The Fountain of Living Waters Will Never Run Dry in Jesus Christ Our Lord - Part 1063

"Behold, I will send My messenger and he shall prepare the way before Me; and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in; behold, He shall come," saith the Lord of hosts. (Malachi 3:1)

John the Baptist preached in the wilderness of Judaea. At the time, 400 plus years had passed since the Lord had spoken to His chosen people. "In His love and in His pity, He redeemed them; and He bare them, and carried them all the days of old, but they rebelled and vexed His holy Spirit, therefore, He was turned to be their enemy ...." (Isaiah 63:9-10)

Nevertheless, here is the messenger John the Baptist -- "the voice of one crying in the wilderness" preaching the message of repentance to anyone that would listen. That is, to "prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make His paths straight." (Matthew 3:2)

For those who may not be aware, John the Baptist was in fact confirming the scriptures of old. "And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people [but] it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever." (Daniel 2:44)

Mark scribes it this way. "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; as it is written in the prophets, "Behold, I send My messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight." (Mark 1:2)

"And this is the record of John, which when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who art thou?" And he confessed, and denied not, but confessed "I am not the Christ." And they asked him, "What then? Art thou Elias?" And he saith, "I am not." They again asked, "Art thou that prophet?" And he answered, "No." Then they said unto him, "Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?" John said, "I [am] the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord" -- as said the prophet Esaias." (John 1:19-23; Matthew 3:3; Isaiah 40:3)

As you can see, the scriptures do not contradict but rather, confirm the same message. God is not the Author of confusion. (I Corinthians 14:33) There would be a forerunner to Jesus, and in this case it was John. Even before John's birth, his father Zacharias -- filled with the Holy Ghost began prophesying, saying,

"Blessed [be] the Lord God of Israel; for He hath visited and redeemed His people, and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David, as He spake by the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the world began -- that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; to perform the mercy [promised] to our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant; the oath which He sware to our father Abraham -- that He would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him, all the days of our life.

And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways; to give knowledge of salvation unto His people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us ... to give light to them that sit in darkness and [in] the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." (Luke 1:67-79)

Dayspring -- essentially, what we were being told is that a new day was about to dawn, ushering in a new testament -- a new beginning that God had decided for Himself before the world was formed. This is why Jesus said, "for this is [He] of whom it is written -- "Behold, I send My messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee." (Matthew 11:10)

Jesus was the Highest -- the Almighty God, whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us. Yes, He Himself who knew no sin became sin for you and I. He -- Jesus who is our heavenly Father in the flesh is the Light of the world, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

"In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God ... He was in the world, and the world was made by Him and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own and His own received Him not, but as many as received Him to them gave He power to become the sons of God, to them that believe on His name ... and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us -- and we beheld His glory." (John 1:1-18)

When Jesus had finished commanding his twelve disciples, He began to teach and to preach in their cities. And, when John heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples to inquire whether Jesus was "He that should come, or do we look for another?" (Matthew 11:1-3)

Jesus answered and said unto them, "Go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see; the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them, and blessed is [he] whosoever shall not be offended in Me." (Matthew 11:4-6)

As they departed Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, "What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that wear soft [clothing] are in king's houses. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you and more than a prophet ... for this is [He] of whom it is written -- "Behold, I send My messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee." (Matthew 11:7-10)

God not only created us in the beginning but loved us enough to give Himself as a sacrifice on an old wooded cross so that we might know Him, and love Him, and sojourn with Him in the cool of the day. If you don't know Jesus, and His fountain of living waters that will never run dry, ask Him to be Lord of your life today. Believe on His name. Seek Him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. And if you do know our Lord God and Saviour Jesus the Christ as your personal Saviour, you already know that His promises are true.

And in the days of these kings will the God of heaven set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed. His bride -- the body of Christ whereby Jesus is the high priest, the chief cornerstone, the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.

Most of all, know too that "they that wait upon the Lord shall renew [their] strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary, [and] they shall walk and not faint." (Isaiah 40:31) Stand in the offering plate.