Thought of the Week- 4^th December 2023- written by Clement Arde-Acquah

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him.'" Isaiah 40:3

Advent is the Christian season where we prepare for the nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ(our Saviour, and the light of the world). The Advent  wreath with its five candles, allows us to think and reflect on: the Patriarchs- namely Abraham, Isaac, Jacob who by their faith became forebears to our believe faith, then the Prophets including men like: Moses, Jeremaih, Ezekiel, Daniel, etc- who were forthtelling ( calling people to repentance) as well as foretelling receiving messages about future events  from God so that the world is warned. The third candle represents John Baptist- forerunner to our Lord Jesus who was not the light himself but came to proclaim the coming of the “Light” to the world. The fourth candle represents Mary- the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ- a model of perfect obedience, humility and trust in God and the finally, fifth candle represents Jesus Christ- our Lord and Saviour who came into our world, died for our sins and by His resurrections paves the way for our eternal life if we believe in Him. These five candles are placed on evergreen circular wreath- signifying the love of God which is eternal and forever with us.

For our thought of this week for this Advent season, I would like us to focus on John the Baptist (symbolised by the third candle on the Advent wreath). John (the name meaning grace or mercy of God) was God’s blessing to John’s parents (Elizabeth and Zachariah). John (a prophet 430 years after the last prophet Malachi and whose arrival foretold was in Isaiah 40:3 and  in Malachi 3:1)although, born into a priestly family and could have taken over the role of high priest in the Temple at Jerusalem like his father Zechariah, decided against this and rather became an itinerant and ascetic preacher, clothed not in fine garments but in clothing made of camel skin with a leather belt-(“belt of truth” signifying the word of God) around his waist.

 John was a preacher who preached not in fine church buildings or pulpits or lived in fine parsonages but in the wilderness, thus emphasising the message of God being more important than outward appearance.

John was humble enough even though he had a lot of followers coming to him to be baptised and he demonstrated his humility by admitting “he is not the Messiah but the one sent before the Messiah to prepare the way” (see John 3: 27-30).

John described himself as: “ a voice” ( phone’ in Greek), announcing that, he is a friend of bridegroom who shares the groom’s joy and rejoices when the groom sees his bride and also that, he was ready to decrease while the real bridegroom (Jesus) increases and is even ready to let his disciples leave him to follow Jesus.  What a man! How many of our modern-day pastors and preachers will easily let go of their followers to follow another, as John did.

John while in the wilderness fed himself on locusts and honey. Locusts the eighth of plague in Exodus 10:12 signifies judgement and the honey- signifies the sweetness of the word of God see Ps. 19:10, again showing us that, John was aware of the judgement coming to the disobedient and the salvation for those who believe. John, we see is an uncompromising preacher who neither minced nor was gentle with his words, condemning where condemnation is due. For instance, by calling the marriage of Herod Antipas adulterous (Matthew 14:1-13), calling the Pharisees and Sadducees who came to him brood of vipers, etc, John was showing an uncompromising determination in translating God’s word and truth into the culture of the wider society to change things. How many preachers in our world today can speak in the same way as John did, condemning the injustices and wrongs directly in society?

Next before John baptism various baptisms had taken place in the Old Testament, but John’s baptism was indeed the first that can be seen as an outward expression of an inner transformation, because it was a baptism based on repentance of one’s sins. Baptism in our Christian world today although not done in the name of John but  done in the name of the God the Father, His Son our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit and is part of the important process of our justification (be declared righteous), adoption (adopted into God’s family) and sanctification (set apart for holy use), ought to be taken seriously as  it an outward expression of our faith. Our Lord Jesus Christ although without sin had to wait thirty years before taking that important step of getting baptised by John in order to the start of his earthly ministry showing us the seriousness of the baptismal ceremony.  We should therefore brethren, treat our baptism as a ceremony preparing and enabling us to go out and take the message of God’s salvation to others. In accordance with Jesus’ final instruction to his disciples in Matthew 28: 19-20 which is: “therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you”, Jesus is telling our baptism is an important step in our adoption into God’s family.

Lastly, we should remember John is the only one able to call our Lord Jesus Christ the “Lamb of God” who takes way the sin of the world”, alluding to the death and suffering of Jesus on the cross. John is thus alluding to Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice for our sins. This designation means we should prayerfully think of this sacrifice anytime we say the “Agnus Dei” during our communion service. John by calling Jesus the “Lamb of God” is ultimately calling Jesus the “Son of God” and makes John the first person to use this designation for Jesus.

Finally, Jesus in his own words described John the Baptist in Matthew 11:11 as: “the greatest prophet born of a woman”, because of the strength of John’s faith. The big question brethren is- how will our Lord Jesus Christ describe us when we one day come to stand face to face before Hm? I hope our answer to this question will be as glowing as Jesus had for John. Brethren,  may this Advent season give us the opportunity to think of our Christian attributes and attitudes as we prepare to welcome our Lord Jesus Christ into our world.

Prayer: Lord God, we thank you for Prophets like John the Baptist who came to foretell us and to prepare the way for Your coming into our world. May their attributes of faithfulness, humility, and strength in the face of derision and even persecution encourage us, as we journey through this world with you this Advent Season. Help us to take our baptism seriously so that we in turn will be enabled to go out and preach