The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9, NIV

"Wait, what did you say?"  Maybe you know what it's like to think you understand what your friends have said, only to realize you missed it all together.  Over the last few weeks, Debbie and I have had a few laughs over little miscues in our communication.  Like the day we both thought the other was getting sweaters for everyone before heading out for an evening gathering outdoors, only to find out later that neither of us did!  Fortunately, these moments have been more like comic relief than terrible mishaps.  They've been gentle reminders that we're getting older (only slightly, of course :)) and that sometimes we don't always perceive things the way we ought to.  Along more serious lines, God asks a question in Jeremiah 17:9 that makes us aware of our limited understanding, not just about sweaters but about our sin and our need for salvation: "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?"  We may think we understand the depth of our heart need and the beauty of the salvation God offers us, but maybe we ought to pause and hear it again.

John the Baptist was someone God used to remind us of our deep need and His gift of grace.  By the time John came on the scene, God's people had been blessed with a rich history of prophetic revelation, reminders at various times and various ways (cf. Heb. 1:1) of God's promised salvation.  However, that rich history felt somewhat distant with over 400 years passing since the last of the Old Testament prophets pointed to the coming Messiah.  John's preaching from the Jordan River sounded new but in a familiar sort of way.  Through three metaphors, the Baptist brought light to our problem of sin and God's plan to save -- realities God had declared in the past but that every generation needs to hear again.

THE COMING KING

Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’” John 1:22-23, NIV

From the onset, John knew that he wasn't there to draw attention to himself.  John was pointing to Someone else -- Someone who had existed before him (Jn. 1:15) and yet would come after him (v. 27a).  The Baptist viewed himself as a forerunner of a King whose worth and esteem was far exalted above his own (v. 27b).  When John quoted from Isaiah's prophecy, he not only clarified his own identity, but he also pointed out who we are and what God pledges to do for us.

That particular passage in Isaiah 40 is addressed to those who would be coming back from Babylonian captivity, those who would need a national reset and resuscitation.  In other words,

those of us who are waiting for God's salvation are like those who have gone through the wringer of national warfare, not as innocent victims but as exiles from a captivity we brought upon ourselves.  

Sin desolates us and obliterates our sense of security.  Salvation on the other hand ushers in comfort (Isa. 40:1-2) and makes all things right (v. 4).  All of this is made possible when Jesus arrives as the long-awaited King who reveals the glory of the Lord (v. 5).  When John identified himself as the messenger preparing the way of the Lord, he pointed to Jesus as the King who undoes all our brokenness and restores God's rule in our hearts. The arrival of this King isn't supposed to be dreaded news but glad tidings that speak comfort to our trembling, war-weary hearts.

THE LAMB OF GOD

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! John 1:29, NKJV

John didn't stop with pointing to Jesus as the coming King.  The very next day, he introduced the Messiah with a sanctuary metaphor that highlights God's salvation as directly tied to sacrifice and substitution.  This language brings to mind another prophecy in Isaiah 53 that foretells of the Messiah being "led as a lamb to the slaughter" (v. 7), the One whose suffering would supply our salvation and whose hurt would bring our healing (v. 5).  

Sin is apparently not only to be understood in terms of actions that need to be corrected but as a condition that needs to be taken away (Jn. 1:29).  

As such, our sin requires divine intention and surgical precision to deal with it, a thorough process dramatically displayed through the sanctuary services.  In this light, the salvation we need could never be supplied on our own.  That's why Jesus is the Lamb of God, that Lamb that God Himself provides (cf. Gen. 22:8).  Our salvation is never accomplished by what we bring to God but by what God sacrificially gives to us.  As the Lamb of God, Jesus' righteous life substitutes for our sinful life AND His undeserved death substitutes for the wages our sin has earned. 

THE HEAVENLY BRIDEGROOM

The bride belongs to the bridegroom.The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. John 3:29, NIV

Sometime after that initial introduction at the Jordan River, John spoke once again of his relation to the Messiah and in the process pointed to Jesus as the "bridegroom."  Not only is Jesus the coming King or long-awaited Lamb, but He is also the heavenly bridegroom with whom humanity anticipates loving union.  Again, this marriage metaphor is not new to John, but it's a reminder of what God had revealed through prophets long before to highlight our heart need and God's promised salvation.  Through the prophet Hosea, the Lord pledged that there would be a day when He would win our affection (Hos. 2:14), that our relation to Him would be characterized less by duty or obligation and more by desire and loving commitment (v. 16), and that we would be "betrothed" to Him forever (v. 19).  All of this underscores the reality that while sin leaves us feeling separated, isolated, and relationally distant from God (cf. Isa. 59:2), the salvation granted us in Christ brings us into relational oneness with God.  Listen to how Isaiah portrays this transformed relationship between God and those He saves:

Never again will you be called “The Forsaken City” or “The Desolate Land.” Your new name will be “The City of God’s Delight" and “The Bride of God,” for the Lord delights in you and will claim you as his bride.

Your children will commit themselves to you, O Jerusalem, just as a young man commits himself to his bride. Then God will rejoice over you as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride.  Isaiah 62:4-5, NLT

Isn't that beautiful?  While sin breaks covenant connection with our Creator, the Savior restores us to relational union with God that gives both us AND our heavenly bridegroom delight and unending joy.

Wait, what did you say?  Friends, let's not overestimate our grasp of our heart need and what God offers us in Christ.  When we think of our sin and God's gift of salvation, we cannot overstate the magnitude of either.  Our sin leaves us feeling like war-torn exiles, deserving of death, disconnected from the One in whom our very existence is wrapped up.  But thanks be to God whose salvation builds up all that's broken, provides life we could never provide on our own, and restores joyful oneness with the God who loves us faithfully in spite of our unfaithfulness.