God Always Prepares

By Charles W. James
Mark 1:1-8
The beginning of any great work of God is its preparation. If God intends to build a life, He first lays a foundation. If God wants to plant the seed of His truth, He first prepares the soil. To God, the preparation is as important as the finished work because the finished work is but the flower of the preparation, and the grown adult is but the ripened fruit of the child.

Notice how at each great movement of God, the Bible speaks of the beginning. When God began His creation, we read in Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Then, when in His divine wisdom God brought forth the eternal Word to live among men, we read in John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

And now, when that Word is about to carry out His earthly ministry, we read in Mark 1:1, "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God."

The Biblical record shows that our God tends to follow a specific strategy in all His preparatory work, whether He desires to accomplish something in a nation, in a family or even in a single life. This method of preparation is well evident in our text, Mark 1:1-8.

I. God always sends a select messenger.

Showing that this beginning is the fulfillment of a promise made in Malachi 3:1, verse 2 says, "As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which
shall prepare thy way before thee."

God does not administrate by a committee. God's method is not an ecclesiastical program nor a church hierarchy. God's method is to select one person, filling that person with the truth and Spirit of God and sending him out to proclaim His message.

Observe the character of the messenger God sent. John the Baptist was no vague preacher, no time-serving church bureaucrat, no overly intellectualized spiritually anemic priest. No, here we see a true preacher sent from God. His personal character matched his message. He was not frightened to preach God's truth even though in the end he was killed for it. He was not content to join the court preachers in the temple, so he chose to preach in the wilderness.

Well trained. That wilderness had been the school of many a prophet and would become the training ground where Jesus Himself was to learn the lessons of temptation. But it was not foreign to this John. His young life was spent in the wilderness. Speaking of him, Luke 1:80 says, "And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel."

John was a courageous man. The straightforward courage that flowed through his spirit had compelled him to part company with the crowd and stand alone. When God's chosen messenger takes a stand, he often finds himself standing alone. But God had selected him to prepare the way for Christ; he was God's chosen instrument for the ministry of preparation. Standing alone was a price John would gladly pay if it meant the fulfilling of God's call on his life.

John's life was as clear as his message. No preacher's sermon is ever more effective than his life. A sermon is not the product of a few hour's meditation. It is the product of a lifetime. The sermon is the man. John's character was his pulpit, a pulpit that so elevated him in the eyes of the people that came out to hear him.

The message. Note also the specific message of this messenger: "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight."

No political and sociological message here. His was not a message of superficial pop psychology translated into Christian terms. Neither did he use his desert pulpit for the advancement of some current ideology. His message was from God and it was about God. John knew that had he either added or subtracted from the message of God, he would one day have to stand before God and answer for it.

His message spoke of paths being straightened and prepared for someone's arrival. Was he talking about the roads that led into Jerusalem? Perhaps. Was he referring to the roads that led to imperial Rome? Perhaps. Eventually the gospel of Christ did enter triumphantly into those cities. But primarily he was talking about the paths of the human heart. He was calling us to repair the broken paths and to straighten the crooked roads of our lives so that the King could enter in.

Preparing hearts. John's ministry was a ministry of preparation. God was preparing a people to receive His Son as their Lord. John was merely a
repair man, part of God's road crew that down through the centuries has prepared for the coming of Christ. His message was: "Get your hearts ready to receive what God is about to do."

The preparation of your heart and life is as important as the finished work that God wants to accomplish. Now is the time for alert caution. If you sleep now, you will sleep forever. Do not be found sleeping when the Bridegroom calls. Do not end up like the virgin who awakens with a start to find that her lamp has gone out and the wedding procession was passing by.

II. God draws the people to His message and messenger.

We read in verse 5: "And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins."

It was no hysteria that drove the people from Judea and Jerusalem to come out to hear this man preach. God had been preparing them just as He had prepared John for this day. The word "all" maybe an exaggeration for the purpose of making a point. The Bible sometimes does that. But the fact remains that great crowds went out to hear John and to be baptized by him. They sensed in their hearts that here was a man who meant what he said and lived what he preached. They wanted to be near this man, to set their eyes on one who was truly sent from God.

Lifestyle. So, what drew the people first was not the message, but the man. This is true with us believers. Our character, the testimony of our life speaks louder than our words. Let a person stand up for Christ and speak of Christ and it is strange how other weaker souls will notice him. The human spirit can perceive truth in action more clearly than hear it in words.

Notice also that God drew them to a certain place, the wilderness. John did not go to them. Rather, he demanded that they meet him in the wildernessaway from the comforts of home, away from the jeering ridicule of friends, away from the many duties of family life.

There are some environments that make it difficult for one to hear God and to live for Christ. A work place whose atmosphere is filled with the world and a home in which there is violence and the shrill sound of angry voices are among them.

To be sure, even in these places a child of God can hear the still small voice of God. Even here Christ will not forsake you if you call out to him. But it is needful sometimes for us to seek and find that quiet place where we can commune with God alone. John called the people to the wilderness so that they could meet God alone.

Confession. What did the people do in the wilderness? As they were baptized by John, they confessed their sins. God was preparing their heart for the Master's coming. He gave them a deep sense of contrition. Thus, all of these people from the land of Judaea and of Jerusalem were baptized by this rugged preacher in the muddy waters of the Jordan.

We see here a picture that reminds us that not all Jewish people and priests rejected Jesus. God prepared their hearts and they eventually welcomed Him as their Messiah.

It is penitence that marks off religion from ethics. In ethics, the human mind thinks about the good and ra
tionally concludes whether an action is ethical or not. But in religion, along with the ethical is always the penitential. The religious heart is more than remorseful, it is pierced. The heart that God prepares is more than sorry, it is broken. Let us not mistake ethics for true faith, nor mere remorse for true repentance.

III. God ensures that both the messenger and the message point to Christ.

In verse 7, we find John saying to the people, "There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose." John's entire ministry pointed away from itself. His message was a cleansing one of water, whereas Jesus' message would be a message of recreation by the Spirit. When Jesus appeared and the disciples of John left him and joined the Lord, John's only remark was: "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30).

Should our purpose be any different than that of John's? Is the purpose of the Church any different than that of the Baptist? No. All of us, wherever God has placed us, are sign-posts pointing to Jesus. John knew that in himself there was no power sufficient to change a human being. His baptism was a preparatory one. He knew that his life gained its meaning by going beyond itself and by pointing to someone greater. So is the purpose of the church. It is not an end but a means. When the church sees itself as a settled institution and forgets that it is a living voice pointing to Christ, it betrays its purpose.

Today it has become popular for preachers and new age prophets to tell us to look within ourselves to find our true happiness. We are told that at the center of our being, we will find lasting peace. What if John had said such a thing to the crowds that came to hear him? What if he had said to them: "Go home and sit quietly and find your peace within yourselves." Would they have found peace with such a message? No. They were looking for something beyond themselves.

God only. Like the Apostle Paul, they knew that there "dwelleth no good thing" in them. In their God-prepared hearts, they had begun to pray with the psalmist, "Lead me to the rock that is higher than I" (61:2). Their consciences were speaking loudly, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow" (51:7). Only God can do that.

They were pleading: "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not
away from thy presenceRestore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit" (v. 10-12). Only God can do that.

And when they came, their hearts heavy with great spiritual need, thank God that God's messenger was prepared to tell them the truth. God always prepares His way.

Remember today that if you are looking for answers, God has them. Do not look to the church, the messenger or even the message. Do not stop there. These are only windows through which you may glimpse the beauty of the Lord. If you stop and simply gaze at the beauty of the window, you will never find what is on the other side.

Has God sent someone into your life whose influence has spoken to you for Christ? Has your heart been drawn to God and His work in a new way? Have you begun to look beyond yourself to Christ? If you have seen God preparing your life like this, be sure that He will follow up on His preparation. He may be preparing your heart to repent of some secret sin or He may be preparing your life to serve like John the Baptist as a preparer of the heart of others. If so, then be sure that God is ready to act because God's preparation is but the beginning of His finished work in you. o

Dr. Charles W. James is Pastor of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, 5201 Hillen Drive, Oakland, CA 94619.

Back To Top

Back To Previous page