Imagine this: the President of the United States, Bill Clinton, has decided to visit the great city of Anchorage, Alaska. But the day before he is scheduled to arrive, a big snow storm hits. What does the city of Anchorage do to prepare for his visit? Well, for one, you’d probably see snow plows out everywhere, wouldn’t you? At the airport, on the roads...any road on which the president is going to travel has to be cleared so that he can get through.
My friends, right now we are in the time of the church year called Advent. The word “advent” literally means coming. Advent is the time of year when we prepare ourselves to celebrate Christ’s first coming at Christmas, but Advent is also a time to prepare ourselves for Christ’s second coming at the end of the world. So this morning in our meditation we are going to see how God wants us to prepare the way for his coming, but obviously not by going out in our trucks and clearing the snow off the road, but rather by doing two things: first, by understanding the message that precedes his visit, and secondly, by making his salvation known among mankind.
I. By understanding the message that precedes his visit.
Now just imagine that President Clinton’s staff sent a fax to the city of Anchorage giving the details of his visit and the preparations that they would like done before his visit. But as so often happens with fax machines, or at least with my fax machine, it was impossible to read what the fax said. Now, is the city going to be ready for the president’s visit? Probably not. Because they didn’t understand the message that preceded his visit. The King and Ruler of the universe, Jesus Christ is coming and he wants us to get things ready for his visit, and so it’s of utmost importance that we understand the message that precedes his visit. And the message that prepared the world for Christ’s first coming, that is, the message of John the Baptist here in our text, can also help us to get things ready for Christ’s second coming.
We see here in our text that God sent a very special messenger to prepare the people for Christ’s first coming. His name was John. He was the son of an elderly priest named Zechariah. He was the one who baptized people in the wilderness: a wild looking man with a powerful message. He is the “messenger” that was mentioned in the first reading for this morning. He is the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah found here in our text, “A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’” You see in the olden days, before fax machines, before e-mail, and even before telephones, Kings would send messengers ahead of them to the towns there were going to visit. These messengers were called heralds. A heralds job was to get the people ready. He was to make sure that the windy and dangerous dirt roads in the dessert were straightened and made clear for the King to pass over them. And that was the job of John the Baptist. To prepare the people for the coming of the King. John made the roads ready for Jesus, but not some physical road in the desert, but rather the road to people’s hearts.
And he did this by preaching a “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” John encouraged the people to be baptized, to be washed of their sins through water and the Word. And this was to be a baptism of repentance. Now, when the Bible uses the word “repentance”, it uses it in one of two ways. In the narrow sense, it means to feel sorry for and confess your sins. In the wide sense, as used here, it means to feel sorry for and confess your sins and also to believe and trust that those sins are forgiven by our gracious God. The word “repent” has the idea of “turning around.” Through John’s message of law and gospel, the Holy Spirit turned people around. John preached the law in all it’s condeming power. The law, that mirror in which the people could see that they were sinners who deserved nothing but God’s wrath and punishment. But John also preached the good news of the gospel, that God would forgive their sins through faith in the coming Savior. Through this double message of law and gospel, the Holy Spirit turned them around. Many were headed down the wrong road, but through the preaching John Baptist, God turned ‘em right around and they repented.
And by turning them around and bringing them to faith, God was preparing them for the coming of his Son in Bethlehem. And with this same message, he prepares us for Christ’s second coming. The message that we recieve here in his Word is a message of baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. In our baptism, God turned us around and brought us to faith. And through the preaching of his Word here in church, in Bible Class and in our home devotions, he continues to keep us on the right road. Through the Law he shows us what we really don’t like to hear: that we are terrible sinners who can do nothing good on our own. Our sinful pride wants to make excuses. Our sinful pride wants us to fall into denial. “I’m not that bad.” “Deep down, I’m a good person.” But when we look into the mirror of God’s Law, we can’t deny what we really are. You know, I can think that I look like Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt, but when I look in the mirror, I know the truth. When we look in the mirror of God’s law, we see what we really are: murderers. That’s right, murderers. Each and every one of us is a murderer. Because God says that if you get angry at someone, in his eyes you are a murderer. If you have a lustful thought, you are an adulterer. We are a church full of murderers and adulterers. So let’s not get on our high horses thinking that we aren’t that bad or that we are for the most part good people. Because when we look at ourselves in the mirror of God’s law we see that we are ugly and deformed sinners who deserve God’s eternal punishment in hell. Period.
But the message that prepares us for Christ’s coming is not only a message of law. We also have the good news of the Gospel. We have the testimony of John the Baptist that Jesus is the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” All of our sins of murder and adultery that I just mentioned have been bleached clean by Jesus’ blood.
And so we are prepared for Christ’s second coming, because God himself has prepared us. You know, a lot of people think that you have to be in a Church or be praying in the moment that Jesus comes in order to be ready. But we are ready, just by believing in him. We’ve been washed in the blood of the lamb. When Christ comes again he won’t find a spot or stain on us, in his eyes we are perfect. We are ready. But now God wants us to help prepare others. We see here in our text that “Salvation will be known among mankind.” And how is God’s salvation made known? Through his heralds, through his messengers...through us.
II. By making his salvation known among mankind
What if you were the only person who knew that the president was coming to Anchorage? You’d get everything ready around your house. You get off of work to see his plane land and hear him speak. But if you don’t tell anybody else that he’s coming, they’re not going to be ready. And that means that the president isn’t going to be a very happy camper, because he wants everything ready for his visit, he wants to be received by cheering crowds...
And that’s what God wants. He wants “all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” He wants as many people as possible prepared to receive him with joy on the last day. So, this means that we need more pastors like John the Baptist who will go out and preach, right? Well, kind of... We can always use more pastors, but many people seem to forget that it’s not just the pastor’s job to be a herald, a messenger of the King. Jesus commands each and every one of us, “Go and make disciples of all nations.” And what a privilege, when we look under the Christmas tree and see that wonderful gift of salvation that our heavenly Father gives to us... When we see the love that God has showered upon us in our lives, we’re going to naturally just want to share that love, that gift of salvation with others.
And there are so many opportunities to serve as heralds of the King, to plow the road for his coming. You don’t have to go to some foreign country to find people who don’t believe in Jesus. We all have friends, family members, neighbors who don’t even understand what Christmas really means, who don’t believe in Jesus and are therefore going to hell. Did you get that? If they don’t believe in Jesus, they are not prepared for Christ’s coming and they are on their way to hell. It’s time to get out and plow the roads. How many of your co-workers even know that you’re a Christian? It’s time to get out and plow the roads. You know, it’s so easy to say: I put in my offering money to send out missionaries and to support the outreach of our Church. I’m doing my part. You’re only doing a part of your part, because God has called each and everyone of us to be his heralds, his messengers... I know that it’s not always that easy. It’s hard to know what to say. Who knows how they’ll respond? Shoot, they may laugh at you. They may stop being your friend. But my friends, our Savior is calling, and he even promises to do the hard part. We don’t have to convince anybody of anything. He wants us to share the precious message of salvation with others and the results are in his hands.
So, like John the Baptist, let’s be faithful heralds of the King. Let’s prepare ourselves for his coming by continually studying his Holy Word, remembering our baptisms and participating in the Lord’s Supper. And let’s also prepare the road for him, let’s plow the way by sharing that same message of salvation with others. The King of the Universe tells us in the very last verses of the Bible, “Yes, I am coming soon.” My friends, let us continually prepare ourselves and others so that we all can say with the Apostle John, “Amen. You betcha. Come Lord Jesus.” Amen.
