EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/28/2026
8:34 PM
My
Worship Time
Focus: “John’s Privileged Calling”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: Luke
1:17a
Message of the verse: “It is he who will go as a forerunner
before Him in the spirit of and power of Elijah,”
As we look at this partial verse we can begin to see
just how privileged John was, as he was the Messiah’s forerunner and he was
going in the power of Elijah. Let me
just talk about Elijah appearing before the coming of the Messiah. Elijah never died as he was taken up into
heaven without death. Now it is my
belief, and not mine alone that Elijah will come before the coming of the Lord
Jesus Christ at His second coming as a part of what Revelation calls two witnesses. I believe that the other of these two witnesses
will be Moses. That is all I will say
about this in this particular verse we are looking at, but on my other blog I
am going over my second study I did on the book of Revelation and so this will
come up on that blog eventually.
MacArthur writes “This is the
epitome of John’s greatness. It came not
because he was more holy than all others, but because he had a calling more
noble than anyone else—to be the forerunner of the Messiah, the most privileged
assignment any man could receive. John was a ‘man sent from God’ (John 1:6),
who ‘testified about [Jesus] and cried out, saying, ‘This was He of whom I
said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me’’’’(1:15). John was ‘a voice of one crying in the
wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said’(1:23). When he ‘saw Jesus coming to him
[John] said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’’
(1:29). It was his unequalled
privilege to be the prophet who would at last identify the Messiah as having
arrived.”
Now will briefly look at John’s
role, as his role as forerunner, John would go before Jesus Christ in the
spirit and power of Elijah. Now that
statement is significant because the Jews believed that God would send a
messenger before the Day of the Lord judgment and the Messiah’s coming to set
up His kingdom as seen in Malachai 3:1 “1 ¶ "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.”
This actually is the closing promise of the Old Testament identified
that messenger as Elijah:
“5 "Behold, I will send you Elijah the
prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to
their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and
strike the land with a decree of utter destruction." (Mal. 4:5-6)
MacArthur writes “Like Elijah (1 Kings 18:17-18), John
faithfully, powerfully, boldly, uncompromisingly proclaimed divine truth (Matt.
3:7-11).”
(1 Kings 18:17-18)
“17 ¶ When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him,
"Is it you, you troubler of Israel?" 18 And he answered, "I have not troubled
Israel, but you have, and your father’s house, because you have abandoned the
commandments of the LORD and followed the Baals.”
(Matt. 3:7-11)
“7 ¶ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and
Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers!
Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We
have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to
raise up children for Abraham. 10 Even
now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does
not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 "I baptize you with water for repentance,
but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy
to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
“That
caused some to wonder if he might in fact be Elijah (John 1:21). But John squashed such speculation, replying
to those who questioned him simply, ‘No’ (v.21).”
(John 1:21)
“21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you
Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”
“However,
in Matthew 11:13-14, Jesus said, ‘For all the prophets and the Law
prophesied until John. And if you are
willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come.’ The obvious question that arises is, Was
John Elijah? He was not literally Elijah,
as his blunt denial in John 1:21 indicates.
But if the Jews had been willing to accept Jesus as their Messiah, the
Day of the Lord and the kingdom would have come then, and John would have been the
fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy.
Therefore, Gabriel’s words are to be understood in a figurative sense;
John was not actually Elijah or the final Elijah of Malachi’s prophecy. Therefore, Gabriel’s words are to be
understood in a figurative sense; John was not actually Elijah or the final
Elijah of Malachi’s prophecy (cf. Matthew 17:10-13).”
(cf. Matthew 17:10-13)
“10 And the disciples asked him, “Then why do the
scribes say that first Elijah must come?” 11 He answered, "Elijah does come, and he
will restore all things. 12 But I tell
you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to
him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at
their hands." 13 Then the disciples
understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.”
“Instead,
he came in the spirit and power of Elijah; like the great Old Testament
prophet, he would fearlessly and faithfully proclaim divine truth in the face
of ruthless opposition (Matt. 3:12; 14:1-10; cf. 1 Kings 17:1; 21:17-29).”
I have to say that I like it when
John MacArthur agrees with what I have already written. He writes “That the majority of the people of
Israel rejected John the Baptist’s message about Jesus means there must also be
a future fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy, ‘before the coming of the great
and terrible day of the Lord’ (4:5). Before
Christ returns to establish His earthly kingdom (Rev. 19:10-20:6), Elijah or
another Elijah-like prophet will announce His arrival (perhaps one of the two witnesses described in
Revelation 11).
2/28/2026 9:16 PM
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