True Christian Religion #688
688. VII. By John's baptism the way was prepared for Jehovah the Lord to come down into the world and carry out redemption.
We read in Malachi:
Look, I am sending my messenger who will prepare the way before me, and suddenly the Lord whom you seek will come to his temple, and the messenger of the covenant whom you desire. Who will endure the day of his coming, and who will stand firm when he appears? Malachi 3:1-2.
and again:
Look, I shall send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of Jehovah comes, so that I may not come and strike the land with a curse, Malachi 4:5-6.
When his father Zechariah prophesied about his son John:
You, my child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, Luke 1:76.
The Lord Himself said about John the Baptist:
He it is of whom it was written, Look, I am sending my messenger before your 1 face, who will prepare your way in front of you, Luke 7:27.
It is clear from these passages that John was the prophet who was sent to prepare the way for Jehovah God, so that He could come down into the world and carry out redemption. It is also clear that he prepared that way by baptising, and by announcing the Lord's coming; and that but for that preparation all there would have been struck with a curse and would have perished.
Imibhalo yaphansi:
1. Latin: 'my face', corrected in the Author's copy.
1 Samuel 9:1-10
1
Now there was a man of Benjamin, whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah, the son of a Benjamite, a mighty man of valor.
2
He had a son, whose name was Saul, an impressive young man; and there was not among the children of Israel a better person than he. From his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people.
3
The donkeys of Kish, Saul's father, were lost. Kish said to Saul his son, "Take now one of the servants with you, and arise, go seek the donkeys."
4
He passed through the hill country of Ephraim, and passed through the land of Shalishah, but they didn't find them: then they passed through the land of Shaalim, and there they weren't there: and he passed through the land of the Benjamites, but they didn't find them.
5
When they had come to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, "come, and let us return, lest my father stop caring about the donkeys, and be anxious for us."
6
He said to him, "See now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is a man who is held in honor. All that he says comes surely to pass. Now let us go there. Perhaps he can tell us concerning our journey whereon we go."
7
Then Saul said to his servant, "But, behold, if we go, what shall we bring the man? For the bread is spent in our vessels, and there is not a present to bring to the man of God. What do we have?"
8
The servant answered Saul again, and said, "Behold, I have in my hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver. I will give that to the man of God, to tell us our way."
9
(In earlier times in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, thus he said, "Come, and let us go to the seer;" for he who is now called a prophet was before called a Seer.)
10
Then Saul said to his servant, "Well said. Come, let us go." So they went to the city where the man of God was.
