Trust In Him

In the Gospel for the third Sunday of Advent, the statement is made that the “people were filled with expectation and wondered if John might be the Messiah.”

It was the angel Gabriel that announced to John’s father, Zechariah, that he would have a son even though he and his wife were well beyond childbearing years. With this announcement of the birth of John the Baptist, four hundred years of silence between the Old Testament and the New Testament was ended. No wonder the people were excited. “Could this be the Messiah?”

In Malachi 3:1, the prophet wrote of the coming of John the Baptist.

“See, I am going to send my messenger and he will clear the way before me. Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to his temple…” (Mal3:1)

Instead of trying to reform the religious system of the day, John encouraged his listeners to come out of it, repent and prepare for the Messiah. Something new was about to happen. The age of the Messiah had arrived.

Even though the people were excited, John, in no uncertain terms said he was NOT the Messiah. Just as Jesus had to wait for the proper time for his ministry to begin, so John remained an outsider until the fullness of time had come.

Perhaps, some of us might feel that God is being silent just as he was before John the Baptist.

Perhaps we have lost that sense of excited expectation we once had.

With all that is going on around us….the pandemic, all the unrest in this nation and around the world…If that is you, just remember that even when God seems to be silent, we can rest assured his purposes have not ended.

Great things are in store for those who trust in Him. This is the message of Advent.

Deacon john Murrell