STOP, LISTEN, LOOK
LUKE 3:1-6 DECEMBER 8, 2002
LUKE 3:1-6
1In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar--when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene-- 2during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert. 3He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:
"A voice of one calling in the desert,
`Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.
5Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
the rough ways smooth.
6And all mankind will see God’s salvation.’ "
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Dearest Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:
We hear, in our lifetime, certain ‘catch phrases’ that we remember. Our children are taught them in school. When it comes to fire and fire prevention, they are taught to ‘stop, drop and roll’ in case there is a fire in any building they are in. For the longest time, when you approach any railroad crossing, people would remind one another to ‘stop, look and listen.’ Maybe from time to time we forget to do that because most railroad crossings have big warning signs. They take away our preparedness to stop, look and listen. When it comes to those times when there is fog and we can’t see very far, we find it very helpful at any railroad crossing to stop, to look and especially to listen.
So it is today that this is what the Lord reminds us of as we look at John the Baptist. As he came to prepare the way of the Lord, he wanted the people to stop, to listen and to look that they would see the Lord’s salvation. This is nothing new. It’s a message that was preached from the very beginning. We look at Jeremiah. He says: "Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart"(JEREMIAH 29:12,13). During these Sundays of Advent, the Lord gives us an opportunity to prepare our lives to seek Him with all of our heart, that we can see God’s salvation.
Let’s look again at what we learn about John today as we consider the theme
STOP, LISTEN, LOOK
I. God’s voice calls us
II. See God’s salvation
I. God’s voice calls us
Back in the very beginning of our text, we heard all of those names. Some names maybe sounded familiar. There were names of rulers and names of countries. More importantly, it gives us a historical setting for John the Baptist and the historical setting for Jesus, Himself. These men were not lost in the pages of history. Right here, the Bible reminds people of the setting they were in and the time in which they came. Our text says--1In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar…Now, Tiberius Caesar was the Roman ruler responsible for the whole region of what we would call the Promised Land where the twelve tribes had settled. We are told Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea. Judea was a little portion of the Promised Land. Pontius Pilate was under Tiberius Caesar. He also was connected with the Roman governor as are the next rulers that we hear about. Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene... We picture Bethlehem in the region of Judea. These other places like Iturea and Traconitis are all to the north. Herod and Philip are brothers and rulers of their regions. This gives us the setting for the government of the day. It would be like listing our presidents and governors or senators to give us a perspective.
Then we come to the church. It says, 2during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas… familiar names once again. We remember Pontius Pilate, Annas and Caiaphas. At the end of Jesus’ life, He was brought before the church, and the high priests Annas and Caiaphas. They sent Jesus to Pontius Pilate, the secular governing authority who could condemn Jesus to death. But Pilate washed his hands of the whole affair. We see that these people involved with Jesus’ death are already here at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. They should have known better but they did not. At the end of Jesus’ ministry, they condemned Him to death. It puts this history of events into perspective.
The important part of course, is the fact that it’s not just that we know all of these government rulers, that we know all of the church rulers, but that we know what happens next… the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert. Here, this is not just another John, this is John, the son of Zechariah…Zechariah and Elizabeth. What do we remember about that? The angel came and promised to Zechariah and Elizabeth that they would have a son. Zechariah didn’t quite believe that because both of them were very old. Because of that, you may remember, Zechariah could not speak. He was not able to speak until John was born. When John was born, the relatives asked Zechariah what they should call that infant. He wrote on a tablet JOHN. They were wondering what was the matter with Zechariah. None of their grandfathers or anyone else in their family was named John. Zechariah was not named John, yet God had told him that this would be John. Once he was named John, Zechariah could speak again.
It’s this John, son of Zechariah and Elizabeth, Jesus’ cousin, who comes preaching the message of repentance. John didn’t take this calling upon himself nor by his own doing but he was the one we heard about from Isaiah the prophet. 4As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: "A voice of one calling in the desert” It’s always interesting to me that when looking at John the Baptist, we see that he didn’t have to go into the city. He stayed out by the Jordan River in the desert and everybody came to him. His message was so powerful and so needed that people came out of the city to see this person, John the Baptist. What was that message? John went into all the country around the Jordan preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. He told them to repent for the kingdom of God was at hand. (Next Sunday we’ll talk of that even more. We will look at verses 7 and following.)
He came preaching, then performing baptism for the forgiveness of sins. All of this he had done because God’s voice had called out to him and said, ‘You will prepare the way.’ We know that John did that in great humility. What a temptation it must have been for him to be around the Jordan River and have all these crowds come out to him to listen to his message. But John knew it wasn’t his message, it was God’s message. There was even a time when the crowd came and asked him, ‘Are you the Messiah?’ ‘Are you Elijah, the prophet who is to return again?’ How tempting it would have been for John to say, ‘Sure, I am’ and start his own little following, his own little cult. John always realized that he must decrease so that Christ would increase. We heard in our gospel lesson his example of humility that we need to follow. "And this was his message: ’After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie’"(MARK 1:7). This is a great lesson in humility that you and I don’t see very much of today. In fact, in our society, we see the opposite where people are often proud and boastful. It’s all the more important for us once again to see in John a lesson of humility. He was God’s messenger who called out with God’s voice to be humble. Not only do we see that in John, but we also see that in Jesus too, don’t we?
In Philippians, chapter two, we see how He humbled Himself and became obedient to death on a cross. We see that He stands as our example, to be humble. The prophet Micah says: "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God"(MICAH 6:8). The world around us will say, ‘You can’t get ahead if you’re going to walk humbly with God.’ All around us, the world will tell us, ‘You aren’t going to gain anything if you waste your time in church on Sunday and in special services and going to church meetings.’ But inside of us, the Lord’s voice calls out and says, ‘This is what I asked of you, to love mercy, to act justly, and to walk humbly with Me.’
During this hectic time of year, the Lord tells us to stop, and to listen and to look. Sometimes it’s hard to do that in our society. You rush by and hear those things that come to us in short quick sound-bites as they are called today. They’re made so that when they attract our attention, we hear the advertisement or the direction the world would want us to go. The Word reminds us that we need to stop and to listen to God’s voice calling out. Sometimes it’s in the most unexpected places.
The prophet Elijah wanted to hear the voice of God. He wanted to see God, he wanted God to speak to Him. God says, ‘All right!’ He took him to a mountain. There was a violent wind. There was an earthquake. Then we’re told: "After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper"(1 KINGS 19:12). Elijah listened to the voice of the Lord. The Lord speaks to us very often with a gentle whisper in the quiet times when we stop and listen. In those times when we read for ourselves God’s Word, when we study what He has to say to each one of us.
In this fast paced, hectic life that’s all around us, that’s beyond these church walls, the Lord says to stop, to listen (God’s voice is calling out) and then He says to look. LOOK. You will see God’s salvation.
II. See God’s salvation
What a difficult task it was for John the Baptist, to point people to God’s salvation. Yet what an easy task it was because Isaiah had foretold it. The church leaders knew there would be someone to prepare the way for the Lord. Many times in a man’s life, he spends a lot of time deciding what is right and what is wrong. What is his purpose in life, what should he finally do? John the Baptist didn’t have to ask. Isaiah said he would be the ‘voice of one calling in the desert.’ From little on, John (whom I’m sure played many times with Jesus, his cousin) knew that Jesus was the Messiah. John knew that his message was to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord. That’s what he said: "A voice of one calling in the desert, `Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. 5Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low.” Now how did John do that? He didn’t go out and remove boulders from the paths that they walked on. He didn’t try to straighten out all the crooked roads that meandered through the hills. What does Isaiah mean? He means that all of these things would take place. They would happen because of John’s message--a message of repentance, a message of forgiveness. Then he says, ‘The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. Physically, John didn’t change a thing. Spiritually, the crowds came out to him to hear about the forgiveness of sins, to hear how they could turn their life around from sin to God’s grace. The crookedness of wickedness was taken away. The roughness of sin was forgiven. The paths became straight, the valleys were filled in and the mountains were leveled off by a message of repentance and forgiveness.
All of these things happened at just the right time, didn’t they? They happened so that 6And all mankind will see God’s salvation.’ " Historians feel that when Jesus was born, probably He was known about in the entire known world of the day. The Roman government had taken over everything. They had made good roads, they had good communication, and they had good contact with all of the nations that they ruled. From Israel, that little nation, from Bethlehem of Judea, went the message of an infant born in a manger because of the Roman involvement. That’s why our text began with all of those names and places. It reminds us that God works His hand in history day in and day out so that all mankind will see God’s salvation (here at Jesus birth, more than likely, and certainly we realize he talks about the end of time too). On the Last Day there will be no denying that the Lord Jesus Christ IS the King of kings and Lord of lords but all according to God’s plan. From Galatians we are reminded of the perfection of God’s timing: "But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons"(GALATIANS 4:4,5). He came to redeem us so that we would inherit eternal life…the full rights of sons, he says, so that you and I, included in all of mankind, would see God’s salvation.
Again, a time- tested message that even the people from the Old Testament times knew. Listen to Isaiah: "The LORD will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God"(ISAIAH 52:10). Even though it doesn’t seem like many today see the salvation of God, (they’re busy with all the shopping, busy with preparations, doing these earthly things) they may look past the spiritual side of the celebration in the whole month of December. The Lord says, ‘I will show my salvation. My salvation will be seen by all mankind IF they take time to stop, listen and look’ (and if we do the same ourselves). If we do not see God’s salvation during the Christmas season, there will be a time when everyone will see it at the end of time.
Our gracious God reminds us very vividly that John was the first ‘way preparer’ to go out and prepare the way for the Lord. He had to walk around in the wilderness. In the gospel of Matthew we’re told he ate locusts and wild honey, his clothes were made of camel hair. You and I really live in a wilderness again, a wilderness where the message of repentance isn’t preached very often, where sin isn’t talked about, where the light of salvation is dimmed by the darkness of the world. The Lord says to us in Matthew: "The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned"(MATTHEW 4:16). That is you and I. The light of the knowledge of salvation has dawned on us. You and I have seen the great light—a great light that prepares the way for us so that we would let Jesus’ light shine on others.
As we become wrapped up in the season, all involved with wrapping up presents, the Lord reminds us to stop and to listen and to look. Take a quiet time that we might listen to God’s voice calling out to us, that we might hear the voice of John the Baptist, Isaiah the prophet, Jesus, Himself, and even become a voice ourselves in a sin darkened world. As we stop, look and listen, we will see God’s salvation anew. We’ll be overjoyed once again at the birth of our Savior in the manger at Bethlehem—a miracle among miracles. The psalmist says it does happen. "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth"(PSALM 46:10). It happens when we stop, and listen and look; when we hear God’s voice calling out to us and we see His salvation anew with a message of forgiveness and repentance. Amen.
Pastor Timm O. Meyer
