Good News from the Wilderness

"John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins" (Mark 1:4)

I don't know how you may have imagined John the Baptist, beloved, but I believe that many have pictured him as a wild and hairy unkempt prophet who thundered when he preached and ranted on and on about sin and condemnation. Unfortunately, I don't personally believe that characterization does him justice.

Perhaps it is because he has been so closely associated with the environs in which he delivered his message that he has come to be pictured in this way. After all, Mark tells us that he came preaching "in the wilderness." Pastor Ray Stedman described his own firsthand look at the Jordan River valley where John preached as a true wilderness, dry and dreary, parched and barren, the Jordan itself being the only water source for miles around. Yet the people of Jerusalem and Judea flocked to that desolate region in great numbers to hear the message of John and to yield themselves to baptism.

Why? Why would so many travel so far to hear a preacher that they did not even know? What was it that drew them there? I am convinced that it was for them the same basic human need that tugs at the heart of lost mankind today. It is the guilt of the heart over sin and the fear of sin's condemnation. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard this or that person give a personal testimony and tell of the "void" that they felt within, a need that could only be met in the person of Jesus Christ. And what more appropriate place to hear about the "wilderness" of our lives spiritually than in an actual wilderness?

John's message spoke directly to that timeless need, beloved! The opening words of Mark's narrative are simply "the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." John came to bring to people the good news that they could have forgiveness of sins and be put right with God. Right there in the wilderness of the Jordan River valley, they could confess their sinfulness and be baptized unto genuine repentance.

That is for all today the good news from the wilderness! You do not have to remain in the wilderness of your sins and guilt before God. Jesus has come, that One about whom John preached, and He has broken the power of sin in the life of every person who will turn to Him in faith and in heartfelt repentance. There is good news from the wilderness, beloved. Have you yet made it your own?

Ron