Fresh Bread

Guest (Male): You are listening to Fresh Bread, Dr. Harry Reeder's daily devotional from the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals.

Harry Reeder: Just finished Mary's Magnificat, one of the great hymns of the faith written prior to the birth of Christ from the heart of the one who was chosen to give birth to Christ, and then here is the glory and majesty of the holiness of God revealed by the grace of God. And we are told when Mary had spent time there, but now she returns back to Nazareth.

We're seeing prophecy after prophecy fulfilled. Genesis 3:15 fulfilled, but there's one that says that the Messiah will be born in the city of David, which is Bethlehem, and that is going to be fulfilled. But there are other things that have to be fulfilled, and that is the ministry of Elijah through John the Baptist's ministry in the spirit and power of Elijah.

So before the birth of Jesus, well, we've got six months ahead of him, the birth of John the Baptist. Mary returns and likely one of the reasons that Mary leaves is because Elizabeth is about to give birth. That's recorded for us in Luke chapter 1 and verse 57. Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son.

And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. And that God had very graciously allowed her to give birth to a child in her old age is what that's referring to.

Guest (Male): So on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, that would be in obedience to God's word. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father. But his mother answered, "No, he shall be called John." And they said to her, "None of your relatives is called by this name."

And they made signs to the father. Remember, he is mute because he did not immediately believe in the word that was spoken, and in fact, doubted and his doubts were not assuaged by the response of Gabriel. So one of the ways that he was being taught through this process is he had been given a temporary inability to speak. In other words, he is mute, but he can make signs.

So they looked to him, and what does he say at that point and time? They made signs to his father inquiring what he wanted him to be called. And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, "His name is John," and they all wondered. And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke blessing God.

And fear came on all their neighbors, and all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea. And all who heard them laid them up in their hearts saying, "What then will this child be?" for the hand of the Lord was with him.

Harry Reeder: Well, we don't know a lot, but we do know this: John the Baptist's birth had a lot of fanfare. And Elizabeth has immediately spoken—her husband can't speak, so she'll speak up—"Oh no, he's not going to be called Zechariah, he's going to be called John," because the one who prophesied his birth, Gabriel, has already given us the name, and that's what we're going to call him.

Zechariah finds a way to say amen, and he affirms this as well. And there is a lot of fanfare in this small area. I've actually been to the town where John the Baptist, a little village outside of Jerusalem where he was born, and spent some time there. By the way, it's not too far from the biblical town of Emmaus.

Here it is that he will be born and everybody around there is saying, "This is something extraordinary. God must have a great plan for him." He's saved him in the womb, he's called him, he is walking in obedience through his parents. God is not yet through with Zechariah and Elizabeth.

God is now preparing John the Baptist in his childhood for an extraordinary ministry so that the fulfillment of the prophecy that Elijah shall prepare the way of the Lord will be seen through the ministry of John the Baptist in the spirit and power of Elijah, and it will be a heart-turning ministry.

And that's what you and I can have as we prepare the way for people to come to Christ who is coming to them through the proclamation of the gospel. You have a great Lord's Day, and I'll see you back here Monday for another slice of Fresh Bread.

Guest (Male): Make your resolution to include a commitment to cultivate your heart for God. Request this month's free gift, Dr. Reeder's series, "Cultivating a Heart for God." Call 1-800-488-1888.