John’s disciples told him about all these things [that Jesus was doing]. Calling two of them, he sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?’ ” At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind.  So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.”

After John’s messengers left, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear expensive clothes and indulge in luxury are in palaces. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written: ” ‘I will send my messenger ahead of you who will prepare your way before you’” (Luke 7:18-27).

I believe that in a sense the Christian creation-care movement is playing the role of John the Baptist for the Messianic age—the promised peaceable kingdom.  John the Baptist appeared, as prophesied in Isaiah 40:3-5, as “a voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord….’” He spoke of the fact that “all mankind will see God’s salvation.” In John’s day God’s salvation was realized in the first coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. That advent led to Messiah’s death, burial, and resurrection. Salvation for man (rescue from the Fall) and the creation (rescue from the curse) were not fully attained at that time, but the essential provision was made through His dying on the cross for us. And from that time to this, God the Father sees believers as perfect because we are under the blood of the Savior.

To prepare Israel for the first advent of Messiah, John the Baptist called for his countrymen to be baptized in an act of “repentance for sin leading to forgiveness” a cleansing that looked forward to the soon-coming Messiah. This call to a baptism of repentance was unprecedented since up to that time only proselytes to Judaism were baptized for that purpose.

Even Jesus submitted himself to John’s baptism saying, “It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” The people who came to be baptized asked John what they were to do in their daily lives as a result of their baptism. No doubt many expected that he would recommend some rigorous religious rituals. Instead, he gave them practical economic mandates: they must share both food and clothing with the poor, that they were not to defraud one another or extort money from one another, and they were to be content with their lot. 
[Photo of Thomas Cole's painting of St. John in the wilderness]

Today Christians are looking for the second advent of Jesus the Messiah who will this time come in power, as the last Adam, to restore the groaning creation and “destroy those who destroy the earth” (Rev. 11:18). Is it unrealistic to think that some of us may be called today to take a sort of John the Baptist role as we look forward to the Second Coming?

To again call for repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

To call for a return to justice not only for the poor and disenfranchised, but also for the entire creation—which has received God’s promise of restoration and reconciliation.

To call for Christians to denounce materialism and economic and industrial  practices that are threatening so much of the earth’s fruitfulness.

To encourage our fellow believers to act toward creation like we will be expected to act when our prayer for the coming of God’s kingdom will finally be answered—what we ask for whenever we recite “The Lord’s Prayer.” (See Francis Schaeffer’s, Pollution and the Death of Man: A Christian View of Ecology.)

To pray for, hope for, and work toward a revelation of the first fruits of the Messianic kingdom even now (Romans 8:23).

In John’s day, despite the wisdom and importance of his proclamation, only a minority responded. Nonetheless the Messiah did make His first appearance and did make atonement for the sin of mankind and its consequent curse on the natural world. Only a minority today would likely seek to prepare their hearts in the same manner as those baptized by John (through repentance and commitment to a life of charity, financial generosity, and material contentment) in readiness for the coming King; yet He will come, He will be victorious, we will receive our final glory as children of God, and there will be one grand and glorious united doxology as we harmonize with the billions of heavenly bodies as they “join with all nature in manifold witness to [God’s] great faithfulness, mercy, and love” (from the old hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”) There will be “joy to the world” as the reigning Messiah, scars from his crucifixion “crown” still showing, takes away all sin and sorrow, eliminates the thorns that “infest the ground,” and makes His blessings flow “far as the curse is found” (from the carol “Joy To The World”).  [John the Baptist photo source]

Let us with faithfulness consider being a “John the Baptist” in what could be the terminal generation of those who struggle under the curse. Let us be “a voice of one calling: In the desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God…. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all mankind together will see it” (Isa. 40:3-5).

A new and articulate voice in the creation-care community is Jonathan Merritt.  Jonathan has a new book that WOC readers might enjoy getting in order to examine more fully the issue of creation care as it relates to the Bible and the church: Green Like God.