The person had spent the night listening to the radio. The cat's whisker was part of the very early crystal sets. A crystal along with a movable pointed wire did the work that was later taken over by the diode. It was not very reliable and took a lot of fiddling to get it to work properly. But it used no external power or amplifiers, so the only source of power in the earphones was the radio signal itself. Only strong signals could be heard, but with a long antenna and a good earth, reception of a signal from as far away as 1,600 kilometres was sometimes possible.
The development of radio in this century has made a big impact on how we communicate and on how we gain information. We used to call it the "wireless" because, unlike telegraph and telephone, there didn't have to be any wires connecting the sender to the receiver. Of course, a good radio was full of wires - and transformers and valves and inductors and resistors and capacitors and goodness-knows-what-else. A good radio was a very bulky thing, which is why Edwin Armstrong, an American inventor in the early days of radio - he invented FM, by the way - Edwin Armstrong came up with a portable radio. It doesn't look very "portable" to us, but then, with smaller batteries, smaller parts, transistors and integrated circuits, we are able to fit much more into a much smaller space! And radio has been followed by television - with an even greater power of communication and persuasion.
My parents were comparative late-comers to television. I remember them complaining about the language and life-styles that came uninvited into their lounge. They were thankful to have "the power of the switch" - whether to switch off or to change channels. Do you exercise the power of the switch at your place?
You have heard the saying, "If God seems a million miles away, guess who moved?" We were meant to know God, to respond to him in love and willing obedience, to have open lines of communication with him… But it doesn't seem to be that way, after all. Knowing God turns out to be quite an effort.
That goes back to the early records in Genesis. God walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the garden in the cool of the evening. It was normal and natural and was greatly desired and appreciated by Adam and Eve. All that changed when they chose to disobey. We find them trying to hide themselves from God. While leaves might be good camouflage, they were not an adequate covering for the guilt of their sin. God made them garments of animal skin - the first sacrifice had been made. (The Hebrew word for "atonement" means "covering".) From that time on, knowing God would involve a sacrifice for human sin.
No, God hasn't moved, but we can exercise "the power of the switch" against him, choosing to "tune out" or "turn off" his word of correction, forgiveness, grace and love. In our guilt, we are afraid to hear his voice, expecting condemnation and judgment. As a human race we have preferred to make up our own more convenient gods or even to say there is no God at all.
But the Bible is all about God speaking. Genesis 1 tells us again and again that "God said… and it was so." Today's Psalm (29) says again and again, "The voice of the Lord is heard on the seas… The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars… The voice of the Lord makes the lightning flash…" This is God's world and "he rules as king for ever." Paul writes that "Ever since God created the world, his invisible qualities, both his eternal power and his divine nature, have been clearly seen; they are perceived in the things that God has made" (Rom.1.20).
John wrote, "Before the world was created, the Word already existed; he was with God, and he was the same as God… Through him God made all things; not one thing in all creation was made without him…" (Jn.1.1,3). God was speaking through all that he made. "The Word was in the world, and though God made the world through him, yet the world did not recognise him. He came to his own country, but his own people did not receive him" (vv.10-11). Most people turned off or tuned out. "Some, however, did receive him and believed in him; so he gave them the right to become God's children…" (v.12). J.B. Phillips puts it like this, "At the beginning God expressed himself. That personal expression, that word, was with God and was God…"
Of course, we know the secret of what came next. We have been celebrating it at Christmas time, "The Word became a human being, and full of grace and truth, lived among us. We saw his glory, the glory which he received as the Father's only Son" (v.14).
Jesus had lived at Nazareth. He was known as the carpenter's son and became the carpenter of Nazareth when Joseph died. But he was really the Son of God come into the world with a special mission from God the Father. When he was thirty, the time came for him to begin to fulfil his true mission.
He left home and the carpenter's shop and Nazareth and went to the Jordan River. Here John the Baptist was calling on people to "repent of [their] sins because the Kingdom of heaven is near!" (Mt.3.3) "Prepare a road for the Lord; make a straight path for him to travel!" is what Isaiah had written centuries before. John was baptising people who confessed their sins. To all he announced that someone was coming - "I am not good enough to carry his sandals." Be warned! He is going to winnow God's people with his holy wind and fire. "He will gather his wheat into his barn, but he will burn the chaff in a fire that never goes out" (vv.11-12).
Then Jesus arrived and asked John to baptise him. He had no sins to confess and John felt awkward about the request. Here is the one! Jesus, you should be baptising me! But Jesus answered, "Let it be so for now. For in this way we shall do all that God requires" (v.15).
As he came out of the water, the heaven was opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God coming down like a dove and alighting on him. Then a voice said from heaven, "This is my own dear Son, with whom I am pleased" (vv.16-17). Of course, heaven was always open for Jesus, the sinless Son of God, yet as a human being he did not always "see" it. But now God the Spirit came and the voice of the Father spoke. Jesus, the Word of God made flesh, would do the works the Father gave him to do and speak the words the Father gave him to speak.
Why was Jesus baptised? There were three reasons: First, he was renouncing, not any guiltiness, but the dear and sheltered life of home, in order to begin the dangerous mission to which he was called. In a sense, it was the point at which he took up the cross to carry it until at last he died on it. Second, at his baptism he was identifying himself with sinners. If you will, he was at this point baptised for their sins - at the cross he would accept another baptism and die for their sins. Third, his baptism was the divine commissioning for his task. It represented a whole change of direction for him.
Jesus came and lived and taught and healed the sick and died and rose again. God has spoken. He loves us and wants to gather us into his family and make us part of his plan. All the groundwork has been done - all that is needed for sinners to be forgiven. Graciously he speaks to us, "Listen! I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into his house and eat with him, and he will eat with me!" (Rev.3.20)
Are you listening? Don't turn him off or tune him out! Open the door of your life and welcome him in!
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