Tomorrow as we light the fourth candle in the Advent wreath, we'll take a look at one more song in the nativity narrative: Elizabeth's song. Her humble melody is short and sweet.
The angel Gabriel appeared to Elizabeth's husband the priest Zechariah as we saw last week while he was serving in the temple and told him the couple would indeed have a son in their old age who would be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb. And he would make ready for the Lord a people prepared. ( Luke 1:5-24 )
Their son John the Baptist would be the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy, "A voice cries: In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God." ( 40:3 )
After Mary's visit from Gabriel with the magnificent news that she would conceive the Christ Child by the power of the Holy Spirit and her barren relative Elizabeth would also bear a son and was, in fact, already in her sixth month, Mary went with haste into the hill country to visit her. She entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.
"And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord." ( Luke 1:41-45 )
The baby in Elizabeth's womb was foreordained to prepare the way of the Lord and to point the people to Him. And the very first person he pointed to Christ was his very own mother. How beautiful is that?
I love that babies can be filled with the Holy Spirit in their mother's womb. I don't understand the theology behind it, but I do understand that "Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases." ( Psalms 115: 3 ) And it pleased him to fill a baby in the womb with his Holy Spirit, and it pleased him to send his Son for " a people prepared."
That's the thing, isn't it? There is no way to prepare ourselves for Christ because we can't, because there is no preparation. There is nothing we can do to make ourselves worthy except to know that we are unworthy. That's how we prepare. That's how a people prepare - by knowing their unworthiness and need of Christ the Savior.
The only way we can prepare our hearts in this way is by the power of the Holy Spirit pointing us to Christ and preparing our hearts for us. ( John 16:14 )
"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." ( Matthew 3:2 )
Elizabeth's humble words show us the way, "And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" Let's meditate on her song these few days left before the blessed Advent.
"A people prepared."
For our coming King.
💜
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