Luke 1:5-25 clarifies how Elizabeth discovers that she will bring forth a prophet. She was the wife to Zacharias the priest. This youngster will ultimately be known as John the Baptist. Zacharias obtains this information from a holy messenger yet questions because of his old age. Because of his doubt, he is made mute and unable to speak (Luke 1:62). As anticipated, he and Elizabeth consider and anticipate the introduction of their child. This happens a while before a relative of Elizabeth, Mary, receives some significantly serious astonishing news from a holy messenger as well.
One of the more famous predictions of the Old Testament was the case that Elijah would return, preceding the appearance of the Messiah (Malachi 4:5). This was attached to the expectation that a prophet would go about as an envoy for the Promised One.
• Isaiah 40:3, The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
• Malachi 3:1, Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.
Zacharias, who has recently discovered that he and his wife’s soon-to-be child will satisfy this job (Luke 1:11-16). After the youngster, later known as John the Baptist, is conceived, Zacharias will refer to this present messenger’s job (Luke 1:76). Strangely enough, Jesus will bring about that this job as Elijah has a contingent perspective.
John the Baptist will not in a real sense be Elijah, as in some type of resurrection (John 1:19-21), yet his job was to be practically indistinguishable from that of Elijah, which was to urge the people to repent from wrongdoing and return back to God. Had the people of Israel completely acknowledged John’s message, he would have satisfied this very purpose.
• Matthew 11:14, And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.
All things being equal, a great many people would turn from the total truth of the gospel.
• John 6:66-67, From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?
He prepared the people for the Messiah’s arrival, and he would perform “heart transplants.” John would take the hearts of stone and replace it with a soft heart. He would remove the rigid heart and replace it with a pliable heart. He would take the skeptical heart and replace it with a trusting heart. He would take a closed heart and exchange it for an open heart (Ezekiel 11:18-20; 36:25-29).
Given the circumstances, John’s service would be strong and powerful. His proclaiming would set others up to comprehend the messages that Jesus would teach (Mark 1:4; Luke 3:2-3). Indeed, even after his own death, burial, resurrection, and ascension into heaven (Mark 6:17, 27; Acts 1:8-9), John’s proclaiming would be essential for the early church’s course of evangelism (Acts 13:24-25).
• Acts 19:4, Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.
John was to be the extension to the age gap of that time. Our concern today is not so much a large amount of a hole between the grown-ups and the children, however that there is a hole between God and the grown-ups. If the grown-ups had been having an appropriate relationship with God, then there would not be an issue with the children of today. Christians have failed in passing on Christ’s values to the next generation. Due to the ongoing issue of political correctness, Christians have allowed the world (sin) to filter in and contaminate the future generations.
Now, let us take a look at Ezekiel 11:18-20 and 36:25-29.
“One heart” demonstrates a consistent singleness of direction. Never again will God's people look for some divine beings, yet they will be happy with the God. The new heart is an extreme transfer of the hard, blocked, undaunted heart for a delicate, open, and responsive heart.
• Jeremiah 32:39, And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them.
• Ezekiel 18:31, Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
The Holy Spirit is the only one that can craft this new life. It is God’s work, yet we should perceive our wrongdoing and abandon it. At the point when we do, God gives us new thought processes, new rules, and a new objective. Have we really accepted our new heart?
• Ezekiel 36:26, A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
God guaranteed the Israelites that He would reestablish them, physically as well as in spiritually also. To achieve this, He would give them another heart for following Him and He would put His Spirit inside them (Ezekiel 11:19-20; Psalm 51:7-11) to change them and to enable them to do His will. Again, He promises another covenant (Ezekiel 16:61-63, 34:23-25), that will eventually to be satisfied in Christ. Regardless of how sullied our life is at this moment, God offers us a new beginning. We can have our transgressions washed away, get another heart for God, and encapsulate His Spirit assuming that we acknowledge his promise. If we can have a new life, why would we want to try to just attempt to fix up our previous lifestyle?
Are we truly open to God as we ought to be? Do we need our heart changed? We are to remember and proclaim that Christ is the true heart surgeon.
• Psalms 139:23-24, Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
• Revelation 3:20, Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
