CALLED TO RIGHTEOUSNESS— PREPARED IN THE WILDERNESS
Called to Verity. Set Apart to Serve.
There is something very serious written in this account of Yoḥanan of the Wilderness: his assignment was spoken before he was even old enough to understand it.
Yoḥanan was not born simply to live an ordinary life. He was born with a purpose. He was to be filled with the Ruaḥ Ha’Qodesh, teach the people, turn hearts back toward the knowledge of the Torah, call people away from wrongdoing, and prepare them for the coming of the Deliverer.
That tells us something important about calling: Your purpose may begin before you understand your purpose.
There are things 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 can place inside a person long before that person understands what they have been carrying.
But this calling came with a cost.
THE COST OF PROTECTING WHAT 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 ENTRUSTED
Zeḵaryah was placed in a position where he had to choose between protecting himself and protecting the child entrusted to him.
He was threatened.
He was pressured.
He was told that his life was in the hands of Hĕrodĕs.
But Zeḵaryah refused to betray the child.
His response was powerful:
“If my blood be shed, 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 Himself will bear witness to the deed, and innocent blood never cries out to Him in vain.”
That is not the language of someone who is controlled by anxiety. Zeḵaryah understood that there are moments when obedience requires courage.
There will be times when standing for righteousness costs you something.
There will be times when people misunderstand you. There will be times when protecting what 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 has entrusted to you requires you to stand alone.
But remember this:
Fear does not cancel a calling. Opposition does not cancel a calling. And persecution does not automatically mean you are on the wrong path.
Sometimes obedience is costly because what you are carrying has value.
THE WILDERNESS WAS NOT ABANDONMENT
Elisheḇa fled with Yoḥanan into the wilderness. She lost what was familiar.
She had to survive in a difficult place.
Eventually, she died, and Yoḥanan was left without the mother who had protected him. Yet the account says that 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 intervened, and Yoḥanan was raised by others until the day he went forth to announce the coming of the Deliverer.
This is where we need to understand something:
The wilderness was not the absence of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄. The wilderness became part of Yoḥanan's preparation. Sometimes 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 will remove you from environments that cannot prepare you for where you are going.
Sometimes isolation is not rejection.
Sometimes separation is preparation.
Sometimes the season you wanted to escape is the very season developing the strength you will need down the road. Yoḥanan was prepared before he was publicly recognized. He was formed away from the crowd before he ever stood before the crowd. So if you are in a wilderness season, do not automatically assume that you have been forgotten.
Ask:
“What is 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 preparing me to support?”
SET APART DOES NOT MEAN SHUT AWAY
There is another lesson here that cannot be ignored. The people who raised Yoḥanan were reverent, nevertheless they were also described as exclusive. They adopted outcasts and orphans, yet they did not concern themselves with others. Yoḥanan eventually rebelled against that exclusiveness.
Why?
Because he understood that the message he carried was not meant to remain hidden inside a private community. Righteousness was meant to reach the people. This is important for anyone who considers themselves set apart. Being set apart does not mean believing you are better than everybody else. Being set apart means being available for service. Holy does not mean hateful. Set apart does not mean inaccessible.
Righteousness does not belong to a private circle. If 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 gives you understanding, it should produce responsibility. Not superiority.
REPENTANCE REQUIRES CHANGE
The assignment given to Yoḥanan was not simply to tell people that a Deliverer was coming. He was to give knowledge of deliverance through repentance and reparation. That means reversed course. It means acknowledging what is wrong.
It means changing direction.
It means correcting what can be corrected. It means making things right where reparation is possible.
True repentance is not merely saying, “I apologize.”
Repentance produces movement.
You cannot continually walk in the same direction and claim that you have pivoted. If righteousness has reached you, something about your life should eventually change.
DO NOT BECOME SO RELIGIOUS THAT YOU MISS THE WORK OF 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄
There is also a warning concerning the religious leadership. The learned kohenim had their expectations about who the Mashiaḥ could be. They had their understanding. They had their traditions. They had their conclusions.
Yet 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 was working in ways they did not expect. That should make us examine ourselves. We must never become so attached to our traditions, systems, titles, interpretations, or institutions that we become unable to recognize what 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 is doing.
Do not let religion become so loud that you can no longer hear the Ruaḥ.
The question is not simply:
“What have I always been taught?”
The question is:
“What is righteous?”
And once vetity is revealed, we have a responsibility to respond to it.
YOḤANAN WAS A VOICE, NOT THE DESTINATION
Perhaps one of the greatest lessons in this passage is that Yoḥanan understood his position.
He was preparing the way.
He was not the Deliverer.
He was not the final goal.
He was the voice calling people to organize.
That requires humility.
A messenger should never become more important than the message.
And the message should never become more important than the One who sent it. If 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 gives you a platform, use it to point people toward Him.
If He gives you understanding, use it to teach.
If He gives you testimony, use it to encourage.
If He gives you a ministry, use it to serve.
If He gives you Verity, do not use it to build your ego. Use it to help somebody find their way back.
THE CALL TO US
This passage forces us to ask some serious questions.
What has 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 entrusted to you?
Are you protecting it?
Are you obeying it?
Are you allowing your wilderness season to organize you? Are you willing to stand when standing becomes uncomfortable?
Are you willing to repent when righteousness exposes something in you?
Are you willing to make things right?
Are you so focused on being different that you have forgotten to serve?
Are you pointing people toward 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, or are you pointing them toward yourself? Because being called is not enough. Being set apart is not enough.
Knowing Scripture is not enough.
Talking about righteousness is not enough. Verity must produce obedience.
Obedience must produce character.
Character must produce service.
Yoḥanan's wilderness eventually became his place of proclamation.
The place where he was prepared became the place from which he spoke.
And that is the word I want to leave with you:
Do not despise your wilderness.
You may be there because you are being positioned. You may be there because 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 is separating you from distractions. You may be there because your voice needs to become stronger before it reaches the people. You may be there because your character has to catch up with your calling. But do not stay in the wilderness forever. When the time comes, come out organized.
Come out with righteousness
Come out with meekness.
Come out with Fortitude.
Come out ready to support.
Because the purpose of being set apart is not to remain hidden. You are set apart so you can minister.
CALLED TO RIGHTEOUSNESS.
SET APART TO SERVE.
And when 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 gives you a message, do not make the message about yourself.
Prepare the way.
Tell the righteousness.
Call people back.
Serve with humbleness.
And point everything back to the Most High Elohim.
