Centuries after the prophet Elijah was taken up into heaven in a fiery chariot, his spirit would return in the person of John the Baptist. John would be miraculously born to aged parents, his mother Elizabeth and father, a priest named Zacharias. Elizabeth was well beyond normal child-bearing years, so when God announced this miraculous plan to Zacharias as he ministered in the temple in Jerusalem, he would be skeptical.
11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 12 And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.
13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John… 16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Luke 1:11-13, 16-17 (NKJV)
The prophet Elijah was sent the first time to turn the hearts of Israel back to their God. Led by a series of idolatrous kings, the people were following after false gods like Baal and Asherah, and many of the true prophets of the Lord were being killed off by Queen Jezebel.
Many years before, the people had been brought into the land of Israel, a land flowing with milk and honey, by God. After hundreds of years of slavery in Egypt, the Lord wanted to put them in this good land soon after bringing them out from bondage, in the Exodus. But the people did not have enough faith in their hearts to follow Him there, still clinging to false gods of Egypt, such as the golden calf. So, the Lord let this first generation die off as they wandered around in futility in the desert, and He later brought their children into the Promised Land.
These generations also turned away, but through Elijah, God succeeded in directing many of their hearts back to Himself. First, the Lord prepared them using the hardship of a three and a half year drought, then He used Elijah to call down a miraculous fire from heaven in a face-off against hundreds of Jezebel’s false prophets of Baal. God also used Elijah to preserve himself, a widow, and her son through a miraculous daily multiplication of her flour and oil supply, and even raised the widow’s son from the dead after an serious illness. These miracles foreshadowed the later miracles to be done by Jesus – feeding multitudes from a small supply of loaves and fishes, and raising both a widow’s son and Lazarus from the dead.
Hundreds of years after Elijah was taken into heaven, the prophet Malachi spoke of his return. The concept of Elijah coming and returning later is also a foreshadowing of Jesus doing the same.
5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. 6 And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.” Malachi 4:5-6 (NKJV)
John the Baptist would be born four hundred years after Malachi’s prophesy. His arrival was indeed a miracle. His parents, Zacharias and Elizabeth, had always followed closely after the Lord and walked in all of His ways. But their prayers for a child of their own were denied, or so they had thought. While serving in the Holy Temple, a rare opportunity for a Levitical priest Zacharias, he was visited by the angel Gabriel and told of the coming birth of a son. He was to be named John and would be a very special child in the Lord’s eyes. The normally faithful Zacharias did not believe God’s good news, so he was given a lengthy period of time when he could not speak, a testimony of God’s power, which lasted until the child John was born.
While Elijah had been sent to turn the hearts of the people from Baal to God, John the Baptist was sent in the power and spirit of Elijah to prepare the hearts of the people to receive their coming Messiah, Jesus Christ. Part of this preparation was in restoring families – turning the hearts of the children back to their parents and parents to their children – as well as in turning disobedient hearts back towards God.
John’s “miracles” were of a different nature than Elijah’s. He did not call down fire, from heaven, raise the dead or multiply food from a limited supply. Instead, people simply flocked to him, divinely drawn from all corners of Israel to hear his message about the near-term arrival of Christ. And many listened, believed, and obeyed as he told them how to get ready for the Lord, their promised Messiah.
10 So the people asked him, saying, “What shall we do then?” Luke 3:10 (NKJV)
Some of the things John instructed them to do to were:
- Share your food and clothing with those who have none.
- Do not be greedy – collect what is justly coming to you, and no more.
- Do not intimidate or bully people to get what you want from them.
- Do not make false accusations about anyone.
- Be content with what you have been given by God.
People who wanted to get ready for the Messiah were baptized by John in the Jordan River. The Spirit of God spoke to their hearts through John, and many in the land were made ready to focus on the arrival of the Divine in their lives and their nation.
Others, particularly the religious leaders of the day, scoffed at what John had to say. Jesus would also have His confrontations with these powerful leaders, many of whom, three years later, would deliver Him over to the Romans to be crucified.
Reflection
Who did God send into your life to prepare your heart for His arrival?
Lord, thank You for loving me and caring about what happens to me. Help me to get ready for You in my heart. Show me what I must do to make room for You today, adjusting my behavior and actions to follow divine principles. We ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Daily Meditations from the Genealogy of Jesus 