© 2014
Fellowship at Cross Creek
The Story of Sin…
Part VII: The Son Fulfills the Father’s Prophecy:
Preaching the Knowledge of Salvation by the Forgiveness of Sins…
By Joseph M. Cross
1/18/14

It’s been perhaps thirty years since the angel first told Joseph that Mary was pregnant with a child conceived by the Spirit of God and that when the child is born Joseph is to name the child YAH-Saves because he will save the people from their sins. Just weeks before this announcement, the angel Gabriel had told a priest named Zacharias that incredibly his elderly wife, Elizabeth, who happened to be an older cousin of Mary, was also pregnant and that the child she would bear would fulfill certain OT prophecies pertaining to the Lord’s deliverance and salvation (from sin). When Zacharias questioned Gabriel how this could be, Zacharias’ voice was stricken. Finally, when his son, John, was born, Zacharias’ silence was broken and, inspired by God, he uttered this prophecy concerning his son John:

“And you, child (John the Baptist), will be called the prophet of the Most High (God); For you will go on BEFORE THE LORD TO PREPARE HIS WAYS (Mal 3:1; Is. 40:3); to give to His people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins.”

Now thirty years later, Zacharias’ son, John, has grown up, and he is fulfilling the prophecy uttered by his father.

Here is the Gospel of Mark’s account:

Mark 1:1 (Also see Matt. 3:1ff) The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet:

“BEHOLD, I SEND MY MESSENGER AHEAD OF YOU,
WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY (Mal. 3:1);
3 THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS,
‘MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD,
MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT’ ” (Is. 40:3).

(In setting up the opening scene of Mark’s gospel concerning the life, person and purpose of YAH-Saves, Mark quotes, just in more detail, the two OT passages that John’s father Zacharias’ was referencing in his prophecy concerning John’s birth thirty years earlier…Malachi 3:1 and Isaiah 40:3. Christ’s apostle, Matthew, quoting just Isaiah 40, goes further in his gospel of Christ’s life to tie the seven hundred year old plus prophecy to John the Baptist:

Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet when he said:
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord, Make His paths straight!’”

These two prophesies now set the stage for Mark’s narrative of Jesus’ life, beginning with the messenger who will prepare the way for the Lord …) Continue reading →