ESOCS Devotional 11 January 2025 – John The Baptist: An Attention Grabber
MEMORY VERSE: “In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming.” Matthew 3:1
TEXT: MATTHEW 3:1-END
In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying:
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
Make His paths straight.’ ”
4 Now John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him 6 and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, 9 and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 10 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 I indeed baptize you with water unto 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 fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. 14 And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?”
15 But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him.
16 When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. 17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
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Why would people come from all over the place to see this man? I know this – people respected him. John the Baptist (or the Baptizer) was Jesus’ cousin (he was 6 months older than Jesus). Jesus once said of John, “I assure you: Among those born of women, no one greater than John the Baptist has appeared, but the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he” (Matthew 11:11).
Jesus also referred to him as a prophet. That’s significant, and quite a compliment because a prophet was someone who boldly spoke for God – one who wasn’t afraid to say what God was really thinking. Prophets were politically incorrect – often issuing warning of impending judgment. When John showed up, there hadn’t been a prophet in Israel for 400 years. Then out of the blue walked out this fellow, out into the desert near the Dead Sea, wearing a rough, dark camel hair coat (the garb of the poor), offering this one provocative message: “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of heaven has come near!” (Matthew 3:2). This is a message of challenge and hope.
One reason John got people’s attention was that he lived in the desert, a tough area where nobody wanted to live. It made sense however for John to call the desert home, though. Hundreds of years earlier, the prophet Isaiah had said that he would be: “A voice of one crying out: Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert” (Isaiah 40:3).
Another reason John got the people’s attention was that he lived simply. Most of the poor in Jesus’ day ate fish, figs, and barley loaves. But John was so poor that he ate locusts as his source of protein, perhaps drying them and adding some wild field honey to sweeten them enough to get them down. John’s appearance and lifestyle spoke volumes: “I’m not sold out to the culture. I’m nobody’s pawn. The man doesn’t own me. I can tell you the truth, straight up.” When you have nothing, you have nothing to lose.
Finally, John got the people’s attention because he dressed exactly like the ancient prophet Elijah. Every Jew knew that before the Messiah came, a prophet like Elijah would show up who dressed like him and talked like him. This was so the people would know that God was up to something, and they needed to get ready.
I hope where you live, how you live and you dress and appearance before people will entice them to Jesus Christ. Remember, we are epistles not written with ink and paper (2 Cor. 3:2-3).
CHALLENGES
- What kind of lifestyle do you live? Is it worldly of Christ like?
PRAYER POINT
- Father, behold me at your feet, mold me to be like you. Amen.
FURTHER READING: Isaiah 12:1-end; 13:1-end; Matthew 4:1-end
ESOCS Devotional 11 January 2025
