The Forerunner of Jesus

Saturday morning, December 20, 2008 [cloudy and 670],
During this Christmas season, let us not forget John, the son of Zacharias and Eliza-beth; you probably remember him as John the Baptist (although I don’t remember reading anything about him ever joining a Baptist church!). Actually, it is probably a bit more accurate to call him John the Baptizer, but, then, that will probably make all the Baptist folk angry, because some of them really do think he founded the Baptist church. Oh, well—
Call him whatever you choose, but this is the truth of the matter: God was rather emphatic that the folk call him John: “And it came about on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to call him Zacharias, after his father. And his mother answered and said, ‘No indeed; but he shall be called John.’ And they said to her, ‘There is no one among your relatives who is called by that name.’ And they made signs to his father, as to what he wanted him called. And he asked for a tablet, and wrote as follows, ‘His name is John.’ And they were all astonished (Luke 1:59-63).
In case you have forgotten, this is what Gabriel (the angel) said to Zacharias prior to the aforementioned meeting: “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will drink no wine or liquor; and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, while he is yet in his mother’s womb. And he will turn back many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God. And it is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous; so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:13-17; emphasis, added).
Sometimes (all the time, really!), it is best to stop arguing and fussing and making excuses and to simply do what God says do—even if it doesn’t make any sense. Heck, I have no idea why it mattered so much to God that this child be named John; as far as I am concerned, He could have named him Zacharias (at least it would have made more sense). Actually, I would have been completely satisfied with “Little Bo Peep,” or even John Calvin, but the fact of the matter is that He wanted him named John, and that is enough for me.
If you will go back and read the third paragraph, you will readily see that God had a very specific and quite wonderful purpose for John; I mean, this is awesome! Were it not for the last sentence, one could confuse him with Him! There was, however, this one drawback: “And the child continued to grow, and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel” (Luke 1:8; emphasis, added). Why would God want this handpicked “John” to live in the desert, eating locusts and wild honey and wearing leather skins, for such a long time, prior to his actually doing all those important things? Hmmm, I thought you would want to remember him during these days!