Are You Prepared?
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Mark 1:1-
1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 As it is written in the Prophets:
“Behold, I send My messenger before Your face,
Who will prepare Your way before You.”
3 “The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
Make His paths straight.’ ”
This is the fulfillment of what had been prophesied all through the OT. - God will send His messenger before them in the desert, - a second exodus to the final deliverance prepared for God's people, - God will send a messenger to prepare the way before judgement.
The 'beginning of the Gospel' is to be understood and looked at as the continuation of God's promise from old. They are bound together because they are the blueprint of God's plan.
God sends John to prepare the way for Jesus.
God sends Jesus to prepare the way for us.
In the OT, prophets prepared the way for the coming of God in salvation and judgement. Salvation has come through Jesus as God and judgment will also come through Jesus as God at the second coming.
4 John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. 5 Then all the land of Judea, and those from Jerusalem, went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.
Mark 1:4-
Jews believed that only those who were defiled should be baptized. John was calling for all to be immersed in the water to be cleansed. And he called for them to come out to the wilderness. This is important because of what the wilderness represented to them: deliverance, miracles, new beginnings, conquest and victory, freedom, judgement and grace....it was God's proving ground for testing people.
The Jordan was not just a river to them. It represented the boundary between the desert and the Promise Land, judgment and salvation.
The Jordan was not just a river to them. It represented the boundary between the desert and the Promise Land, judgment and salvation.
6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.
Why is there not much information in Mark's writings about who John is? But he is very descriptive about John's appearance and diet? Mark wanted us to understand a few things:
John was not man of image or vanity. He was not there to draw attention to himself
Anyone who would choose to go out to John for baptism would have to let go of the traditions and institutions of the culture in Jerusalem.
7 And he preached, saying, “There comes One after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose.
John has no illusions about who he is or what he was created to do. He is not trying to build a kingdom for himself in this place, but points everyone to Jesus for the sake of God and His kingdom. The only power John has is the power given to him by God to proclaim the truth of Christ.
8 I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
John understands that it is not water that creates in us a new heart and spirit, but it is the Holy Spirit within us that changes us. He is merely sharing the truth with others in hopes that the people will be prepared when Jesus arrives.
The Point
There has to be a preparation for one to be saved. The preparation is repentance. We must acknowledge that we are sinners in need of a Savior. We must turn away from sin and surrender our lives to Him understanding exactly what that means. It means our lives are no longer ours. We cannot continue to live selfishly for our own desires, but must now live for Him and Him alone. We cannot expect His grace because of what we do, but we can prepare our hearts and spirits to receive His grace. When we genuinely prepare and surrender to Him, His path into our hearts is made straight and our path in life is made straight.
But we must be willing to enter into the wilderness, leaving our comforts behind in order to receive His comforts.
Choosing to follow Jesus with our lives will not be a comfortable path. It will require us to let go of pleasures and comforts we have taken for granted. It will also cause us to let go of traditions and institutions that our own culture holds strongly to.
The only power you and I have is the power given to us by God through the Holy Spirit to proclaim the truth of Jesus Christ.
Then you and I become the voices crying in the wilderness for others to prepare themselves for the way of the Lord. We need to cry loudly, without fear or timidity, lifting our voice like a trumpet for the world to hear!
This is the beginning of the church. No music, no SS, no programs, only the preaching of salvation through Jesus and the baptism of those who believed so that they could go and share the truth with others. This is the mustard seed that would grow into a tree.
Invitation
You have to understand what following Jesus really means.
You have to make the decision to follow Him.
We have to understand that we are the voices in the wilderness now. It is our responsibility to cry out His name and prepare the people around us for His arrival.