Birth of John the Baptist: Choose the Holy Spirit Over Cultural Norms

Luke 1:57-80

• A son is born who brings cause for rejoicing.
• God sets us apart from cultural standards.
• Our mouth opens in praise to God when we follow His word.
• It’s better to have the Holy Spirit and nothing of this world.
• A father praises God for the decision of his son to preach the coming of Jesus Christ.

A son is born who brings cause for rejoicing. The devout Jewish people were waiting for the Messiah to come, and they knew He would be a male. For every male that was born, there would be a lot of rejoicing, anticipating the arrival of the Savior. When John was born, he was a male, “Now Elizabeth’s full time came for her to be delivered, and she brought forth a son.” Luke 1:57 Their mind was still focused on an earthly leader, similar to how people of today are anticipating an earthly utopia through the global “democracy”. Also, no one realized that Elizabeth had been filled with the Holy Spirit, because He was not available to everyday people. I’m sure they knew something was different about her compared to others. Nowadays, people are too focused on this world’s affairs, money, possessions, and physical enhancements to be aware of anyone being filled with the Holy Spirit. They just notice peculiar people who are set apart from their Christless society. There was another reason for Elizabeth’s neighbors and relatives to rejoice about the birth of her son, Elizabeth was no longer childless. It was a very bad thing for a woman not to have children, and even a cause for divorce. “When her neighbors and relatives heard how the Lord had shown great mercy to her, they rejoiced with her.” Luke 1:58

God sets us apart from cultural standards. “So it was, on the eighth day, that they came to circumcise the child…” Luke 1:59a Today, circumcision refers to the followers of Christ being set apart from the ways of this world. That means cutting away the thoughts, emotions, and feelings that come to us by the thing that wants to establish us as the seat of government for the mark of the beast. We separate from the customary practices that are established by earthly expectations, and we devote our body as the temple of the Holy Spirit. With the circumcision, God Himself gives each of us a new name, and the name for all of us is “Christian.” There is also this verse about giving us a new name, “And I will give (Believers) a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except the one who receives it.” Revelation 2:17 With the new name, and the name of Christian, we stay on the narrow road to eternal life and avoid the broad road that leads to destruction.

Today, the majority of people live for the mark of the beast, that is the culture of today. Like Elizabeth, who was filled with the Holy Spirit, we go against the norms in such a way that we are scrutinized, and the naming of John is an example, “…they would have called him by the name of his father, Zacharias. His mother answered and said, “No; he shall be called John.” But they said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name.” Luke 1:59b-61 Those living by cultural standards were shocked about the name chosen, so they asked the husband, and they were even more shocked when he verified the name, “So they made signs to his father—what he would have him called. And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, saying, “His name is John.” So they all marveled.” Luke 1:62-63 Zacharias was muted by the Angel of God for not believing that He and Elizabeth would be able to birth a child in their old age, so he wrote, “His name is John.” The name “John” means “Jehovah’s gift,” or “God is gracious,” not only was he a gift to Elizabeth, but he was a gift to the world to proclaim the coming of Jesus Christ.

John was set apart from cultural standards, not only because of his name, but also because he was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb. Having the Holy Spirit was rare at that time because the outpouring of the Holy Spirit didn’t happen until about fifty days after the death and resurrection of Jesus. Today, the Holy Spirit is given to anyone who believes in the name of Jesus Christ.

Our mouth opens in praise to God when we follow His word. When we go along with the will of God, through Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit will fill us in a way that loosens our tongue to praise Him and to glorify the name of Jesus. Zacharias assented to the desire of his Holy Spirit filled wife, and at that moment he began praising God, “Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, praising God.” Luke 1:64 The people who were gathered around were frightened to hear Zacharias all of sudden start talking and praising God. They just witnessed a miracle of a mute man who now can talk. The word of that miracle spread all through the city, and everyone began talking about the Holy Spirit filled baby, John the Baptist. It was beyond them how special John would be to God in his preaching of the coming of Jesus Christ, “Then fear came on all who dwelt around them; and all these sayings were discussed throughout all the hill country of Judea. And all those who heard them kept them in their hearts, saying, “What kind of child will this be?” And the hand of the Lord was with him.” Luke 1:65-66

It’s better to have the Holy Spirit and nothing of this world. Why would a person choose to live a homeless lifestyle instead of the worldly comforts born into? In John’s case it’s because he was full of the Holy Spirit and waiting for the day when he would be preaching and teaching about the coming of Jesus Christ. “So the child grew and became strong in Spirit and was in the deserts till the day of his manifestation to Israel.” Luke 1:80 John was born as a Levite, meaning he inherited the ministry within the churches, and would have experienced a comfortable materialistic lifestyle. Instead of choosing the churches, he chose to live in the deserts eating wild locusts and honey while his clothing was nothing more than camels’ hair with a leather belt. He chose to live by the Holy Spirit and to share the Good News of the coming of Jesus Christ. Today, we live in a society that embraces the materialism of humanism empowered by the mark of the beast. The churches embrace the “community family” frame of mind as they discard the need for Jesus Christ. As followers of Christ, it’s best to embrace the Holy Spirit and be set apart from the Christless churches which follows the ways of the world.

A father praises God for the decision of his son to preach the coming of Jesus Christ. Many fathers would be very disappointed and shamed to have a son who rejected a prosperous family heritage to live the life of homelessness. That could have been the attitude of the father of John the Baptist, but he was filled with the Holy Spirit and glorified God. Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, as was his wife Elizabeth, John, Mary, Joseph, and of course Jesus Christ. They certainly would have been set apart from the corrupt and Godless world in which they were living. This is spoken about Zacharias, “Now his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying…” Luke 1:67

As followers of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit in us blesses the God of Jesus Christ as we proclaim Him as being the Savior of the world. He reconciles us to God by atoning for sin. We believe all of the prophecies of His first coming and all of the prophecies about his second coming. Several very important prophecies are with us today, such as the mark of the beast, global warming, and the global government. The people in every city around the world follows the mark of the beast, and they despise Jesus Christ, the teachings of the Bible, and Christians, “It was granted to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given it over every tribe, tongue, and nation.” Revelation 13:7 We who hold to the testimony of Jesus Christ will have eternal life as we live our life in Holiness on this earth. We are the people of God who tell people to prepare for the return of Jesus Christ by coming to Him for the remission of sin. Jesus is returning, and it is for us to share the light of His testimony to those who are in the dark, even as we walk in the way of peace.

Below is the Holy Spirit filled praise of Zacharias referring to Jesus Christ,

“Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited and redeemed His people,
And has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David,
As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, who have been since the world began,
that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us,
to perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant,
the oath which He swore to our father Abraham: To grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.
“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest;
For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins,
through the tender mercy of our God, with which the Dayspring from on high will visit us;
To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
Luke 1:68-79

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“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,“
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:11