Spirit Baptism and Preparing the way for Christ’s Advent
So we are at day 20, soon we will be done with this book and move to the next one. If there is a book of the Bible you would like to study give me some feedback and the book of the Bible that gets the most votes will be the one. Also I will be out of town one more time this month, and I cannot take my computer with me, so if my phone works out there I will still respond to your post, but if not I will be back Sunday night and I will respond to all post by Monday night.
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The prophet Malachi foretold that God would send Elijah, referring to an “Elijah message,” just to the coming of Jesus Christ (Mal. 4:5). This prophecy has two applications. One applies to Christ’s first advent; the other applies to His second coming. The gospel writer Luke tells us that John the Baptist fulfilled the first application of the prophecy of Malachi (Luke 1:17).
John the Baptist went forth in the “Spirit and power” of Elijah. To what did this refer? It meant that he was Spirit-filled and preached a Spirit-anointed message to prepare the people of his day for the
coming of the messiah, who would soon appear. The power of the Holy Spirit attended John’s preaching. Multitudes came to hear him, and many were baptized.
Malachi’s prophecy has a second application, referring to a people who will give a serious warning message just before Jesus comes, which is called Christ’s second coming. As John the Baptist was
Spirit-filled to give the Elijah message of his day, so God’s last-day believers must be Spirit-filled to give the last-day message to the world.
Supporting Scripture; (Luke 1:15), (Matthew 3:1-6), (Matthew 11:13-15), (Revelation 14:6-12)
Personal Reflection and Discussion
- What are the two applications for Malachi’s prophecy about Elijah?
- What is Elijah’s message for today?
- What will happen when God’s last message is given in the “spirit and power of Elijah?
Prayer Activities
- Call your Partner and discuss this devotional.
- Contact the people on your prayer list and let them know you are still praying for them.
- Pray with then and ask for the following;
- For God to continue to convict you with the Holy Spirit.
- For God to witness through you by the Holy Spirit, as He did through Noah.
- For God to give you the strength to carry His message to all nations.
- For the individuals on your pray list.
- That we continue to seek the Holy Spirit
- For today use the following Bible Verse in your prayer (Ps. 119:36)
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Is the 3 angels message supposed to be preached by the last day prophet also? When John was preaching, was there others preaching the same message? We know that while Elijah was ministring, the Bible mentions 700 other prophets ready for the Lords work…but we don’t hear of them preaching or atleast making a big impact as Elijah himself made. I know it’s not so much the message, but the power of his message.
We know Elijah did signs and wonders to help his ministry….will God’s prophet do signs and wonders to counteract the deceptions of the Satan in those last days? A prohet seems almost out of date and difficult to imagine how that will be; not that I doubt, but I wonder about this topic. Maybe I’ll be able to see it in my own life time.
The 3 angels message seems to be a deeper message, maybe even stage 2 to witnessing. It definetly involves more study on the individual and that’s where the Holy Spirit will have to empower the speaker as well as the hearer if he is to accept. Everyone is commisioned in Luke 24:46 & shown in Acts 3:38 to teach repentance, baptism in accepting the remissions of sins offered by Jesus, and receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. I would think this is the foundation in which the 3 angels message needs to be built on.
We read in (Joel 2:28) “ And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions.”
I do not think that prophets are out dated or will have any harder time proclaiming the massage of God throughout the Bible the prophets have been persecuted, so today’s prophets will be no different.
So the real question is how will we know them and that comes back to the Holy Spirit filling us daily.
some suggestions for Bible study: Ephesians, Philippians, or Colossians, all great examples of prayers, great discussion on christian walk, especially mindset…but I favor Philippians more. All are short for easy studies.
Thanks for your imput I will postthe next study on day 30