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Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
This is the final weekend of 2019. Only a few days remain now, as we wind down this remarkable year.
So many amazing things have happened in our world this 2019 year, and I would guess 2020 will bring more of the same. Startling headlines have occurred, almost everyday, in every segment of human life, as societies and cultures around the world continue to change. I wonder what some of the most significant events were for you in 2019… and how have those events impacted you or your family this year?
Each year my wife Dawn and I try to take some extra time between Christmas and New Years Eve for reflection. We make lists of the things which we remember as having been significant during this past year, and we try to discern how God is positioning us for the year ahead. If you’ve never done that, we urge you to give it a try in these days. Are we each ready for what God knows 2020 will bring into each of our lives?
Yesterday, in our time in God’s Word, we began to see how God re-engaged with human history, after that first Christmas... as John the Baptist began his public work. Matthew & Luke give us the details, just as they did with the Christmas story.
From our first introduction to John the Baptist, he’s a strange ‘dude’! Would you agree?
When we meet him, he’s been living in the desert, but we don’t know exactly where. He’s had some encounters with God, but we don’t know what God said to him. His clothing and diet are both really strange. And his message is downright confrontational! Yesterday I invited us to read the verses about John the Baptist in Luke 3, Matthew 3 and Mark 1. Today, I invite you to add the Apostle John’s perspective. You’ll find it in John 1:19-28.
The Pharisees and Sadducees were two groups of Jewish religious leaders based in Jerusalem. Among these groups were also those called “priests and Levites”, as John calls them. Many of them were extreme, religious legalists, and yet the Jewish people held them in high esteem as religious ‘professionals’. John the Baptist was a radical in comparison. He spoke powerfully and he claimed he had a new message from God. Because Jews were anxiously awaiting their Messiah, whenever anyone like John rose up among them, they naturally wondered if this might be the person God had promised through prophets centuries before. Luke writes it this way: “The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ (Messiah).” (Luke 3:15)
John the Baptist knew exactly who he was, and who he wasn’t. Let’s stop there a moment.
How well do you and I deal with expectations of people? Do you know who God has designed you to be and how He wants to work in and through your life in our world?
That is part of the purpose of our “Walking with Jesus” journey each day. Helping each of us develop such a close relationship with God that we each can discern WHO God is developing us to be and WHAT God is wanting to accomplish through our lives!
John the Apostle gives us a sample of what John the Baptist was dealing with, as he faced the expectations and tried to answer the questions coming from the people, and the Jewish leaders, about his identity. “He did not fail to confess… I am not the Christ.” (John 1:20)“John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, ‘I am the voice of one crying in the desert, Make straight the way for the Lord.” (1:23) “I baptize you with water, but among you stands One you do not know. He is the One who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am unworthy to untie.” (1:26,27)
These words would have awakened great excitement and anticipation among the Jewish people! But for the Jewish leaders, these words would have sent chills down their spine, for they knew the prophecies well, and thus would be on the alert for any evidence that Messiah was among them.
You’ll notice that all four Gospel writers describe John the Baptist as a powerful speaker, who was calling the people to repentance, and he was baptizing them. Does that cause some confusion for you? What was the significance of John’s baptism? Why did John baptize people?
Paul summarizes John the Baptist’s baptism in one sentence, Acts 19:4 “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the One coming after him, that is Jesus.”
John’s God given life mission was to call the people, especially the Jews, to recognize their need for a Savior, and to prepare themselves for the Savior Messiah who was coming. That’s what the angel had said to Joseph, remember? “You are to give Him the name Jesus because He will save His people from their sins.” (Matt. 1:21). It’s also what the angels had announced to the shepherds, remember? “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for ALL people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you, He is Christ [Messiah] the Lord…” (Luke 2:10,11)
As John’s messages convinced people of their sinfulness and their need for a Savior from their sin, John called them to be ‘baptized’ in the Jordan river. They understood that their “baptism” was a ‘baptism of repentance’. They were agreeing with John.. “you are right John, I am a sinner, and I need a Savior. I need God’s help, I can’t save myself from my sin.“ And to publicly evidence their sincerity and their readiness for God to send a Savior, they were baptized by John in the Jordan river.
John’s baptism did not save them, nor did it change them, but it did symbolize their awareness of their need to be washed clean of their sin, by a God sent Savior, and their readiness to trust & follow that Savior when He came.
John the Baptist made one other very powerful statement about the One who was soon to come: “I baptize you with water for repentance… but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” (Matt. 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16). John was beginning to paint a clear picture of both the person and the distinctive work of Jesus, the Messiah. The Messiah would be God sent, and He would come with a similar call to repentance from sin, but the Messiah’s salvation would not come through water baptism, His salvation would be life transforming and would be accomplished by the powerful work of the Holy Spirit of God, and would ultimately be judged with fire.
Those words coming from John, who was behaving very much like the Old Testament prophet Elijah, would bring to the minds of his listeners, the famous showdown on Mount Carmel between Elijah and the wicked prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18). Remember the scene? God had withheld rain for 3 years, because His people had turned away from Him and they were worshiping idols, including Baal. Jezebel, Israel’s queen, married to King Ahab, was a Baal worshiper and was personally providing for the needs of 450 prophets of Baal!
God’s prophet Elijah challenged all Israel: “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him, but if Baal is God, follow him.” (1 Kings 18:21)
Then Elijah put forward the ultimate test. Both he & the prophets of Baal, would meet on Mount. Carmel, and they would each build an altar on Mount Carmel. Each would slaughter an animal and put it on their altar and worship their God. Each would call on their God to respond and show His mighty, divine power by sending fire from heaven which would burn up the sacrifice. Whichever God responded would be proven to be the supreme God.
I wonder if you remember what happened? All day Baal’s prophets called out to their god… but with no response. Then the prophet Elijah poured water on his offering and called upon Almighty God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel… and God sent fire from heaven, which burned up Elijah’s sacrifice!
The prophets of Baal were put to the sword that day, as false prophets who had been deceiving Israel and turning the people away from the one, true God. Every Jew knew that story well. So when John the Baptist, whose message was very similar to Elijah’s, spoke of Messiah as baptizing with fire, they paid close attention and began to formulate in their minds and hearts, an expectation of what Messiah would like! They were alert, on the lookout… watching for Messiah. He would be a Savior. A powerful Savior. His life changing salvation would break the stronghold of sin in their lives and change them into God honoring people.
This final weekend in 2019 may I urge us to find some time to reflect and begin serious preparation for your transition to a new year 2020? May I invite us all to read John 1:19-28 and consider these questions this weekend:
1. Who are you? Who did God design you to be when He created you in your mother’s womb?
As you consider the expectations people have of you, are you able to filter those expectations through a realistic understanding of God’s design for your life?
Do you see that in John’s response to the people in John 1:19-23? If you struggle with an answer to these questions, may I suggest you ask God to help you understand what HE has in His mind for you, beginning with your character?
2. What is God’s mission for you in 2020? What do you think God would like to accomplish in 2020 that will involve you, and how ready are you for hearing and obeying God’s leading in your life to BE and DO what HE has in His best plan for your life in 2020?
Now I know those are very big life questions and we all face them. I’m praying the Holy Spirit of God is using our “Walking with Jesus” journey to help you find God’s answers for your life, in response to these questions.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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