Announcing the Messiah! (Updated)
“Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with The Holy Spirit.
Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from The LORD.” Luke 1:39-45 NKJV.
Note that it says Elizabeth spoke out with a LOUD voice.
That often happens with preachers and prophets/ teachers when they are speaking The Word of The LORD, The Holy Spirit empowers them to speak it out — Loudly!
And Elizabeth proclaims just as Mary needed to hear it, “Why is it granted that the mother of my LORD should come to me?”
Can you imagine how much this encouraged Mary, who no doubt everyone in Nazareth was talking about?
Then The Holy Spirit comes on Mary too and she proclaims…
“And Mary said: “My soul magnifies The LORD, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed,” Luke 1:46-48.
Indeed, all generations have called her Blessed, 2000 years later!
“For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly,” Luke 1:49-52.
Rabbi Jonathon Cahn, whom I just saw this week with Amanda Grace talking about how The Cross and The Resurrection, brought about the destruction of the worship of ancient gods, who had controlled much of the world at that time.
Suddenly ‘god and goddess’ worship were not as popular, no more offering children to Molech and Baal, to Innana [Venus, Ishtar, (where we get Easter from), Astarte, Aphrodite] (See Wikipedia)
But in a more personal way, God showed Mercy to the poor and those considered “less than.” He was The Great Equalizer!
As it says in Galatians, “no more Jew nor Greek…. no more male of female…”
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus….
…. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty. He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His Mercy, as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever.” Galatians 3:28,53-55 NASB.
Again, the Great Equalizer, makes no rich man above the poor man. Remember, His Mercy endures FOREVER.
Then there is Zacharias, speaking by the Spirit of God… and this should encourage us in this hour!
“Blessed (praised, glorified) be The LORD, the God of Israel, because He has visited us and brought redemption to His people, Now Zacharias his father was filled with The Holy Spirit and empowered by Him, and he prophesied, saying, “And He has raised up a horn of salvation [a mighty and valiant Savior] for us in the house of David His servant — Just as He promised by the mouth of His holy prophets from the most ancient times,” Luke 1:67-80 AMPC.
The word for Salvation here is soteria – a Greek noun meaning rescue, or safety (physically or morally) –
deliver, health, salvation, save, saving.
To David:
“And when your days are fulfilled and you sleep with your fathers, I will set up after you your offspring who shall be born to you, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My Name [and My Presence], and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. When he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the sons of men. But My mercy and loving-kindness shall not depart from him, as I took [them] from Saul, whom I took away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before you; your throne shall be established forever,” 2 Samuel 7:12-16 AMP.
“Salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us; to show mercy [as He promised] to our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant [the promised blessing],” Luke 1:71-72.
So God promised to remember His Holy Covenant, the blessings promised to Israel, and rescue from
their enemies, and from the hands of all who hate His people.
The same is for us as grafted into Israel – rescue from our enemies and the hand of all who hate us.
“The oath which He swore to Abraham our father, To grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness [being set apart] and righteousness [being upright] before Him all our days,” Luke 1:73-75.
Rescued from our enemies that we may serve HIM without fear, and in Holiness — set-apartness,
for all our days.
“And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before The LORD (the Messiah) to prepare His ways; To give His people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God,” Luke 1:76-78a.
So it is in this hour, for those called to be like Elijah (John the Baptists) to go forth to share this knowledge of the Most High.
To prepare His way in this hour also means partly convicting of sin. The role of the Priests was to teach the difference between right and wrong — not to cower in the corner, only to hang out with The LORD, but to let others know His Ways!
Yes we must set an example, but we must care enough about others who are also His creation regardless of their behavior, enough to let them know His will for His creation.
Yes, this must be done as led by The Holy Spirit in Love.
But you don’t shy away from praying in public, if someone is in need.
You don’t allow yourself to feel ashamed in public if He is calling you to pray, or do something foolish; like dancing in the parking lot to Him like David; like running around in your undies for years like Isaiah; or cooking your food on dung, like Ezekiel.
“Now King David was told, “The Lord has blessed the house of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the City of David with rejoicing and gladness. And when those who were carrying the ark of the Lord [by its poles] had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling. And David was dancing before the Lord with [a]great enthusiasm, and David was wearing a linen ephod [a priest’s upper garment]. So David and all the house of Israel were bringing the ark of the Lord up [to the City of David] with shouts [of joy] and with the sound of the trumpet.” 2 Samuel 6:12-15 AMPC.
“In that time The LORD spake in the hand of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, and said (at that time The LORD spoke to Isaiah, the son of Amoz, and said), Go thou, and unbind the sackcloth from thy loins, and take away thy shoes from thy feet. And he did so, going naked and unshod.3 And The LORD said, As my servant Isaiah went naked and unshod, a sign and great wonder of three years shall be on Egypt, and on Ethiopia; (and The LORD said, My servant Isaiah went naked and without shoes for three years, as a sign and a great wonder to Egypt, and to Ethiopia),” Isaiah 20:2-3 Wycliffe Version
Walking around in your undies was shameful in those days and still is.
“Contradictions in Scripture: Sin By Command — Food Cooked on Human Dung”
” September 18, 2013 in Contradictions In Scripture, Sin By Command
Another example of “sin by command” is found in Ezekiel 4:12.
“And you shall eat it as barley cakes; and bake it using fuel of human waste in their sight.”
Dung Fire
Human waste was considered unclean, and eating food cooked on human waste was something no Israelite should do. Yet here The LORD commands Ezekiel to do this! Ezekiel protests and gets The LORD to substitute cow dung for human dung (Ezekiel 4:14-15) but this does not change the fact that The LORD seems initially to have commanded Ezekiel to sin.
The word for dung here is the Hebrew gelel, which is used only four times, and seems to indicate a ball of dung. This word we cannot confirm is unclean, but we do know that there is uncleanness that comes from humans from Leviticus 5:3.
“Or if he touches human uncleanness — whatever uncleanness with which a man may be defiled, and he is unaware of it — when he realizes it, then he shall be guilty,” Leviticus 5:3.
This verse indicates that to touch human uncleanness is to become guilty. The verse does not clearly say that dung is human uncleanness, but this seems clear from Deuteronomy 23:12-14.
“Also you shall have a place outside the camp, where you may go out; and you shall have an implement among your equipment, and when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and turn and cover your refuse. For The LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and give your enemies over to you; therefore your camp shall be holy, that He may see no unclean thing among you, and turn away from you,” Deuteronomy 23:12-14.
Moreover, to be defiled in this way was considered sin, as is made clear from Leviticus 5:5. ”
Sourced from © Precepts.
Continuing in Luke…
“With which the Sunrise (the Messiah) from on high will dawn and visit us, To shine upon those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet [in a straight line] into the way of peace and serenity.” Luke 1:78.
The Sunrise from on High reminds me of Malachi…
“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, and all the arrogant (proud, self-righteous, haughty), and every evildoer shall be stubble; and the day that is coming shall set them on fire,” says The LORD of hosts, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.
But for you who fear My name [with awe-filled reverence] the SUN of RIGHTEOUSNESS will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go forward and leap [joyfully] like calves [released] from the stall.” Malachi 4:1-2.
The LORD is about to visit us again in His earthly temple (our bodies) and to empower us to go through this time of temptation and war.
He has said to me:
- He will break every chain.
- His Army will be strong and MIGHTY in the power of their LORD.
- Just as He was empowered before The Cross, we will be empowered to go through these turbulent times.
A Dream
Years ago, I had a Dream that I was on a hill that was snowy, and I kept slipping, but I finally reached the top, and when I reached the time the land was flat for as far as I could see, and it was all snowy, covered all over with snow, like you would see, may be in Iowa in the middle of winter in the middle of that plane was what looked like an old farmhouse.
Suddenly Jesus appeared in The Coat of Many Colors, and as tall as the house, and he swept into it more like through it, because He is spirit. I knew the house stood for The Church.
Continuing…
The child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel [as John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah].
Postscript
Ancient Mysteries of the Essenes by Ken Johnson is a new book I received but have not read much of it yet.
But there is an audio on Blogtalk Radio of Josh Peck and Ken Johnson talking about the Essenes and was John the Baptist an Essene?
See here for that Article and audio — or listen below to the audio of that show:
You may find it interesting.
God bless you all with God’s Shalom and His Manifest Love!
Post Postscript
Added January 2, 2023.
Confirmation by Tim Sheets — Time Sheets Ministries
Tim Sheets talks about Mary’s prophecy for this coming year, giving reading interpretation through The Passion Translation:
~ Priscilla Van Sutphin
PRISCILLA VAN SUTPHIN is the founder of Upstream Ministries, California, online at www.upstreamca.org and blogtalkradio.com/ Upstream. Email: upstream.ca@me.com For Donations: send to ‘Priscilla Van Sutphin’ on envelope, but to Upstream if chk at 15660 Tustin Village Way #27, Tustin CA 92780 or https://www.paypal.me/UpstreamMinistries or Zelle thru using upstream.ca@me.com
Amen!