PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Luke 1:5-20
What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage?
“To make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:17)
God has been preparing salvation ever since Adam and Eve’s fall (Genesis 3:15).
What we call the “Old Testament” is part of how God prepares the world for Jesus.
Zechariah and Elizabeth are called to be the next step in that preparation.
Their baby (John the Baptist) will prepare the people for the messiah’s arrival.
John will be considered the greatest “Old Testament” prophet (Luke 7:28).
But no matter how great John might be, he is lesser than Jesus.
He knows this: “He must become greater; I must become less.” (John 3:30)
Jesus is the hope of the world, and like John, we prepare people to meet Jesus.
By how we live and love and serve, we make people receptive.
Jesus uses us to make people thirsty for the new life that he brings.
And yet, sometimes Jesus followers have made it hard for others to trust Jesus.
Instead of preparing the way, we have gotten in the way.
Is there a part of me, like Zechariah, that needs to be silenced?
Am I getting in the way of Jesus, or am I preparing the way for Jesus?
PRAYER
Lord, please silence the part of me that hinders others, and use me to help prepare others to want to know and follow you.
“When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear.”
I think fear does strange things – I think it can short circuit our thinking processes. For Zechariah the angel tells him what will happen and then He says how can I be sure of this? It was no casual person or conversation after all. So he had doubts even as the message was delivered in a miraculous way. I too need to challenge my fears and anxieties – Jesus coming and his crucifixion and resurrection are all miraculous – how the mission of salvation was accomplished by Jesus both son of God and son of man is miraculous. Let my own doubts and rationality not stand in the way – but see how God reached out – just like he did with Gabriel to Zachariah. God reaches out to me by His HS every day – let me fear in the right way and let my thoughts and actions be driven by trust and obey!
What’s my excuse?
I am a child of the King serving Him. All those around me need to see that I am His and He is mine by what I say and do. I need to be an instrument of His peace – a stepping stone and not a stumbling block. I need to rely on His power/presence within me rather than my own strength. Use me Lord, use even me.
Did we in our own strength confide,
Our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side,
The Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth His Name,
From age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.