The prophet Isaiah fortells the coming of John the Baptist when he says in Isaiah 40:3 "He is a voice shouting in the wilderness: 'Prepare a pathway for the Lord's coming! Make a straight road for him!'"
I spent some time reading in Matthew yesterday where John the Baptist is introduced on the scene as the fullfillment of this prophecy. Matthew 3:1-3 says:
In those days John the Baptist began preaching in the Judean wilderness. HIs messagae was, "Turn from your sins and to turn God, becuase the Kingdom of Heaven is near." Isaiah had spoken of John when he said, "He is a voice shouting in the wilderness: 'Prepare a pathway for the Lord's coming! Make a straight road for him!'... people from Jerusalem and from every section of Judea and from all over the Jordan Valley went out to the wilderness to hear him preach."
"Prepare a pathway for the Lord's coming! Make a straight road for him!" really struck me. I remember a few months ago when a young lady in our house church asked, "What do you suppose that means?" I too was wondering the same thing. So we dialogued about it and my husband encouraged us to ask the Lord to reveal it to us. Well, we never came back to it in the many weeks to follow. Now it's back! Hmmmm...
So I asked the Lord to reveal the meaning to me. What was John the Baptist's message really saying? It seemed so indirect. After reading and re-reading the context and asking the Lord to reveal the real meaning, I got the answer! Weeks ago, I assumed it meant that I had to clean up my life, heart, mind, etc... to make a straight road, clear path, for the Lord in my own life. That is NOT what this passage is talking about.
The meaning of this passage is way bigger than ME! People who don't know Jesus must be prepared to meet Him. I can prepare the way for Jesus by telling them of their need for forgiveness, demonstrating Christ's teaching by my conduct, and telling them how Christ can give their lives real meaning. I can make a straight road for Jesus by correcting the misconceptions that they might have that are hindering them from coming to Christ.
So, it's not about me getting my life straight! It's about my obedience to God's Word to prepare the soil of unbelievers and straighten out the road so that others too will turn to Christ.
Hmmmm....God's assignment for my life is getting clearer...
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47 comments:
Mindi--what a witness you are of God's grace and leading in your life! I recently finished "The wonderful spirit-filled Life" by Charles Stanley and finally realized how to listen to the Holy Spirit on a daily basis which it seems that you are doing. Please pray for me as I witness to my step-dad in a couple of weeks. He is such a hard person!
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