1 In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,
2 And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
3 For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
The first thing I saw in these verses, that intrigued me, was that God sent His messenger of salvation’s approach into the wilderness to preach repentance. Why would God do that? Wouldn’t it make more sense to go where the people were living? Why go to the desert where there weren’t any people?
Much of what is written in the bible has a metaphorical implication. By sending John into the wilderness to preach repentance, God is saying something to us about our state of being, our condition, and our frame of mind. In order to understand what God is saying here, we must look at both what the desert is and what it is not.
The desert is a place of desolation, loneliness, personal vulnerability, thirst and hunger.
John 6:35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
One must come to a point in their life where they are hungry and thirsty before they look to be satisfied. Who would seek God unless he felt a need to do so? We are a gregarious people who take satisfaction, contentment, in many different things. Many of those things are represented in the images of the city, where God didn’t send John.
The walled cities of that time represented security in numbers, opportunity for employment, variety of lifestyles, and social structure. Wisdom of the world says that is a good thing. But God is trying to call the lost out of the world, worldly wisdom and worldly activities. As long as a person clings to the ideals and practices of worldliness, they won’t seek God. Even though God is calling them out it can be difficult to recognize that God is calling them out into the wilderness.
John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Each of us is called or drawn by an inward power, the power of the Holy Spirit, to seek God. It might manifest itself as uneasiness, or discomfort with our present situation. Unless there is someone to explain what is going on inside you, you might not recognize it as a call to seek God at all. How many people have changed jobs, cities, marriages, or had an affair because they were unhappy only to discover after the change that they still felt the same way? How many people became drunks or addicts to numb their senses only to become hopeless lost to a lifetime of slavery to an object? Addictions can come in many forms. They don’t have to be drink or drugs. Gambling, food, sex, and wealth can be just as addictive as any drug. They ultimately don’t satisfy but for a short time and drive a person into deeper and deeper dependency and desire for fulfillment only to find themselves utterly lacking in self control, having become a slave to a lifestyle.
If we look to what God is doing by calling us out of the city, into a position of humility, vulnerability, and a real hunger and thirst for God, then we should look to the passages in Isaiah that described what God is doing in our lives.
Isaiah 50:1 Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.
God did not neglect His bride. She sold herself into sin.
But what does this have to do with John being the forerunner of Christ?
Well, the answer to that lays in Isaih 61.
Isaiah 61
1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
4 And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.
5 And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.
6 But ye shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.
7 For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them.
8 For I the LORD love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the LORD hath blessed.
10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
11 For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.
As a bride adorns herself! God sent His Son into the world to redeem His bride.
Exodus 21:9 And if he have betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters.
No longer will God deal with us as He did Israel, wherein He cast her off because of her iniquities. Now, through faith in His beloved Son, He deals with us as sons and daughters, because we are betrothed to His Son.
Romans 8
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
I love the comparison of the adoption here in this verse because it brings home a solid point of law. Did you know that a child of adoption cannot be left out of the inheritance? The implication is clear and has a finality to it that is expressed richly at the end of Romans chapter 8.
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
It is the promise of God from Isaiah 56:5 Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.
There is a warning in Isaiah 56 that I pray you will understand. Those who have found satisfaction in the world, in the walled cities are like these watchmen.
9 All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest.
10 His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
11 Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.
12 Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.
There is no security in world systems. Each will look out after his own well being, protecting as best he can what is his own. They will lie to you and try to reassure you that all will be well, but they do not have your best interest at heart.
Do you feel used? Is there anyone there who is looking after your best interests?
God wants to be your provider and protector. God wants to be a Father to you. He is calling you out from that place where you have laid up walls within your souls, separating yourselves from the love of God.
Will you answer His call? Will you come out into the wilderness?
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