To Make Ready A People Prepared For The Lord

Luke 1:17. 17 And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, 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.

If you were told today you are to make ready a people prepared for the Lord, would you accept the charge? Would you grasp the magnitude of the duty laid upon you?

Such a man was told this would happen from his offspring. An angel came to Zacharias telling him his wife would bear a male child. His son, John, would be great in the sight of the Lord and filled with the Holy Ghost. Let us read: Luke 1:13b-16. ;…thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. 14 And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. 15 For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. 16 And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.

If you are the son spoken of here, would you accept the charge?

Believers of the Lord Jesus Christ are charged with telling the story (Gospel) of the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ. Just as John was given the duty to prepare a people for the Lord, believers are charged with the same. Mt. 28:19-20. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Before Jesus came into the world, John was given a charge to prepare a people prepared for the coming of the Lord. When Jesus left to prepare a place for his believers to come in the next life, he gave believers–disciples–the same charge; to teach all nations to observe whatsoever he commanded. Just as the work John (the Baptist) was to perform, we have the Holy Ghost within us to do the same charge.

As the world choses to celebrate a birthday for the King Immanuel, let us consider the events leading up to this blessed event. God prepared a holy people in which to bring His son by human birth into human existence. He prepared the way.

God has kept a remnant of Israelite people holy and acceptable to him in order to bring his son into the physical world. God had designed this timely event long before the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus. Many prophecies were given exclaiming the actual events before they happened.

Ezekiel 11:16-20. 16 Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come. 17 Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. 18 And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence. 19 And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: 20 That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

In this progression of events, the parents of John were chosen. Luke 1:5-6. 5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. 6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.

Chosen were a righteous couple of the priesthood. Both father and mother were of the house of Levi; the mother being of the house of Aaron the first High Priest. They were both ‘walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.’ To them God chose to bring into the world a male child to prepare the way for the coming Messiah.

Not all men are living righteously at all times before the Lord. Many of them must be made ready to accept the Lord in their lives. This requires a time of preparation. John was the one chosen before the earthly birth of our Lord.