SHARED
Friday, December 24th, 2010When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth
to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had
shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy.
On the eight day they came to circumcise the child, and they
were going to name him after his father Zechariah, but his mother
spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.”
They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that
name.”
Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to
name the child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s
astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.”
Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed,
and he began to speak, praising God. The neighbors were all
filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people
were talking about all these things. Everyone who heard this
wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?”
For the Lord’s hand was with him.
His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and
prophesied:
“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
because He has come and has redeemed His people.
He has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of His servant David
(as He said through His holy prophets of long ago),
salvation from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us-
to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember His holy covenant,
the oath He swore to our father Abraham:
to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,
and to enable us to serve Him without fear
in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for Him,
To give His people the knowledge of salvation
through forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of God,
by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
to shine on those living in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the path of peace.
And the child grew and became strong in spirit,
and he lived in the desert until he appeared
publicly to Israel.
(Luke 1.57-80).
HALLELUJAH! THANK YOU LORD JESUS FOREVERMORE!