But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord … He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Luke 1:13-17 NIV
John the Baptist Prophecy
Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day, also known in English as St John the Baptist Day, is a holiday celebrated on June 24 in the Canadian province of Quebec. It was brought to Canada by French settlers celebrating the traditional feast day of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist. It was declared a public holiday in Quebec in 1925. In 1977, an Order in Council by Lieutenant Governor Hugues Lapointe, on the advice of Premier René Lévesque, declared June 24 the provincial holiday in Quebec.
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A few days ago, we looked at the prophecy in Isaiah 40 that God was preparing the way for the coming of the Promised One. We usually think of that in terms of the conception and birth of John the Baptist, but in fact the entire Old Testament is the record of God’s preparation for the arrival of the Messiah. John would play a final part in the arrival of Jesus, and Luke 1:13-17 tells us all about it through an angel speaking to Zechariah: “But the angel said to him: ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord … He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous – to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.’”
These have been words from the heart.
Bob Beasley