Tag Archives: John

Thunder In The Desert!

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THUNDER IN THE DESERT!

“In the fifteenth year of the rule of Caesar Tiberius — it was while Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea; Herod, ruler of Galilee; his brother Philip, ruler of Ituraea and Trachonitis; Lysania, ruler of Abilene; during the Chief-Priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, John, Zachariah’s son, out in the desert at the time, received a message from God. He went through all the country around Jordan River preaching a baptism of life-change leading to forgiveness of sins, as described in the words of Isaiah the prophet:

“Thunder in the desert!

‘Prepare God’s arrival!

Make the road smooth and straight!

Every ditch will be filled in,

Every bump smoothed out,

The detours straightened out,

All the ruts paved over,

Everyone will be there to see

The parade of God’s salvation.'” Luke 3:1-6 (The Message).

It was now some thirty years later. Luke was careful to pinpoint the exact time in history, all verifiable facts if one has the historical records to go by. After all, he did assure Theophilus that he had carefully researched his material before presenting it to him.

What was John doing during the formative years of childhood and youth? We have only a few clues to help us guess. In his prophetic outburst, Zachariah revealed that he had fully embraced his son’s destiny — prophet of the Highest. He no doubt schooled his little son in the Word and ways of God until John was old enough to attend the Beth Saphar, elementary school where he was taught the Torah – the Teachings of the Lord contained in the Books of Moses.

By the age of twelve, the time of his initiation into manhood, he could recite and knew the meaning of all the words of the Torah. Having passed that phase, he would have gone to Jerusalem for his tertiary education at the Beth Talmid – discipleship school. There he would have been instructed by an authoritative rabbi, probably Hillel who was also Paul’s teacher. Who knows but that John and Paul might have been in class together!

Tertiary education covered the entire Old Testament which John could recite by the age of thirty. He was now qualified to be a rabbi – a teacher – and one who was authorised to have his own band of disciples because his authority had been recognised and confirmed. We know that because only a rabbi with authority was permitted to have his own followers and John was making and baptising men who were his disciples (John 4:1). He was also addressed as “rabbi” by his followers (John 3:26).

It seems that, after he completed his education at rabbi school and before he began to prophesy, he spent time alone in the wilderness. So did Jesus! What was he doing? I think he was thinking deeply about everything he had learned at rabbi school. He needed to know where he fitted in to the scheme of things. He had heard from his dad often enough the story of his conception and what the angel had told his father about him. Where did he go from there?

Is there a lesson in that for us? How often a young person hears the call of the Lord to “full-time service” (as if being a follower of Jesus isn’t a full-time occupation!), and follows the prescribed ritual; Bible School, then apply to a missionary society; wait to be accepted; deputation work to announce yourself and garner financial support; oh! and prayer, and then off you go to the foreign field to teach the heathen about Jesus.

What did John do? Apparently something quite similar, really; rabbi school, no “missionary society”, only time alone with God. Wait, listen, follow, obey. John’s entire ministry of six months! was encapsulated in these four little words, “Thunder in the desert”. A huge flash of light and then he was gone. Was that what he expected? Probably not but it was God’s purpose for him to light the way for Messiah and he did it!

He earned from Jesus the title, ‘The greatest of all the prophets!” Six months? Yes!

Zachariah Breaks The Silence!

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ZACHARIAH BREAKS THE SILENCE!

“Then Zachariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied,

“’Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, he came and set His people free.
He set the power of salvation in the centre of our lives,
And in the very house of David His servant,
Just as He promised long ago
Through the preaching of His holy prophets:
Deliverance from our enemies and from every hateful hand;
Mercy to our fathers,
As He remembered to do what he said he’d do,
What He swore to our father Abraham –
A clean rescue from the enemy camp,
So we can worship Him without a care in the world,
Made holy before Him for as long as we live.’” Luke 1:67-75

Finally, after nine months of silence, Zachariah’s voice was restored. What a difference from the last time he spoke! Skepticism and unbelief were not permitted to escape his lips during the entire duration of Elizabeth’s pregnancy. God’s will was in the process of being fulfilled and He would not permit foolish and unbelieving words to inhibit His plan from being fulfilled.

Those nine months of silence when his thoughts were locked up inside his mind, his only expression so laborious that he was limited to writing his basic wishes, must have been months of slow metamorphosis, like the gradual thickening of Elizabeth’s waistline as the child grew in her womb.

Perhaps his unbelief embraced more than just a pregnancy for his wife. Did he also balk at the idea that this child, whose coming he doubted anyway, would be all that the angel Gabriel prophesied; his child a prophet of the highest rank among all God’s prophets; a forerunner of the Messiah for whom they had waited so long that His coming seemed only like a pipe dream? Could it be that their deliverer could finally be on the doorstep after all these years of longing and waiting?

What was the hope that formed in Zachariah’s mind as his thoughts ran riot in his brain? What did deliverance mean to him? Did he have the same expectation as the disciples of Jesus had? Their expectation of a national and political deliverer shut their minds to a greater deliverance even from Rome, which Jesus could only achieve through His death and resurrection.

Zachariah spoke of salvation. What was this salvation of which he dreamed and spoke with such eloquence when his tongue was finally loosed? Was he longing for a new kind of freedom, when the guilt and power of sin would be removed forever? Did the possibility of deliverance from his own treacherous nature ever cross his mind? Did he see God’s salvation as the process of becoming whole again, restored to fellowship with the God from whom mankind had been estranged since the day Adam chose to go his own way?

I don’t think any of these thoughts crossed his mind as he pondered the nature of the child in Elizabeth’s womb. But, nevertheless, he must have considered the possibility that, since the angel had prophesied the birth of a baby to two people too old to have a child, the child would become and do all that Gabriel had said.

When Zachariah’s thinking became one with the mind of the Father, he was ready to receive and father the prophet in whom was invested the honour of fulfilling God’s plan. The early years of this child were crucial to his mission. He had to have a father who clearly understood his role in the raising of this boy. Unless Zachariah fully embraced the angel’s prophetic words, who would sow the seeds of John’s future into his life and destiny?

It was Zachariah’s role to prepare him for his future task. In this prophetic utterance of an overwhelmed dad, Zachariah expressed his confidence in the prophetic word and fully embraced his fatherly responsibility to raise his son into the role of which the angel had spoken.

Amazing Grace!

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AMAZING GRACE!

“When Elizabeth was full-term in her pregnancy, she bore a son. Her neighbours and relatives, seeing that God had overwhelmed her with mercy, celebrated with her.

“On the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child and were calling him Zachariah after his father. But the mother intervened: ‘No. He is to be called John.’

“‘But,’ they said, ‘no one in your family is named that.’ They used sign language to ask Zachariah what he wanted him named.

“Asking for a tablet, Zachariah wrote, ‘His name is to be John.’ That took everyone by surprise. Surprise followed surprise — Zachariah’s mouth was now open, his tongue loose, and he was talking, praising God!

A deep eventual fear settled over the neighbourhood, and in all that Judean hill country people talked about nothing else. Everyone who heard about it took it to heart, wondering, ‘What will become of this child? God has His hand in this.'” Luke 1:57-66 (The Message).

Zachariah was finally released from his silence because of his unbelief. What transpired in those nine months when he spent a lot of time with his own thoughts? Whatever went on in his mind, he was completely transformed, especially when he saw Elizabeth’s girth beginning to increase and he realised that the angel’s promise to him was for real.

It was a discipline he probably would not like to go through again but it was necessary and he learned his lesson well. He was quick to obey the Lord’s instruction regarding the naming of his son. Contrary to custom and culture, he would not allow the present company to call him Zachariah. He backed up his wife’s declaration that the baby’s name would be John – meaning “grace”.

With this act of obedience came Zachariah’s moment for truth. Through the angel Gabriel, God has spoken an amazing prophecy over the child that was to be born. Now the baby boy had safely entered the world and all the things spoken about him were about to be played out from this time on. He and Elizabeth would be witnesses to and a part of the life of this unusual boy, filled with the Holy Spirit from his birth and ministering in the power and spirit of Elijah.

What did Zachariah feel like, especially as an elderly first-time father, when he looked into the pink and wrinkled little face of his new-born son, knowing that this was a very special and hand-picked child who was his responsibility to raise and train in the ways of the Lord? Did he also think of the fact that he might not even live to see his son into adulthood or into the fulfilment of his calling to be the forerunner of Messiah? Who would take over his role when he was no longer there?

This must have been an overwhelming moment for the old man. He displayed his confidence in the promises of God by giving him the name John. Why John? Was it because everything about the child was pure grace?

It was God’s grace that produced the miracle of conception and birth for an elderly couple who were well beyond childbearing years. It was God’s grace that gave them this special child, whom Jesus called “the greatest of the prophets”. It was God’s grace that took away the reproach of barrenness from Elizabeth and flooded her heart with gratitude for His mercy.

Most of all, it was God’s grace in its fullest measure that would be revealed through the Messiah who would be coming into the world, and who would be the focus of John’s ministry. “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14 (NIV).