Saturday 2021.10.02
Shabbat Shalom. Today is the Seventh Day of the Biblical Week. Let us rest from all our work until sunset this evening.
For my NT reading today, I read chapters 10 and 11 of the Gospel according to Matthew using Young's Literal Translation.
Matthew chapter 11 records the account of our Lord Iesous asking the multitudes about who John the Baptist was. With pointed questions, our Lord asked, "What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet." (Matthew 11:7 - 9 YLT)
Then he told the multitudes in verse 10 that John the Baptist was the Messenger sent by God to prepare the way for the Messiah. It was a fulfilment of the prophecy written in Malachi 3:1.
- Matthew 11:10 YLT
-
for this is he of whom it hath been written,
Lo, I do send My messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee. - Malachi 3:1a NET
- I am about to send my messenger, who will clear the way before me. . . .
Further on in Matthew 11 verses 11 to 14, our Lord continued to explain that John the Baptist was the return of Elijah, a fulfilment of the prophecy in Malachi 4:5 - 6. This fulfilment was also told to the priest Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, by the angel who appeared at the right side of the altar of incense when it was Zechariah's turn to burn incense in the Temple, in Luke 1:17.
- Matthew 11:11 - 14 YLT
-
11 Verily I say to you, there hath not risen, among those born of women, a
greater than John the Baptist, but he who is least in the reign of the
heavens is greater than he.
12 `And, from the days of John the Baptist till now, the reign of the heavens doth suffer violence, and violent men do take it by force, 13 for all the prophets and the law till John did prophesy,
14 and if ye are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who was about to come; - Luke 1:17 TEV
- He will go ahead of the Lord, strong and mighty like the prophet Elijah. He will bring fathers and children together again; he will turn disobedient people back to the way of thinking of the righteous; he will get the Lord's people ready for him.
- Malachi 4:5 - 6 KJV
-
5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the
great and dreadful day of the LORD:
6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
In Matthew chapter 17, an account is written of our Lord's conversation with Peter, James, and John on their way going downhill from the Mount of Transfiguration, where the Lord Iesous told them, "Elijah has come already, and they knew him not . . ." The disciples understood that the Lord was referring to John the Baptist as Elijah.
- Matthew 17:9 - 13 ASV
-
9 And as they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them,
saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen from the
dead.
10 And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elijah must first come?
11 And he answered and said, Elijah indeed cometh, and shall restore all things:
12 but I say into you, that Elijah is come already, and they knew him not, but did unto him whatsoever they would. Even so shall the Son of man also suffer of them.
13 Then understood the disciples that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.
Eleven years ago, in March 2010, I wrote two blog posts about the messenger preparing the way for the Kingdom of Heaven mentioned in Malachi chapter 3 and 4. Then about four years later, I wrote another post on the preaching of the Kingdom of Heaven by our Lord Iesous, links below:
