The Voice of God Calls

Advent 4| John 1:19-28 (29)| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| December 21, 2025

The final prophet in the Old Testament, Malachi, prophesied at the close of his book, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” (Malachi 4:5-6) And some four-hundred years later, John the Baptist was preaching by the Jordan in the wilderness. The angel Gabriel told John’s father Zechariah about John before he was conceived, “He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before Him in the spirit of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” (Luke 1:16-17) And Jesus Himself told His disciples about John, “He is Elijah who is to come.” (Matthew 11:14)

Yet, John not only denies being the Christ, he denies being Elijah, even though he clearly fulfills Malachi’s prophesy concerning Elijah. Moreover, Jesus said that John was more than a prophet. Yet, when pressed, John denies being the prophet as well. Why does John deny being Elijah and the prophet, when Scripture clearly calls him these things? John does not lie or make a mistake about who he is. He was not Elijah or the prophet the way the priests and Levites who were interrogating him understood it. John indeed came in the spirit of Elijah and prophesied of Christ, but there is much to misinterpret by those titles. So, John confessed what could not be misinterpreted by any honest hearer. “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord.’” John is the voice that prepares the way of the Lord. But what does it mean that John is the voice? Whose voice is he? He cannot be his own voice. You don’t say, “I am my voice.” You say, “I have a voice.” Your voice speaks for you, but you are not yourself your voice. And so, when John calls himself the voice, he means that he speaks for someone else. But who is that someone else? Whose voice is John?

John is the voice of God crying in the wilderness, preparing the way for the Lord. John does not speak his own words, but he speaks the words of God. He does not give human opinions, but he tells people what God desires them to hear and know. And what is it that God desires people to hear and know? Primarily two things.

First, John makes straight the way of the Lord. This means that he preaches repentance. He calls sinners to turn from their sins, to mourn what they have done wrong, and to turn to God for forgiveness. God desires people to hear the call to repentance. Second, he points to Jesus and says, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” This Lamb of God is Christ Jesus, who comes after John, yet He is before John. He comes after John, being born about six months after John was born and beginning his preaching ministry after John began his. Yet, He is before John, not just in time, but in rank. John is not worthy to untie his sandals. John says, “He who comes after me ranks before me, because He was before me.” (John 1:15, 30) John is confessing Jesus to be God.

That is why Jesus is the perfect Lamb of God. Moses could not take away the sin of the world. He was a sinner and just a man. Not even men of blameless reputations like Noah, Job, or Daniel could take away the sin of the whole world (Ezekiel 14:14, 20; Psalm 49:7). But Jesus is no mere man, not even just a sinless man, but He is true God, the eternally begotten Son of the Father. And so, John’s proclamation, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,” is the purest and most comforting expression of the Gospel. If Jesus takes away the sin of the world, then He takes away your sin. And if He takes away your sin, then your sin is not on you anymore. In fact, your sin is not yours, it belongs to Christ. And the fact that this Lamb of God outranks John, because He is before Him, meaning, He is true God, means that your sins do not have a chance of survival, but must drown and die in His passion. Martin Luther expresses it in this way, “For what lovelier and more comforting message can be heard than that our sins are not ours anymore, that they no more lie on us, but on the Lamb of God. How can sin condemn such an innocent Lamb? Lying on Him, it must be vanquished and made to nothing, and likewise death and hell, being the reward of sin, must be vanquished also. Behold what God our Father has given us in Christ!”

And so, God’s voice preaches the Gospel of Christ Jesus. He first makes straight the path for this taker-away-of-sin by exposing your sin. He then places Christ in that path to vanquish every sin on your conscience, so that you are at peace with God.

The priests and Levites are not satisfied with this voice. Being wise in human wisdom, they don’t understand what a voice is. They ask why John baptizes if he is just a voice. Fine, John is just a voice. But He is God’s voice. His words come from God. Without Christ, John is nothing, just a pourer of water. But with his pouring of water comes the authority of Christ. That is why John says, “I baptized with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even He who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” John is just a tool, an instrument of the almighty. But Jesus stands with Him and validates everything John says.

And so, John foreshadows the Office of the Ministry. The Office of the Ministry is the preaching Office. St. Paul writes in Romans 10, “For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?… He then concludes, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:13-15, 17)

God sends His voice out into the wilderness, because saving faith comes from hearing the voice of God. Faith comes by hearing. And so, preachers must preach. Our Lutheran Confessions aptly explain this in the Augsburg Confession. Article 4 states, “Our churches teach that people cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works. People are freely justified for Christ’s sake, through faith, when they believe that they are received into favor and that their sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake. By His death, Christ made satisfaction for our sins. God counts this faith for righteousness in His sight. (Romans 3-4)” This article says nothing less than, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” Yet, Article 5 follows, “So that we may obtain this faith, the ministry of teaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments was instituted. Through the Word and Sacraments, as through instruments, the Holy Spirit is given [John 20:22]. He works faith, when and where it pleases God [John 3:8], in those who hear the good news that God justifies those who believe that they are received into grace for Christ’s sake. This happens not through our own merits, but for Christ’s sake. Our churches condemn the Anabaptists and others who think that through their own preparations and works the Holy Spirit comes to them without the external Word.” Our Lutheran Confessions simply articulate what Scripture says. God instituted the preaching office, so that people may hear the Gospel and so be saved through faith.

John was called directly by the Holy Spirit to prepare the way of the Lord Jesus. Pastors are called indirectly through the Church, as Jesus says in Matthew 18, “Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” And Saint Paul instructs Titus, “Appoint elders in every town.” (Titus 1:5) Yet, pastors still serve as the voice of God and carry the authority of that voice, as Paul instructs the elders of Ephesus in Acts 20, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which He obtained with His own blood.” (vs. 28)

And so, pastors must not speak beyond what Holy Scripture says, because pastors do not serve as their own voices, but as the voice of God. They are not to express their own opinions, but the words God desires His people to hear. Likewise, hearers should not judge their pastor’s preaching based on their own opinions or preferences, but based solely on God’s Word. Pastors, who are faithful to Holy Scripture and preach the Gospel of Christ are God’s voice in the wilderness today. And what must these pastors preach? The same thing the Voice John preached. They are to prepare the way of the Lord by preaching repentance. And they are to point directly to Christ Jesus as the only Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. This is why the Prophet declares, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Gospel.” (Romans 10:16, Isaiah 52:7) And why St. Paul says, “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9:16) There is nothing more comforting to poor sinners’ ears than the message of the Lamb of God, our Savior Christ Jesus.

Not everyone listens to the voice of God, whether John the Baptist or preachers of the Gospel today. Those who are proud and seek their own glory refuse to listen to the message of repentance and grace. So, who does listen to the voice of God today? Jesus tells us in Matthew 21, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.” (vss. 31-32) Sinners listened to John, repented, and were baptized by him for the forgiveness of sins. Sinners lifted their gaze and saw Jesus when John pointed to Him and called Him the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. John gave all his disciples to Jesus, because he was only a voice. And so, sinners listen to the voice of God today. They listen, because they are sorry for their sins. They listen, because they need a Savior and they know it.

Of course, everyone is a sinner. And so, everyone should listen to the preaching of God’s voice today. Yet, it is only those who are convicted of their sin who open their eyes to Christ Jesus, who takes our sin away. As we celebrate Christmas this week, may we hear the voice calling to us to look at Jesus as our Savior, the Lamb of God, who takes our sin away. Amen.