PODCAST
Jehovah’s Gift
December 10th, 2012
Luke 1:57-66
Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Samson, Samuel, and John the Baptist.
What do they have in common?
All these men were born to barren women, wives who longed for children, but could not conceive until God intervened.
Among the matriarchs, Sarah, Rebekah, and Rachel were sterile. Yet by the grace of God the lineage of Abraham was preserved.
Luke connects the birth of both John and Jesus with the Bible history of barren women giving birth. Elizabeth had been childless for decades before John came along. Jesus was born of a pure woman “par excellence”–a virgin. Thus, Jesus stands as the culmination of a long history of barren women having great sons.
Who can know the joy of a wife, once barren, but at last a mother? The family of Elizabeth and Zechariah knew, so they gathered for a party. Grandfathers, uncles, brothers hoped the child would be named after them. But mother Elizabeth stubbornly refused to name the boy after anyone in the family.
Rather, she insisted that the boy be named “Jehovah’s Gift.” That’s what the name “John” means.
Author: Wesley Tracy
Tags: Faithfulness, Jesus
December 10th, 2012 at 6:24 am
A baby changes everything.
December 10th, 2012 at 2:16 pm
As Steve said, “A baby changes everything.”
That is so true.
Our babies change the present and future; whereas, the Christ child not only changes our present and our future, but the past as well.
Elizabeth received Jehovah’s gift in John; whereas, in the “present” our barren spirit receives the gift of the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ name (Acts 2:38).
He changes our “past” by not remembering our sins any more (Hebrews 8:12) and has already changed the way we account for time (from BC — Before Christ) to the Julian calendar that we use today (in the AD time frame).
In the “future”, we will no longer witness to others — for “all” will know God (Hebrews 8:11).