“Make Ready A People Prepared

For The Lord”

Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. 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 is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. 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 1:11-17

Only one hope remained at the end of the Old Testament: The birth of a baby is announced.

You can catch the excitement just by reading the reactions of people in Luke. Event surrounding Jesus’s birth resembled a joy-filled musical. Characters crowd into the scene: a white-haired great uncle, an astonished virgin, the old prophetess Anna. Mary herself lets loose with a beautiful hymn. Even Jesus unborn cousin kicks for joy inside his mother’s womb.

The angel Gabriel even calls John the Baptist an “Elijah” sent to prepare the way for the Lord. Clearly, something is brewing on planet Earth. Among the dreary, defeated villagers in a remote corner of the Roman Empire, something good is breaking out.

Once in our world, a stable had something in it that was bigger than our whole world.

Our Daily Bread – December 20, 2017