Advent Devotion
December 6, 2020
Communicating God’s Word; Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
Mark 1:1-8; Isaiah 40:3
Communication sure has changed a lot over the years. Back in the mid-1800s, there was the Pony Express. Riders and their horses were traveling great distances to get mail from one town to another. By the end of the 19th century, there was the telegraph, with people tapping out codes for words over wires strung from one city to another.
Then came the advent of the telephone, radio, television, and computer, and now we send messages via our cell phones. I personally like to use video messenger to communicate and see family members at the same time. And of course, today, zoom meetings are helping businesses and families stay connected during the pandemic.
Before Jesus began His formal ministry, the prophet on the scene with a message from God was John the Baptist. John was actually Jesus’ cousin. God sent John the Baptist to pave the way for Jesus’ ministry. He was the fulfillment of the prophet’s writings in Isaiah 40:3.
When people came to hear John the Baptist speak and be baptized, they understood that John was foreshadowing the coming Messiah.
John never pretended to be anything other than he was. John even said, “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.”
John preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin. But again, he made sure people understood that he himself was not the Messiah. John said, “I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit (Directly prophesying what would happen on the day of Pentecost.)
Today we can send a message that will go out to millions of people to see (whether they want to or not) with the touch on our phone screen. John the Baptist brought a message from God, and thousands of people flocked to him in person to hear the message that was part of the beginning of the Gospel about Jesus Christ.
There is no wrong way to communicate the Word of God to others. Some people like Pastors and Priests and laypeople, like you and me, share the Gospel verbally. Others do so through acts of kindness and service to others. Still, others, like me, communicate the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the written word. While many tell Jesus’ story through the combination of all of the above. Like John the Baptist, the important thing is that we tell others about God’s grace and how He sent His Son Jesus to save us from our sin. And, through Faith in that fact, we are saved and will someday live eternally with our Father in heaven.
