Good Monday morning! Guess what you didn't get yesterday! Yup, a devotional. Some of you may have seen someone in church yesterday. That would be me, invited and encouraged to attend. I asked God to take away the fear and he responded with messages and invitations all around. What a weekend too! I helped a couple friends do a lot of work over the weekend; making deer sausage and painting an old bedroom, and then going out hunting a couple of times too. I'm a little worn out this Monday morning. Praise the Lord that devotional writing is a work of the mind and soul, and a few stiff and sore fingers.
Today, we look at one little verse out of the entire Bible. This verse tells about an amazing man. Luke 1:17 tells us the great things that he will do.
He will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah, the prophet of old. He will precede the coming of the Lord, preparing the people for his arrival. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and he will change disobedient minds to accept godly wisdom."
If you knew nothing about Jesus, the man John preceded, and had never read the many prophecies concerning Messiah, you would still get a pretty good idea about his standing from this verse and from what John had to say about him. The angel Gabriel gave John's father, Zechariah, the prophecy in this one little verse concerning his son.
"A man with the spirit and power of Elijah" would have made any of the folks in ancient Judea sit up straight and listen. Elijah was one of the great prophets in their history. Elijah called down fire from heaven to defeat the prophets of Baal, restored a child to life, and shut off the rain for a while. Elijah fled to the wilderness, and was fed by an angel. Elijah annointed a king over Israel. You can read these and other tales of his life in 1 Kings. No doubt the Jewish children grew up on tales of Elijah and the power of God. John would have that same power and spirit.
John would precede the coming of Messiah, something the people in Judea looked forward to with longing, and he would prepare them for the great arrival. Next, "He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children..." We live in a time when fathers often have children out of wedlock and take off, leaving young mothers alone with a new child to care for. For John to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children would take a miracle then just as it does in many cases now. Can you imagine John arriving right now at the house of the young fellow down the street, who is busy packing up his car to abandon that young lady, and with a few words restores a wayward heart to love and understanding of his new child? What a great thing!
Finally, "he will change the disobedient minds to accept godly wisdom." Another translation uses the word "rebellious" in place of disobedient. If someone barks some good advice at you, what is your first reaction? Often it is one of rebellion. We are naturally rebellious and never more so than when the advice is good. God gives us ten commandments for our own good, and we feel the urge to violate all ten of them. God says to love one another and we immediately think of someone we don't really want to love. Rebellion seems to be hard-wired into our circuits! Yet John will turn those rebellious hearts to accept godly wisdom? Wow, what a miracle!
So after all this about one little child blessing not only his elderly parents-to-be, but all the world as well; what does that child say about Jesus when he grows up and begins this marvelous ministry? "Here comes one whose sandals I am not worthy to tie!" Merry Christmas! Jesus must be something very special indeed! A man with the spirit and power of Elijah is sent to point to one much greater. A man who turns rebellious hearts to godly wisdom says that he must become less while Jesus becomes greater. That is one powerful witness to the precious and powerful life of Jesus.
We know from the Bible that John fulfilled his mission of heralding the arrival of Jesus Christ. We also know that Jesus did go on to become greater, while John died in prison. However, John the Baptist went to heaven with "mission accomplished" stamped on his life. Jesus gave his own life to save us all. He did the greater things that John said he would. Believe in Jesus; he comes with a powerful witness!
Merry Christmas!
Bucky
No comments:
Post a Comment