{"id":5443,"date":"2022-12-09T09:30:18","date_gmt":"2022-12-09T08:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/predication.net\/?p=5443"},"modified":"2022-12-09T09:30:19","modified_gmt":"2022-12-09T08:30:19","slug":"elijah-and-john-the-baptist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/predication.net\/?p=5443","title":{"rendered":"Elijah and John the Baptist."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Why are we so interested in the person of John the Baptist even today? We read: “Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist” (Mt 17:13). This took place after the transfiguration on the mountain, where Peter, James, and John saw Moses and Elijah talking to Jesus. And when they came down from the mountain, the disciples asked Jesus: “Then why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” (Matthew 17:10). The Jews believed that Elijah would come before the Messiah. The Lord Jesus confirms this opinion but declares John the Baptist to be Elijah, who had already fulfilled Elijah’s mission for that time. We know about John the Baptist and what the angel Gabriel said to Zacharias when he was offering a sacrifice in the temple.<\/h2>\n
The words “in the spirit of Elijah” mean that John will speak with the same determination against the sins of the people and especially against the sins of their leaders, as Elijah once did when he spoke against the pagan queen Jezebel and her pagan priests. With the same zealous spirit, John will admonish people to repentance. And John fulfilled this angel’s prediction. He seduced Philip’s brother’s wife Herodias and lived with her. She could not listen to what John the Baptist allowed to her when he reproached her that she could not live with her husband’s brother. John feared God more like her, therefore he acted truly as a prophet.<\/h2>\n
It is truly his humility, his dedication to the cause of God when he declared about himself: “After I come one mightier than I” (Luke 3:16). When they asked him if he was the one who was to come, or if they should wait for another, John did not deny and confessed: “I am not the Messiah” (John 1:20).<\/h2>\n
In this Advent season of preparation for the feast of the Nativity of Jesus Christ, we should also get to know the person of John the Baptist as best as possible.\u00a0Not how he looked physically, but we should look at the content of his words, which he announced as the forerunner of the Lord Jesus.\u00a0These words are timely even today.\u00a0They draw our attention to what is essential in preparing for the feast of the Nativity of the Lord, and what we should not overlook. When we realize all of this, we should adjust our lives accordingly, which John compares to a road: “Prepare the way for the Lord, make his paths straight” (Mk 1:3b). John’s words sound like a message for us to receive the salvation that he will bring us. The Messiah.<\/h2>\n
The answer to the gospel should not take long. We must not think for a long time, and make decisions. The time is fast approaching, and the birth of God’s Son is at the door. We ask for the strength to profess our faith and to fulfill our religious duties with all fidelity to God.<\/h2>\n
Behold, our God is coming! John’s words are significant to us. Let’s not despise John! When we learn to know John, if we preserve his words in the practice of the life of believing Christians, then the world will know us not only by the name that we are believers but above all by our words and deeds.<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"