John the Baptist Part 1: His Calling
John the Baptist is one of the most amazing figures in all of Scripture. He's also one of our family's favorite Bible characters. My husband likes him because he's a real man's man. I like him because he's weird. (You should be, too. If you can't remember why, read here.) We'll dig deeply into his manliness and weirdness in the next post, but for right now consider this:
John knew what his life goal was before he was even born.
Some of you were thinking, "Man, I'd give anything to know what I'm supposed to do with my life." (You'd give anything to know what you're supposed to do this weekend!) But it was much more than just having a life plan. He had a calling from God Himself!
The angel Gabriel said this to John's father, Zechariah: "Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink (see Numbers 6:2-12) and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous--to make ready a people prepared for the Lord," (Luke 1:13-17, bolded text mine).
Did you see all that Gabriel prophesied about baby John?
[Pause: Just to make sure you know, "John the Baptist" was not his real name. He was probably John Bar Zechariah, or something identifying him to his father's family. "The Baptist" is the name we gave him much later to distinguish him from the other John, the apostle, the one who wrote the book of John and 1, 2, 3 John. John the Baptist is known by this name because he baptized people. Not because he was a member of a Baptist church. (Don't laugh. Lots of people think that!) I like to think of him as "John the Baptizer," because that's what he did.]
God had HUGE PLANS for John, even before his birth. And don't think for one minute that John dismissed his calling or even tried to get out of it. Because he was "filled with the Holy Spirit," he understood fully his calling and lived in such a way that he was empowered to carry it out.
But it was even bigger than the stuff that Gabriel told to Zechariah. The following passages, spoken hundreds of years before John the Baptist's birth, applied to him, as well:
"See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me," (Malachi 3:1, then quoted in Mark 1:2)
"A voice of one calling: 'In the desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God,'" (Isaiah 40:3, then quoted in Mark 1:3)
He had a calling.
He knew the calling.
He trusted the calling.
He obeyed the calling.
John's calling and obedience was my inspiration to dig deeply into Psalm 119:66: "Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I trust your commands." The word for commands in Hebrew means "command, order, prescription, instruction." The passage means not only that we obey the commands of God, but that we understand He also writes the prescription for our lives. Just like a doctor hands a prescription with the perfect medicine on it, God has written a prescription for our lives.
John the Baptist had a prescription.
I have a prescription.
And you do, too.
So let's put that word into Psalm 119:66:
"Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I trust your prescription."
It's a great verse. A powerful prayer.
But do you trust His prescription for your life? (Remember, trust is the same as believe. You can't believe something without acting on it.)
Do you LIVE your faith?
Does your life demonstrate God's prescription for you?
Can you accept it as the calling He's had for you from the beginning of time?
That's heavy stuff. And many of you are saying, "If He would tell me my prescription, I'd do it! John had the Bible and his father to tell him what his life should look like! I've got nothing!"
Whoops. Wrong.
You have His Word in your bedroom or your backpack right now. You have His Spirit in your heart, if you are a child of God through faith in Jesus. You have all you need to know to live your prescription.
But in order to know that prescription, you've got to LIVE it.
"Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I trust your prescription."
That word "for" is sometimes translated "because." So it means this:
Teach me knowledge and good judgment, because I have trusted your prescription.
You've got to trust--believe--and act on that belief--before you'll get the knowledge of the details.
So you start with what you know:
Love God by accepting His Son as your Savior (who has the power to rescue you from death) and your Lord (who has the authority to govern every single area of your life.)
Love others as Jesus would love them.
PURSUE GOD through His Word.
Listen to God through prayer.
And begin to KNOW through faith that His prescription for your life is perfect. Worth it. What you were made for.
More on John the Baptizer soon! I dare you to read ahead! His story can be found in all four gospels!
@leslienoteobook
myleslienotebook@gmail.com
John knew what his life goal was before he was even born.
Some of you were thinking, "Man, I'd give anything to know what I'm supposed to do with my life." (You'd give anything to know what you're supposed to do this weekend!) But it was much more than just having a life plan. He had a calling from God Himself!
The angel Gabriel said this to John's father, Zechariah: "Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink (see Numbers 6:2-12) and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous--to make ready a people prepared for the Lord," (Luke 1:13-17, bolded text mine).
Did you see all that Gabriel prophesied about baby John?
[Pause: Just to make sure you know, "John the Baptist" was not his real name. He was probably John Bar Zechariah, or something identifying him to his father's family. "The Baptist" is the name we gave him much later to distinguish him from the other John, the apostle, the one who wrote the book of John and 1, 2, 3 John. John the Baptist is known by this name because he baptized people. Not because he was a member of a Baptist church. (Don't laugh. Lots of people think that!) I like to think of him as "John the Baptizer," because that's what he did.]
God had HUGE PLANS for John, even before his birth. And don't think for one minute that John dismissed his calling or even tried to get out of it. Because he was "filled with the Holy Spirit," he understood fully his calling and lived in such a way that he was empowered to carry it out.
But it was even bigger than the stuff that Gabriel told to Zechariah. The following passages, spoken hundreds of years before John the Baptist's birth, applied to him, as well:
"See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me," (Malachi 3:1, then quoted in Mark 1:2)
"A voice of one calling: 'In the desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God,'" (Isaiah 40:3, then quoted in Mark 1:3)
He had a calling.
He knew the calling.
He trusted the calling.
He obeyed the calling.
John's calling and obedience was my inspiration to dig deeply into Psalm 119:66: "Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I trust your commands." The word for commands in Hebrew means "command, order, prescription, instruction." The passage means not only that we obey the commands of God, but that we understand He also writes the prescription for our lives. Just like a doctor hands a prescription with the perfect medicine on it, God has written a prescription for our lives.
John the Baptist had a prescription.
I have a prescription.
And you do, too.
So let's put that word into Psalm 119:66:
"Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I trust your prescription."
It's a great verse. A powerful prayer.
But do you trust His prescription for your life? (Remember, trust is the same as believe. You can't believe something without acting on it.)
Do you LIVE your faith?
Does your life demonstrate God's prescription for you?
Can you accept it as the calling He's had for you from the beginning of time?
That's heavy stuff. And many of you are saying, "If He would tell me my prescription, I'd do it! John had the Bible and his father to tell him what his life should look like! I've got nothing!"
Whoops. Wrong.
You have His Word in your bedroom or your backpack right now. You have His Spirit in your heart, if you are a child of God through faith in Jesus. You have all you need to know to live your prescription.
But in order to know that prescription, you've got to LIVE it.
"Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I trust your prescription."
That word "for" is sometimes translated "because." So it means this:
Teach me knowledge and good judgment, because I have trusted your prescription.
You've got to trust--believe--and act on that belief--before you'll get the knowledge of the details.
So you start with what you know:
Love God by accepting His Son as your Savior (who has the power to rescue you from death) and your Lord (who has the authority to govern every single area of your life.)
Love others as Jesus would love them.
PURSUE GOD through His Word.
Listen to God through prayer.
And begin to KNOW through faith that His prescription for your life is perfect. Worth it. What you were made for.
More on John the Baptizer soon! I dare you to read ahead! His story can be found in all four gospels!
@leslienoteobook
myleslienotebook@gmail.com
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