"And you, my child, will be called prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins." Luke 1:76-77 (NIV)
When Zechariah wrote that his son’s name was John, the neighbors. He, being Spirit filled, prophesied about what the Lord was going to do through John.
John’s calling meant he would be a prophet of God and go before the Lord and prepare the way for Him. He would impart knowledge of God’s salvation through redemption and remission of sins.
We don’t concentrate on John when we think of those who preached on forgiveness. We know he lived simply. He also had several followers—some of whom became followers of Jesus.
“And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” Mark 1:4 (NIV)
John the Baptist fulfilled Zechariah’s prophecy. As he grew, God must have given John discernment into knowledge of the needs of the people at that time.
“Peter replied. ‘ Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.’” Acts 2:38 (NIV)
After the Holy Spirit came upon them, the apostles became bold in their witness. Peter and the others obeyed God and kept speaking of the Lord Jesus and what He could do for the people. He basically tells the crowd that they have to repent-turn around from their sin, confess their wrongdoing, present themselves before God as sinners, and then seek to be baptized in order for Jesus to forgive their sins.
“God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.” Acts 5:31(NIV)
How can we know with surety that Jesus does forgive our sins? We have this scripture to rely on. When Jesus’ work on earth was through, God called His Son back to heaven and gave Him the honored spot beside Him. Because Jesus is in heaven, we can repent of our sins and receive His forgiveness.
Someone might ask us. “Why is it so important to seek forgiveness from Jesus for our sins? We can’t enter heaven without having had our sins erased from our hearts. If we walked around with a magnet attached to each of us, we would attract all sorts of metal objects that would weigh us down. In time, we would find it hard to move across the room, get up from a chair, or climb stairs. The only way we could get rid of the baggage of the metal would be go get rid of the magnet. Now, if each piece of metal we attract was likened to a sin-fibbing to those in authority, carrying tales about friends, fudging on inventory reports, taking home a couple of pens or rubber bands from work, wanting what someone else has, or rebelling against godly reasoning. We would find ourselves having difficulties because of our stubbornness. All we have to do is ask Jesus to intercede before God and ask Him to forgive us for our wrongdoing.
Cecelia Lester has been serious about her writing for over two decades..
She composes Christian essays and posts them to her blog quietspirit-followingmyking.blogspot.com/
She has served in a faith-based organization, Grace In Action by writing two newsletters and searching for possible grants.
In July 2017, she published her first book, 'Times of Trouble Bring Rays of Joy.'
She and her husband of 54 years live in central Indiana. They have one grown son.