I love John! He is a stud and Jesus loved him too! "I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he." (Luke 7:28) John was a man who was crazy for the Kingdom. He actually was thought by scholars to be part of the Essene Jews. The Essene Jews were passionate about their Jewish religion so they seperated themselves from normal life and dedicated themselves to the study and preservation of scripture. But, if that is the case (we are only speculating), he basically got sick of living removed from people and felt he had a message for the people. "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near." (Matthew 3:2, Mark 1:4) He was: "Preparing the way [for Jesus], making straight paths for him." (Mark 1:3) Baptizing them with water to show we are far from God. We have sin and I need to turn from it because, "the kingdom of heaven is near." The messiah is coming, you had better be ready! Prepare yourselves for his arrival. And many went to him. "The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River." (vs 5) His message was and still is compelling. Prepare for his coming. Rend your hearts. Turn to him.
I once had a good friend prophesy over me that I have the spirit of John the baptist... I am not sure that I could ever live up to that but I will say I would love to spend my whole life preparing people for meeting Jesus of Nazareth! I would love to say that I had one mission in life: To prepare hearts to meet the One. To prepare the way and make straight paths for the saving work of Jesus the Christ. He is the one that I am unfit to even touch his sandals! I must decrease and He must increase!(John 3:30 kjv)
2 comments:
hey, mark 1 answered a doubt that we had...in verse 30 it says "Simon's
mother-in-law was in bed with a fever", this means that he had a wife, which means he was married. Remember, that was our doubt, whether or not the disciples were married or not. well there's our answer to one of the 12.
man!! I LOVE THE BIBLE!!!
fo sure! Isn't that weird? He had a wife and yet still managed to follow Jesus even to death.... that is encouraging because it shows that even with responsiblities, like a job, wife, etc... it is possible to have a sold out committment to Jesus! makes me pumped... I love it too!
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