Preparing The Way

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

PREPARING THE WAY

Luke 1:67-80

67 His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:

 68 "Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. 69 He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David 70(as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),  71 salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us— 72 to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, 73 the oath he swore to our father Abraham: 74 to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear 75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. 76 And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, 77 to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, 78 because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven 79 to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace."

80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel.

NIV

 

Although this is the prophetic word of Zechariah concerning his son, John, who will be known from now on as, John the Baptist, there must be something that is meaningful for us as well. We have to remember that all scripture is God-breathed and is profitable for correcting, rebuking, teaching, and training in righteousness so that we will be fully equipped for every good work. As Zechariah speaks about John will be called a prophet of the Most High; for he will go before the Lord and prepare for him, we cannot escape the plan of God for all believers. Should we not be preparing the way for the Lord in this world, this culture, and this society that we live in? Is this not part of the teaching and training in righteousness so that we are fully equipped for the good work of bringing Jesus to people in need of salvation? Surely, we are not prophets in the Old Testament sense when they spoke for God, but in the New Testament sense, a prophet is a messenger of God, speaking words that are inspired by the Holy Spirit, to build up the church, and share the Good News about Jesus Christ. What good is our being a child of the Most High, if all we do is hide ourselves under the shadow of His wing, or in other words, hide ourselves in church, or the confines of the body of Christ. If all we do is good works that benefit the church, are we being a little short-sighted? We would think that everyone in the church already knows about Jesus, so there is no need for us to go ahead and prepare a way for the Lord there, but the world, the people who are still captive to sin need to hear about Jesus, so they can know the truth. John was to give people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of our sins. Is that not what we are supposed to do? Should we not give people the knowledge of a sinful life and understand their sins can be forgiven through Jesus Christ? Certainly, we do not go about baptizing people like John, but we should be going about preparing a place in people’s hearts for the knowledge of their salvation.