“In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea,” – Matthew 3:1
The Thanksgiving holiday is just a few days away. People are rushing around shopping in the bounty of our nation preparing for a day of celebration and hopefully giving thanks to the LORD for our many blessings. Many have started their Christmas decorations early, or plan to start the day after Thanksgiving. Some are even weighing the possibility of joining the Black Friday fray for big deals on big ticket items. A day of glut after a day of gluttony.
Thanksgiving is or at least should be the purest of our national holidays. Thanksgiving is the hardest holiday to ruin. But even Thanksgiving can be run down. Maybe you invite family to your holiday celebration out of obligation, hoping some won’t show up. There’s a gigantic meal, but little to no conversation about what we are thankful for or Who we are thankful to. Instead awkward pauses are interrupted by NFL games. There are always those who eat more than they bring. There is the work of shopping and cooking food and “traditional” family dishes. For some that’s fun. For others it’s frustration. And for still others it’s futility. Maybe we are reduced to a sorry sigh and say, “Let’s just order out and have it Ubered to us.”
There are those who dread Thanksgiving. For them it’s just one more reminder of their loneliness. They are the forgotten ones, the ones who have outlived family and friends. To them length of days has lost its luster. For some it’s another reminder of being an outcast, a Black Sheep, a pariah, a loner. To this last group Thanksgiving is a wilderness; dry, fruitless, an unwanted providence. It’s to this group that I want to speak about The Way of the Wilderness. It is my contention that the wilderness times of life are far from “dry, fruitless, an unwanted providence.” Instead I believe such wilderness can be a means God uses to bless you and bless others through you.
I want to qualify what I am about to share by first pointing out that to receive from the Lord and profit from the wilderness one needs to be a disciple. A “Disciple” is a learner. A disciple is one who follows their Teacher through life, listening attentively, watching closely, and seeking to imitate and apply the lessons learned to life. Jesus is our Teacher (John 13:13). We need to fix our eyes on Him. He is the Author and Finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). He knows the introduction, middle chapters, highs and lows, twists, and turns of our book of life. He knows our final chapter too. As we go through the wilderness He ordains for us, we need to prayerfully pay attention knowing, “that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:7). Keep your eyes on Jesus as you follow the wilderness road. Stay close to Him, there are lessons to learn in the wilderness.
A solitary life is not necessarily a sad life. John the Baptist is an example of how wilderness solitude is part of a wonderful journey in life. It was out of the wilderness that God raised up one of His greatest blessings to this world. John was birthed to a couple who were living through the wilderness of infertility. Infertility, the inability to have children, is experienced by about ten percent of couples in our day. [1] It’s a difficult life situation because sometimes “modern” medicine is unable to correct it. Infertility was thought to be a curse in Biblical times. It was called “barrenness,” a wilderness word. And yet, Zacharias and Elizabeth “were both righteous before God, walking in the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless” (Luke 1:6). They were righteous and barren, so infertility is not necessarily a curse from God.
In this wilderness, “they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years” (Luke 1:7). They prayed and prayed, but no pregnancy. But one day, while Zacharias was serving the LORD, an angel from the LORD came to tell him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John” (Luke 1:13). To top it off the angel said, “And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth” (Luke 1:14). And not only that but this child, “will be great in the sight of the LORD, . . . he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.” And not only that but even more, “He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:15-17). It was a wonderful welcome word for these two elderly sojourners in the wilderness. God can bring joy, even in the wilderness.
Zacharias must have given up all hope of offspring because all he could do in response was question how such a blessing could come for an “old man, and my wife,” who is “advanced in years”? (Luke 1:18). It’s not an altogether good thing to question God’s messenger who comes with the glad tidings of long-awaited blessings. Their prayers had been heard, and they were being answered. Sometimes the wilderness can beat you down and convince you a blessing isn’t coming. Sometimes the blessings we pray for come in ways we hadn’t expected. This was a situation where the answer was a little of both. The angel Gabriel, who “stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings,” responded by shutting Zacharias’ mouth. The father to be, would be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time” (Luke 1:20). It’s always a good idea to simply take God and His messengers at their word. The wilderness should teach us to speak less and listen and obey more.
John was born out of a wilderness experience. From the start we see that life can come out of the wilderness. That’s a truth we should remember. But it is only the beginning. This “John,” whose name means God is a gracious Giver, from the start of his life, would be an introducer of God’s blessings. Jesus said of John, “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist. . . “(Matthew 11:11a). John was called by God to “prepare the way of the LORD” (Isaiah 40:3-5; Matthew 3:3). He was chosen by God, to introduce the people of this world, in particular first the people of Israel, to Jesus their long-awaited Messiah, Son of God, Son of man, Son of David, the Anointed One, Savior of the world. And all of this began, in a wilderness.
John’s ministry to prepare the way of the Lord was unique: his birth was announced by an angel (Luke 1:11-20). He represented the epitome of an Old Testament prophet as he was set apart for God’s use with a Nazarite vow (Numbers 6:2; Luke 1:15). He introduced Jesus as Messiah and therefore marked the transition from the Old to New Testament. But while he was unique in these ways, he also pictures for us a ministry that all disciples have, that is, all disciples are prepared by God to be used by God to “prepare the way” for others to find Jesus. And the wilderness is the way God prepares us to do that.
In the Gospel of Matthew we are introduced to John the Baptist with the words, “In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea,” (Matthew 3:1). From the start we need to recognize something from the life and ministry of John the Baptist. We need to recognize that John’s ministry began and flowed from a wilderness experience. In the wilderness there is quiet and therefore it is an environment more conducive to hearing from God. If you are going through a wilderness of loneliness, don’t be so quick to try and escape it. One of the sweetest lessons of life is learning to draw close to Jesus. People will forsake you and let your down, but Jesus has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). That is one of the most profound lessons of life and it is best learned in the aloneness of a wilderness.
The wilderness is also a barren place. Therefore one learns to depend on God for sustenance and what is needed to survive. When you’re down to your last cup of water, your last cent, your last bit of strength, that is the place where we learn, “but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” It is in the wilderness times of want that we learn, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matthew 6:33-34). “But I prayed and God didn’t give me what I wanted!” you might say. I would respond that maybe you wanted was not what God knew you needed. “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). God provides for what we “need.” God owns everything and commands all resources. If we pray for something and He doesn’t give it, it is probably because we are asking for the wrong things, or God is waiting for the opportune time to give what we ask for. The wilderness teaches us the meaning of contentment (Philippians 4:11-12). In the wilderness we learn the true meaning of the cherished inspired words, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). In the wilderness we learn the true meaning of “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” (Ephesians 3:20).
It was in the wilderness that Jesus was tempted and applied scripture to ward off the attacks of the devil. Satan attacks in the wilderness. He attacks with doubt, with questioning God’s word, with incorrectly applying God’s word. In the wilderness we learn the importance of knowing the word of God. In the battle fields of the wilderness we learn the importance of putting our spiritual armor on and that our struggle is not against people as much as it is against the demons of the unseen realm of life (Ephesians 6:10-18). These are all things John had to learn, and he learned them in the wilderness.
The Bible is silent about when John became known as “the Baptist.” The first thing we see him doing though is calling people to repent of their sins and baptizing them as an outward sign of the inward reality of such repentance. It was going through the wilderness that John received his calling from God to be “the Baptist.” Here is another valuable blessing that comes out of the barren-land-times of life, our calling. If infertility is your lot, if you are going through a wilderness time of infertility before birthing a child, if God’s answer for your infertility is adoption, or childlessness, and you come through seeing God’s hand in it all, then maybe God is calling you to help others see the blessing of such an acquired wilderness wisdom. Pray about it. God may be calling you, preparing you, to share your wisdom acquired in the wilderness with others going through a similar wilderness experience.
In Luke’s Gospel it states that it was “in the wilderness” where God spoke to John about his ministry:
Luke 3:2-3 – “while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins,”
In the wilderness of Judea John spent time alone with God and it was in this wilderness experience that, “the word of God came to John.” John had no doubt been raised by his righteous parents in the counsel of the word of God. Even if we may not have been raised by such parents, it’s always wise to keep a Bible close by to consult in wilderness wanderings. That’s because scripture is the language of the Holy Spirit. Pray. Read. Search the scriptures. Listen for God’s still small voice. What is God saying to you?
Before John could preach he had to receive God’s word. This is a key sequence for the disciple to see. When a disciple goes out to proclaim God’s word, they must only proclaim what they have received from God. The disciple should not just talk off the top of their head but needs to spend time in God’s word first and then share what God has given them. The wilderness is the perfect classroom to learn from the Lord.
The preparation of a disciple we are speaking of is not something that can be learned merely in a sanitized classroom setting. Classrooms and higher education can be useful, but oftentimes they feed the flesh or carnal nature. Indeed the Apostle Paul wrote:
1 Corinthians 8:1b – “Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.”
There were no institutions of higher learning for John the Baptist in the wilderness. The wilderness for him was time alone with God and God’s word. The word John went into the wilderness with to meet God consisted of what he had been trained up in while at home. You see, they didn’t have pocket Bibles in those days or IPhone or IPad Bible programs, or laptops or computers with Bible programs. No, John went into the wilderness and was alone with God. Perhaps the LORD revealed the substance of His word to John as He would later do with the Apostle Paul (Galatians 1:11-2:2). There is a college which is the wilderness. There is a way of the wilderness which is priceless. The wilderness is the crucial first step in God’s life journey for us. It takes many forms and in many ways is a time particularly suited for us individually. This wilderness time requires faith and that we focus on the Lord. It usually involves some problem or conundrum, some unsolvable situation, something that stretches us to our limits, the limits of our own resources. It is a time of learning about God’s grace – God’s Resources at Christ’s Expense.
Whatever took place between the LORD and John in the wilderness we can see the preparatory effect on John from the following passage in the Gospel of John:
John 3:27-36 – “John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.28 “You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before Him.’29 “He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled.30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.31 “He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.32 “And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony.33 “He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true.34 “For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure.35 “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand.36 “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
From this passage we can see what John had learned in the wilderness. These are lessons God uses the wilderness in our lives to teach us. So as we look at these truths, prayerfully pay attention and ask the Lord to help you see them from your personal wilderness position.
First, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.” (John 3:27). One of the biggest mistakes a person can make is presuming on the will of God. Presumption is born of pride and leads to pain and suffering as well as big problems in life. Pride, self-confidence, self-centeredness, self-reliance, self-rule, and any other form of the carnal-self-sinful-nature needs to be crucified. The disciple needs to come to the point where they are not self-serving but self-crucifying. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (1 Peter 5:5-6). The wilderness humbles us and therefore positions us to receive God’s grace.
The Apostle Peter made an interesting statement in his first epistle. He said, “Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased rom sin” (1 Peter 4:1). This doesn’t mean there is some additional redemptive value to human suffering. We do not add any “work” to God’s Gospel plan of salvation (cf. Ephesians 2:1-9; Titus 3:4-7). What it does mean is that when we suffer physically, we travel through a wilderness of suffering where the world’s resources do us no good and we are brought to our personal limits. When we are in such a place we learn Man’s extremities are God’s opportunities. In such a wilderness temptations lose their allure to us because we face eternity. When we suffer in our bodies we learn the great wilderness truth of Jesus who said, “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). Suffering in the wilderness is God’s means to help us learn this eternally relevant lesson.
The disciple needs to subordinate their will to the will of God. You can’t just veil your will with the words “God told me” and then do what you want to do. You must cast aside your personal wants and or desires and trust the will of God. In the wilderness the disciple comes to realize that the only things that matter are those things that have been given them by God. You must come to Jesus on His terms, picking up the cross He has ordained for you and following Him no matter what (Luke 9:23-27). Is your cross loneliness? Pick it up and follow Him. Is your cross barrenness of some kind? Pick it up and follow Him. One of the most profound lessons of life is learning the only thing worse than not having something we long for, is having the wrong thing we longed for. For instance, the only thing worse than not having a spouse is having the wrong spouse. The only thing worse than not having that “job” or “thing” we want, is having the wrong “job” or “thing” we wanted. God knows what is best for us, trust Him. He loves us and wants His best for us. “If you then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?’ (Luke 11:13). “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:37). Learn the lesson of the blessedness of God’s “No.” Enjoy His “Yes.”
Second, “You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before Him.” (John 3:28). The disciple is not the Christ, or Lord over what God calls them to do. The disciple must be prepared to take a back seat to Jesus. The disciple is a learner and follower of Christ. The disciple does not step out and take the lead. The disciple lets Jesus take the lead and follows wherever the Lord leads seeking to serve Him at His beck and call. The wilderness is where submission to Jesus is learned. The wilderness is where surrender to Jesus is learned. The disciple does not launch out and then turn to Jesus and say, “Follow me Lord!” The disciple who does that usually ends up praying, “Lord, bless this mess I’ve made.”
Third, “He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:29-30). The disciple must be focused on and do everything in his or her power to have others focus on Christ. The work of the Holy Spirit is to point people to Jesus, to glorify Him (John 15:26; 16:14). The Holy Spirit is at work in and through us to the extent that the focus is on Jesus.
The disciple needs to be cleansed from any word or action that would take credit for something God has done or that would feed their pride. The disciple must be willing to serve in anonymity and obscurity. Nothing will foul up a servant of God more than accolades or the spotlight that gets them thinking they are more than they really are. The disciple is an unworthy servant as Jesus said:
Luke 17:10 – “So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’”
You’re not doing God a favor by going through the wilderness. You’re not doing God a favor to follow Jesus, submit to His will, live surrendered to Him. JESUS GAVE HIS LIFE FOR US. JESUS SHED HIS BLOOD TO SAVE US. GOD DID THIS WHILE WE WERE STILL SINNERS (Romans 5:8). Decrease your opinion of yourself and lift up Jesus. The wilderness humbles us and teaches us the greatness of God, the great love of God.
Being prepared by God to minister involves the crucifixion of one’s flesh. This can be painful at times, but it is necessary. The disciple will come to learn that the crucifixion of their flesh is really the path to fullness of life and joy. That is what John said, “Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled.” (John 3:29). This is a great joyful understanding and it is learned in the wilderness.
Fourth, “He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.32 “And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony.33 “He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true.” (John 3:31-33). The disciple does not minister based on response but is prepared by God to simply remain faithful regardless of response. The wilderness teaches us to follow God no matter what. The wilderness provides the opportunity to follow God whether our prayers are answered the way we want them to be answered, or not. The wilderness teaches us to walk by faith and not merely by what we see (2 Corinthians 5:7). There are no crowds and applause in the wilderness.
This does not mean that there will always be no response from those the disciple is ministering to. The response of people to ministry is not the disciple’s sole or even primary focus. When we look at the Old Testament prophets as well as the New Testament apostles and disciples, we find that they often ministered in the face of persecution and opposition (Jeremiah 1; Matthew 5:10-12; John 5:16; Acts 7; 1 Corinthians 4:12; 2 Corinthians 4:9). The wilderness is sometimes composed of rejection, of shunning, of prejudice, and even persecution. The disciple must be prepared to be faithful to God rather than depend on the response of people. The disciple is not called to a popularity contest but to faithful service to God. This is a lesson only the wilderness can teach. Paul shows us that the disciple needs to be prepared beforehand to not be deterred from God’s work in the face of opposition. In Acts he said this when bidding farewell to the Ephesians:
Acts 20:22-24 – “And see, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there,23 “except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me.24 “But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”
The wilderness preparatory work of God sets the disciple’s will and heart like flint so that they are prepared to be unmoved no matter what is thrown at them (Ezekiel 3:9). The disciple in Christ is unwavering when it comes to serving the Lord. That is learned in the wilderness ways of life.
Fifth, “For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure.” (John 3:34). The wilderness preparation of the disciple involves learning to depend on the Spirit, not one’s own strength. There is a limitless supply of the Spirit’s power for those called by God to the plan of God. The disciple will be effective in fulfilling God’s plans in proportion to the degree to which they rely on the Holy Spirit for empowerment. Remember the inspired words of Zechariah who said, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the Lord of hosts.” (Zechariah 4:6).
Sixth, “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand.36 “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” (John 3:35-36) The message of God given to the disciple is one that causes the need for decision. Either you have life in the Son, or you do not. The disciple holds nothing back but speaks the truth in love trusting the Spirit of God to do His work. In the wilderness we learn that the Spirit uses us to direct others to their own personal wilderness experiences. That is hard to see sometimes. But if we are going to follow the Holy Spirit we must follow the Lord by faith, not mere feelings.
Seventh, God taught John His love. As we study what John the Baptist was taught by God there is the danger that we will see these things as mere works and self-effort. But nothing could be further from the truth. John was not taught steps one through six and then told to do them. That would only puff him up (1 Corinthians 8:1). I believe that what John learned and was built up by, was something that flowed out of the love of God. The first six preparatory lessons God taught John would seem difficult if they were merely a set of dos and don’ts. But all that John was taught by God flowed out of God’s love for John and God’s love in John. It was because John the Baptist loved the Lord that he was willing to submit to the self-crucifying life of serving God. It was the love of God that brought John through the wilderness.
The Apostle Paul put it best when he was inspired to write:
2 Corinthians 5:14-15 – “For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died;15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.”
Notice, Paul is not just talking about himself. He says, “the love of God compels us.” That is, God’s love compels God’s disciples. That is the fuel that fires the furnace of service in the heart of a disciple. that love is not a work. Such love is provided by the presence of Spirit in the life of the disciple. And such love was a product of the Holy Spirit in John from his birth (Luke 1:15). It is in the wilderness that we learn the reality of the embrace of God. In the wilderness we learn God’s grace is sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). But in the wilderness the Holy Spirit harvest His fruit of love in us (Galatians 5:22-24). The wilderness teaches us you won’t know Jesus is all you need, until Jesus is all you have; that is a lesson of love.
In the wilderness we learn the connection between hope and love. In the wilderness we learn about hoping in God to make it through, and that he holds us every step of the way, in love. “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Romans 5:5).
God pours out “His love” into our heart in the wilderness (Romans 5:8). The wilderness strips away the clutter and tinsel of life so we can focus on God. The wilderness is that place of life where distractions are reduced. The wilderness is where there aren’t a lot of hands to take or people to look to for help. The wilderness is where there is one Hand to take hold of, the Hand of the LORD. In the wilderness God tells us, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10).
If you are dreading Thanksgiving because of its loneliness, noise, work, clutter, gluttony, or the hurtful memories you associate with that Day, I encourage you not to be so quick to flee the wilderness. Don’t take the easy road of escape. Instead ask the Lord to show you why He has led you to this way of the wilderness. Pray. Seek the Lord in your wilderness. Instead of looking inward, instead of self-pity, instead of focusing on disappointment or discouragement, look to the LORD. Look to God and ask Him to show you how you might introduce others to Jesus. Then you will know the Holy Spirit is at work in you and through you. Then you, and those around you, might discover the best reason to be thankful on Thanksgiving, Jesus. That lesson begins in the wilderness.
Father, we come to You in Jesus’ name. We thank You for the wilderness You have brought us too. Please help us to learn the lessons You desire for us to learn. Reveal Your calling on our lives. Strengthen us. Broaden and deepen our understanding. Give us the wisdom only a wilderness can teach us. Father, in Jesus’ name, in the power of the Holy Spirit, make us what we need to be, so we can do what You call us to do, for Your glory, until Jesus’ returns. In Jesus’ name. Amen!
[1] https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/infertility/conditioninfo/common