Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit, praised God for His faithfulness to keep His promises to His people. He spoke a prophecy over his John, and Messiah saying,
"And you, my little son,
will be called the prophet of the Most High,
because you will prepare the way for the Lord.
You will tell his people how to find salvation
through forgiveness of their sins.
will be called the prophet of the Most High,
because you will prepare the way for the Lord.
You will tell his people how to find salvation
through forgiveness of their sins.
Because of God's tender mercy,
the morning light from heaven
is about to break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness and
in the shadow of death,
and to guide us to the path of peace."
Luke 1:76-79 NLT
Be Blessed by this beautiful prophecy inspired by the Holy Spirit through a father for his son. His words are tender... "And you my little son". His words powerfully proclaim John's mission, his message of salvation through forgiveness of our sins. What an inspiration for us to seek God on behalf of each of our children and grandchildren for God's purpose, His gifting and to pray this into their lives!
The imagery in the last part is beautiful! "Because of God's tender mercy toward us the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us". This fulfills the verse in Isaiah 9 that we began this years Advent with and also reminds me of a favorite proverb.
"The people who walk in darkness
will see a great light.
For those who live in a land of deep darkness,
a light will shine...
For a child is born to us, a son is given to us.
The government will rest on his shoulders.
And he will be called:
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
Isaiah 9:2-6 NLT
"The path of the righteous is like
the first gleam of dawn,
which shines ever brighter until the full light of day."
Pro 4:18 NLT
Let us stand in the light of His everlasting love.
This concludes Week 2 of our Advent Readings.
The Light of Faith Revealed in Struggle
You can see it in all of the lives touched deeply in the narrative of the Promise and Coming of the King, Jesus Christ. Tomorrow begins Week 3, titled:
The Light of Joy Breaks Through
5 comments:
This scripture strikes me as our own call from God.
Our society has plunged into great moral decay and darkness. As God called John the Baptist to be His prophet -- to call people to repent and receive forgiveness that they might know peace, so are Christians called to do the same. There is a great move of God gathering Christians of all denominations for united worship, prayer and repentance on behalf of our nation.
John would grow up to be a very courageous spokesman for the Lord -- calling a spade a spade -- a sin a sin. Exactly what people needed to hear so they would be pierced to the heart and motivated to repentance.
May we have the generosity of spirit, courage, wisdom and perseverance necessary to answer the Lord's call to turn the hearts of the people back to their God.
Yes, this is our call as Christians, as our nation plunges into deeper darkness everyday. The repentance begins in the hearts of the body of Christ, as we humble ourselves, pray and seek God's face for our country and countryman. Daniel interceded for his people in Daniel 9, taking on their sin by saying "we have sinned and committed iniquity.."
We were born in this time for such a time as this. I believe the body of Christ will rise and shine to give light to those who sit in darkness.
In his song, Zechariah, filled with the Holy Spirit and so ever thankful, prophesies about the fact that the Messiah is coming - that salvation has come to Israel because of God's mercy. His own son, John, will be a prophet who will appear ahead of the Messiah. John's ministry will be to call the people to repentance and to ask for the forgiveness of their sins through the coming Christ.
Now, we ought to be just as thankful for the wonderful gift of our Saviour. Our hearts should burst in praise every single day for such a great gift as we are very priviledged indeed.
Let us prepare the way of the Lord's Second Coming by pleading our contemporaries to turn to Jesus!
Yes, we must call sin "sin", calling a spade a "spade"! and this both in the House of God and without!
And yes, yes and yes, repentance must happen first in the House of God before it happens outside of it!
How can the Church - today's Christians - possibly lead those who sit in darkness without the Light of Christ to the His salvation when the Church is so steeped in sin Herself?
Let me be clear, not all Christians sin deliberately - there are many holy Christians seeking sanctification in their lives - but many do. Too many. For example, gossipping , false witnessing and judging wrongly seem to be acceptable sins in the Church today. But even these are totally unacceptable in God's sight! These sins are just as ugly as all the others!
Let there be repentance from within so that the people without will truly see Christ's Light shine and be convinced of their own sinful nature.
Yes, we are called to "Let our light shine before men so they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." Very difficult to let our light shine, if we too are steeped in darkness. I pray for break through and awakening in the body of Christ. In Jesus Name.
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