The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,
“Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way,
the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,’”
John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
The Jews had not heard from God in over 400 years. Generations past without hearing a word of prophecy, without seeing the glory of the LORD in the Holy of Holies. I’m sure some of the Jews simply went about their lives, not knowing any differently. But there were many who were waiting for the Messiah to appear in their lifetime. So when John appears in the wilderness of Judea, wearing camel hair and preaching that the Kingdom of God was at hand, people began to listen.
Today, very few people would pay attention to some crazy looking man, standing in a river and shouting, “Repent!” Most would probably carefully walk away, calling the police to come take away the “crazy man” down by the river. But the Jews were ready for this message. God had prepared their hearts for this moment.
Unless the Lord prepares a person’s heart, the message of repentance will never take root in their lives. Are there people in your lives that need repentance? Then the best thing you can do for them is pray that God would soften their hearts. No amount of preaching, no amount of apologetic evangelization will ever effect change in a person’s life without the Holy Spirit preparing the ground for the seed of the Gospel.
Today, pray that God would soften hearts, including your own. Perhaps there is a message that you need to hear today, and you will need a softened heart in order to understand it.
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