The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight
Isaiah 40:3-8
And the rough places smooth; The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, And all flesh shall see it together; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
To announce the coming of the Jesus, God needed an individual to fulfil the prophecy of Isaiah. In Luke 1:14-24, He chose a faithful priest and his wife Elizabeth who, regardless of their barrenness, served faithfully in the temple. At the time Elizabeth was to have John, who would be the announcer of the Lord, she separated herself from public eye for months until she would have this son. The young man John, from his mothers womb was separated unto God, living in the wilderness and eating wild locust and honey till his time of showing in Jerusalem. This voice crying in Isaiah 40 came out to return the hearts of the children to their Heavenly Father, Malachi 4:5-6. His mission was to clear our every mountain, exalt every valley and make every crooked path straight, so that all flesh together will see the glory of the Lord.
Looking at the nature of John the baptist’s ministry, he fulfilled this call for the first coming of Jesus. At the time of John, the mountains and high hills were the things men had exalted in their hearts: money, religious prestige, etc and the valleys or low lands, those who were low he elevated and he baptized also. He regarded neither rich nor poor. His desire was to ,simply and clearly, create in the peoples heart an expectation and make them ready for their coming messiah. In order to do this, it was said of John that he was a voice crying in the wilderness. The wilderness is simply an unoccupied land with little to no human interaction. Here, companions are often wild beasts and ravenous birds. Yet, this is where God decides to sharpen and instruct these voices.
David was a man trained in the wilderness, where he killed bears and lions, 1 Samuel 17:36. The main characteristic of this wilderness is that there are no men there. No men there, also means there is no civilization or culture to learn from. People who live in the wilderness are often very different from normal society, because they have learned a different culture and way of survival that does not integrate with society. John in this case had his stomach trained to eat honey and wild locust, which a normal person would not eat. He did not learn to respect the Pharisees and soldiers nor fear them as the culture of the people would have been thought to do, Luke 3:1-18. This is why he would challenge Herod and the pharisees. A normal person would know that this was a death sentence, Mark 6:14-29. This was why David could challenge Goliath, Elijah could challenge the prophets of Baal and by extension Jezebel. They were not trying to be rebels, they just did not have the culture of the society imbibed in them.
In the wilderness, John needed to learn to depend on the Lord if he would find any honey or wild locust. Faith was the economy of the wilderness. There was no honey farmer or locust rearer, but God. Those God trained in the wilderness were typically normads, living in tents and moving from place to place. They slept in caves, on bare ground, shared food with wild animals, etc, so the concept of comfort or loving their lives was strange to them. Yet strange things happened here because God was with him in the wilderness. It was said that ravens would give Elijah meat, 1 Kings 17:4. This is unheard of. Here water would come out of a rock, an axe head will float, 2 Kings 6:1-7, etc. Here, anything can and will happen because God was not limited by the unbelief of those there. There was no ‘norm’ in the wilderness. Here the people learned to live by the Word of God and so they would be surprised when people treated God’s word flippantly. These are the characteristics of the voices that cried in the wilderness.
The Lord is coming again and He has voices who He is training in the wilderness, yet to be released. They have learned to regard neither man nor system. They have learned to live by wilderness economy. These would even be more radical than John, why? The heights of the mountains and those things exalted now are greater than in the time of John. Men have strayed far from truth and have their hopes in what they can see and in institutions of men. The training therefore would need to be more intense. Yet, God will have these men that will come in the strength and power of Elijah and Moses. Like John they will cry, ‘all flesh is grass but the Word of God stands forever’.
Prayer for today: Lord Jesus, I receive Your call today to learn the way of the wilderness. A way of faith and living by your command alone. Father, Your word says that the just shall live by faith. I know we are coming to a time where survival as a christian shall only be by faith. Teach me now to live in the Wilderness economy. Help me to loose faith and confidence in the systems of this world. Let me know you as my Shepherd in the wilderness, that in the days to come, I will be strong and do exploits in Your name. Amen.
0 Comments