Jesus: Love’s Promise

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. ~Isaiah 9:6-7

““Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.” ~Malachi 3:1

Hundreds and hundreds of years ago there lived a man named Isaiah. He was called a prophet of God. His job was to give God’s messages to the Israelite people, His chosen people. One such message came one day to Isaiah. He told them that God promised a son that would be called by great names including Almighty God, Comforter and Prince of Peace. He also promised that He would rule forever…His kingdom would never end. Another prophet of God, named Malachi, also had a message for the Israelites. He told of someone who would tell people about the Messiah, He would help them get ready. When that man came, they would know that Messiah was coming soon. Now these messages came at a difficult time for the Israelites. Their kingdom had been overthrown, and they had been exiled to another country. Some would believe and some probably did not believe. How could such a thing come about? One thing they did know…God always kept His promises. They would be waiting a long time for this promise to be fulfilled…several hundred years in fact.

“But the angel said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John.’” ~Luke 1:13

A man named Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth, were honorable people. They followed God’s commandments and were blameless in the sight of men. Now Zechariah was from an important family. His ancestors were from the family of Aaron. Aaron was the first man chosen as priest before God. He and his descendants had priestly duties and served God in the temple in Jerusalem. Now it came about that Zechariah was chosen to go in and burn incense inside of the temple. This was an important job, and it was taken seriously. While he was inside the temple many people waited and prayed outside for him. While he was in the temple, an angel named Gabriel appeared to him. He was scared, but the angel calmed him down and told him that his wife would soon have a son. He was to call him John. Many people would be thrilled when He was born. He would take a special vow to be a Nazarite. This meant he would not drink wine. Many people would rejoice at his birth. The Holy Spirit would fill him, and He would be great in God’s sight. He would prepare the way for the Lord. Zechariah found this hard to believe, for He and his wife were quite old. Because of his disbelief he lost the ability to speak until his son was born. When Zechariah came out of the temple and could not speak, they knew he had been visited by God. Not long after that, Elizabeth conceived and became pregnant just as the angel had foretold.