Luke 1:5-25 is about the birth tidings of John the Baptist.
Luke 1:13-17
1:13 But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.
1:14 "And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.
1:15 "For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.
1:16 "And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.
1:17 "He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, `to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,' and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."
John 5:33-35
5:33 "You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.
5:34 "Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved.
5:35 "He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light.
John the Baptist has borne witness to the truth like the 7 burning and shining lamps (7 witnesses) as follows:
Luke 1:14
1:14 "And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.
There are 2 kinds of joy/gladness as follows:
Luke 1:13-17
1:13 But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.
1:14 "And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.
1:15 "For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.
1:16 "And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.
1:17 "He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, `to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,' and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."
John 5:33-35
5:33 "You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.
5:34 "Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved.
5:35 "He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light.
John the Baptist has borne witness to the truth like the 7 burning and shining lamps (7 witnesses) as follows:
- Luke 1:13, He got his name from God
- Luke 1:14, He brought joy and gladness from Heaven
- Luke 1:15a, He was great in the sight of Lord
- Luke 1:15b, He became a Nazirite of God
- Luke 1:15c, He lived in the anointing of Holy Spirit
- Luke 1:16, He made people repent
- Luke 1:17, He became a pioneer/precursor.
Luke 1:14
1:14 "And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.
There are 2 kinds of joy/gladness as follows:
- The joy from the world.
Ecclesiastes 11:9
11:9 Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, And let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth; Walk in the ways of your heart, And in the sight of your eyes; But know that for all these God will bring you into judgment.
The joy of the world is derived from the desires and the sight of the flesh.
This kind of joy is a futile joy that leads to judgment/ punishment from the Lord and be headed for doom.
Youth is the period of having strong flesh desires. Young people are often misled, they bring the joy of the flesh into church so everything becomes futile and is headed for doom. - The joy from Heaven, meaning the joy that is derived from God’s will.
The joy from Heaven often hurts our flesh, but our soul can be in joy.
The joy from Heaven leads us to the eternal life.
We must be able to accept the joy from Heaven and also bring the joy to our neighbor; we begin from our marriage and household.
- To repent.
Luke 15:7
15:7 "I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninetynine just persons who need no repentance.
To repent = to stop doing sin and return to God.
Through repentance, there is joy.
The process of repentance is confessing sins to God and neighbor, and stop doing sin when it has been forgiven; not following the heart desires (flesh desires) and the sight of the flesh (the eye desires).
I Peter 2:1
2:1 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking,
To repent = to throw away all the flesh desires and the eye desires (the leaven of sin), by throwing away 5 main sins that are the leaven of malice and impurity, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, evil speaking.
I Corinthians 5:7-8
5:7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.
5:8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened [bread] of sincerity and truth.
Throwing away the leaven = Keeping the feast, we experience the feast atmosphere (the joy from Heaven). - The new birth.
John 16:20-22
16:20 "Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.
16:21 "A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.
16:22 "Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.
We experience the sorrow of the flesh to be born in new life, but there will be a joy from Heaven.
The process to have new birth is through the water baptism
Romans 6:2-4
6:2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
6:3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
6:4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
The requirementof the true water baptism isto repent.
The implementationof the true water baptism is as follow: people who had been died from sin (who repent) are buried with Jesus through the water; they are resurrected in the new life that is living in purity and righteousness.
The water baptism is the easiest sorrow! If we do not want to be baptized, we aren’t able to face harder sorrow.
Isaiah 3:10
3:10 "Say to the righteous that [it shall be] well [with them], For they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
Living in righteousnessand everything will not be futile.
But living in unrighteousness makes everything futile although one has high education, good job, etc. Once they will be in total failure. - To be the house of prayer.
Isaiah 56:7
56:7 Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices [Will be] accepted on My altar; For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations."
We become the house of prayer through the service and ministry, praying and worshiping God, crying the name of the Lord. We can worship Him in everything (even in bad condition).
Isaiah 26:8
26:8 Yes, in the way of Your judgments, O LORD, we have waited for You; The desire of [our] soul [is] for Your name And for the remembrance of You.
When we are praying and worshiping God, we cry the name of the Lord and receive the joy from Heaven.
If we become the house of prayer, there will be a MIRACLE as when Jesus prayed in the top of the mountain.
The miracle begins from the renewal of life that is soft-hearted and filled with the love of God = the obedient heart.
Having obedient heart without hypocrisy makes our face shine. If there is a sin, the face will not shine, but gloomy and bad.
There will be a change from an impossible thing to a possible one, a destroyed thing to good one, a bad life become a beautiful one, our lives will be arranged by God.
If being able to live in the joy from Heaven, there will be a fruit that can be picked little by little that is the physical fruit/blessing or the spiritual fruit/blessing. The miracle happens in our lives.
Being obedient to the Shepherding Word, sooner or later we must bear witness that our lives are starting to be arranged, to be organized, to be made beautiful by God as the Great Shepherd. Until we become His house of prayer forever and we receive the eternal joy from Heaven
with God.