A Voice for God

Luke 3:1, 2 – Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, And Annas and Caiphas being the High Priests, the Word of God came unto John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness.

    Luke lists government leaders and spiritual leaders that were contemporaries of John. They were his contemporaries but not, necessarily, his peers. These men were known…John was unknown. These men had a platform…John did not have a platform. These men were recognized authorities…John was not recognized as an authority. These men were included in everyday society…John was excluded and isolated. These men had their own agenda…John was a herald with God’s agenda. These men had words…John had the Word. These men had to devise their own words…John had the Word of God come to him.

    While life was going on, somewhere, behind the scenes, unbeknownst to the world, the Spirit of God and the Word of God were working. There was a man being groomed and prepared by God. He was being prepared to be a voice for God. The Word of God came to John in the wilderness; in the solitary place; in the lonely place; in the isolated and obscure place. We mustn't be afraid of loneliness, isolation or obscurity, for there the Word of God will come to us. He will find us as we wait upon Him. In your wilderness; in your isolation; in your desert place, God’s word, God’s voice, God’s direction, God’s wisdom will come to you.

   Once we have the word, and that word has prepared us, then we can become a voice. There must be a vocal expression of the word. The word must not be simply spoken to us, but it must be spoken through us. It is given to us so it can be given through us. We must become vessels of the word. We must become a voice by which the word of God is transported into the ears of this world. We have the words whereby peoples' destinies can be changed. Faith comes to unbelievers as they hear the word spoken. It is a gift of God given to those who hear, through those that speak the words of God.

    Let us not be discouraged in our loneliness and isolation. Remember who you are; you came from God. Remember whose you are; you belong to God. He has not forgotten you. Wait on Him, listen to Him, worship Him, yield to Him. For He has enlisted you in the army of believers who come from the spiritual lineage of John; a people who know their God and who are faithful to be the voice of the Word of Life to this generation!

Jesus: Our Powerful Example and Hero!

Luke 4:2 – Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days He did eat nothing: and when they were ended, He afterward hungered.

    Imagine forty days in the wilderness; forty days and nights alone, without any human company or support; forty long days and nights without a friend to console you or to simply converse with. He was entirely alone. This was an intense test of who he truly was. It was a test of character, identity, security and destiny. The wilderness represents the place of fallen man; the wild place where nothing submits but, all things vie for supremacy. Tozer once wrote that, “The bias of nature is toward the wilderness, never toward the fruitful field”. Because Jesus was in the solitary and isolated place, he can identify with all these emotions and realities of our fallen world. He was there. He was tempted of the devil. He was scrutinized ‘of’ the devil. The Greek word for ‘of’ is the word ‘under’ which powerfully illustrates a concentrated, forty day experience of suffering. He underwent rigorous scrutiny and severe interrogation of the devil. The enemy is aptly called Diabolos; the slanderer and defamer of all that is righteous. One can only imagine the vindictives hurled against him; the slander, the accusations and the lies of the enemy, the constant barrage and cacophony of sounds from which we want to plug our ears.

    During all of this time that he was under this test, he did not eat even one thing. He did not do the most basic human thing. Eating is necessary for survival, for strength and for clarity of mind. Not once did Jesus take anything natural into himself. He lived on the basis of the Word of God; he was literally sustained by it. He overcame the enemy with powerful quotations from Scripture. He used the phrase, “It is written” to form the premise for his stance. He is our perfect example and we can follow in his steps. These words, “It is written” declare the spiritual and legal precedent for us as believers. It is written, it still stands, and it is still in force, therefore we can say with all authority, “Get thee behind me Satan!”