17 He will also 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 a people prepared for the Lord.”
17 He will also go before Him [the Messiah]
John would go before the Messiah “in the spirit and power of Elijah.” He preceded the Messiah as the official herald of the coming One. He would perform his ministry in spirit and power, similar to Elijah.
in the spirit and power of Elijah,
Luke now harked back to two passages in Malachi predicting a forerunner to the Messiah (Mal 3:1; 4:5-6). John would come with the power of a reformer like the prophet Elijah (2 Kgs 2:9-10). His “power” was what the Holy Spirit did through him, not miracles, for he never delivered a miracle.
‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’
Luke drew this phrase from Malachi 3:24 (LXX). The “fathers” here were old generations of Israelites whom John would prepare to receive the Messiah. His ministry would reconcile families in Israel. John would fulfill the Malachi prophecy.
and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
John was to prepare people for the coming Messiah.
PRINCIPLE:
If God directs us into ministry, we must do it by the filling of the Spirit.
APPLICATION:
God works through us as He fills us with the Spirit. He will use us in a mighty way He would not otherwise. Spirit filling is the same as being controlled by the Spirit. A Spirit-filled believer allows the Holy Spirit to control him. This experience is not an esoteric or ecstatic situation; it is simply to be under His influence. The common factor of the 10 occasions of those filled with the Spirit in Acts was to immediately assert testimony about Jesus (Acts 2:4; 4:8, 31; 6:3, 5; 7:55; 9:17; 13:9; 11:24; 13:52).
