Trinity Mount Barker

This Sunday we begin a new teaching series, Waiting for God.  Our aim, during the lead up to Christmas, is to explore some of the lead up to the very first Christmas as recorded in the opening pages of Luke’s gospel.  This morning we start with the announcement of the news of the approaching birth of the baby who we know as John the Baptist.

John is a somewhat strange figure in his later life, wearing clothes made of camel’s hair and eating locusts and wild honey.  The announcement of his birth, given by an angel to his father, is strikingly parallel to the announcement of the news of Jesus’ birth, given by an angel to Mary.  So why is this fairly odd figure so significant that his birth is promised the same way as Jesus’ is?

Centuries earlier, Isaiah the prophet spoke these words:

A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the LORD; 

make straight in the desert a highway for our God.  Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.  And the glory of the LORD will be revealed”

Isaiah 40:3-5

In his ministry of preaching, calling Israel to repentance and baptizing, John fulfils this role of messenger that God had promised his people all those years before.  He was the one who prepared people for the arrival of their God. The glorious God of Israel came to dwell among his people and John was the messenger, preaching in the desert, calling on people to prepare themselves before the glory of their God was revealed.  

My prayer is that through this series, we will come to know and appreciate a little more of God’s plans and purposes in bringing his great rescuer Jesus into the world.  And perhaps even as we think about the preparations for the very first Christmas, our understanding of what God was doing centuries ago will spill over and shape our preparations for this Christmas.  How do we celebrate, knowing that Christmas is about the arrival of God’s long-awaited king?  How does remembering that Christmas is about revealing the glory of the Lord shape the way we wish our friends a “happy Christmas”?  If, for Israel, being prepared for God’s arrival meant hearing God’s Word and repenting, how do we wait for Christ’s second advent?