Long centuries before Zechariah and Elizabeth were fretting over not having a son, God was inspiring one of Israel's prophet to speak of him. "A voice cries out: 'In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for God...' " (Isaiah 40:3) Zechariah and Elizabeth would call him John. As John became a man and assumed this mantle of "the voice," he would be known as John the Baptist. The Baptizer would be a kinsman of the Messiah, one also spoken of by the prophet Isaiah.
To be known simply as "the voice" which is how Matthew spoke of him in his gospel is an interesting thing. Certainly, all the Biblical descriptions of John the Baptist do not point us to a preacher who was pleasing to the eye. And being a man of the wilderness who dressed in clothing of camel's hair, it is likely some might hold their nose in his presence. What drew people to him was not anything physical, but the longing in the heart of the people for someone to come as their deliverer. Most likely they were more concerned about one coming to deliver them from Rome, from economic oppression, and a controlling religious system than they were concerned about one coming to call them to repent of their sins as a way of making ready for what God was about to do.
It remains much the same today. It is not popular to preach about sin. If a preacher becomes a voice which proclaims the urgency of acknowledging that there is something wrong within the heart which can only be cured by the shed blood of Jesus on the cross, it is likely that he will be regarded as one whose preaching is incompatible with reality. It is no easy thing being a preacher in the mold of John the Baptist and an even harder thing to be one of those who intentionally goes to the preaching places where the hard and uncomfortable word about the human condition is faithfully preached.
To be known simply as "the voice" which is how Matthew spoke of him in his gospel is an interesting thing. Certainly, all the Biblical descriptions of John the Baptist do not point us to a preacher who was pleasing to the eye. And being a man of the wilderness who dressed in clothing of camel's hair, it is likely some might hold their nose in his presence. What drew people to him was not anything physical, but the longing in the heart of the people for someone to come as their deliverer. Most likely they were more concerned about one coming to deliver them from Rome, from economic oppression, and a controlling religious system than they were concerned about one coming to call them to repent of their sins as a way of making ready for what God was about to do.
It remains much the same today. It is not popular to preach about sin. If a preacher becomes a voice which proclaims the urgency of acknowledging that there is something wrong within the heart which can only be cured by the shed blood of Jesus on the cross, it is likely that he will be regarded as one whose preaching is incompatible with reality. It is no easy thing being a preacher in the mold of John the Baptist and an even harder thing to be one of those who intentionally goes to the preaching places where the hard and uncomfortable word about the human condition is faithfully preached.
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