God has communicated with us through His words in the Old and New Testaments. He told about John hundreds of years before he was born. John was called a “˜forerunner’ of Messiah.
For communication to be effective, it has to be understood. How could God
communicate effectively with people who were, and are, slow to believe and are skeptical? He prophesied and then brought His words to fulfillment over and over. He used people to illustrate His truths and He sent His Son to show us Himself.
The Lord God had prophesied of John in the book of Malachi and Isaiah.
(NASB) Malachi 3:1a “BEHOLD, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me…”
God’s message was effectively communicated, He got His point across. Consider Zacharias after he had heard the angel proclaim that he would be mute due to his unbelief in God’s message. Zacharias would be able to hear and see, but he would be unable to speak until his son was born. Due to his unbelief, his dilemma would be a means for growing from fear into a greater faith in God and His promises. He became a witness to God’s words to be believed and acted upon.
Are you listening? Is your faith growing as you put His promises into your circumstances?
God has effectively communicated ~ are you listening?
Using a synopsis of Luke 1:21-23 God not only got Zacharias’ attention, He also got the people’s attention. The people were waiting and waiting and still Zacharias did not come out of the temple.
And when he did come out, he couldn’t talk! Using his hands to describe what he had seen, they got the message that he had seen a vision.
How frustrating…wanting to communicate, but unable to in the usual way. Picture Zacharias, although he had been warned by Gabriel that he would be unable to talk, I think he tried to and was surprised when no sound came out of his mouth.
So Zacharias did what he could to make himself understood with the use of his hands. The people must have crowded around him, maybe raising their voices to make him “˜hear’. Remember, there was nothing wrong with his hearing, he just could not speak.
What is noteworthy of Zacharias? He completed his rotation schedule, serving as a priest in Jerusalem, before going home to Elizabeth.
God has effectively communicated ~ are you listening?
How shall you now pray? Thank God for His words which communicates His love!
