Topic: John the Baptist
There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. (Luke 1:5-6 KJV)
Here, we begin the message series on the birth of John the Baptist. Please don’t confuse with the Gospel writer John. As we read in the first half portion of John 1, we read that John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus. His job was to prepare a road for Jesus to walk to His peoples’ lives (see Mark 1:1-2). He baptized them with the water (John 1:31), but Jesus came to baptize them with the Holy Ghost (John 1:33). We will study more in-depth on baptism of the Holy Ghost (Spirit) later on.
But, let’s focus on Elisabeth and Zacharias for the next several messages. The named Zacharias is a Greek form of Zechariah, which means “memory of the Lord.” First part of the name refers to the prophet whom the Jews stoned (Matt. 23:35; Luke 11:51). Some believe this prophet to be identical with Zechariah [11] or [16], though it is possible the reference is to an unknown prophet. Then there is a priest, father of John the Baptist (Luke 1).
Then there is a woman name Elisabeth, God is swearer; oath of God, the wife of Zacharias and mother of John the Baptist (Luke 1:5–57).
As we read, Zacharias and Elisabeth lived during the depression time by King Herod. Just as we are facing the economic system issue, the people of Judea faced taxes that were forced by this pagan ruler. Also, in Luke 1:5, we see that Zacharias was from the descendant of Aaron, who was the priest for the people of Israel.
They were righteous before God, even though there were some doubts. Do you know that God will still bless us, even though we’d doubt His words? Thomas doubted on Jesus’ resurrection until he touched Jesus’ palms. I know there are some people in the world who doubt on their children with severe disabilities. Even you’d have a child with disabilities, it doesn’t mean that your family is in generation curse. You have to release the negative thoughts on your mind and begin to trust on God that He can do anything possible. As we see on our civil rights, they would begin to turn our laws to negative effect to this Christian nation. The problem is not on our money, but it’s on our sinful acts against God. Our previous and current presidents have led our nation astray from God, because we did not fight against abortion, same-sex marriage, teen’s pregnancy, homosexual rights agenda, and so on. It is the time for the churches to make noises against on these issues. We need to stop our doubts on God and begin to trust on Him.
