January 2014
Two women, related but separated by age and distance. One a woman who was barren, getting old and married to a priest, the other a young virgin betrothed but as yet unmarried. Both were granted the honour of being given the miracle of pregnancy through divine intervention. The older of the two, Elisabeth, went into isolation on learning she was pregnant. Her husband Zacharias became dumb when he didn’t believe what the archangel told him.
The younger woman, Mary, became pregnant when Elisabeth was in the sixth month of her pregnancy. When the two met, Luke tells us Elisabeth’s baby leapt inside her. Both children were to have remarkable ministries. As the angels had informed them both were to be filled with the Holy Spirit and Elisabeth’s son became the voice of one crying “make straight the way for the Lord.” He was to be called John the Baptist. It is his life and ministry that will be the subject of the English Corner in 2014.
Please read Luke 1.
Be blessed
Bruce
February 2014
Luke 1: 57 – 80 Tells us of the birth and the giving of the name John. Unlike the naming traditions of the time, Elisabeth´s son was not given the name Zacharias, after his father, as was the tradition then. As his father could not speak, his mother said the child’s name should be John. The father, Zacharias, confirmed this by writing on a clay tablet. As soon as this was done Zacharias was able to speak and prophesied under the power of the Holy Spirit.
Only a few words at the very end of this chapter reveal anything of John’s early years, boyhood and growing up. All we are told is that John lived in the desert until his work began. This contrasts markedly with other people from the Old Testament whose early years we can read more about.
Be blessed,
Bruce
March 2014
Luke 1:77 And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;
Luke 1:77 To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,
Luke 1:78 Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,
Luke 1:79 To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Luke 1:80 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel.
Luke 1:77-80
The last stanza of Zacharius’ song, inspired by the Holy Spirit, announces the future ministry the boy we now know as John the Baptist. We learn that John will preach salvation and the forgiveness of sins. Verse 1:80 rather cryptically tells us that John grew under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and that he then lived in the desert until beginning his ministry. He would have been schooled in the Scriptures and I believe that during his time living in the desert he would have observed what was happening in society of the time and meditated deeply in prayer on the scriptures he had read and learned and made the comparison with the way people lived and behaved and the words of God in the scriptures.
It would be well for us today to do exactly the same; study the Bible and observe and compare the society in which we live and its mores.
Be blessed,
Bruce
April 2014
John the Baptist next appears in chapter 3 of both Matthew’s and Luke’s gospels. He, John, has been prompted by the holy spirit to begin preaching the gospel of repentance. As he begins to do this, people begin to come out of the cities into the wilderness and the shores of the river Jordan to hear him. His appearance must have been bizarre or even wild. Unlike the normal way people dressed in those days his was markedly different. He wore a garment made from Camel hair or possibly from the untreated skinof that animal or another animal. His hair was uncombed and possibly arranged in long plaits. Even so he would’ve been recognised as being a person who had dedicated his life to God.
His message was uncompromising, he called on people to repent all their sins and to make restitution to those they had wronged and to turn away from sin and to acknowledge that they had sinned against God just as David had done. Furthermore, John the Baptist called upon the people to be baptised for the remission of sins. When asked if he was the promised messiah he denied it saying that the one to come would be greater than he. When Sadducees and the Pharisees came to him he spoke to them in very direct and harsh words. Calling them vipers, A species of poisonous snake. Jesus was to use similar language when speaking to these people. John, was the voice of one crying in the desert “make straight the way of the Lord.” As foretold in the book of Isaiah.
Be blessed,
Bruce
May 2014
Luke 3:17
Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.
John the Baptist used this image when talking to the people who had come to hear him preach repentance and baptism at the river Jordan.
John is saying that John is like a man who comes to the threshing floor to winnow the grain after it has been threshed. This winnowing was done with a large fan used to blow the chaff or husks from the grain which had been separated by the threshing process. He meant that on the final judgement day that Jesus would sit in Judgement on everyone.
Glossary:-
Chaff/husk – the hard shiny covering around grain
Threshing- separation of the grain from it’s hard covering. In Biblical times oxen were used for this job
Winnow – the final separation of chaff and grain by using a flow of air, either by using a fan or by tossing the grain and chaff in the air. In each case the chaff/husks are lighter than the grain and are blown away.
June 2014
Matt. 3: 11 – 17
This is a truly amazing passage! John announces there is someone who will come later and will baptise with the Holy Spirit and fire. John also makes a very humble statement concerning the difference between Himself and the Messiah to come. The he, John, is unworthy to undo the sandals of the one to come. A job given only to the lowest of servants or slaves.
When Jesus came to the river, He tells John that He has come to be baptised. John, shocked, refuses as he believes he is most unworthy and that Jesus does not need to be baptised at all. With Jesus’ insistence the baptism takes place. God Himself then confirms that He is well pleased with His Son, Jesus.
Be blessed,
Bruce
July 2014
The focus of the Scriptures now, quite rightly, concentrates on the life, preaching and healing miracles performed by Jesus. There is a short reference to John the Baptist’s arrest and imprisonment by Herod as a consequence of John’s criticism of Herod’s immoral behaviour. Luke 3: 19-20.
The next mention of John the Baptist is found in Luke 7:17-24. At this point John is in prison and to a large extent is isolated from the outside world. In those days prisoners were largely dependent on family and friends for food as no food was provided by the prisons themselves. Some of John’s disciples were able to speak to him occasionally and they reported to him on the ministry of Jesus.
Because of his isolation and its effects on him he needed reassurance that Jesus was the promised Messiah. His questions were not those of a sceptic but of one seeking confirmation and reassurance that the stories he was hearing were about the same person who had come to him for baptism and had been recognised by him, John, as the One sent by God.
Be blessed,
Bruce
August 2014
The final chapter of John the Baptist’s life is well known and has been dramatised, made into ballets, paintings and music. Imprisoned by Herod, John becomes a pawn in the schemes of Herod’s court. Herod’s daughter was persuaded to dance for Herod and when she was offered anything she wished as reward for the dance her mother told her to ask for the Head of John in a charger. (A large flat dish)
Immediately without trial or ceremony John was beheaded in the prison cell and his head carried into the banqueting hall. John rightly knew that his ministry would end when Jesus’ ministry began. If John had lived, maybe some of his disciples would not have followed Jesus.
With John’s death, the focus of history shifts to the one whom John had prophesied would come and be the saviour of the world. John knew he had fulfilled his ministry and purpose to God’s satisfaction.
Matt 14: 1- 12
Be blessed and fulfil your God given purpose.
Bruce
September 2014
The events taking place in the Eastern Mediterranean countries are constantly in the news. Much of the news is reported with a strong bias amounting to propaganda rather than accurate journalism. Much of what passes for news that is disseminated over the internet is quite blatantly slanted in line with the writers own views and agenda.
Remember, there has always been conflict in the Middle East!
Matt. 24 records Jesus words on the “End times” in which He sets out the signs and events which will occur before His return in glory to this Earth. Matt.24:6 is particularly relevant.
Be blessed,
Bruce
October 2014
The seeds of the present situation were sown with the birth of a son to Hagar, who was Sarai’s maid, whom Sarai gave to Abram for this purpose. The son called Ishmael was “ A wild man” Gen.16:12. He was both wild and in conflict with everyone. This conflict has carried on through the centuries and will only be resolved with the return of Christ to establish His rule on Earth.
Be blessed,
Bruce
November 2014
It is generally accepted in the West that the Islamic religion began in the 6th Century AD. Muslims however believe that many Old and New testament men from Adam to Jesus were Islamic prophets. This could be an appropriation after the fact to justify the Koranic texts. Similar things have happened in the west e.g. The book of Mormon, and others.
The 6th Century AD is centuries after the establishment of the nation of Israel as God’s chosen people. It is also much later than the beginnings of Christianity as well. However, Islam claims to be the one true religion predating all others. For some Muslims this has, throughout history, resulted in the almost fanatical belief that other religions and their followers should be converted or killed.
Such is the legacy of Ishmael.
However, the history of such conflict has been as much one of conflict between different branches and factions of Islam itself as between Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Shia and Sunni Moslems are engaged in a kind of civil war. In fact, Islam is more fractured than is Christianity. There are many more branches of Islam than of either Judaism or Christianity.
Thankfully different Christian denominations are no longer physically at war and have not been for a long time.
The fact is, I believe, that what is happening today, in Syria, Libya, Israel, Gaza and even in the Ukraine is foretold in Matt. 24:6.
Be blessed,
Bruce
December 2014
The eschatological nature of Jesus words in Matt.24:29-31 are well worth reading again and again. Even committing them to memory so that when dark and difficult times surround us we may turn to them for comfort and solace. The return of Jesus is closer than ever before and may well happen in our life times.
Be blessed,
Bruce