What Is So Special About The Birth Of John?
Good Morning Friends,
We do so rejoice in the nativity of every child and the Bible is filled with a lot of stories about joyous and amazing births. The birth of Isaac was cause for rejoicing. Of course, Jesus gets the big celebration at Christmas in our traditions and by those reckonings that would put the anniversary of the birth of John the Baptist around this time of year. With that meditation in mind of a child who recognized Jesus even in the womb, I ask today’s question. What Is So Special About The Birth Of John?
Scripture: But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John.
Luke 1:13 (NRSV)
Listen to me, O coastlands, pay attention, you peoples from far away! The Lord called me before I was born, while I was in my mother’s womb he named me. He made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow, in his quiver he hid me away. And he said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” But I said, “I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my cause is with the Lord, and my reward with my God.” And now the Lord says, who formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him, for I am honored in the sight of the Lord, and my God has become my strength— he says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
Isaiah 49:1-6 (NRSV)
When he had removed him, he made David their king. In his testimony about him he said, ‘I have found David, son of Jesse, to be a man after my heart, who will carry out all my wishes.’ Of this man’s posterity God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised; before his coming John had already proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John was finishing his work, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but one is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of the sandals on his feet.” “My brothers, you descendants of Abraham’s family, and others who fear God, to us the message of this salvation has been sent.
Acts 13:22-26 (NRSV)
Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. But his mother said, “No; he is to be called John.” They said to her, “None of your relatives has this name.” Then they began motioning to his father to find out what name he wanted to give him. He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And all of them were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God. Fear came over all their neighbors, and all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea. All who heard them pondered them and said, “What then will this child become?” For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him. The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day he appeared publicly to Israel.
Luke 1:57-66, 80 (NRSV)
Message: As we turn together to the Word of God, I invite you to open your Bible to Luke’s gospel. We are approaching the end of this great first chapter of Luke. Luke is unfolding for us the story of Jesus Christ, and in his unique and wonderful and inspired way, giving us profound insight into redemptive history as he describes the conception and birth both of John the Baptist and of the Lord Jesus Himself. First and foremost, the Bible is the revelation of God. It is His own word on Himself. More than anything else it is His story. Behind Zacharias and behind Elizabeth and behind Mary and behind John and even behind the coming of Jesus is the great and mighty revelation of God. His nature, His character, His works, His purpose, His will, He is being revealed. In fact, at all points in the Bible, God is teaching the truth about Himself. He is the one dominating figure in biblical revelation. The Bible simply is a book about God. It starts with God and it ends with God and everything in between is about God. Every passage reveals something about God. Pursuing the knowledge of God in every portion of Scripture is a rich and rewarding enterprise. And how could it be avoided here when Luke makes a comment at the end of the passage in verse 66 and says, “For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him.” Everything in the story of John the Baptist evidenced the mighty intervention of God. And you see the intervention of God through His Word, through His angel and through the miracle of conception later in life. God’s hand is in all of this. In the silence and the speaking… in the supernatural events of two miracle conceptions, and two miracle births that echo the birth of Isaac. Friends, the coming of John and the coming of Jesus explodes on the world and the aftershock is acting even now in human history.
Pray we appreciate the forerunner of the Messiah as an expression of how God acts in history. Pray we that with God’s help each new child born will turn out to be something God intended. Pray we realize what a miracle all this is. Pray we see the movement of God, the purpose of God, the plan of God for redemption unfolding in each of our lives. Pray we rejoice in all aspects of God’s nature; His veracious promise, His gracious purpose, and His wondrous power. Pray we realize how special life is.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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