STUDY FOURTEEN:
John wore simple and sturdy clothing, loins, leather girdle, & camel hair coat… He ate a simple
diet, too… Locusts and wild honey, not the ingredients of finery, on either account! People came to John, not because he was in their faces on the streets of their cities everyday… Those who stood before him had journeyed to do so, and wished to… They came to abide with the Lord’s will, that they confess their sins, and be baptised into His family. John fulfilled the Lord’s will, for he was an instrument of it (having allowed himself to be!). He baptised the people, as the hands of the Lord on this earth, and his obedience to the Lord opened up the path for more people to become as was John, a pair of hands getting done the Lord’s work. From all the corners of Jerusalem, Judea, and the territories surrounding Jordan, the people poured forth to offer up their hands as willing to do the work of the Lord, and their hearts as open to His way… They did all this because one man made it possible… John, the liver of a simple life, follower of the Lord’s guiding footsteps, opened up his own heart so completely to the Lord, that the Lord entrusted John to bring more people to Him…
DAY FIFTEEN:
The Pharisees came to John, along with the Sadd-u-cees, and John labelled them a generation of Vipers… He asked them who had sent them into the wilderness to meet him, for he did not trust that their heart nor their intention were pure to the Lord… He instructed them to speak the truth, for even their lies would be spoken in front of the Lord… God can hear and see all, knows the root of all evil, and those that are quite happy to wallow in its dirt. He told them not to rely on their lineage, their stance, their otherwise goodly status, to save them… Because all these earthly measures that make a man, the Lord can create representations of all those, they are ten-a-penny to Him. John spoke of the Lord sorting the wheat from the chaff, disposing of those who have ‘gone bad’… John knew in his heart, which he shared with the Lord, that these Pharisees and Sadd-u-cees were not genuine seekers’ of the Lord’s will and way, only those who wanted shelter, for whatever else they were, they were not stupid, and even they could sense/listen to the fearful approach of a day when they would/will need saving… They used many-a-thing as an excuse for their bad behaviour, as they did that it might be proof that they were good of heart, and worthy of saving… But these things were all wrong things. Their blood-lines may have meant that they were survivors, doing only what they must to survive, that they themselves were only the son of man, and not of a God, as is Jesus… Not of THE God of whom they were trying to win approval, the ONLY God who matters… But it is not about approval or explanations, for the Lord already knows them all… It is about sitting down and saying, OK, I amount to this, my Lord: (And being utterly truthful)… Then, acknowledging that not only can God save you, as is his part/duty in your relationship with Him, but also, that you NEED Him to save you, that you are ready & willing to be a part of His life, as you hope you are a part of His… THEN, He can fulfil His promised duty to you, because you have truly made a promise to fulfil your own to Him. He gave us the gift of free-will. It is only when we use it to make the choice of following Him, that we can, to a degree, give up some of that free will to Him, and be released from the heavy burdens we carry upon our shoulders. Then, and only then, will there be a harmony between free will, and companionable understanding, us and the Lord…
STUDY SIXTEEN:
John Baptised the Pharisees and Sadd-u-cees with water, but he tells them all that God can see further into their hearts than he, and that God’s water of Baptism is just as capable of burning as it is cleansing and soothing… John said that the one whom he precedes, only seemingly, comes before him in every other respect. His understanding, His knowledge, His birth, all are planned, and shall be, far greater than John’s, because John speaks about the man who can truly sweep away with fire, or save with deserved grace and glory… John is in rightful awe of this man, the one whom can consider the whole world His floor to purge, gathering up that which is worth saving…And burning, as rubbish, that which is beyond saving, that which doesn’t move a muscle to rise above the dirt that lines the floor that is this earth, and is His. We are all His property… Do we wish to be his junk or his beloved family treasures..??? John knew that he was only a pale imitation of the Lord, of the form which soon would take its place on earth and in history… He absolutely knew this form, given the name Jesus Christ, to be our Salvation and Saviour both…