This is where and how the Gospel begins — by and with the preaching of the Voice of God. And so does it also continue. This is how the Lord comes to you, to comfort you and give you life. And this is how you are prepared for His coming — by this Voice that preaches to you in His Name.
The Lord sends a preacher to voice His Word, which alone endures forever. It’s not a textbook in the wilderness. It’s not an instruction manual that calls you to repent. It is the Voice of God that speaks, that preaches, which stands fast and saves you. The grass withers, and the flower fades, but this Word of the Lord endures forever — this Word by which He is preaching to you.
Everything else shall wither and fade, or it shall be destroyed by fire, but His Word remains. His Word abides. And so He sends a preacher to speak that eternal Word of His into your ears, into your heart, in order to turn your heart away from all of your false gods and idols to Him alone.
So, then, how is it with your heart? What is it that you trust and depend upon? What do you rely on to get you through each day? What is it that makes you feel safe and content and at peace?
And what is it that your heart fears? What causes your heart to tremble and quake, and makes your hands shake and your forehead sweat? What are you most nervous and anxious about?
And what is it that your heart loves? What is it that you live for — and for which you would be willing to give up everything, even life itself? What is your passion? What is it that you prize?
Whatever it is that your heart clings to with such devotion, that is your god. Whatever or whoever it is that your heart fears, loves, and trusts more than anything else, that is your god. That is what rules you. That is what determines your thoughts, words, and deeds. So, how is it with your heart?
Bear this in mind: Everything in the heavens and on this earth is passing away. All the world’s works and all of its ways are perishing. There is nothing that will remain except the Word of God.
And He is coming. The Lord is coming. The almighty One, the true and only God, the Maker of the heavens and the earth, the Creator of all things, who was and is and is to come, He is coming. He is coming to you here and now, and He will come at the last to judge the living and the dead.
So do consider how you will meet Him. Where will your heart be when He appears in power and great glory? Will you meet Him face to face in faith, in boldness and confidence, with great joy at His coming? Or with your back turned away from Him in fear, running away, trying to hide? Pleading for the mountains to cover you, looking for some cave, some hole in the ground, seeking to go down into the depths of Sheol or to scale the heights of heaven, in a vain effort to escape?
How will you meet the Lord who is coming? It does matter where and how your heart is. Indeed, it makes all the difference — not in His attitude toward you, but in the way that you receive Him.
Knowing all of this, what sort of person ought you to be? How should you be living your life in the body here and now? What should you be about and be doing when the Lord appears in glory?
Look to Him as He is coming to you now, and live by faith in His Word. Today, if you would hear His Voice, do not harden your heart against Him. Hear and heed what He is preaching to you.
If your heart is proud, humble yourself before Him. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, and He will exalt you at the proper time. If your heart is despairing, lift up your head in hope, because it is your Redeemer who draws near. If your heart is greedy and selfish, give away your possessions to those who have nothing. If you are consumed by some lust or addiction, give up those idols and seek the Lord where He may be found. Call upon Him in the day of trouble.
Be broken of your sins. Be broken of your unbelief. Be broken of all your false gods. Repent. For a broken and contrite heart, the Lord does not despise. He comes in mercy to the broken and downhearted, in order to heal you, to put you back together, to give you life instead of death.
Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the Name of Jesus Christ. The promise is for you and for your children. Repent, and believe the Gospel. Know that your sins are forgiven by this Voice of Christ Jesus. And with His forgiveness of your sins, there is also His Life and Salvation.
Repent, and be baptized. Or, if you have already been baptized, rejoice in the Word and promise of God and His gift of Holy Baptism, and so return to those waters by which He has cleansed you in body and soul, in heart, mind, and conscience, by His Word and Holy Spirit. Get back to that Jordan River where you were washed. Confess your sins, and be absolved by the Voice of God.
Return to the significance of your Baptism, not just once, not only “once in a while,” but daily and throughout your life, unto the Resurrection of the body and the Life everlasting of body and soul in the neverending Day of the Lord Jesus Christ. Be crucified, put to death, and buried with Him by contrition and repentance. And then be raised to newness of life in and with Him, both now and forever, by faith in His forgiveness of your sins. For that is what He has for you. That is what His Voice speaks to you. That is His comfort for your broken heart, your true peace and rest in Him.
Go out to the preacher whom God the Lord has sent to you. Go listen to His preaching. Hear the Word of proclamation in the midst of the wilderness, the Law and the Gospel, unto repentance and faith in the forgiveness of all of your sins. Return to the waters of your Baptism and thereby enter into the Good Land that God has promised to you and to all who believe and are baptized into the Lord Jesus Christ. Enter with Him into the New Heavens and the New Earth, the Home where righteousness dwells. Return to the waters of your Baptism by going out to that “Jordan River,” confessing your sins, where the Lord your God causes His Word to be preached into your ears.
That is what “all the people” did, as you have heard. All the people of Judea, all the people of Jerusalem, all the people of God who were waiting for the Redemption of Israel — they heard the Voice, and they did not harden their hearts, but they went, confessing their sins. You go, too.
Confess your sins. Say them out loud. And thereby let the Word of God have its way with you. Let His Law put those sins to death. And let His Voice of comfort heal you with His forgiveness.
That is what a contrite and penitent heart does first of all. It confesses the truth. Having heard the Word of God, it can finally speak. It has something worth saying. It knows what is true, because the Lord has spoken. The Word by whom all things are made, apart from whom there is nothing — He has spoken, and His Voice is true. A heart of repentant faith confesses what He has said.
So, confess your sins, for that is the truth. You are a sinner. You deserve nothing but punishment. Confess that hard truth. But do so in the confession of Christ Jesus, in the confidence of His sweet Gospel. Confess Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of the living God, who has not come to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through Him, and that you should live by His Word.
It is in such confidence that you confess your sins. And that is not the end of the story. Instead of your head on the chopping block, your heart hears and receives the comfort of God the Lord.
“Speak to the heart of Jerusalem.” That is how the Lord instructs His Voice in the wilderness to preach. “Tell her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned.” That is what His Voice now also speaks to you — into your ears — into your heart — that you may believe and be saved.
Do not take it lightly, and do not take the preaching of His Voice for granted. And do not let go the significance, the strength, and the salvation of this Voice of the Gospel, this Word of Christ Jesus, this speaking of the Word-made-Flesh into your ears, into your heart, mind, body, and soul.
The out-loud proclamation of the Gospel matters. The Word of the Lord is meant to be preached and heard, for faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ. It is such a Voice that God sends to prepare the Way of the Lord. That is the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God. For St. Mark, in particular, that is where it all begins — with this Voice of the Lord in the wilderness, preaching a Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
Now, to be sure, in the heart and mind of God, the Gospel has been established from before the foundation of the world. Even before the beginning, before He created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them by the speaking of His Word, the Father determined to speak His Word, His own beloved Son, into the Flesh, in order to redeem and save Adam & Eve and all their children for the Life everlasting in body and soul by the way and the means of His Cross and Resurrection.
In the presence of the Holy Triune God, it is ever and always accomplished and absolutely certain. So it is that your redemption and your righteousness are entirely and solely by divine grace, prior to any and all works that you should do, and prior to any thoughts or feelings you might ever have.
But the Gospel begins for you with the preaching of this same Word, Jesus Christ, in a particular place and time. It is fulfilled in your ears, as the Voice of the Lord speaks to your heart the Law that condemns and the Gospel that forgives you all your sins, comforting you with His mercy, and granting you His perfect peace, such as this world cannot give. That is what He preaches to you. And that is how His Gospel begins for you, whereby you are saved by His grace in Christ Jesus.
Hear and receive this comfort that is spoken to your heart. The fierceness of the Lord’s Law is for the sake of bringing you to the sweet sound of His Gospel, His Holy Absolution of your sins and His free gift of Life and Salvation in the Body of Christ Jesus. That is the divine Voice which speaks to you here in this place, at this Font, Pulpit, and Altar of the Lord. And that is what makes this place a “Jordan River” in the midst of the wilderness — your entry into the Promised Land.
His Voice makes all the difference. For every sin which would destroy you is taken away by the Lord Jesus Christ, borne in His Body on the Cross. And your painful, embarrassing repentance, the shame and humiliation of saying out loud what you don’t want to admit even to yourself, is yet the way by which the Word and Spirit of God unite you to Christ Jesus in His Cross, and by which His Gospel unites you with the same Lord Jesus Christ in His bodily Resurrection from the dead.
It is His Word that does everything for you. That is ever and always the case. So have the waters of your Baptism, by His Word, cleansed your conscience and given you peace in His presence through the forgiveness of all your sins. His Word is Spirit and Truth, and it will not fail you.
So, too, this preaching of His Gospel does what His Voice declares. Your sins are forgiven. Your sins are forgiven. Your sins are all forgiven, they are removed. Thus says the Lord.
It is by this Voice of the Gospel, by this Word of forgiveness, that the Holy Spirit has opened the Way of Christ into your heart. And so has He also opened the Way of Christ before you in love, that you should enter with Him into the New Creation, wherein you abide in His Righteousness, Innocence, and Blessedness, even now by faith, and henceforth in the Resurrection of your body to the Life everlasting of your body and soul, your heart, mind, and spirit, with God the Father.
Even now, it is the Milk and Honey of the New Heavens and the New Earth which flow for you here, in the midst of the wilderness, from the Altar of Christ Jesus, from His Cross, from His own hands, and with His own Voice: “Take, eat. This is My Body. Drink of it all of you. This is My Blood, given and shed for you, for the forgiveness of all your sins.”
In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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