The Coming Kingdom

 

            3 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, ² “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” ³ For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,

        “The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

        ‘Prepare the way of the Lord;

make his paths straight.’”

⁴ Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵ Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, ⁶ and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

⁷ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸ Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. ⁹ And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. ¹⁰ Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

¹¹ “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹² His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” (John 3:1-12 ESV)

 

Devotion

            Here we have John the Baptist preaching as an introduction to Jesus and his ministry. What is John preaching you may ask? A baptism of repentance. Why was he preaching that? Because the kingdom of heaven was at hand. The people who came to be baptized confessed their sins first.

            Even the Pharisees and Sadducees came to be baptized by John. For their trouble they got called a “brood of vipers” But when they confessed their sins, they were baptized like all the rest of the crowds. We are told that people came from all over the region to be baptized by John. And he was telling them about another one who was coming who would baptize them with the Holy Spirit and fire. His coming would be marked by an inbreaking of the Kingdom of God. The kingdom would be marked by repentance and many signs and wonders.

            Repentance is the most basic requirement for entry into the Kingdom that was coming by his presence. Today repentance has a bad reputation. Except in the Roman Catholic church people do not repent anymore. Admitting that you are wrong is considered old fashioned. The church now does not seek out souls who are penitent but people who look like they have their act together and are seeking after that something extra that God seems to have. However, if they feel that their  needs are not being met or the pastor says something that they disagree, they do not come back but take their seeking someplace else.

            Jesus says in another place in scripture that the next step after repentance is to take up our cross and follow him. This is another politically incorrect statement in our culture. In culture, you are supposed to follow your feelings, your intuitions not a teacher from 2000 years ago. Following Jesus is not just counter-cultural but also (as anyone who has tried it for any amount of time can tell you) it is difficult. Now Jesus promised a helper to walk beside us on our way in life to ease the burden of the cross we are required to bear for him. Otherwise we could never make it on our own strength.

            We can see then that we all need Jesus’ unmerited favor to make it in this life. That is exactly what Jesus gives us. Grace to help us along life’s turnings and sometime steep climbs. Jesus gives us a hand up when we are stuck. He gives us his own blood to drink when we are thirsty and his own body to eat when we are hungry along the way. He helps us by fanning into flame the Holy Spirit that lives within us when it is in danger of being extinguished.

            So, let us repent, be baptized, and follow Jesus our leader and our God. Let us leave behind every sin that seeks to undo us and march forward together as brothers and sisters in faith.

            Let us pray:

            Heavenly Father we bow before you today in gratitude for the gift of your son Jesus Christ. We turn our backs on the life of sin we have been leading. We seek to follow Jesus as we live our everyday life, That your kingdom may come into the world a little more through our weak attempts to live our life for Jesus. Deploy your Holy Spirit in our lives that we may have your help through life’s trials and temptations. All glory and honor to you the most high God from your poor servants who are made worthy to be in your presence only by the sacrifice of your son on the cross. Amen