Joel Johnson | Biblical History & Theology

An ivory plaque of Mark the evangelist Mark 1:1-8 reads (my translation): 1 The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the son of God.  2 Just as it was written in Isaiah the prophet,  “Look! I send my messenger before your face, Who will clear the road for you;  3 A voice shouting in the desert, Prepare the road of the Lord, Make his paths straight.”  4 John the Baptiser appeared in the desert, announcing a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  5 And all from the region of Judea and all the Jerusalemites were coming out to him, and they were being baptised by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.  6 And John was clothed in camel hair and a leather belt around his waist and he was eating locusts and bush honey.  7 And he was announcing, “One more powerful than me is coming after me, who I am not fit to bend down and loosen his sandal strap.  8 I baptise you with water, but he will baptise you in the Holy Spirit.  ...

Note: this post is based off a talk I gave to a group of high school-aged students at a church day in Jan 2025.  If my experiences are at all representative of the broader population, then your teenage years going through to adulthood can really be a time of searching and questioning. This point of transition from child to adult can be complex, as you move from being told what to do, to “charting your own path”. You need to really find and know God for yourself. You need to figure out “what to do” with your life - in all different aspects.  There are a lot of questions that come along with this, perhaps more so in our modern world than at any other point in history. How do I tell right from wrong? How do I determine what is true? Where do I live? Where do I work? Who do I marry? Do I buy an iPhone, or an obviously superior Android phone? What position do I take on these controversial topics which everyone else is talking about?  Sometimes, it can be really hard to find an...