The Gospel Of The Messiah Part 4

INTRO: In these messages on the Gospels we have looked at the introduction of the Messiah to the world, and we are now in the process of the second point, the preparation of the Messiah for the world. From the very last verses of the OT we learn that Elijah would come to prepare the way for the Messiah. And so in our last message we saw in some detail how that prophecy began to be fulfilled in history. We saw that a certain very godly couple, by names of Zacharias and Elizabeth, who were elderly already but still had not child were promised a son by the angel Gabriel.

Let me just mention here, that there is a far and near fulfillment regarding the prophecy of the coming of Elijah and the Lord gave us these prophesies that we might understand them. I just listened to part of a message by Charles Price and he took a kind of Rick Warren stand on Acts 1:7 where Jesus said, "It is not for you to know the times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority." Like Rick Warren, he then said that according to Jesus, understanding what will happen in the future is none of our business. Charles Price has some very good teaching, but that is not one of them. Almost 1/3 of Scripture, I understand, was prophetic at the time it was written. God does not waste words on that which is not our business. And just as surely as God wanted Israel to understand prophecy regarding His first coming, He wants us to understand prophecy regarding His second coming.