Announce Jesus

Saturday July 10, 2021

Announce Jesus

It is the voice of one crying in the wilderness : Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Luke 3:4

John the Baptist was the immediate forerunner of the Messiah. Because he gave her plenty of room after announcing his arrival, we sometimes forget the value of his service. The behavior, actions, words, even doubts of this prophet are all useful lessons for us today.

John the Baptist occupies a unique place among the great servants of God. It is at the crossroads of Judaism and Christianity. His ministry has been that of reconciliation and repentance : He will walk before God with the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the rebels to the wisdom of the righteous, in order to prepare for the Lord a willing people (Luke 1:17).

John the Baptist had the privilege of seeing the one whose coming he was preparing, the Messiah announced by all the prophets before him. Yet he had a moment of doubt, not because Herod had thrown him in prison, but because Jesus was rejected as Messiah. He then sent two of his disciples to Jesus to ask : Are you the one who is to come or should we expect another ? (Luke 7:19). John the Baptist had known an exceptional reception of the crowds, and that without accomplishing any of the miracles that men love so much. His ministry seemed to be a failure, because Jesus was rejected as Messiah, but it was not. Later, after Herod had John the Baptist executed, people recognized that everything he said was true and they believed in Jesus (John 10:41).

Like John the Baptist, let us faithfully speak the Word of God and, above all, be humble in service, if we are to prepare the way of the Lord in the hearts of men (Isaiah 40:3). The Lord will do his work in his time, let us not doubt it.

Faith in Jesus Christ and in the Word of God allows one to see beyond appearances and present circumstances, and even beyond one's own death. It is the assurance of what one hopes for, and the conviction of realities which cannot be seen (Hebrews 11: 1).

Source (Pleasing the Lord)