Tag Archives: John the Baptist

Baby Believers

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BABY BELIEVERS 

“Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptising in the early days. There He stayed, and many people came to Him. They said, ‘Though John never performed a sign, all that John said about this man was true.’ And in that place many believed in Jesus.” John 10:40-42 NIV.

Thus concludes a dramatic and tempestuous encounter between Jesus and the Jewish leaders, and a temporary lull in the conflict between them. He retreated beyond the Jordan, not because He was afraid of them but to allow the dust to settle before the last and final battle that would end in His death.

The writer, John, assures his readers that, in spite of the opposition of the Jewish hierarchy, there were many of the ordinary people who were convinced that He was the Messiah and that John the Baptist’s testimony about Him was true. At this stage they were probably still wobbly believers, convinced of who Jesus was and yet wary of the Pharisees because they had the power to do damage to these infant believers in society because of their position in their religion.

In a few short weeks their faith would be sorely tested when Jesus was finally arrested and brought to trial before His adversaries. John’s purpose was to present Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, so that his readers would be convinced of His identity and put their faith in Him. Throughout the gospel he assured his readers that this was happening in spite of the hatred of the Jewish leaders towards Jesus.

After the episode of the healing of the blind man, no doubt the common people were in on the hot debate that raged between the Pharisees and Jesus. They heard the accusations levelled against Him because that He had healed the man on the Sabbath. They had listened to Jesus’ defence: ‘Evaluate my works and see whether they don’t match the nature of the Father.’

They had done their own thinking and concluded that a demon-possessed man could never do the miracles Jesus was doing to bring health and comfort to suffering people. At least they had the good sense to be honest, to weigh up the evidence with an open mind and to reach the conclusion that the Pharisees refused to come to because they were convinced they were right.

The Pharisees not only denounced Jesus; they also dismissed the common people as ignorant and stupid! What an indictment against them!

But where were all these so-called believers when the mob, led by the Jewish religious hierarchy were baying for Jesus’ blood? Were they in the crowd, swayed by mob hysteria to demand His death? Were they too afraid to stand up for Him lest they suffer the same fate? Was their protest so feeble that they were shouted down when they tried to defend Him? We will never know.

However, there must have been many of those early shaky believers who joined the tide of people who had repented and were baptised on the Day of Pentecost. Their failure to support Jesus for whatever reason was only a part of the process. They were not denounced or disqualified for their weakness. They were included in the ranks of those who became staunch followers of the risen Messiah.

Does this not encourage us to believe that where we are now, or where our loved ones are now, is not the end of the story? Where was Saul on the day when he stood watching the fanatical Pharisees hurling stones at Stephen and thoroughly supporting what they were doing? Where was he when he set out for Damascus to do as much damage to the church there as he could? He was only hours away from a life-transforming encounter with the Living Christ that would set his life in a new direction.

We must never give up on those for whom we are praying because they are also at some point in the process of becoming new in Christ. God has promised to complete what He has begun and we can count on His promise, not matter what!

Prophet-Killer!

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PROPHET-KILLER

“Herod, the ruler, heard of these goings on and didn’t know what to think. There were people saying John had come back from the dead, others that Elijah had appeared, still others that some prophet of long ago had shown up. Herod said, ‘But I killed John — took off his head. So who is this that I keep hearing about?’ Curious, he looked for a chance to see Him in action.” Luke 9:7-9 (The Message).

Who was this “ruler”, this Herod who admitted to being the murderer of the prophet John whom Jesus stated to be the greatest of all the prophets?

He was Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, the one who both rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem and was so afraid of a rival that he had all the baby boys in Bethlehem less than two years old put to death after Jesus was born. Herod Antipas was appointed tetrarch of Galilee and Perea and was prominent in the lives of both John and Jesus.

He divorced his Nabatean wife to marry the ex-wife of his brother Philip, and came under the scathing condemnation of John the Baptist for transgressing the marriage law of Leviticus 20:21. “If a man marries his brother’s wife, it is an act of impurity. They will be childless.”

At the instigation of his wife, Herodias, Herod imprisoned John and later had him beheaded after a drunken promise to Herodias’ daughter who had danced at his birthday party. No doubt his conscience bothered him when that he thought that Jesus was John returned from the dead. At the same time he knew this could not be true because he had been responsible for John’s death and had been handed John’s head on a platter.

Herod had an insatiable curiosity to see Jesus in action. It was not because he had any desire to follow him but because he was intrigued by the whole idea of a “miracle worker”. Probably, like many ancient rulers, he needed some form of entertainment to keep him amused – like the minstrels and jesters of mediaeval times who played for the king.

Herod was a thoroughly secular man. He appeared to have no interest in anything to do with his inner life. He was an opportunist – marrying only for political gain and divorcing when it suited him to make a better match. He was also spineless and very much under the thumb of Herodias, choosing to kill John to satisfy her thirst for revenge because of John’s accusation rather than doing the right thing.

During Jesus’ trial before Pilate, Pilate heard that Herod was in Jerusalem and sent Jesus to him rather than condemn Him himself, since Jesus was a Galilean and under Herod’s jurisdiction. Herod was not interested in Jesus’ guilt or innocence. He wanted Him to entertain him with miracles and, when Jesus refused, he abused Him and treated Him with contempt.

 

Jesus stated that He had come to bring division, even splitting families right down the middle. No one could be left indifferent to Him. It all depended on what was in their hearts. Those who thirsted to know God would recognise His true identity while others would be offended by His claims and His yoke.

It’s still the same today. God has promised: “‘You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13 (NIV), but there is a condition. “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6 (NIV).

Herod has no desire to know who Jesus was except to satisfy his curiosity and to his dying day he would never know. To the sincere seeker, Jesus is the Son of God, the one to whom had been given the highest name and the highest position in the universe. He is Lord, and to Him every knee shall bow!

Yes Or No?

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YES OR NO?

 “John’s disciples reported back to him the news of all these events taking place. He sent two of them to the Master to ask the question, ‘Are you the One we’re expecting or are we still waiting?’ The men showed up before Jesus and said, ‘John the Baptist sent us to ask you, “Are you the one we’re expecting or are we still waiting?”‘ 

“In the next two or three hours Jesus healed many from disease, distress and evil spirits. To many of the blind He gave the gift of sight. Then He gave His answer: ‘Go back and tell John what you have just seen and heard: The blind see; the lame walk; lepers are cleansed; the deaf hear; the dead are raised; the wretched of the earth have God’s salvation hospitality extended to them. Is this what you were expecting? Then count yourself fortunate!'” Luke 7:18-23 (The Message).

Poor John!

He was sitting in a dungeon at King Herod’s good pleasure. Would it not have been reasonable for him to expect Jesus to do something about him? After all, He was family and he, John, had paved the way for Him! And besides, didn’t the Scriptures prophesy that He would set captives free?

What did John expect? Perhaps, at the very least, Jesus could have gone to Herod and put in a good word for him. Day after day he sat in his prison, waiting and hoping for release, only to be disappointed. He began to doubt that Jesus was the Messiah, after all. Perhaps He was a hoax. The longer he sat there, the more the doubts plagued him.

He had to find out. At least he would know whether there was any hope of being rescued before Herod got it into his head to execute him. He couldn’t go himself, so he sent for a few of his disciples to go for him. ‘Master,’ they asked Jesus, ‘John wants to know whether you are really the Messiah, or do we have to keep waiting for someone else to come?’

Jesus gave them no direct answer. All He said was, ‘Watch and listen.’ So they followed Him around, watching and listening. After some hours He asked them, ‘So? What have you just seen and heard? Now go and tell John all about it.’ He gave them a resume’ of the miracles He had done over the last while. ‘Ask him if this is what he was expecting? If it was, then he is truly blessed.’

What was going on here? John’s circumstances were getting to him. No one can blame him. Who can endure incarceration like that and not give in to self-pity. He had preached that the kingdom of God was a realm of generosity and unselfish service but, in his own suffering, he had begun to turn inward. Hoping that Jesus would mount a rescue, he could not understand why nothing had happened. Perhaps he had been mistaken after all.

His disciples returned with an answer he had not quite expected. A straight ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ would have been better. Instead, in typical “Jesus” fashion, He invited John to weigh up the evidence and decide for himself. That was His way of convincing him who He was according to the evidence and the Scriptures.

John was a rabbi and, of course he had memorised the entire Hebrew Scriptures. He would have immediately caught on to what Jesus was saying. ‘John, don’t take my word for it. Take another look at what the Scriptures say about me and then decide for yourself.’ The Messianic fingerprint was clearly visible in the Old Testament prophecies. All John had to do was to match it up with what Jesus was doing.

Whether or not Jesus got him released was irrelevant. Overshadowing Herod was God’s hand and he had to rest in that. His story was being written into God’s bigger story and Jesus was writing the meaning of that story into the lives of sick, maimed and side-lined people. It was up to John to answer his own question.

We all have to decide whether Jesus is the Messiah or not. Weigh up the evidence.

Is He? Then follow Him!

Nothing New

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NOTHING NEW

“The crowd asked him, ‘Then what are we supposed to do?’

“‘If you have two coats, give one away.’ he said.’Do the same with your food,’ Tax men also came to be baptised and said, ‘Teacher, what should we do?’

“He told them, ‘No more extortion — collect only what is required by law.’

“Soldiers asked him, ‘And what should we do?’ He told them, ‘No shakedowns, no blackmail — and be content with your rations.'” Luke 3:10-14 (The Message).

So what was new about John’s message? Why all the excitement? Why did they come from far and near to hear him when everything he told them was written in their Law anyway? Had they slipped so far from the everyday requirements for living the best kind of life that they needed a revival campaign out in the wilderness to bring them back?

It doesn’t say much for their teachers either, does it? They were so busy preening themselves and devising new laws to “protect” their laws that the Law of God was obscured by rules so ridiculous that many of the ordinary people gave up trying. Like all the prophets before him, John’s message was no different, but the reason for his message was far more compelling.

“Repent!” he thundered, “for the kingdom of God is near.” What did that mean? Not the current “turn or burn” message! Not the “Be sorry for your sins and turn to God” insistence. That’s our interpretation of “repent”. “Teshuvah” meant “return” — come back to what you were — before Adam’s crazy, foolish choice — to what God made you to be in the beginning. What was that? Man made in His image to be one with Him.

“The Kingdom of God is near”? How can that be good news? I thought that the good news was that Jesus died for our sins that we can go to heaven when we die. How pathetic if that is the sum total of the good news! The really good news is that God is fixing everything that is broken and restoring everything to what it was before Adam blew it so that He can complete what He began.

Now that’s really good news! That means that we can play a part in restoring what Adam messed up. And Jesus got rid of all the obstacles that prevented us from taking part in the restoration process by paying our debt for us, releasing us from slavery to the destroyer so that we don’t have to be a part of the messing up side, ever again. We’ve changed allegiance and are now on God’s side, His restoration crew, doing things God’s way and in the process bringing heaven to earth like Jesus said.

John was showing them how that would be done. Give, share, be kind, be content, stop being greedy, selfish and self-centred. That would make Messiah’s task much easier if He came to people who were already prepared to receive Him by realising what He had come to do.

The trouble was that they misunderstood His real purpose. Restoration did not mean getting rid of the Romans so that He could rule over David’s kingdom. His plan went much farther back than that. Not get rid of the rule of the Romans — that was slavery on the outside, but get rid of the rule of sin — that was the core of the matter. Change the ruler on the inside. Get self off the throne and reinstall God’s king, Jesus, as rightful ruler of every heart.

When the old selfish, greedy disposition is changed from within, people will change, mothers and fathers will change, children will change, homes will change, families will change, communities will change, society will change, one life at a time. When Jesus returns to take His rightful place on the throne of earth, He will come to an earth where pockets of heaven are already here, practising what He came to complete.

That’s what it’s all about, really!

A Dream Kid Alright

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A DREAM KID ALRIGHT!
“‘He’ll drink neither wine nor beer. He’ll be filled with the Holy Spiriit from the moment he leaves his mother’s womb. He will turn many sons and daughters of Israel back to their God. He will herald God’s arrival in the style and strength of Elijah, soften the hearts of parents to children, and kindle devout understanding among hardened skeptics — he’ll get the people ready for God.'” Luke 1:15b-17 (The Message).

What went through Zachariah’s mind while he was listening to this prophetic word from Gabriel? What would you think?
Not only was the angel telling him that he and Elizabeth would have a son after all these childless years, and Elizabeth long past menopause, but he was also telling him what kind of a son he would be; a Nazarite, Spirit-filled from birth, a powerfully effective prophet when all the others had failed — Israel had never fully returned to the Lord to be the nation he wanted them to be — healing family rifts and successfully reuniting God’s people with himself. They were going to have a dream kid alright!

He would be a Nazarite according to Numbers 6:1-21. taking vow of separation and dedication to the Lord and indicating his vow by drinking no wine or fermented drink, eating nothing from the vine, not cutting his hair. and not going near a dead body which would make him unclean.

He would be Spirit-filled from birth. That does not guarantee that he would be sinless. He would still have the potential to sin like everyone else but he would also have the privilege of the Holy Spirit’s inward ministry of grace and power to overcome temptation, and the boldness to carry out his ministry fearlessly — and how he would need that when he confronted Herod and Herodias, and those indomitable Pharisees!
His ministry would be powerful and successful. God’s faithful prophets of the Old Testament never enjoyed that reassurance or experienced the blessing of permanent fruit. On the contrary, many of them, knowing that they would achieve nothing but antagonism, opposition and persecution, laboured with the sword of Damocles hanging over their heads. Jeremiah was called “the weeping prophet”. He was hated, hounded and bullied by both king and people, but he stuck to his calling anyway.

The final prophetic words of Malachi 4:5,6 pointed to this day, after 400 years of divine silence, when God would send His last prophet before Messiah to herald the day of permanent transformation: “See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.”

How desperately we need John’s message of reconciliation between fathers and children to offset the destruction that is happening in families and to our youth. How many children have fathers in their homes who are not fathers? Fatherless children are a disaster and a hazard, and yet fathers have not learned to father because they themselves were not fathered.

It takes a courageous man to take his fathering role seriously when he had never experienced a father’s love. There is no better role model than the Father of all fathers. He is willing to be the perfect Father to anyone who will come to Him and submit to His embrace. He will teach you the love of a Father and how to be a true son.