Ben Fourie

“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.” Luke 1:76 (NIV)

The New Testament Elijah. That was the promise of the angel who spoke to Zechariah. The boy that will be born to him and his wife Elizabeth was to be the road builder for the Messiah as prophesied in Isaiah 40:3 and Malachi 3:1. A strange ascetic man from the desert with his cloak of camelhair, his unusual menu and his abstinence from alcohol, but already filled with the Holy Spirit even before his birth. In the end he was to die at the hand of King Herod on the whim of a spoilt young woman and her mother.

About this boy who was a very special gift from God (Zechariah and his wife was not young anymore) his father, filled with the Holy Spirit, sang a song of praise. Songs in the Old Testament usually had a specific construction that was related to the songwriter and the event for which it was composed. Zachariah was a priest and this song of praise fitted into that style. The song can be broken up into two parts. From verse 68 to 75 the song is ito praise the God of Israel and in the second part it is a prophecy about the purpose of the boy’s calling.

His biggest task would be to pave the way for the preaching of Jesus Christ. He was to prepare the soil for the seed of the message that Jesus was sent by God to die on the cross for all of humankind. In vers 77 we hear: “…to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the knowledge of their sins…”. The message of John the Baptist was all about repentance and charity and so powerful was his preaching that people came from far and wide to listen to him and be baptized. People were starting to speculate if John was not maybe the Messiah but he put the emphasis where it belongs: “But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.” Not John, but Jesus.

Prayer: Dear Lord help me to be more like John the Baptist so that I will point not at myself so much but rather to Jesus all the time. Amen