John's proclamation of the Savior is divinely courageous. It's charismatic. It's founded in a divine guidance that flowed from the Spirit. John wasn't scared to ignite among his people an unruly awareness of the shifting of the heavenly realms.
Anyone can make spiritual noise and make it loudly without much consequence (or fruit), but John brought this noise to his culture, his people in real time and with eternal success.
He took on his spiritual leaders - 'you snakes, you scoundrels'
He took on the pagan ruler - 'you murderer, you adulterer'
This wild prophet steadfastly cried out to the heavens that every man would be ready for a new era.
A new era designed to painfully and yet soothingly re-shape us deep within: heart, soul, mind and body. It's the same Spirit at work in John and his enormous proclamation of life that is at work in us today.
It's mysterious. It's entirely supernatural. It's dangerously simple. It's culturally courageous. How amazing is it that something spiritually invisible has so holistically impacted the physical world eternally.
The New Era has come. Is it an inward or outward source of courage shaping your life?
Read Darrell L. Bock's Recovering the Real Lost Gospel (pg12) - Read Luke 3 more on Johns ministry.