The Prepared Way to the Prepared Place
Repent. Prepare ye the way of the Lord. (Matthew 3:2-3)
Matt. 3:1-6; II Kgs. 1:7-8; Ps. 2:7; Isa. 40:3, 42:1; Mal. 4:5; Rom 3:23
What Is God Saying?
John the Baptist was the radical of his day. His dress and lifestyle were different. He wore camel's hair and, like Elijah, a leather girdle around his waist. His food was locusts (distasteful to us but still used as food by some desert Arabs) and wild honey, but he didn't do what he did for its shock effect. John was a strong and simple man with one message and purpose. He wanted to reach the radical needs of people's hearts. He got to the point, and his stern manner and strong words got to the people. They came from Jerusalem and all of Judea and the region of the Jordan on a journey.
John's message was to repent. John's purpose was to be a roadbuilder for the coming Messiah. He was to tell his listeners that ‘all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.’ Isaiah calls him ‘A Voice in the wilderness.’ He was the one who would ‘prepare the way of the Lord and make straight in the desert a highway for God.’ Repentance, then salvation—John the Baptist, then Jesus the Savior.
How Does This Apply To Us?
Repentance is good news to those who will listen. Repentance is harsh and unwelcome news to those who will not listen. Repentance is a door of life to those who know their need for forgiveness and who are glad there is a way to be forgiven, to get a new start. Repentance is a closed door to those who think they are good enough, who have never known the holiness and love of God nor experienced the grace of His forgiveness. The prepared way for Jesus to come to us and for us to come to Him has a marked sign-Repentance. State highways advise us when we are coming to an Interstate Freeway. In other words, ‘Take this road to get to that road.’ The state road of repentance leads to the freeway of Salvation. Let us get on the road that leads to the freeway. Repentance is the way to life. Salvation is the way of life. Heaven is the end and the beginning of life.
Pray With Me
O Lord, the message of John was to repent. John's mission was ‘to prepare the way of the Lord. So, before speaking to others about the way of the Lord, before trying to share with them the blessings of that way, I would repent. May it be the great desire of my heart to heed the message of repentance before I try to lead others in the way of the Lord. Let Your Holy Spirit search out the unyielded and stubborn areas of my life and, finding them, melt them down in the light of divine truth. Create within me a holy disgust for all those liberties (so-called) that You cannot approve. Create in me a holy longing for all that You can approve.
Let me feel the strength of Your everlasting arms, breaking down every barrier of evil, holding back the assaults of self-will, and shielding from every vagrant wind the heaven-born flame of faith. Though the way of repentance may lead through the valley of humiliation, I choose it this day so that the way of the Lord to me, in me, and through me may be prepared. I want to thank You, Lord, for Your patient love and keeping power when through repentance, I walk in the way that has been prepared. Though I have sometimes lost my way, I have never been lost in Your way.
In the name of Him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Amen.
Moving On In The Life of Prayer
Prayer is a time of full deliverance, of invigorating freedom. It takes the spirit of heaviness and changes it into a garment of praise. It gives us beauty for ashes. But the closet of effective prayer that brings all this glory has a door marked ‘repentance.’ Beyond repentance, joy. Beyond repentance, peace. Beyond repentance, answered prayer.
Step into the beyond by kneeling here in His Presence.
