Advent Dec 2 - Luke 1:17
▸ ± Lu 1:17 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.
John would come in the spirit of Elijah. Elijah called Israel to repentance from following false gods. John would call Israel to repentance from worshiping false gods. What were the false gods at the time?
During the period of silence from God, the Greek Pharaoh of Egypt called 72 rabbis to translate the Torah into Greek for his library. The rabbis, thinking they were the chosen people, didn't want God to bless Pharaoh, their enemy. To ensure the Pharaoh would not be blessed by God, they seeded polytheistic ideas into it. 'Us' in 'let us make man...' have no number associated with the word and is translated differently in other places. Why would monotheists intentionally choose a plural word for God? The Greek Pharaoh would be comfortable remaining a polytheist.
They had a false tribal god that would bless only Israel, rather than the God of creation who made a promise to Eve.
The rabbis created an endless set of rules to hedge the law. This is the essence of original sin; to make yourself a god by declaring your own 'good and evil'. They covered their tracks with a Balaamism in the Septuagint. They translated "the man has become believing himself to declare good and evil" to "the man has become like one of us knowing good and evil". This would make the Pharaoh think he was like God, when the whole purpose of the law and suffering is to remind us that we are not gods.
The religious rulers had power over the people. They weaseled their way into the church as the Nicolaitans and Judaisers. They continued with their tribal god declaring that no one was saved outside of their church hierarchy, making the simple preaching of the cross through symbols, into sacraments where grace is dispensed through ritual. They added laws, such as not eating meat on Friday, to impose their power.
Jesus attacked the Pharisees on both accounts. He attacked their additional laws, and their twisting of scripture.
John would turn the hearts of the children of Abraham back to the God of the fathers:Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as Elijah did by calling fire from heaven. Fire is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, which descended upon Jesus at his baptism. From that point on, Jesus was fully consumed (as a burnt offering) to do the will of the Father, even unto death.
