The fourth step

The 4^th Step

"See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way”(Mark 1:2).

Who are the messengers?

Where are the John the Baptizers?

How do we perceive them?

What is the way?

Why does the way need to be prepared?

Level 1: An important dignitary, ruler, king or God is coming and a messenger must go ahead of him so people will be prepared to receive him properly.

Level 2: An important person is about to enter a foreign environment and needs someone to go ahead and obtain the necessary provisions and knowledge of the terrain.

Level 3: The Lord of the universe is about to send his son into an environment like Sodom where Godliness cannot be tolerated. Just as Lot was already established in Sodom before God’s messengers showed up at the gate, a righteous man must be established in the world before Jesus Christ can arrive at its gate. Unlike Sodom where Lot and the messengers are saved and Sodom is destroyed, here, the messenger and the son of God will die, while the earth is saved. The way is the way to death.

The fourth step is to recognize that we are preparing and being prepared to die, at the hands of the world.