John's message of repentance was so radical that we read that many people came to him in the wilderness. I wonder why they came. Was it because they were curious about this strange, wild man clothed in camels hair who had a diet of wild honey and locusts, or was it because they were interested in catching him out on his theology, or was it that they were captured by his outragous message of the possibility that a life could be changed.It was not what he did that changed peoples lives but what he said. His message was Christ in you the hope of Glory.
God is not found in rituals but in relationship "and the one coming after me, He will guide you into all truth". He will baptise you in the Holy Spirit.
Matthew and Luke record a bit more about John, they quote him as saying to the priest's, that is the religious ones, "You brood of vipers, who has warned you?", and "Therefore bring forth fruits worthy of repentance". What John was saying was we have to live the life that shows we have embrassed the truth of repentance and that we understand the Grace and Mercy of God, through who's power we have been redeemed.
The great gospel that John was declaring was radical in it's approached because it claimed that there was a position in God where we could be set free from Sin, that is the Sin that endures to death and seperates us from a loving God.
Notice I talk about Sin and not sin's, sin's are the result of Sin. What God was about to do with Jesus, His Son was break the power of Sin and Death so that we could live a life of freedom from Sin and Death.
This very fact had been revealed to John by an act of the Holy Spirit, the medium that God uses to comunicate to those who are in tune with Him. John had embraced the truth of the gospel and was so enriched by the message that he preached and preached and preached repentance, the starting point of any move and work of God.
John never claimed to be the Christ but pointed to someone "who is greater than I". The lesson here is that all of us need to always point to Jesus, never to take the credit for ourselves.
Lord help us to embrace the truth of the good news of the gospel, the great news that we have been freed from the power of Sin and Death and help us to live in the freedom that your death and resurection has made possible.
2 comments:
Hi Steve
Thanks for taking the time to share your devotions online. I'm stuck on the train at present with plenty of time to think about your newest entry. What I've been thinking about is how this message of repentance and a real change in heart to seeking God through relationship must have been new and different to these people (as you said above), and also that this wasn't a new message from God. The scriptures which come to mind are Psalm 51 v16-17 and Isaiah 58.
Somehow, they knew or at least had the foundations of that knowledge, but at the same didn't really. I think I'll spend the remainder of the journey reflecting on if there are anyways I'm the same!
Cheers
Pete
Thanks Pete for your comment.
I think we have a lot to learn about serving God through relationship and how it is so easy sometimes to revert to serving through ritual. Let's guard against it.
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