Luke 1:17 And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children… All life is a preparation to meet God. This is the clue of life's labyrinth. Preparations are often confused things. They are times of unsettling, full of noise and disorder, and apparent contradiction; till the end comes, and explains it all. So this world — it is made up of strange things, which move above us and within us, and seem to have little purpose and no concert. They range wildly. There are beginnings without endings; and there are endings without beginnings. A great many things do not fit. It is hard to tell what it all means. It is a pleasant thought to remember that your preparation, as it goes on, day by day, is only a reflection of what is going on in the other world. There, too, it is all preparation. The saints and the angels are all busy preparing. The preparations of earth are to meet the preparations of heaven. He has prepared His mercy, and He has prepared His truth. It is a prepared heaven; it is a prepared kingdom; a prepared city; a prepared throne; a prepared seat. And when both preparations are complete — a prepared soul, and a prepared heaven — what perfectness! what love! what rest! what quietness! What and if the Pure should come, and find impurity? What and if the Holy should come and find irreverence? What and if the Spirit come, and find nothing but flesh? What and if Wisdom come, and find ignorance? What and if Love come, and find selfishness and unkindness? First, you must be prepared to know your Lord when He comes. This John taught very expressly. He placed the people in a position that they should know and recognize Christ when He should arrive. You must have read Him in the prophecies — you must have walked with Him in the gospel — you must have sat with Him in all the manifestations of His grace — you must have traced Him in His reflections about the universe — you must have felt His inward dwelling in you by the Holy Ghost. Then He will be no new, strange Christ to you when He comes. And if you would be "prepared for the Lord," you must have a deep sense of sin. "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." No one must stand there who has not learnt to stoop very low. Thirdly, you must be exact, faithful, diligent in your daily proper duties — doing whatever you do heartily — a man of large charities — a man of unselfish habits — a man of strict integrity in business — a man of self-government — a man of moderation — a man of content — a man of humility. "He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise." "Exact no more than that which is appointed you." Fourthly, you must be baptized — not with the baptism of water only, but with the baptism of the Spirit; and not with the baptism of water and of the Spirit only, but with the baptism of shame, of scorn, of suffering, of death — "baptized with the Holy Ghost, and with fire." And fifthly, you must be much in the use of the ordinances — loving the shadows till the substance comes. (J. Vaughan, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. |
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