“The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight (Mark 1:3)”.
That was Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah, John the Baptist; Lord Jesus, Peter and Paul. That was Charles Spurgeon, John Knox, John Bunyan, Calvin; Mr. Wigglesworth, Richard Wumbrand; the Ten Boom family; Billy Graham, Oral Roberts, Morris Cerulo, Yongi Cho and Benny Hinn. It was Renhard Bonke of blessed memories, Charles Stanley, Brother Dinakaran and many, many more. It was ME, YOU and every child of God in any nation or community standing out to proclaim God's liberty and freedom to man. Freedom from sin, devils; demons and diseases (Mark 1:3; Matt 3:3; Ref. Isa. 40:3).
Everyone who takes up the task of preaching the Gospel of Christ, man, woman or child, known or unknown, is a Voice “crying in the wilderness” at some very point! But, why Voice? Why not the arm, the head, the feet? Or, as many may recall, why not the Pen, the money, or every such emblem that stands out in the scheme of things? This allegory has boldly been used in another scripture of the FEET, as in: “How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring good tidings of good things”.
Again, my question is: Why the Voice... And why the Feet? Heavens don't make mistakes. God employs no empty words and, most certainly, engages in no glibly small talk. He is Lord over all! All Scripture is inspired... and is used for..... that the man of God may be..... So, let's find out why John chose to call himself a Voice instead of a Priest, a Rabbi or a Guru of any sort. After all, He was one guy to whom the whole Jerusalem came for their Baptismal return unto God. He was the one that Baptized the Son of Almighty God, Savior of the entire world.
He was one of the first in modern memory to ever see Heavens open, hear the voice of God and get sent on an eternal run by Almighty God Himself, as in “Him that sent me”. Pretty cool! John was the first in that era to see the physical manifestation of God the Holy Ghost in the form of a Dove. He was feared (by the leadership) and revered (by the simple).
He was the first to confront the brazen hypocrisy of the ruling class and high religious heads, the faithless Godless lifestyle of common folk and all the young generations all around. His words threatened the status quo. So he was killed to get him out of the way, so they could proceed in their wanton sinful ways.
There are as it may be many voices in the world, but none of them is without signification - 1 Cor. 14:10.
1. John would see Lives changed for the Coming of the Messiah - vs. 17b
He could not save them, but he was a Voice of one crying in the wilderness.
2. He would give knowledge to those who did not know - vs. 76.
For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us - 2 Cor 4:5.
His Fervent Preaching - He proclaimed a Godly Message - John 1:15-18
· The Preeminence of Christ - vs. 15
· The Provision of Christ - Grace and Truth - vs. 16-17
· The Proclamation of Christ - vs. 18
"He hath declared him" Christ, and only Christ can do so!
John was Clear in His Message - Mt. 14:4 - He made no apology for preaching against the sin of Caesar Philip! And he went to prison and died for it.
His Faithfulness Proclaimed - The Proclamation of Jesus - The Compliment from God the Father - Mt. 11:10 For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. 11 Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
The Companionship He Sought for His Followers - John had preached that grace and truth were only by Christ. His followers were about to be wounded and alone - they needed truth and grace!
Mt. 11:2 Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, 3 And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? 4 Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: 5 The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.
I personally do not believe this questioning was for John himself - in this, and in Luke, John sent his disciples and they asked "do we look for another." John had accepted, but in the face of adversity, his disciples struggled.
To Continue…