PREHEAT THE OVEN
Day # 14
Malachi 4:5 Behold
I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord
comes.
“Preheat the oven
to _______ degrees.” You can fill in the blank with the temperature. It seems
that just about every recipe that uses the oven calls for it to be preheated. I
often wondered why this was then I realized that it is because it makes the
baking more uniform, keeps the product from being over/under cooked. You don’t
want to put your cookies in a cold oven. You need to preheat to…
Preheat the oven
for A Recipe for a Savior. The prophet Malachi is bringing to the recipe
the idea that the oven of life needs to be preheated for A Recipe for a
Savior to work. “I will send the prophet Elijah before…” Really? How
old would Elijah be at this time? Will he come in a fiery chariot just like he
went into heaven? Who is this prophet Elijah going to be? “Preheat the oven…”
gives us more questions than answers.
The people of
Israel understood, sort of. They waited for the coming of the one in the power
and spirit of Elijah. They did not really think that Elijah himself would
return. Elijah was a prophet of God that called the people back from their
sinful lives. He was not afraid to address king or peasant. When God spoke to
him, he would take that message to the people. So all Israel waited for the
coming of the one who would be the Elijah of their day. For them, the recipe
would start to come together at that time. Elijah was not the Savior. He was
just the one who “preheated the oven,” preparing the people for the coming of
the Savior.
We wait as well.
Will an Elijah come to our day and age? Will we have one that goes before the
people calling them to repent before the Day of the Lord? Actually, no we will
not. The Savior has already come, as we remember during this Advent and
Christmas season. What do we do with this Elijah? We search the Scriptures to
see who this one was in order to know that A Recipe for a Savior is
complete.
Who was the Elijah
that went before the day of the Lord? Who was the one who is like preheating
the oven, getting things ready for when the full recipe can begin to bake? That
is the question we will answer in the next devotion.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, You are amazing, beyond what we can ever imagine. You prepared
the world for the coming of Your Son. As we prepare to celebrate Christmas,
open our hearts to Your Word that calls us from our sins. Amen.
What stands in the way in preparing for the Lord? Answer, Myself.
ReplyDeleteThis has to do with controlling my life, Instead of giving full control to The Lord , I prefer to win control. Although over the past few years I've had to realize that The Heavenly Father is in control. It's a comforting and scary feeling! Unlike preheating an oven and putting food in the oven you know what the end result will be!
In my life its scary to think 💠of where I'm going to be ! My Faith tells me I'm going to Heaven! The route in getting there is the scary feeling!