Down By The River

“Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near,” wrote Isaiah the prophet.

Some years ago I stood on the banks of the river Jordan, in Israel. My late husband, Fred, and I, had gone to Ghana and Liberia, in West Africa, on a missionary preaching trip, where our then 14-year old son, Tom, had spent nearly a year. And we stopped in Israel on our way back to the States.

One morning we went to the Jordan so that Fred could baptize our children in the same river where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. As we stood there, we could visualize in our mind’s eye a great throng of people gathered around two men standing in the water. One man was dressed in clothes made of camel’s hair, and people followed him to hear his message that was delivered like thunder breaking over the mountains: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” His name was John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus Christ.

Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. The moment Jesus came up out of the water, the skies opened up and God’s Spirit descended like a done, and landed on Him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love.”

Throughout all human history, the prophets foretold His coming. So God, in His great love for his creation, man, sent John the Baptist to proclaim, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth!”

I will always cherish the memories of watching my husband baptize several of our children in the Jordan River, you don’t need to travel to Israel to find Christ. He is closer than your very breath. If you don’t know Him, please let us help you find Him. Go to our website, fjm.org, and click the tab, Know God. Fjm.org, Know God.

Blessings,

Willie Jordan