PREACHER

PREACHING

"The Word of God came unto John." Luke 3:1

This is an old Hebrew formula. We find it in the prophetic books again and again. It should, however, be understood that the term here is not logos, but rhema. The significance of the Greek word rhema is that of a distinct message. It was not the whole of truth that came to him; but a particular message from God, which he was charged to deliver. That does not minimize the value or importance of the statement. It rather accentuates it. John in the wilderness received a message from God, and whatever that message was, that was the burden of his preaching. There can be no doubt that during those ten years this man had meditated and pondered upon the condition of his times. He was certainly familiar with the darkness of the age: The irony of it had surely entered into his soul; he knew the sin of his people, and the condition in which they were living. But his message did not come out of his own pondering. His message was a word from God. His pondering was part of the preparation for delivering the message, for there is always perfect harmony in the elections of God, between the fitness of the instrument and the work to be done. But when John left the wilderness to preach, he did not come out to discuss with his age the situation as he saw it, even as the result of his own devout observation. The word came to him from God, and came to him there in the wilderness.

In this translation I do not like that preposition "unto." The Greek prepo­sition is epi; and it ought to be ren­dered, "The word of God came upon John." The force of the preposition is that of pressure from above. The word of the Lord came upon him, pressed down upon him from above. Here is the qualification for preaching. The message of God comes upon a man. It is a great thing that he be prepared in every way; but preparation leaves a man unable to preach until the word of the Lord falls upon him. That is the keynote to the marvel of this ministry or any man’s ministry.