Prepare for the Judge’s Arrival
Judges have always been of high importance, haven’t they? Well, most of them. Let’s work our way backward through time and think of some of the well-known judges from over the years.
One of the most famous judges today is…Aaron Judge, but he doesn’t count because he’s just a baseball player.
Maybe Simon Cowell counts because he’s a judge on American Idol. Just as popular was Judge Judy, who was on TV until just a few years ago (and who was an actual judge!).
Keep going back and you might think of Ruth Bader Ginsburg “The Notorious R.B.G.” of the Supreme Court.
Rain Man loved Judge Wapner back in the 80s and 90s.
You’d have to be at least 50-something years old to remember Sammie Davis, Jr. in a comedy sketch singing, “Here comes the judge! Here comes the judge!” But what you didn’t know is that he borrowed his song from a man named Pigmeat Markham.
Quite a bit more serious is John Marshall, the 4th Chief Justice of the United States back in the early 1800s, and the longest-serving Chief Justice of the United States.
Ok, no more judges! Well, one more and we have to go back many, many more years for this one. He’s the Judge John the Baptist talked about. John told the people about Jesus and his greatness, his power, his expectations, and his judgment. John was getting people ready, like a bailiff calling out, “All, rise!” as the judge is about to enter the courtroom.
As we read about this, we get a little distracted maybe… camel’s hair and locust and wild-honey lunches. Don’t think so much about that this morning. Instead focus more on what John said and did.
He preached about the need for repentance. He proclaimed forgiveness as he did the beautiful work of baptism for some. Others he called snakes in a holy rant loaded with imagery: axes and trees and sandals and shovels and threshing floors! With all of that—the saving gospel and the damning law, John was doing the job he was born to do: preparing the people for The Imminent Arrival of the Jesus, the Judge.
John the Baptist is still doing his work whenever a person reads or hears these words. They’re in front of us now, so look and listen as he tells us about Jesus so that you can Prepare for the Judge’s Arrival.
Because It is Near!
There was this prophecy that God’s people would have known well: A voice of one crying out in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight.” The gospel writers all tells us that John the Baptist is the one who fulfilled this prophecy, the one who spiritually smoothed the way for the Savior to come. The Apostle John in his gospel, tells how John the Baptist himself quoted what Isaiah said when asked by the religious leaders who he was!
This week, Hugh Jackman, the actor, was in Milwaukee promoting a new movie. He was working behind the counter at Kopp’s Frozen Custard and a huge crowd flocked there. The line was long as people hoped to talk to him and have him serve them. This kind of thing happens when there is a celebrity around. Would you believe that it was like that with John the Baptist? It was. As God prepared for the world to meet his Son, he sent John out into the Desert of Judea and the people flocked to him!
People came from Jerusalem, Judea, the whole area around the Jordan River. All kinds of religious went to check him out too Pharisees, Sadducees, Priests, Levites. Rockstar status just like Jesus would soon have. And rightly so that people’s attention should be turned from John who was getting them ready, to Jesus who was about to step on the stage. John was the opening act; and because of God’s promises of a Savior, Jesus was the one everyone wanted to see.
John proclaimed “the kingdom of heaven is near!” The kingdom of heaven came as God sent his Son to live a whole life of perfection and to offer himself on the cross as a payment for the world’s sin and then to defeat death by rising from it. This plan to bring forgiveness to a world full of sinners and swing open the gates to heaven for them was about to unfold. It didn’t get any bigger than this! People needed to be alerted to this!
So, John shouted out the good news, and with it also came an instruction that also served as a warning It wasn’t just, “The kingdom of heaven is near!” It was “REPENT, because the kingdom of heaven in near!” The Messiah was coming as the Savior and the Judge.
By Repenting
If you were elbowing your way through the crowds to get to John, you would have heard him explain what it means to repent. He would have said, Recognize the things that God says are wrong in your life! You ought to hate sin like God hates sin! You ought to want to get it out of your life like God wants you to get it out of your life! Change your heart! Change your mind! Change your life! Repentance was PREPARATION FOR THE JUDGE’S ARRIVAL
Some of the people listened. John’s preaching of the law worked on their hearts, and their guilty consciences told them John was right. So, they wanted to know more about this One who would come after John, who would be mightier than him, whose sandals he was not fit to carry. The One who would baptize them with the Holy Spirit and with fire. They listened to the prophet…and they repented…and they were baptized by John in the Jordan River for the forgiveness of their sins. They would see Jesus as the promised Savior, and at The End would see him as the Judge they didn’t need to fear at all.
Then there were the other guys. The Pharisees, who knew that there were a lot of people who had a lot to repent of like the rabble gathered around John but they themselves didn’t need to, not with their pristine lives! And the Sadducees, who didn’t see a need to repent of anything they were doing and didn’t believe in any life after death or accountability to God once they died. “Repent” was John’s message to them, but he had even more to say.
By Producing Fruit
John wouldn’t even baptize them! They showed him their hearts when they showed him their lives. There was no repentance there, no admission of sin, no desire to change. There was only pride and condescension from the Pharisees and disinterest from Sadducees who didn’t believe they would ever stand before a divine Judge.
So…they got an extra sermon. Offspring of vipers! John said. Think of Satan in the Garden of Eden and you’ll realize that John is calling these religious leaders “children of the devil.” They thought they were fine with God because they came from Abraham’s family tree. But no one is saved by being born into a particular family. If they personally did not repent and show the good fruits of that faith in their lives, they would be cut down like unproductive trees and be cast into the fires of hell. This harsh message was necessary for them to be PREPARED FOR THE JUDGE’S ARRIVAL.
The repentance of many in the crowd would lead them to change their lives. Selfish and self-centered people would find a new concern for people around them. Tax collectors would stop cheating people Soldiers would serve honorably and not abuse their position. If people leaned Sadducee, living only for things in this world, they would straighten up and live for God. If they were more like the Pharisees, they would start loving instead of looking down on others. Faith and repentance bring about an attitude change and a change of life.
When we open the Bible and hear John preaching to us, he also tells us that the kingdom of heaven is near. The time for Christ’s judgment is close. On the Last Day, the ax will actually swing. Those who rejected him and would not repent of their sins and change their hearts and lives for God, will be like fruitless trees getting the ax And like chopped down trees, they will be thrown into the fires of hell.
He will also Judge as “not guilty” the people who did recognize their sin, did repent, and did live a life of willing service to God. They will be prepared to meet the Judge, and he will welcome them to be with him forever.
That’s the crowd we want to be in, right?
We can sometimes act like the Pharisees did. We can be self-righteous, proud of our church work or clean living, and look down on people who don’t seem to be on quite the same level as we are. We can be pretty proud of our generous offerings to the Lord and suspect that our giving has got to be better than so many others. If this is how we operate, it is the equivalent of rejecting the prophet’s message of repentance and bearing fruit!
Like the Sadducees, we may reject parts of God’s Word that we don’t like so much. We may be more interested in our day-to-day lives than in our spiritual lives and the work of God’s church. If we are so worldly-minded, and it shows in our hit-and-miss worship in God’s house or lack of service to God and others, then we’re kind of saying that we aren’t that interested in the kingdom of heaven.
John insists that we look inward and see our sin…and repent of it…and produce fruits of faith. No weakly mumbled, “I’m sorry” to God will do! Produce fruit means to show in your life that the change in your heart has actually taken place! The life of the repentant person should look different than it did before! This is an everyday thing. God is looking for lives that are a constant expression of love and devotion to him. It can be so easy to listen here in church and even nod our heads in agreement with the Word of God we hear, but then leave and find that it has no effect on our lives. We need to pay attention to John because he’s PREPARING US FOR THE JUDGE’S ARRIVAL!
My friends, if we are part of the crowd that listens to John, we’ll look to the one he’s preparing us to see the Judge who declares us innocent because he is also our Savior who did what was needed for our salvation. We’ll repent and trust and change and look forward to standing before him, because by his grace we are declared not guilty and, by his invitation, we will live with him forever. Amen.
Now the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.