Luke 3:1…
One of the
things that makes even the thought of how to begin a ministry from scratch
so difficult is: Where to begin?
How can this
possibly happen? How can anyone understand what is happening here? Where will
the people come from, and what will bring them?
The whole
thing just seems impossible, doesn’t it?
I completely
understand the needfulness of the ministry of John the Baptist. He was the necessary
preparation of and for the ministry of Jesus Christ. It was through John that
the Holy Spirit made the kind of introduction into the hearts of both a very
religious and non-religious people that made the ministry of Jesus Christ
possible.
That Jesus
followed John was not only history, it was necessary.
In a
prophetic sense it had been declared Messiah would come only after Elijah had
come first. It was necessary for John to come to fulfill prophecy of Malachi 4:5. It had to happen this way
to fulfill God’s Word. But it also had to happen this way to make it happen.
Sometimes we forget God’s Word of prophecy has a functional purpose. It is also
a declaration of what must happen to make it happen.
John had to
happen for Jesus to happen, functionally, Spiritually.
John was
more than a warm-up act - but he did perform a similar function. He broke the
ice, so-to-speak, by sounding an alarm the conscience could hear. The previous
ministries in the land had been designed to soothe the brain through a sort of
alignment with an external law that men had contrived to make themselves feel
better about themselves as they compared themselves to others. But what about
the others? Who could or would help them?
John sounded
a truth alarm to let EVERYONE know they were the ‘others’. This law you have
been pretending to keep is a sham, and God sees it and God knows it. A heart
that has heard this message has been prepared for the message of Jesus Christ.
-Pastor Bill
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