The Adventures of Jesus Christ
Episodes from the Life of Jesus for Young Readers
by Vincent Cheung
[ Contents ]
Chapter 7. Jesus and the Voice
CLEAR THE ROAD FOR THE KING!
Jesus would eventually begin to speak about God to the world and perform many kinds of miracles. This would be his ministry. Before his ministry started, God sent a messenger to prepare the people and to announce the arrival of Jesus.
His name was John the Baptist. He was different from other people. He lived out in the wilderness, wore clothes made of camel’s hair, and ate locusts and wild honey. He lived a rough life on purpose.
But that was not the thing that made him special. What made him special was the identity and the work that God gave him. Jesus was a king, and John was his herald. A herald is someone who speaks for the king and announces the king.
When some people asked John the Baptist how he would describe himself, he referred to the prophet Isaiah, who said, “He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord! Clear the road for him!'” John said that Isaiah was talking about him.
John traveled through the countryside, telling people to turn away from their sins and get ready for the Christ, or the Messiah. He said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near!” To repent means to admit your sins, to turn away from them, and turn to God with a heart of faith and sincerity.
John wanted the people to look at about how they had been thinking and living, and what they had been doing. People from all over the land came to listen to him, and he told them to turn away from their sins and to turn to God. As a sign of their repentance, John would baptize them with water in the river. He was called John the Baptist for this reason.
His ministry was good and effective. Many people listened to what he said and began to turn back to God. As you can imagine, they were thankful for him and respected him. However, John reminded the people that someone greater was coming, and all his work was meant to bring everyone to this person.
He explained, “I baptize you with water, but after me comes someone who is more powerful than I am. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit!” Baptism with water is only a ritual, a ceremony. Although God can do something in our lives whenever we obey and honor him, the water itself is only water. It is nothing more than a symbol for something that God does in our lives.
On the other hand, the Holy Spirit is God himself, just like God the Father and God the Son. There is only one God. This one God is God the Father, God the Son, or the Word, and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God, and the power of God. And John said that Jesus would baptize us, not with water, but with the Holy Spirit. Jesus would be someone who gives us the Holy Spirit, God’s very power, to fill our beings and fill our lives.
The water in water baptism is only a symbol or a picture for something God does in our lives. But the Holy Spirit is not just a symbol – he is the real thing, the substance. By giving you the Holy Spirit, Jesus can give you real power, real wisdom, and real life. Jesus could cover you and fill you with the Holy Spirit. Someone who can do that is much greater than John the Baptist. And God’s Spirit is much greater than water.
So John said that although he himself baptized people with water, someone greater was coming who would baptize people with the Holy Spirit. John was talking about Jesus. He wanted everyone to know that Jesus was the one who could truly change them and save them.