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JOHN THE BAPTIST Luke 1:57-80 “Elizabeth’s full time came that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son. And her neighbors and her cousins heard how the Lord had shown great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her. And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father. And his mother answered and said, Not so, but he shall be called John.” Elizabeth had given birth to a baby boy and it was now the eighth day, a special time to name the child. However, naming this child caused quite a disturbance among the neighbors and relatives. Their custom was to name a child after his father. However, a messenger of God had given specific directions to Zacharias that they should name him “John,” which means “favored by God,” or another way of saying, “given God’s Grace." This made no sense to the relatives; no one in the family had that name! “Name him Zacharias!” everyone insisted. “Not so,” proclaimed Elizabeth, "but he shall be called John.” Elizabeth believed in what God would do and stood against the attitude that was basically saying, “this child is not favored by God’s Grace.” Turning to Zacharias, they made signs, asking him what he wanted to call the child. Zacharias had been silenced in a place of unbelief months before, as he doubted the news of the coming of God’s Grace. But now, to everyone’s surprise, "he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, saying, 'His name is John,'" favored by God with His Grace! Immediately, Zacharias began to speak with strong belief in what God had already begun to do by His Grace. Praising God, he told the people that God had kept His promise made generations earlier and was now bringing it all to pass. Then, he spoke to the child with these words: “And you, child, shall be called the prophet of the Highest: for you shall go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways; to give knowledge of salvation unto His people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” And that is exactly what happened. By the Grace of God, John the Baptist grew, and became strong in the Holy Spirit, spending his entire life preparing the world for the arrival of Jesus. "And he came into all the country about the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of (to turn from and stand against) sins saying: 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low, the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'" (Luke 3:3-6) Look to Jesus! ~ Ryan Ward
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