From the Editor Nov/Dec 2024
Israel My Glory Sneak Peek with Jesse King, our managing editor, is a video series that gives a glimpse into our latest issue.Christmas is coming! People throughout the world eagerly await this most wonderful time of year. Kids wait impatiently to open gifts, hoping to receive the many toys and games cluttering their wish lists. Adults wait to see their own wishes realized at Christmas—a kitchen remodel, a car upgrade, or a relaxing vacation (though we often settle for a new pair of socks and a coffee mug). Waiting is inherent to the human experience.
The Jewish people of Jesus’ day held a much greater expectation: their Messiah’s appearance. After speaking extensively through many prophets, God remained silent for 400 long years. During this time, His Chosen People dwelled in their Promised Land in spiritual darkness after losing their kingdom and languishing in captivity. Generations of Jewish people lived and died before the promises of the Messiah coming to Earth were fulfilled.
In His grace, God sent a man “whose name was John” (Jn. 1:6). A passionate orator and servant of the Lord, John the Baptist “came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!’” (Mt. 3:1–2), baptizing many (vv. 5–6).
Some thought John was the Messiah (the Christ), while others thought he was Elijah or the Prophet whom Moses said would come (cf. Dt. 18:15); but he was not any of these (Jn. 1:19–21). Instead, he was “the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lᴏʀᴅ,’ as the prophet Isaiah said” (v. 23; cf. Isa. 40:3).
Jesus, the Light of the world (Jn. 8:12), was among His people; but He had not revealed His divinity yet. John’s mission was “to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe” (1:7). The prophet’s message was clear: The wait was over. The Messiah, the Son of God, had come “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Lk. 19:10).
This issue of Israel My Glory offers an in-depth study of John the Baptist, the prophet who heralded the God-Man, Jesus Christ. Jesus declared John “more than a prophet” and said, “Among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist” (Mt. 11:9, 11). Yet, John’s life provides an inspirational example of humility.
John’s ministry reminds us that the wait for the Messiah ended on the first Christmas, when God sent His Son—our Savior—to fallen humanity to free us from sin’s bondage. Now that’s a gift that was worth the wait!
In His service,
Jesse King
Managing Editor
