Prepare The Way For The Lord Series

Awakening Humanity President Jimmy Carter, Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin gathered in Camp David in 1978 to discuss peace. President Anwar Sadat approved the peace proposal but it was rejected by the Israeli Prime Minister Begin. There was a stalemate. The three, by now tired and emotionally drained, were about to depart without any peace accord. As President Carter and Prime Minister Begin were about to depart they remembered that they had earlier agreed to sign photographs for each other’s families. They met on the front porch of Prime Minister Begin’s cabin for the signing. President Carter asked for the name of the children to make the signing more personal and Prime Minister Begin reciprocated. Then President Carter decided to show the photographs of his grandchildren describing the personality of each; Prime Minister Begin did likewise. As they looked at the pictures tears filled their eyes. What type of world would their grandchildren grow up in? Prime Minister Begin returned to his cabin and re-emerged after five minutes asking to look at the peace proposal once again.

Preparation When given a chance to celebrate Holy Eucharist for children I usually give them some practical tips on how they need to prepare for exams. At times I try to dramatize saying that they need to take a pen or pencil and try to write the answers. This would certainly help them remember the matter well. If not, just learning the lessons, and going to write exams will have two fold weaknesses; one, that they would not remember everything that they studied because of their heavy dependence on the mind; second, they would lack speed to write. Hence, learning through writing is a better way to prepare for exams. When they write they see with their eyes what they have written and take to their mind and again recall when they come to their examination hall and try to write the answers which they had practiced. This would help them a good deal in their memory. Without preparation one would find oneself embarrassed and weak. Well, preparation is always a must for any sort of performance. Look at all the Olympic participants; they practice day in and day out for long years. They never give up. Preparation is not botheration; rather enjoyable looking at the glory they would earn in the long run. Prepare the Way If John lived today, the rulers would probably not cut his head off as Herod did. They would have had him diagnosed with some horrible sounding mental illness, taken to a mental hospital and put on drugs. Not that he was necessarily full blown crazy; he simply danced to a different beat than his society at large. “It is nice to have a well adjusted life,” said Martin Luther King Jr., “but there are some things to which men and women of good will should be maladjusted.” John had a solid grasp of God and the traditional myth of the Israelite people. God had a solid grasp on him. There is an important principle that we can learn from the story of John the Baptist. Even though our Bible seems to have little to say about John, he conveys to us a simple but important message that still applies today about preparation receive the Messiah and repent our sins. The Forerunner We are clearly told that John was sent to ‘prepare the way’ for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (Mark 1.23), but what exactly did he do in preparing the way? In Luke 3.3-4, we are told, “And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; as it is written in the book of Isaiah the prophet, saying, “the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” Also in Matthew 3.1-3, “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, and saying, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” So how did the people cooperate with John in preparing the way for Jesus? They confessed their sins and were baptized as a sign that they have turned from their sins, as Matthew 3.6 tells us, “And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.” This was a preparation that indicated that they were ready for the Messiah.

Make His Path Straight It means to create a favorable environment or to make it easy for one to come to you and operate in your life. Let’s take a look at Luke 3.4-5, “As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth.” Apparently, John the Baptist was creating a favorable environment and making it easy for Jesus to enter into and operate in the lives of the people. Preaching and Repentance The same is true on the other side of the coin. Notice how John the Baptist prepared the way for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ through preaching repentance and baptism for the remission of sins. He created a favorable environment for Jesus to enter and operate in. The same principle is true on the other side of the coin, where people get involved in deep sins in order to gain evil powers. When people get involved in Satanism, they can commit gross sins such as bestiality (sex with children, animals, and sex with the same sex) in order to gain devils kingdom or making way for other demonic powers. Such sins defile a person and create a ‘favorable environment’ for the spirits to dwell and operate. Sin ‘prepares the way’ for the devil and his demons, while repentance and remission of sins prepares the way for the Lord!