Advent 4

1  John Did More than a Prophet’s Work

Some of you probably know more than I do

about the Barlow Road, part of the Oregon Trail.

I read about it first, far away in Wisconsin. Seeing first-hand how rugged the land is,

I’m amazed that anyone could have done that in 1846: blazing a new trail right across the shoulder of Mt. Hood.

There are so many dips and turns of the land:

jagged cliffs, deep canyons, and the like.

There was a need for it at the time,

but it must have taken a lot more

than anyone back east would guess.

After the Barlow Road was complete,

there were three choices for travelers coming to The Dalles:

travel onward by river, travel onward by land, or stay in The Dalles.

So people came by the thousands,

following the promise of good land and reliable weather.

Many still died on the way,

but the Barlow Road prepared the way for new possibilities.

John the Baptizer is another man

whose work was greater than most people would ever guess.

He came in the spirit and power of Elijah,

fulfilling the words of Isaiah the prophet.

But John didn’t build himself up in the eyes of his hearers.

Instead, he built a road into their hearts.

That was no easy task.

The human heart is rugged too:

jagged cliffs of wilfulness, and deep canyons of treachery.

But someone else was coming who would follow that road:

the Lord himself.

Today we consider the work of John the Baptizer,

guided by the Word of God, our text.

He did more than a prophet’s work.

He built a way in the wilderness He prepared the way for the Lord

2  John 1:19–28

Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”

He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?”

He said, “I am not.”

“Are you the Prophet?”

And he answered, “No.”

Then they said to him, “Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”

He said: “I am ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the LORD,”,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees. And they asked him, saying, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.”

These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

3  He built a way in the wilderness

There have been roads in the world for a long, long time.

One of the earliest roads led from Egypt to Babylon.

The road hugged the Meditteranean sea, bending northward.

It went as far north as Syria and Aram,

where Abraham’s father settled.

Then the road followed the Euphrates River southward

past present-day Bagdad, to Babylon and beyond.

This road was followed by Abraham as God had commanded him,

and by Jacob when he fled his brother and went to find a wife.

It was followed by Joseph when he was sold into slavery. Then his brothers followed it to buy grain in Egypt. Then his father also followed it to come live in the land of Goshen.

400 years later, the children of Israel should have followed that road

from Egypt to the promised land.

But they did not. Instead, their road led into the wilderness of sin.

They received God’s Law in the Ten Commandments, and turned aside to worship idols of their own making.

The children of Israel lived for forty years in the wilderness,

instead of following the road to the land God had promised them.

This illustrates the problem of humanity.

Instead of following God’s promise,

we decide to go our own way.

We wind up in the wilderness of sin

and want to call it our home.

You might think you’re not as bad as all that.

But consider your heart and your life.

Don’t you hear God’s Law, and wish you could just ignore it? Don’t you treat the work of your own hands

as more glorious than the words and will of God?

Don’t you act as though your own time on earth is more precious

than the everlasting promised land of heaven?

Indeed, we’re all as bad as all that.

The road that God has set before us seems too narrow, too hard. But a wide, easy road leads us ever downward.

You know it from experience:

the wide and easy road leads to the wilderness,

where one can become lost forever.

John the Baptizer taught differently.

The priests and Levites from Jerusalem were puzzled. They asked him if he was the Coming One.

John could have lied, but confessed:

I am not the Christ.

No, the Christ was coming after him.

It was time to prepare for that.

John said: I am ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the LORD,”,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.

So John’s message was designed to blaze a trail

straight through the hearts of his hearers.

His message to the hypocritical Pharisees and Sadducees

fits any of us whose actions don’t fit our beliefs:

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? …Even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

So John’s message plows through the jagged cliffs in our hearts, changing our wilderness into a road-bed fit for a king.

He calls us to repentance,

setting before us the truth of our sin

and its consequence: death.

John was baptizing those who repented, for the remission of sins.

His method of baptism was different from ours,

and so (most likely) were the words he used.

But the result was the same: forgiveness of sins.

If you have been baptized into Christ,

then your baptism was like John’s.

In this way, John bridged the chasms and canyons,

changing a wilderness of sin

to a highway of grace, mercy, and blessing.

In other words, John’s ministry bestowed saving faith

in preparation for the Christ, his savior.

4  He prepared the way for the Lord

It’s a fine thing for those who were proud to be humbled,

and the poor at heart to be raised up.

It’s good when the way into our hearts is prepared by God’s Word.

But don’t forget the most important detail,

the reason for these preparations:

that God Himself will enter in.

In a way, all the prophets before John did the same thing:

they preached God’s Word,

so the Holy Spirit moved the people to repentance.

What was different with John is that

God the Son was there in person, as a man.

Usually, the prophets’ work prepared the way

for God to do something:

to demonstrate His real judgment

as with Elijah and the prophets of Baal

to show the healing power He can attach to water,

as with Elisha and the leper Naaman.

With Moses, God actually showed His glory,

appearing as a pillar of fire and smoke.

But after John, God stepped up with a smile,

and spoke for Himself.

John truly prepared the way for the LORD.

This means much to us as we prepare to celebrate His birth.

Consider that all that we need comes from God,

and He needs nothing that we could offer Him.

Yet lying in Mary’s arms, all that He needed came from her.

He was an infant baby,

same as we all were at some point.

Joseph had the task of raising and teaching a boy,

a person who had given Joseph his own body and life to begin with.

Our Maker and Provider assumed the powerless form of one of us,

actually became one of us, in order to become our Redeemer.

Consider who Jesus really was, and you will know the answer

to the Pharisees’ question that they asked John:

“Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

John baptized because of the great majesty that was coming after him.

John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.”

He’s already standing among you, so repent!

Which of the other prophets could have said that?

Only John.

We also would do well to recognize who stands among us.

See, Jesus ascended to the right hand of God.

That means He’s able to be anywhere He wants — and everywhere.

Even His body.

Could John’s words apply to us?

“There stands One among you whom you do not know.”

There are times when we forget, aren’t there? Times we would be ashamed of, if we only realized.

The same Jesus who offered His body and shed His blood for our guilt,

now offers them for penitent, believing sinners to eat and drink.

Do we know the One who is among us? Do we discern His body and His blood?

There is only one way to enter His presence:

through Baptism, repentance, and faith.

Let Him wash away all your guilt,

all those things that you should be ashamed of.

He comes to take away your transgressions,

and leave you with the blessing of His peace.

Trust His Word. It is forever true.

God’s Word has built a highway through the wilderness of your heart.

The Lord is coming. He is already here.

John has prepared the way in us, too.

He has prepared the way for the Lord.

Come, Lord Jesus!

Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!