“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.” Luke 1:17

“And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father.” “And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John.” Luke 1:59-60

Discipleship Class xxx
Title: Rejecting Alternate Destiny: Lessons from the life of John The Baptist
Part 2 of our series on The Destiny Driven Walk

Nature abhors vacuum.
Where vacuum exists, an alternate will be offered in it’s place.

In keeping with of our last discussion The Destiny Driven Walk, John the Baptist was also someone who had a pre-ordained divine destiny! In Malachi 3:1 He is referenced as the forerunner who will be sent by Jesus to go before the Christ and initiate preparation of the way for His coming. Jesus himself would later refer to John in Mathew 11:11 11 Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

Conflating this with Angel Gabriel’s declaration of John’s destiny in Luke 1:13-17, It becomes very clear that there was an ultimate destiny for John recorded in the volume of books concerning his life.

John’s destiny was declared to his earthly father Zacharias who like all earthly fathers had the responsibility of being the Priest and Prophet of the family. This meant he had the primary earthly responsibility of stewarding John into this ultimate destiny of God for his life.

But a vacuum is created! Zacharias’s unbelief (SIN) results in his incapacitation with the spirit of dumbness.
Ask yourself: of what use is a dumb priest or prophet to any congregation?
Now his actions/inactions have inadvertently created a stewardship/prophetic/dominion vacuum

Remember nature abhors vacuum. Where vacuum exists in the spiritual or physical realm, the serpent will quickly slither in to proffer an alternative just as he did in the garden of Eden with Eve. Just as he tried to do in the trials of temptation with Jesus. The idea is always to offer us something that has a semblance of the real thing BUT its ultimate end is to bring us short of what GOD has pre-designed and foreknown us to be! I dare say many of the temptations we face in all facets of our life is to give us the substitute and make us forego the ultimate.

We see in Luke 1:59-60 that when the time of naming came [which could be said to represent a type of prophetic launching forth], Zacharias [Father/Steward/Priest] was OUT OF POSITION. Zacharias’s priesthood had become handicapped! True to form the serpent attempts to slither in under the guise of the kindred spirit and offers an alternative destiny through customary inspiration: “and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father“.
This is a classic example of “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” Gen 27:22

You’d be forgiven for wondering “what is the big deal in a name?”

In attempting to name John Zacharias, they were in effect offering a destiny that would have a semblance of priesthood as the angel Gabriel had revealed about him, but would ultimately fall short of the forerunner priesthood for Christ that GOD had purposed Him to be in His perfect will. If the name Zacharias had stuck to John, the reality of his life would have been that he would have operated as a priest like his father’s before him BUT he would also have inherited the limitation(s) of dumbness that had incapacitated his father at the height of his manifestation!
Old kindred patterns would have hampered the opportunities for GOD to do something extraordinary in the lineage! No wonder GOD instructs Abram in Gen 12:1 to ‘Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee’ before He could bring forth that new thing He wanted to establish in the earth through the lineage of Abraham.


GOD is a generational dealing GOD. Yet His work is ALWAYS PROGRESSIVE AND UPWARD building upon what has come before it NOT REPEATING SAME.

According to heaven’s records (in the volume of book) John was meant to operate in the spirit and Power of Elijah. A dimension which had never been entered into by anyone in his father’s house. We all know prophet ELIJAH was not dumb! How would John the Baptist have been able to fully fulfill this purpose if he was operating under the limitations of his fathers?? One of Satan’s work in families is the transference and continuance of generational limitations and handicaps through unbiblical traditions and choice patterns. (Reference: Guarding against the Stray)

Thank goodness for Elisabeth!!! Zacharias shortfall need not translate into the family’s shortfall. She arose a mother and stood in the gap to ensure that the ultimate destiny of GOD for her seed would not pass them by! Having hid herself with GOD for 5 months [allowing GOD to ‘impregnate her’ with purpose and build her capacity], She stood in the gap and raised the standard against the ‘coming in of the enemy like a flood‘. She prevailed to see that GOD’s perfect will and purpose will not be circumvented in John but that HE WOULD BE WHO GOD ALREADY FOREKNEW & FORMED HIM TO BE!

Do we still have mothers like this today? Can GOD find in you a standard bearer through whom He can push back the flood of the enemy sweeping men away from divine destiny and purpose causing them to settle for the porridge of life?. Oh what priceless treasures we have in mother’s like Elisabeth & Deborah who have paid the price and yielded themselves as vessels through whom GOD’s standards against the flooding’s of the enemy is raised. Preventing them from eroding GOD’s portion in our families, our communities, our nations?. Especially when men and fathers of this age have been rendered handicapped and incapacitated in the course of their less than divinely appointed pursuits.

How many people are walking the alternate paths of destiny today because of absentee fathers and mother’s not present to stand in the gap and declare NOT SO!

Good News: GOD IS STILL IN THE BUSINESS OF DIVINE RESTORATION! HE IS THE GREAT RESTORER!
He is able to raise men to fill the gap where those responsible for you have failed you or worse pushed you into alternative paths. He is able to restore all the years the Locusts, the Palmerworm, the Cankerworm and the Caterpillar have eaten whilst you were languishing away in the pursuit of alternate paths. Joel 2:25-27
Perhaps you have been walking the circular path bearing Zacharias when you really ought to be walking the upward path of bearing John….He is able to give you course correction and give you the name He had assigned to you from eternity. He did it for Abram, He did it for Peter, He can do it for you…if you are willing…Are you willing?

We will discuss the modalities of restoration in our next class.



Prayer

Father of Lights. I am privileged to know that you are the Alpha & The Omega. You are the Author and also the Finisher. As long as you have begun a thing, you are always prepared to bring about its completion. Lord thank you because your word says that “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren” In any way my life no longer reflects the pre-destined pattern you had laid down, in anyway it no longer aligns with your perfect will in Christ for me: Lord begin your work of restoration even as I repent of the sins of rebellion (both on my part and of that of my forebears) which have done little else but put me on the alternate path of destiny. Oh Lord arise by your word and address any form of incapacitation (dumbness) in any facet of my life even as you restore me fully to my place in Christ. I want to see your kingdom established in and through my life and to this end I ask that you rename me accordingly as you did for Israel in Isaiah 62:4

Immortal Redeemer, I choose to arise and separate myself unto you as a vessel you could utilize in raising your divine standards against the wiles of the enemy in my generation which seek to erode your portion in the lives of men. Like Elisabeth, Deborah and many of the saints of old time have done, Raise me also a faithful standard bearer in my days who will not only defend the portion of the Kingdom but advance it as well. Just as David prayed in Psalm 71:18 enable me to “shew thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.” May your name be glorified forever. In Jesus name. Amen.


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