A Voice Crying Out In The Wilderness
In the wilderness is “en te eremo” in the Greek language of
the New Testament. It is where John
preached.
Why the wilderness?
Because there was no legitimate spirituality to be found in Israel.
In that sense, everywhere in Israel was a wilderness! It’d been centuries since a legitimate
prophet had spoken the word of God.
Israel was a spiritual wilderness, desperately in need of someone to
point them to truth. John points them to
Christ. When a people are in need of
truth – when people are living “en te eremo” – someone had better start
pointing to Christ. It is, after all,
what we are called to do as Christians.
But how did John preach?
First, he preached against sin.
Then, he preached repentance.
Finally, he preached the coming of the kingdom of God in the coming
Messiah – Jesus Christ. Without
conviction there is no true conversion. So
often the path to belief comes through the valley of conviction, recognition,
and repentance. Yet without Christ there
is nothing into which it is meaningful to convert.
Instructions
“Bear fruits in keeping with your repentance,” John said to
the onlookers. Notice that in Luke’s
Gospel, this passage is said to all. In
Matthew’s Gospel this sentiment is said to just the Pharisees and Sadducees. John is warning the people that if they
continue to dwell in their sin that the axe is at the root of the tree. Continuing to dwell in sin is the antithesis
to being a disciple.
But I think it really goes deeper than that. If they are not ready to repent, they will
miss what God is doing in Christ. If
they miss what God is doing in Christ, then they will have missed something
significant in life. John is telling
them that if they are not careful, their lifestyle is going to cause them to
miss out on what God is trying to do in their midst.
You see, many people think of John simply as the herald of
Jesus. They say that John was there just
to point to Christ and say, “He’s the one!”
And yes, absolutely this was a part of John’s function. But John was also there to prepare people for
Christ’s coming. John was there in the
midst of the people trying to teach them.
He was trying to help them through the wilderness of what should have
been their spirituality so that when Christ showed up it would make sense to
them. John was more than just a herald,
John was a teacher! He was coming up alongside
of people and through speaking the Word he was helping them move forward in the
walk with God.
Core Values from John
What did John teach?
John taught community: Share your tunics. John taught honesty: Don’t rip people
off. John taught contentedness: Do an
honest job and accept an honest pay for it.
John taught humility: There is one for whom I am not worthy to even
stoop at his feet. John taught truth: Be
careful, the winnowing fork is in His hand to gather up the wheat and sort out
the chaff.
John didn’t teach a feel-good-religion. Is it human nature to share? Is it human nature to accept certain wages
when other people are getting more through dishonest means? Is it human nature to do an honest job when a
few shortcuts could save time, money, and thus mean an increase to the
profit? Is it human nature to humble
oneself when there is no selfish gain? Is
it human nature to change just because we might be chaff in some unseen God’s
eyes?
John didn’t tell people that God accepts them as they are
without repentance. John didn’t tell
people that following God was easy. John
didn’t tell people that salvation was cheap.
No, John taught a hard lesson.
But John taught truth. Following
God is not at all easy. It is
demanding. It is uncomfortable at many
times. It requires something of us. If done right, it requires not just something
of us, but it requires all of who we are.
It consumes us so that it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives
in us.
Trinity
Notice that the Gospel of Luke does not contain any mention
of his denial of worth in the act of baptizing Jesus. It is a slight difference from Matthew’s
account. Luke is trying to show the
divinity of Christ here.
Luke is trying to give us a picture in which the focus is
not on John, but rather on the Trinity.
It is difficult to read this passage and deny the existence of the
Trinity. The Son was baptized. The Father spoke. The Spirit descended. All three are present in this one great act.
Genealogy
As for the genealogy, there are a few things that should be
said. First, Luke’s genealogy is
different from Matthew because Luke gives the fathers of Mary whereas Matthew
gives the fathers of Joseph.
Furthermore, notice that Matthew starts with Abraham and moves forward
while Luke’s starts with Jesus and moves backward. There’s nothing really significant other than
to point out the differences here.
What is important is to note what the genealogy talks about
whose son Jesus really is. This
genealogy takes us from Jesus to Adam.
Thus, there can be no doubt that Jesus is human. Quite literally, Jesus is a son of man. However, God the Father has also just
declared that Jesus is His beloved Son.
Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is
a divine-man.
Fully Human; Fully Divine
Yes, this does open up the whole concept of Jesus being
fully human and fully divine. When you
completely figure that one out and can explain it, let me know. Because that one is harder to understand than
it is to say. But it is simple to
believe. Jesus is completely human and
Jesus is completely divine. It is His
nature, and it makes Him uniquely different from us.
Why
is this important? Only because it is
the foundation of salvation. Jesus’
baptism and Jesus’ genealogy establishes the foundation for salvation. Here’s how it plays out:
·
A
God who does not require atonement for sin is not just. As proof, here is Proverbs 17:15, God’s own
Word. “He who justifies the wicked and
he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the Lord.”
Therefore, if God justifies the sinner without condemnation, God is an
abomination unto Himself. Thus, there
must be condemnation.
·
If
there is condemnation, then there must be a sacrifice to remove the guilt. That sacrifice has to be human or else God
isn’t really holding humanity responsible for its own actions.
·
Yet,
what human can be the unblemished lamb?
What human is righteous and free from sin? Romans 3:23 says “For all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God.” Only
God is righteous.
·
Therefore,
how is it that God is true to His nature, yet still able to show us mercy? The only way is for God to become human. The only way for God to be true to Himself
and His word is to effect judgment on humanity, but the only way that humanity
can stand against this judgment is if a righteous person atones. God must become man. Only then is humanity held responsible and
put under the consequence of death yet still able to be properly justified
without going against God’s own character and His Word.
I
bet you never realized how important a genealogy was to salvation before. Yet Jesus’ baptism and genealogy combine to
demonstrate that Jesus is both fully human and fully divine. He is righteous, thus an acceptable
sacrifice. He is human, thus he
satisfies the condition of God’s own Word from Proverbs 17:15. God is condemning humanity through Jesus and
justifying humanity through Jesus.
Neither are abominations to God.
Whew. It got pretty deep pretty quickly in
here! Go in God’s peace.
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