Advent Trail December 7th - John 1:6-9

There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning the light, so that through him all might believe… The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. (John 1:6-9)

In all four gospels, the story of the ministry of Jesus begins with the work of John the Baptist For four hundred years there had been no prophet in Israel, and the Jewish people were now under the rule of Rome. So the emergence of someone dressed in the traditional clothing of a prophet (Matt.3:4, Zech.13:4) and announcing that the Kingdom of God was near caused great excitement (Matt.3:5-6).

The coming of John was seen as the fulfilment of the prophecy in Isaiah 40:3. John’s ministry took place in “the Desert of Judea” around the Jordan, so he was truly “a voice of one calling in the desert” (Matt.3:1-3). More importantly, that prophecy speaks of preparing the way for the Lord and that was exactly the work of John.

John was the last – and the greatest - of the Old Testament prophets (Matt.11:11). And like the prophets who had come before him, his task was to point people to God’s light. “He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light” (John 1:8). That “true light” was about to dawn in the world with the coming of the Messiah. By calling people to repentance John prepared his listeners, both then and now, to be ready to believe in Jesus and so receive “the light of life” (John 8:12).