Angelic Astoundment and Announcement

Luke 1:11-17

11 An angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense.

12 When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and overcome with fear.[g]

13 But the angel said to him:

Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. 14 There will be joy and delight for you, and many will rejoice at his birth. 15 For he will be great in the sight of the Lord and will never drink wine or beer. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother’s womb. 16 He will turn many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 And he will go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to make ready for the Lord a prepared people.

The angelic visitor may have scared the wowzers out of Zacchariah, but the news he shared was wonderful. How long has it been since someone prefaced the news they were about to tell you with "Your prayer has been heard" or "There will be joy and delight for you". Joy and delight. It seems that there is far too little of those two emotions these days. We stand at the precipice with a divided nation and we wonder "will we ever be whole again"? But the truth is if we depend on those we make great to fill the role of uniter, we will always be disappointed. This scripture tells us that it will not be a great one who will lead his people to repentance and peace, but rather one who makes himself low and that the Lord makes great. We see this in John. His future was foretold to be that of one who was pure in body and spirit; who would turn his nation toward God, turn fathers to their children and the disobedient to understanding. This one that God had prepared to unite his people had been prepared from the womb for the task at hand.

Where is our John? In these turbulent times, who is our voice crying out in the wilderness? The fact of the matter is that we no longer need a John, we have Jesus! John came to prepare his people for the the arrival of the Son of God. The truth we must hold tightly to is that He is here; He is near; He Knows; He is in control... but it is up to us to prepare our hearts for Jesus. He is our only hope, our only joy, our only healing. The Light of the World is here!

"Light Of The World" by Lauren Daigle.

The world waits for a miracle The heart longs for a little bit of hope Oh come, Oh come Emmanuel The child prays for peace on earth And she's calling out from a sea of hurt Oh come, Oh come Emmanuel And can you hear The angels singing Glory to the light of the world Glory the light of the world is here

Prayer: Holy God, help us not hold onto false promises. Help us to prepare our hearts for you to reign in us, for you to heal us, for you to be our hope, our joy, our delight.