Today’s reading:
My Selection:
And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.
Luke 1:16-17
Luke’s gospel opens with events surrounding the birth of Jesus Christ. One of those events was the birth of John the Baptist to a priest, Zacharias, and his wife, Elizabeth. John would have a very specific calling in life: to prepare people for the arrival of the Messiah.
What kind of preparation did they need? They needed to repent of their sin. Specifically, the angel told Zacharias that the hearts of fathers would be turned to the children and the hearts of the disobedient would be turned to the wisdom of the just. The breakdown in the society involved the evil of negligent fathers and rebellious fools.
As we will see, John’s ministry impacted the nation. Jesus would be introduced by John to those who had shown repentance as a result of John’s preaching.
Our Default Position
In every generation, the default position of rebellious mankind is negligence and foolishness, not being responsible nor wise. Pray that we who believe in Jesus will be faithful to proclaim to those who walk in darkness the need for repentance and faith in Him .
For more reflections on today’s reading, see the corresponding reading in my book Cover to Cover: Through the Bible in 365 days.
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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