Luke 1:13-17 English Standard Version

13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. 14 And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. 16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, 17 and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

Yesterday we talked about the possibility of dual citizenship, life in this world and Kingdom living. Allow me if you would to talk about Elijah and John the Baptist in terms spoken of in the gospel of Luke.

John’s birth announcement says John would be filled with the Holy Spirit from conception. John leaped with joy in Elizabeth’s womb at the sound of Mary’s voice. In Luke 1:41 we see that Elizabeth was at that point filled with the Holy Spirit. Jesus had not even been born yet, had not performed miracles, had not died and risen, and yet the Holy Spirit filled John and Elizabeth.

The signs of being born again, being filled with the Holy Spirit, were present in them but Christ had not even begun His earthly mission. It would seem that the presence of the Holy Spirit is not the only sign of spiritual rebirth.

Matthew 11:13-15 English Standard Version

13 For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, 14 and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. 15 He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Jesus said it right here that John was the forerunner spirit spoken of in prophecy in which people were looking for Elijah, not John. Even John himself denied that he was Elijah as shown in John 1:21. I say all this to clarify an issue that can be confusing in reference to what it means to be born again.

John 14:26

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

It is the Father that sends the Holy Spirit to those who believe in Jesus Christ and have placed their faith in Him by virtue of the death and resurrection of His Son on the Right Hand Throne of God. John and Elizabeth, even though filled with the Holy Spirit, were not born again.

Now let us address the second issue of Luke 1:17, the power of Elijah.

Romans 13:6-7 (English Standard Version)

For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

Jesus did not dodge the issues of His day, so why should we?

The simple answer is loving our enemies. The hard answer is our enemies don’t want us to love them. That should never stop us from looking at what Jesus did and understand why He said what He said to those standing in front of Him at that time in history.

Rome conquered their world by force. They installed tetrarchs over regions that answered to Rome. They had governors that passed judgment over those authorities. Everyone was answerable to Rome.

Jesus was bringing a new Kingdom that had nothing to do with politics but addressed how to live a life pleasing to God. The object of this exercise is living in the world but not of the world.

Romans 13:8

Fulfilling the Law Through Love

Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

In the very next verse Jesus puts it as plainly as He could that the law isn’t worldly because in worldly terms we owe everyone something. The Kingdom of God is not of this world and has its own standards.

Isaiah 43:19

Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

It is a mistake to think that God changed His mind, changed His plans. He did not. His Old Covenant Laws are still in effect. They just don’t apply to those of us that have died with Christ.

Romans 6:8

Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

That is a Kingdom concept not a worldly concept. Perhaps it would be easier to understand if we thought of ourselves as having dual citizenship. We are subject to the authority of both. We may not like worldly authority, but what we do in response to our intellect and emotions should take into account what our King on the Throne tells us.