights in sin but recognizes its eternal consequences.
Isaiah helps us see more clearly what John’s message of repentance involves. He helps us see how to properly prepare for the coming King: “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.” God demands a perfect path into our hearts. Repentance provides that path. It clears away all obstacles so that Christ may enter unimpeded.
Isaiah couches the essence of repentance in figurative language:
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Make the road right for Him. “Make straight paths for him...the crooked roads shall become straight” -- Remove all the uncertainties of unbelief, the detours of doubt, and the sidetracks of sin.
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Make the street straight for Him. “Every valley shall be filled in” – Fill up the valleys of despair, discouragement, and doubt.
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Make the lane level for Him. “Every mountain and hill made low” – Get rid of all self-righteousness and self-pride, and humble yourself before God.
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Make the path perfect for Him. “The rough ways smooth” – Iron out every bump and rut in the road by turning from your sinful ways.
- It all boils down to removing the obstacles and roadblocks, the detours and distractions from our lives when the King of kings comes to us.
No dynamite or earth-moving equipment can do the work that Isaiah describes. No human can carry out that construction. If it were left to us, it would be a lost cause, but thank goodness it wasn’t. Listen further to the Voice In The Wilderness:
II. It Announces Advent
Our text says: “All people will see God’s salvation.” That was John’s mission: to show it to them. His assignment was to introduce the Savior to the world, to herald and announce the Advent of the King. John’s message was far from hopeless. He preached Law for sure, but he also preached Gospel. When he thundered repentance, he also whispered forgiveness, restoration, and reconciliation in the coming Messiah. When he exposed wounds, he also applied the salve of the Savior. He pointed people to Jesus: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” Look again at how his ministry is described: he came “preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” His call was not only to convict but to comfort, not only to tear down but to build up.
There is no life so crooked, so bent out of shape that Jesus can’t straighten out; no life so low that He can’t lift up; no life so haughty that He can’t humble it; no life so high that He can’t level it low enough to stand beneath the cross or kneel at the manger; no life so broken it can’t be repaired; no sin so frightful it can’t be forgiven.
Here is the irony: the very road upon which He enters our lives, He Himself constructs. He straightens it, levels it, and smooths it by the forgiveness that He has won for us on Calvary’s cross. By the grace of God, that road is a freeway. There are no tolls or taxes. The cost has already been paid in full by Jesus, who cleared the path into our hearts and paved the highway to heaven.
Saints, let’s use this Advent season to let the Holy Spirit do some road repair on the highway to our hearts. Let’s repent of our sins, turn away from them, and turn toward our Coming Christ in faith. Let’s remove all obstacles and obstructions that hinder our relationship with Jesus Christ. Let’s open wide our hearts to Christ and welcome Him in.
As we prepare for His coming and look toward Christmas, let’s lift our eyes from the cradle where the Christ Child sleeps and see beyond the cradle the cross where our Highway to Heaven was constructed. Then, and only then, ours will truly be a Happy and Holy Christmas. Amen.
We pray: We are listening, Lord. The Voice in the Wilderness is coming through loud and clear. Our consciences agree with John that we are sinners through and through and are in desperate need of a Savior. How much You must love us, Lord! We let You down so often. We walk our own way. We stumble. We fall. But You are always there to pick us up. You are always there to show us the right way. You are always there, offering full and free forgiveness. You are always there, giving us unconditional love. This Advent season once again reminds us of the extraordinary lengths You went to in order to reach out to us and make us Your own. You came to our rotting planet from Your happy home in heaven to not only make a way for us to get to heaven, but to be the Way for us to get to heaven. Your love never wavers. It never changes. It is constant. It is steadfast. It is unconditional. Thank You, Lord, for loving us all the way to our heavenly home. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
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