A People Prepared
Training to become an Astronaut and preparing for a space flight is mentally engaging, energy-sapping, and time-consuming. Apart from physical conditioning, all space flights go through a rigorous training program. On top of six years of schooling and two years of professional experience, astronauts must complete two years of mandatory basic training. All of this adds up to about a decade of preparation. After that, astronauts may need to wait months or years before they can even embark on their first space mission.
That is what it takes to prepare for a space flight. So what does it take to prepare for a flight beyond space?
John the Baptist came with a preordained mission: His birth and mission on earth were eloquently foretold by angel Gabriel to Zechariah, his father:
“He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And He will go on before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous — to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:16–17).
Making Ready a People Prepared.
John the Baptist fulfilled to the letter every component of Angel Gabriel’s prediction — he profoundly impacted his generation. The Gospels’ account is clear on this. John prepared the way for the first advent of Jesus, the Messiah — the One anointed to pay the price of humanity’s sins, now at the right hand of the Father, waiting for yet an appointed time when he will return to the earth to harvest a people prepared for him.
John the Baptist was sent in the spirit and power of Elijah with a message of repentance — to prepare a people for the anointed One. He came to lay the groundwork for reconciling humanity with their creator on one hand, and reconciling and establishing peace between family members on the other. Perhaps the angel’s prediction is as relevant today as it was to the age of John, the Baptist.
We live in an age when a mother would give away her own baby in exchange for money; when sons killed their parents for money-making rituals, and when daughters disappeared to thin air with their mother’s life savings leaving their mother to languish in poverty.
What’s more, ‘the church’ or some churches truly have become the ‘den of robbers’ harboring all manner of men and women of shady character under the guise of ministry to defraud the poor and vulnerable members of our society.
What does it mean to be a people prepared for the coming of the Lord in the context of Luke 1:3 referenced above?
Darrell L. Bock seeks to answer this question in an article, “Dimensions of Repentance” in Christianity Today, of September 2023. The text, in his words, gives a two-part answer: “John will turn people back to God,” rightly reflecting what prophets are supposed to do. The second component — which is what God expects from people ready for his coming — is that John will turn people back to one another. Both human relationship with God and relationship with one another were embedded in John’s calling to prepare a people for the coming of the Lord.
The biblical term for repentance — turning — was the goal of bringing people back to God, and to one another. It’s about “moving and living in such a way as to connect hearts, pursue love, and seek the good of others.”
People participated in John’s baptism as a mark of repentance, saying, “I am ready for the Lord to come.” He said to them: ”Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’
John says, in other words, it is not enough to claim a religious pedigree or identify with a religious icon, you have to prove repentance by how you live. “The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire” (Luke 3: 14- 19).
At that point, the people asked him, “What then should we do?” John answered them, “The person who has two tunics must share with the person who has none, and the person who has food must do likewise.” (v.11).
Even Corrupt Colonial Officials Were Touched. Scripture says:
“Tax collectors also came to be baptized and they said to John,”Teacher, what should we do? John told them: “Collect no more than you are required to.” “Then some soldiers also asked him, “And as for us what should we do? He told them “Take money from no one by violence or by false accusations, and be content with your pay.”
Sounds familiar?
“For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, and of joint and marrow” (Hebrew 4:12).
It is what happens when the Word of God, not the word of men (philosophers and the worldly wise), is preached.
Where are “John the Baptists” of our day telling our law enforcement agencies to stop robbing defenseless poor masses of their money? Where’s the Church that is preparing a people for Christ’s second coming?
Apparently, some are failing to fulfill their calling and mission!
A People Prepared.
Jesus told his disciples prior to his departure from the earth, “Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go and prepare a place for you? And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (John 14: 1–3).
My understanding of these words of Jesus is that this world is not our home. Our eternal home is somewhere outside of here. And if Jesus has gone to prepare for us an eternal home, we too must get ourselves prepared for that home.
As the people responded to John the Baptist by turning from their old ways, believers in Christ are called to step out and be counted as people prepared for the Lord’s second coming.
This is what the Great Commission is about— making disciples of all nations and baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Are you prepared?
