Does our enjoyment of the presence of God in our midst begin
with the coming of Christ and the new creation?
No, our punishments are taken away now, we partially enjoy the kingdom
today. We don’t see our enemies cleared
away, we are still in the spiritual battle, but we know that ultimately this
will be true, we are simply called to persevere in the battle with the
knowledge that indeed Love wins for those who are in Christ Jesus. Our enemies, however, aren’t flesh and blood
and we do well to remember that truth.
If you are in Jesus then this is the attitude of the Father towards you
today, “The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will
rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult
over you with loud singing. I will gather those of you who mourn for the
festival, so that you will no longer suffer reproach.” Live from that place
today.
The first assumption people would have had about Zechariah
and Elizabeth is that there was some secret sin in their lives that caused her
to be barren. Luke assures us that they
were righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and
statutes of the Lord. Her barrenness was
God’s plan, that would also tell us immediately that John was a special child,
it should have alerted all that they should pay attention to this one very
closely, the prophetic silence of four hundred years was about to end. Zechariah had a high duty to perform in the
holy place of the temple, the burning of incense to represent the prayers of
the people of God rising to Him. Was he
praying for a child for he and Elizabeth or had he given up on that
blessing? It seems likely he had given
up based on his reaction to the angel.
Think back to Abraham and Sarah in Genesis and their reaction to the
announcement that in a year that old womb would bear a child. The promise concerning John is that he will
be the fulfillment of the final prophecy of the Old Testament, Malachi 4.5-6. When Elizabeth turned up pregnant they should
have been on high alert that something big was coming from this child. The end and the Messiah were near.
Paul gives to Titus the qualifications for elders in the
church. The most important, it seems to
me is in verse 9, “He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that
he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those
who contradict it.” We insist on the
moral integrity of our leaders and that they have good reputations in the community
but this one is important in that they have a spiritual responsibility in the
community as well, particularly in the church.
I have seen churches where the leaders had their positions primarily by
virtue of their business acumen and reputation, not because they were steeped
in the truth. They were nice people but
were they able to teach others and refute error? Our elders need to be more than nice people
who do well in business. We need people
who are committed to the truth and who know who they are in the Lord
first.
Praise, my soul, the
King of heaven;
to his feet thy
tribute bring;
ransomed, healed,
restored, forgiven,
evermore his praises
sing:
Alleluia, alleluia!
Praise the everlasting
King.
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