Steps of Faith-Advent week 2

Mal. 3:1-4
Luke 1:6-8-79
Phil.1:3-11
Luke 3:1-6

In Malachi 3:1-4. we read the prophecy about John the Baptist being the messenger who would go before Jesus the Messiah who will bring salvation to all mankind.

In Luke 1:68-79, John the Baptist's Father Zacharias prophecies that John is that messenger that will prepare the way of salvation when he is born.

In Luke 3:1-6, John starts to fulfill these prophecies and the one in Isaiah 40:3-20 when he starts to preach about turning away from the remission of sin, preparing the people for the coming of Jesus' ministry. John later points Jesus out to the people as the lamb that will take away the sins of the world.

Why was John the Baptist's ministry important to the Jewish people? In their culture, someone always ran ahead of the king announcing that the King was coming into a city or village. This was so the people of that city or village could gather and prepare for the King's arrival. In the same way, God sent John the Baptist ahead of Jesus to prepare the people's hearts for Jesus who is the King of kings, and Lord of lords.

But John the Baptist was not the first one who had ran ahead to announce Jesus' coming. In these verses we see that prophets had been running ahead of John the Baptist for many generations. Why? I believe that it is because wanted to make sure that His people was indeed ready for Jesus' coming. In fact, the whole Old Testament was doing that. John was just the last of the prophets to do so just before Jesus started his ministry.

So you see, that many prophets went ahead of Jesus before he started his ministry here on earth that ended with him bringing salvation for all who receive. But who is to go and prepare the hearts of people to receive Jesus now? We see the answer in Philippians 1:3-11. In these verses, we see that Paul was rejoicing in the fact that the Philippians were spreading the Good News of Jesus' salvation. We too as Christians should be telling others of what God has done in our lives and give them a chance to have salvation come to them. We may not see the harvest of what we tell them, but remember sometimes we may just be the one who is running ahead preparing hearts for Jesus'
salvation.

Challenge of the Week:
This week, seek to tell someone about Jesus and his great love, forgiveness, and salvation. Write whom you might share this good news with. (write here).

This week's accomplishment:
Who did you tell? (write here)