Forerunners in the Wilderness Teaching

1. 1. My Story
      1. In 2009, I had an encounter the Lord with the emphasis to proclaim his return. I embarked on a 10 year commitment to prayer and fasting and studying the scriptures. This has given me focus, stability, grace to endure hardship.

• “I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and because of His appearing and His kingdom: Proclaim the message; persist in it whether convenient or not; rebuke, correct, and encourage with great patience and teaching…There is reserved for me in the future the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me, but to all those who have loved His appearing.” 2 Timothy 4:1-2, 8 HCSB

2. A People Prepared. My passion is to see believers of Jesus grounded in the unshakable gospel of Christ crucified that they are able to stand firm in the darkest hour of human history.

“So if anyone purifies himself from anything dishonorable, he will be a special instrument, set apart, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.” 2 Timothy 2:21 HCSB

1. 1. When I say Wilderness, what comes to mind?
      1. Examples in Scripture: Leaving Eden, Wilderness wanderings, Elijah in the Wilderness, Wilderness of the nations, Jesus temptation in the Wilderness, Paul’s 14 years possibly in the Wilderness, Revelation 12, Woman in the wilderness
   2. “Prepare the Way”
      1. “A voice of one crying out: Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert. Every valley will be lifted up, and every mountain and hill will be leveled; the uneven ground will become smooth and the rough places, a plain. And the glory of the Lord will appear, and all humanity together will see it, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. A voice was saying, “Cry out! ” Another said, “What should I cry out? ” “All humanity is grass, and all its goodness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flowers fade when the breath of the Lord blows on them; indeed, the people are grass. The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God remains forever.” Zion, herald of good news, go up on a high mountain. Jerusalem, herald of good news, raise your voice loudly. Raise it, do not be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God! ” See, the Lord God comes with strength, and His power establishes His rule. His reward is with Him, and His gifts accompany Him.” Isaiah 40:3-10 HCSB 
      2. Herald, forerunner, messenger. “Herald of good tidings” (v. 9) is translated into the Greek Septuagint as euangelizomenos or “evangelist”–one of the first times this term is used to announce the gospel or good news of God (see also Psalm 40:9; Isaiah 52:7).
   3. John’s Identity
      1. “This is John’s testimony when the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him, “Who are you? ” He did not refuse to answer, but he declared: “I am not the Messiah.” “What then? ” they asked him. “Are you Elijah? ” “I am not,” he said. “Are you the Prophet? ” “No,” he answered. “Who are you, then? ” they asked. “We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What can you tell us about yourself? ” He said, “I am a voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord — just as Isaiah the prophet said.”” John 1:19-23 HCSB
   4. Johns Preparation in the Desert
      1. “during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” Luke 3:2-3 NIV
      2. “Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet when he said, “THE VOICE OF ONE CALLING OUT IN THE WILDERNESS, ‘PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD, M AKE H IS PATHS STRAIGHT!’ ” Now John himself had a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. At that time Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea and all the region around the Jordan; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins.” Matthew 3:1-6 NASB

1. 1. 1. 1. The space (saith Josephus) from Jericho to Jerusalem, is desert and rocky; but towards Jordan and the Asphaltites, more level, but as desert and barren.” And Saligniac writes; “The journey from Jerusalem is very difficult, stony, and very rough; the like to which I do not remember I have seen. Jericho is distant from Jordan almost ten miles
      2. As John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began talking about him to the crowds. “What kind of man did you go into the wilderness to see? Was he a weak reed, swayed by every breath of wind? Or were you expecting to see a man dressed in expensive clothes? (Royalty, wealthy, powerful) No, people with expensive clothes live in palaces. Were you looking for a prophet? Yes, and he is more than a prophet. And if you are willing to accept what I say, he is Elijah, the one the prophets said would come.” Matthew 11:7-9, 14 NLT
      3. “For he will be great in the sight of the Lord and will never drink wine or beer. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother’s womb. He will turn many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to make ready for the Lord a prepared people.” Luke 1:15-17 HCSB
         1. Elijah in the Wilderness

• • • • “Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.”…Then the angel of the Lord came again and touched him and said, “Get up and eat some more, or the journey ahead will be too much for you.” So he got up and ate and drank, and the food gave him enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights to Mount Sinai, the mountain of God.…“Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake…When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And a voice said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”” 1 Kings 19:4, 7-8, 11, 13 NLT

5. Conclusion: John lived a simple life. He was largely obscure, unknown, didn’t have a lot of money or fancy things, and lived outside of the “systems” of man—religious groups, political, revolutionaries, etc. He was consecrated from birth with a Nazarite vow. His training in the wilderness contributed to his bold proclamation of the gospel even to the point of being imprisoned and killed. Jesus calls him the “greatest born of woman”. Do we have the same vision of greatness as the Lord?

1. 1. Israel in the Wilderness
      1. “Remember that the Lord your God led you on the entire journey these 40 years in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commands. He humbled you by letting you go hungry; then He gave you manna to eat, which you and your fathers had not known, so that you might learn that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out, and your feet did not swell these 40 years. Keep in mind that the Lord your God has been disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. So keep the commands of the Lord your God by walking in His ways and fearing Him.” Deuteronomy 8:2-6 HCSB
   2. Jesus In the Wilderness
      1. “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. After He had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, He was hungry. Then the tempter approached Him and said, “If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” But He answered, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”” Matthew 4:1-4 HCSB
   3. The Training Ground for the Church.
      1. What about the church? What is our “wilderness”? Sanctification- being set apart to receive the Promise.
         1. “Dear friends, I urge you as strangers and temporary residents  to abstain from fleshly desires that war against you.” 1 Peter 2:11 HCSB
         2. “And what agreement does God’s sanctuary have with idols? For we are the sanctuary of the living God, as God said: I will dwell among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people. Therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord; do not touch any unclean thing, and I will welcome you.” 2 Corinthians 6:16-17 HCSB 
         3. “You must not love this rebellious world and its wicked ways. If someone does love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Everything that is in the world, you see, such as the sinful cravings of the mortal nature and the greedy desires of the eyes and the arrogance bred by wealth and possessions, comes not from the Father, but from the world.” 1 John 2:15-16 BHT

1. 1. Do not Harden your heart
      1. “So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’(Deut. 8:2, purpose of wilderness. Test and humble, show what’s in your heart.) So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ” See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.” Hebrews 3:7-19 NIV
         1. Failure in the Wilderness,  Numbers 14

“They soon forgot His works and would not wait for His counsel. They were seized with craving in the wilderness and tested God in the desert.” Psalms 106:13-14 HCSB

Bottom Line:

Are we willing to embrace the “wilderness” of testing and training as we prepare for the Lord’s return? Will we give ourselves to a lifestyle of simplicity and faith in that Day? Will we allow the Lord to humble us and crush self-reliance and prideful boasting in our hearts?

Will you trust him when you’re not seeing the results? When it’s not looking like you thought? In fact it’s getting worse, you’re experiencing lack, hunger, need. The “Where’s God?” moments.

Bottom Line: He’s doing it, the one orchestrating the whole thing, setting up the perfect contest for what? Your heart to be known. What do you want? What do you choose? It’s up to you in the wilderness.