The story is told of young boy in a church Christmas program who had one line to remember. His role was that of the Angel of the Lord and his one line consisted of: “Behold, I bring you good tidings.”
He wasn’t clear about the word “tidings” so he asked his mother what it meant. She defined it as “news.”
Sunday morning the play was going smoothly and all was well. He was sent onto the stage as the Angel of the Lord announcing to the shepherds about God’s message. When he got on stage and looked out at the crowd he froze! Stage fright overcame him and his brain went to mush. He couldn’t remember the line for anything. Then all of a sudden his mom’s definition flashed back and he blurted out to the shepherds, “Hey! Boys, have I got news for you!”
John, the cousin of Jesus, is the man God had chosen to be the instrument that would lay the foundation for the ministry of Jesus. God called John to preach and his message sounded like the prophets of Old Testament times. John preached that the people had to repent of their sins and change their lifestyle from complacency and carnality to hope and holiness in the God of Israel. He was laying the foundation for the one who would come after him who could actually forgive their sins and bring purity to their lives.
Making preparation for hope (Luke 3:4a).
The preparation that John made was an announcement of good news! The one that the people of Israel had long been waiting for was in their very presence. The long awaited Messiah stirred among them.
The message of hope is that “all flesh will see the salvation of God” (Luke 3:6 NKJV). John’s message comes approximately 30 years after the shepherds on the hillsides around Nazareth heard basically the same message. The angel said, “…behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior.” (Luke 2:10-11a). What does a Savior do for his people? He saves them from their predicament.
John’s role at that Advent season was about preparation. His message to people in 2018 is the same. We need to prepare our hearts and homes for the Christ who has come to save us. This is a celebration of the birth of the Savior. He is saying to us, “Get ready.” Make preparation for the night we celebrate as the entrance of the Savior into the world. Think, pray, meditate, and put your actions where your heart is now! God has sent the Savior to change your world.
We are making preparation for the hope of salvation that comes through Christ. Someone once wrote that John’s bold and brazen call for repentance is not something we can do on our own — no matter what we do or say, or how much we try we fall short to produce our own salvation. As many good deeds as we do, we still cannot succeed.
The hope of salvation is the work that God has provided in the way we humans are to be delivered from our sinful condition, by the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross and the authorization through the resurrection. Death on the cross would only be a martyr’s death if it were not for the power of the resurrection. Jesus entrance into the world marks the beginning of our rescue…our salvation deliverance. John is preparing the way for our grasp of that glorious truth.
Making Preparation for the good news (Luke 3:4b).
I read about a 12 year old boy named Jim who wrote a note to God. It said, “Dear God, was there anything special about Bethlehem or did you just figure that it would be as good a place as any to start a franchise?”
The world has trouble with the good news scenario because it started with a baby in a humble setting. The Jewish people wanted a warrior king who would emancipate them from foreign rule and bring back the Davidic dynasty of power and authority.
The Good News is the incarnation of Jesus combining God and humanity as one. That is difficult for us to wrap our minds and hearts around, but as a matter of fact and faith it is true. The incarnation is the living embodiment of the invisible God seen through the human Jesus. He is the Messiah and is the very expression of God come to earth to bring God’s love, salvation, and hope to a world lost in its own sinful ways.
The Good News is God has come to identify with us. Billy Strayhorn wrote about a girl by the name of Alice who lived in an orphanage. She was called to the office once again to be “interviewed” for a possible placement in a home seeking to adopt a child. Her hope wasn’t very high, because it happened all too often. She would hear voices on the other side of the door and they would use words like “slow” or “difficult” to describe her.
Each time she would be asked in the office and there would be an inch by inch scrutiny. She felt like a specimen under a microscope or a slab of meat hanging in a butcher shop, not the homeless, parentless little girl that was her. Interviews brought back memories of the times she was ignored after the woman saw how poorly her dress fit. There was also the time she was laughed at because of her stuttering. Worst of all were the times she was rejected because they said her clubfoot would make her too clumsy.
Now she was being “examined” again. This time it was by a young man and woman sitting in front of her gazing directly at her. All of those bad memories came racing back into her heart and mind. She felt so very self-conscious and attempted to hide her misshapen foot behind the good one.
As Alice looked at the young couple she thought the woman was beautiful. Her hair was soft and shined. Her face was clean and bright. Her dress was immaculately pressed. Everything about her cried out perfection. The man got up slowly and walked around Alice. At times he would stop, glance toward his wife, and raise an eyebrow. After what seemed an eternity to Alice, he sat down next to his wife. They looked into one another’s eyes for a long time, not speaking. Then he turned to the superintendent of the orphanage and said, “Yes, she’s the one.”
Alice was stunned. In a stuttering voice she said, “You mean you want me to be your serving girl?”
The young wife smiled and said, “Oh, no Alice. We mean we want you to be our daughter.”
Alice couldn’t believe it. No one had ever said they wanted her! She had dreamed of it, but she could hardly believe it. She asked, “You mean you really want me to be your daughter…to live in your house?”
The man spoke up, “Yes. We can’t have children of our own. We have so much love to give, and we want to give it to you. We want you to be happy.”
Recalling all of the times she had been rejected, she had to ask, “But why me?”
With that the woman smiled and then slowly reached down and pulled her floor length dress up enough to reveal her own malformed foot. Then with reassurance and understanding she said to Alice, “Today, we want you to be our child. Please, Alice, let us love you.”
That is just like God. In Jesus He has come to identify with our pain, hurts, struggles and failures. He knows the joys of life as well as the temptations. In the Bethlehem stable he came, not just looking like one of us, but truly as one of us. He has come to be our Savior and will leave no one out who will accept him into their lives!
Making preparation for salvation (Luke 3:6).
Luke quoted the prophet Isaiah to remind us that everyone will see the salvation of God. Who is the salvation of God? Jesus is his name!
His salvation can be grasped both as an intellectual pursuit as well as a spiritual endeavor. We are encouraged to use logic and our mind to ask good questions about our spiritual and religious life. Asking good questions challenges us to think through what we believe, helping us on our spiritual quest as we follow God on this journey of salvation for a lifetime.
His salvation of an individual’s soul is of utmost importance. C.S. Lewis wrote that this individual soul is “…more important than the production of all the epics and tragedies in the world.” This vital importance is summed up in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” The reason for the season? God gave his Son.
His salvation lights up my world. His light dispels the sin of legalism, the rejection of antinomianism, the insatiable vices of morality, hatred, racism, injustice, and the fear of Satan, evil and hell! No longer do I have to live in darkness.
Every person in the world can come to Jesus. He is the shining light for all of us. Philip Bliss wrote about this in 1875 in his hymn “The Light of the World is Jesus.”(In the public domain.)
The whole world was lost in the darkness of sin;
The light of the world is Jesus.
Like sunshine at noonday his glory shone in;
The light of the world is Jesus.
REFRAIN:
Come to the light; ‘tis shining for thee,
Sweetly the light has dawned upon me.
Once I was blind, but now I can see.
The light of the world is Jesus.
Conclusion
Decades ago near the North Pole, with the night lasting for months, when the people expected that day was about to dawn, some messengers got up to the highest point to watch. When they saw the first streaks of the dawning of the day they put on their brightest possible clothing, and embraced each other and cried, “Behold the sun! and the cry went around all the land, “Behold the sun.”
John looked forward to the new dawn of life. The cry from John and the cry from heaven on that Christmas night was “Behold the S-O-N!” and the son of righteousness has come. Salvation has come to all who will receive him.
Amen.