All around was desert – the prophet’s voice
boomed out over the wasteland at the ruling elite, the Pharisees, he warned
them thus-
Matt 3:9 and do
not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’;
for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to
Abraham.”
These were the
leaders of the nation, the political elite – at their disposal were political
connections –they were connected to Herod the ruthless king (bringing Jesus to
his palace to condemn Him), they had their own military power – the temple
guards, they had wealth and influence and position as the esteemed religious
elite of their day.
The prophet was
likely to be pointing out at the rocks in the wasteland furiously as he shouted
about the stones that God could use to raise up Children of God.
Stones in the desert
– sunbaked, parched, dry, in the barren wasteland, the home of scorpions and
lizards, a wasteland of death and desolation.
From the
nothingness of a desert God could and would raise up men, apostles, prophets,
men who turned the known world upside down (acts 17:6), challenging the
entrenched power structures, filled with the word, truth and power of God. John
the Baptist was one such man arising from the desert nothingness and
challenging the kings and leaders of his day.
Of Elijah the
prophet, also interestingly – there is no origin story in the bible – no
credentials of high birth, nor illustrious education nor political privilege or
stellar lineage. All it says in 1 kings 17 is the location where he is from. Another
nobody from the desert raised as a prophet.
The apostles
were also of a similar cut and pattern:
Acts 4:13 Now as they observed the confidence of Peter
and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were
amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.
Fishermen, uneducated, not having the right
network, lucrative career or political connections turned the world upside
down. How much education do we need to
do God’s work? God apparently does not think that much is needed.
How? God raised them up. They were in the
presence of Jesus. They sat at His feet and heard His word.
An impossible task lies before us – to
preach the gospel in all the world and to make disciples of all nations,
teaching them to obey the commandments of God.
Do we in the middle class, westernized
society sometimes we say – we don’t have the resources, we don’t have the
connections, we don’t have the prestige, we don’t have the political
connections, we don’t know the right people?
We are looking to man and the arm of flesh
to accomplish that which God already promised which He would do – to go with us
and give us all His power and His authority to do what He commanded.
Are we not common people as the apostles
were? That is enough. Only be surrendered to Jesus Christ and it will prove the
biblical pattern that God uses the weak, the nobodies of the earth that He may
be made famous, glorified that His person and character and gospel may be
preached in all the earth.
Matt 28:18 And Jesus came
up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and
on earth. 19 [e]Go therefore and make disciples of all the
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy
Spirit, 20 teaching them to
observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you [f]always, even to the end of the age.”
HE promised His
power and His presence. It is enough. And that is all that is needed to complete
the enormity of the works of kingdom and to finish these works in our day. Let
us not look to worldly means to finish that which he promised. Only stand
still, believe and keep only Jesus in our hearts as the one we rejoice in, and
as the one who is able to do impossible things for the glory of His name. God
is enough!
No comments:
Post a Comment