John the Baptist came to prepare the way for Christ. John’s and Jesus’ mothers were cousins and their children were born six months apart. It was said of John before his birth that “He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will walk before them in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the upright, to make ready for the Lord a prepared people.” John preached of repentance and a change of heart; however, not all heard John’s words with eagerness or sincerity.
Some might have called John a trouble maker like Ahab called Elijah a trouble maker. Ahab said to Elijah, “Art thou he that troubleth Israel?”(I Kings 17:17) And Elijah answered, “I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim.”(I Kings 17:18). Many times we may blame others for our troubles when we have really caused our own troubles. One thing that we need to remember is that all actions have consequences.
When we look at Elijah we see his importance in bringing Israel back to God, and putting Baal out. When Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal and put them to shame he showed the power of God and called Israel back to God. In the same sense, John called Israel back to God. Jesus said of Israel, “Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, this people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.”(Mark 7:6-9) John came to awaken the people to hear the words of the Christ. The people had let traditions become their law to the point that they were disregarding God’s law. We too must watch that we do not follow that same path.
The thrust of John’s message was of a change of heart. The heart is so critical in the new covenant. The old law was a list of commandments of which Paul said, “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:20) No man could be saved by the Law, because all fell short. However, in Jesus Christ all can be made pure in the sight of God. Christ is our Righteousness and demands that we change our hearts and seek to live for him. Our works should manifest this change. To say that we believe is not enough. James said, “Show me your faith without your works and I will show you my faith by my works”. Does it not make sence that our faith should manifest itself in works? Did not Paul write that we had been created in Christ Jesus for good works? (Ephesians 2:10) We each need to examine our hearts. Do we love God? Do our works manifest our love? Even John the Baptist spoke of this when he said, “Every tree not bearing good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
All people are going to bear some type of fruit. Christ said we will be known by our fruit and we should want to bring forth good fruit. We know that the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. Are those in us? One of the most challenging things to do is self-examination. Many times we may not be able to judge ourselves the way we need to, but if we will look at our works we should be able judge ourselves and do self-reflection. Do we cause mischief and trouble everywhere we go or do we bring joy, peace and happiness? What are our motives – do we do things out of love or do we do things out of hate, envy, and selfishness.
John sought to awaken this people to prepare their heart to hear the word of the Lord. John taught them only the basics for the new beginning and John preached that his teachings were not the end but only the beginning. John said that one mightier was to come after him. John spoke that his baptism was of water, but the one who was coming would baptize with both fire and the Holy Spirit. After this time we do not read very much about John, but only of Christ. John knew his role and was willing to do it and to let the Savior have the preeminence. We to need to let Jesus have the preeminence in our lives. We need to make sure that we take diligence to be a “prepared people”. Paul wrote in Hebrews 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” May we all diligently seek to be what God our Father desires for us.
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