Preparing The Way
Preparing The Way
Matthew 3:1-11
JJ and I got married on June 9th, 2018. One thing I remember, was that a few
months prior during our last semester of college, on top of finishing her final
projects for her elementary education degree, track and field commitments, and
spending time with a crazy guy from Vietnam, she had been planning for our
wedding day. Now, I don’t know how you all planned your weddings, but I was
pretty much hands off with it all. I said, “hey this is your day, probably something
you’ve been planning way before you ever met me, I’ll let you handle it and I’ll be
ready to help in any way I can.” Little did I know that she had planned out her
wedding day long before she met me. A few years ago, I was transferring files from
her laptop to a hard drive to free up space and came across a PowerPoint
presentation labeled “Wedding.” Lo and behold, JJ as a Junior in high school had
her wedding day all planned out. From the guest list, to her bridesmaids and maid
of honor, the ring, the dress, the invitations design, the favors, the Church she was
to be married in, the wedding cake and the catered food etc. she had it all
planned out to the detail. And don’t let me forget the best part. The Groom (Show
Picture) Luke Bryan.
Let me read you the vow she wrote out for her presentation.
“I, Jacquelyn Robinson, take you, Luke Bryan to be my husband my constant
friend, my faithful partner and my love from this day forward. In the presence of
God, our family and friends, I offer you my solemn vow to be your faithful partner
in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad, and in joy as well as in sorrow.
I promise to love you unconditionally, to support you in your goals, to honor and
respect you, to laugh with you and cry with you, and to cherish you for as long as
we both shall live.”
Planning is just something that we do in preparation in times where we anticipate
the arrival of something or someone. And the amount of time and effort and
thought that goes into the planning is usually commensurate with the importance
or value of what is to come.The entire Old Testament is full of types and shadows, a foretelling of the
promised Messiah. There was a 400 year gap between the last recorded event of
the Old Testament in the book of Malachi to what is recorded in the Gospels. Let’s
read the last words spoken to Israel by the prophet Malachi.
Malachi 4:4-6
4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I
commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.
5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of
the Lord comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the
hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of
utter destruction.”
Here’s the command. Follow the statutes, the laws, that were given to Moses, and
sometime in the future, Elijah is going to come back. Wait, what do you mean
“come back?”. If you can recall, the prophet Elijah was taken up to heaven by a
chariot and horses of fire (2 Kings). And the interesting thing about this account is
that Elijah was taken up to heaven without dying. Who else in the New Testament
do we know that ascended into heaven without dying? Jesus. The Old Testament
is full of types and shadows.
In Genesis, you have Abraham and Isaac (Show Abraha and Isaac photo). A Father
having his son carry the wood on his back up a hill that would be his place of
execution. And of course, this account ends with God providing a ram that was
caught in a thicket to be the sacrifice.
In the book of Numbers, Moses sets a bronze serpent on a pole and lifts it up so
that anyone who was sick could look upon it and live.
You’ve got Passover which was to commemorate the event in Egypt when those
who had the blood of the lamb spread over their doorways would not see the
death of their firstborn.One of the most well known passages of Scripture foreshadowing Jesus is from
Isaiah 53 and I’ll just read an excerpt from it.
Isaiah 53:5-6
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
And of course, the Malachi passage I read earlier. The words of the prophet, “I will
send you Elijah.
What were the Jews expecting? Kind of a trick question. They were expecting
Elijah. Sometimes, I think we are a bit too hard on the Jews. We think, isn’t it quite
obvious that all of these prophecies and teachings all point to Jesus as being the
Messiah? Easy for us to say. Let’s put ourselves in their sandals for a moment and I
can almost guarantee you, that we would come to the same or similar conclusions
as many of the Jews did. We hear the words of God through Malachi, “I will send
you Elijah.” Okay, what are we to make of that? That Elijah is coming back. Oh, but
God is much bigger than we are and He sees the whole when we can only see in
part.
In the gospel of Luke we get introduced to a married couple, Zechariah, who was a
priest and Elizabeth who came through the line of Aaron. Scripture tells us that
Elizabeth was barren. She couldn’t have any children. And both Zechariah and
Elizabeth were advanced in years.
Luke 1:8-17
8 Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, 9
according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the
temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And the whole multitude of the peoplewere praying outside at the hour of incense. 11 And there appeared to him an
angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 12 And
Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. 13 But the angel
said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and
your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. 14 And
you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be
great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be
filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. 16 And he will turn many
of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, 17 and he will go before him in the
spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the
disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people
prepared.”
This is of course talking about John the Baptist and the circumstances leading up
to his birth. And even before John the Baptist was conceived, God had a purpose
for the life he would live. He would be the forerunner of Jesus. He would be the
one to make ready, as the text says, God’s people and prepare them for the
Messiah’s arrival.
As you look across all the events in the Old Testament to the gospels, you will see
that God had orchestrated everything in such a way that His people, the Jews
would be prepared to receive and welcome their Messiah whenever he came.
They would find him in the words of the prophets and for four hundred years of
silence, that’s what they had to lean on as their hope. The Messiah is coming. The
King is coming.
You may imagine a Jewish family together holding each other close after a difficult
day and the parents comforting their children as well as each other as they say
these words. The Messiah is coming. The Messiah is coming. He’s on his way. The
impact of those words would have had a proportional impact depending on the
severity of the circumstances they found themselves in. Whether it be under
Babylonian, Persian, Greek or Roman occupation their hope remained despite the
external challenges.
And so, when John the Baptist was born, Zechariah prophesied. Again, let’s put
ourselves in the sandals of the Jews who were desperately waiting for their
Messiah, and you see Zechariah get up to speak and this is what he says.Luke 1:67-80
67 And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,
68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has visited and redeemed his people
69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David,
70 as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
71 that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us;
72 to show the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant,
73 the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
74 that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him without fear,
75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people
in the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness
until the day of his public appearance to Israel.
Upon hearing these words, I’m sure that we would’ve felt like we were floating.
The burdens upon our shoulders and our parent’s shoulders and their parents
before them, would have suddenly, if but for a moment, felt like a huge weight
had been lifted. A breath of fresh air. A sigh of relief. This is what we’ve been
waiting for. And this man named John, grew up in the wilderness becoming strong
in spirit.This brings us to Matthew 3:1-3
In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 3 For this is he who was spoken of
by the prophet Isaiah when he said,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
make his paths straight.’”
Luke’s recorded account goes into a bit more detail.
Luke 3:4-6
4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.
5 Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall become straight,
and the rough places shall become level ways,
6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”
What is John doing? He is doing just what God had called him to do. He is
preparing the way of the Lord. He is preparing His people to receive their Messiah.
He’s getting the guest list filled out, the wedding venue reserved, the catering
arranged (all in a manner of speaking). He’s preparing. And just know that Jesus
had already been born at this time, but it had not yet been revealed to the masses
that Jesus was the promised Messiah.
In case you were wondering about what John, the son of Zechariah looked like,
here's a description of his appearance.Matthew 3:4
4 Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist,
and his food was locusts and wild honey.
Now, again, like I’ve said many times before. God chooses some pretty wild people
to accomplish his will. If you were to ask yourselves, what kind of person do you
think God would have chosen to prepare the way of the Lord, you may have
pictured in your mind someone who looked put together, has a degree from a
Bible college, and has minty fresh breath.
God chose a locust eating, honey eating (Winnie the pooh style) man who was
dawning apparel a style all of his own to prepare the way of the Lord. And why
was this task so important? In the book of Genesis, sin entered the world through
Adam and its effects were deadly. Brother turning against brother. Father against
son. Along with sin came death. And those dying in their guilt were condemned
for all eternity.
And so, it was John’s commission to “turn many of the children of Israel to the
Lord their God, 17 and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to
turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom
of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”
Now it’s very important that we understand why we even needed a Messiah, a
Savior. Yes, he came to save us, but from what? Many people would answer in a
partially correct way and say “sin.” Yes, Jesus came to save us from our sins, but
even more than that, the punishment for our sin.
And who is the arbiter of this punishment? Many people seem to think that Hell
(post judgment day) is a place where Satan has free reign and his demons are
poking poor unfortunate souls with their pitch forks torturing them for all eternity.
That’s not the biblical view.
The book of Revelation gives us a glimpse of what is to come for those who don’t
turn to God.Revelation 20:11-15
11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his
presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw
the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened.
Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were
judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13
And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead
who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what
they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is
the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone's name was not found written
in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Revelation 14:9-10
9 And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone
worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his
hand, 10 he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the
cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of
the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
The one carrying out this punishment is God. I’ve heard that some people seem to
think that God would never do such a thing. How awful. Here’s the thing. This
person does not yet know the incompatibility of Sin and a Holy God.
I’ve heard it said once that if God did not even spare his only begotten son, the
one who did not sin, yet bore the sins of the entire world, past, present and future
on himself, a weight and suffering not one of us could even begin to comprehend,
how could we, as sinful as we are ever think that God would spare us?
“It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:31)
And John the baptizer knew this very well.Luke 3:15-17
15 As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts
concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, 16 John answered them all,
saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap
of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit
and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to
gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
Along with the promise of salvation comes with it a warning to those who do not
accept it. During our visit to the Ark Encounter, I tried to take a cool photo of my
two sons in front of the door of the Ark. As you can see Josiah likes to move. But
you can also see that these doors are huge. Anyone and anything that walked
through those doors would be safe from the flood. Many people outside the Ark
lived their lives as if there wasn’t going to be a flood. And they all died.
John 10:9a
9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved
Piano to play here.
Types and shadows.
Looking back at the Ark, there is a chilling reality that we all must be aware of,
especially those outside of Christ. There will be a day when the door will close and
there will be no more chances to find salvation.
Genesis 7:16
16 And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had
commanded him. And the Lord shut him in.
Just as God closed the doors to the Ark, He and He alone knows the day and the
hour by which he will close the door to salvation. Don’t wait. His winnowing fork is
in hand. Will you be amongst the wheat that is gathered into his barn as John thebaptizer talked about? Or will you be amongst the chaff that will burn with
unquenchable fire?
Next week’s message is entitled “The King is Here.” There were those during this
time who expected something quite different than what they got. A different kind
of a king. As we prepare for Easter Sunday, we will learn about the reality of Jesus’
kingship and what that means for us as Christians living in the 21st century.