There was in the days of Herod, king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abijah: and he had a wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.
And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years.
Now it came to pass, while he executed the priest’s office before God in the order of his course,
according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot was to enter into the temple of the Lord and burn incense.
And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the hour of incense.
And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of altar of incense.
And Zacharias was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him.
But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: because thy supplication is heard, and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.
And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.
For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and he shall drink no wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.
And many of the children of Israel shall he turn unto the Lord their God.
And he shall go before His face in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to walk in the wisdom of the just; to make ready for the Lord a people prepared for Him.
During the past conference, we shared together concerning John the Baptist. We used John the Baptist as a springboard to ask ourselves three very important questions: Who are we? Why do we do these things? And what is our testimony?
I do pray to the Lord that we may be able to answer them rightly. This morning, we are still considering John the Baptist, but we would like to learn lessons from him as a person.
We know John the Baptist is an epoch-making vessel of God. We know that God’s purpose never changes, but God does change His ways. His purpose remains always the same, but to reach His purpose, He sometimes changes His tactics, His ways. And when He changes His ways, He changes the time.
So we find that, from time to time, God does change His way. Whenever His way changes, the time changes. But before the time changes, God always looks for one or some epoch-making vessel. Through these vessels, God will change the time. We call these vessels epoch-making vessels.
God is not a man, that He should lie; neither is He a son of man, that He should repent. Whatever He says, it shall be done. Whatever He speaks, He will make it good. That means that God never changes His purpose.
Whatever changes may come in time, they are all for the fulfilment of God’s eternal purpose. John the Baptist is an epoch-making vessel of God.
In Matthew 11, it is said, “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of the heavens suffereth violence, and men of violence take it by force.”
From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and men of violence take it by force.
For all the prophets and the law have prophesied until John.— Matthew 11:12–13
The law and the prophets prophesied until John. In other words, the law and the prophets conclude in John, for the law and the prophets prophesied concerning the coming One.
John is the last of the prophets according to the Old Testament order. He is the one used by God to conclude the law and the prophets. At the same time, he is the one used by God to introduce Christ, the coming King.
The kingdom of the heavens came in the days of John because, in his days, the King had come. So from the days of John until now, the kingdom of the heavens is to be seized by force.
The word simply means that it is to be seized by those who are forceful. As a matter of fact, the original language means it is seized by the violent.
We do not like the word violence because it gives us a bad connotation. But actually, the word violence is neutral. It can have a good meaning, and it can have a bad meaning.
If we do violence to other people, that is bad. But we need to do violence to ourselves, which is good.
To use another word, the Lord Jesus says, “Unless you deny yourself, take up the cross, and follow Me, you cannot be My disciple.”
Now, denying yourself is doing violence to yourself, because we all love ourselves. We want to gratify ourselves, and to deny ourselves is difficult. You have to do violence to yourself in order to deny yourself.
But those who are willing to deny themselves and take the cross to follow the Lord Jesus seize upon the kingdom of the heavens. And it begins from the days of John the Baptist.
So, brothers and sisters, John the Baptist is one raised by God to change the time: from the time of the law to the time of grace, and from the time of the law and the prophets to the time of Christ. Therefore, we call him an epoch-making vessel.
Whenever God wants to change the time, He always looks for such a vessel. This is a mystery to us, because we think that when God wants to change the time, He can simply change it. But, strangely, He will not change it until He finds the right vessel. Through that vessel, He will make the change.
Dear brothers and sisters, do you know that we are on the verge of another change? In the days of John the Baptist, there was a tremendous change. From law to grace was a great change, and from the law and the prophets to Christ was a great change.
John was used by God to bring in Christ Jesus. At the first coming of the Lord Jesus, John was His forerunner. He prepared the way for the Lord.
But, dear brothers and sisters, we are on the verge of another tremendous change. Why? Because the time of grace is coming to an end.
During the time of grace, whosoever believes in the Lord Jesus shall be saved. We are not saved by our own merit, because all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags in the sight of God. No one can be saved by doing the works of the law. We are condemned by the law.
But thank God for sending His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, into the world. He is the Lamb of God who takes away our sins. By believing in Him, we are saved by grace. Now, this is the time of grace.
From the time of John the Baptist until now, the “now” does not refer merely to the days of John the Baptist or simply to the days when Christ Jesus was on earth. The word now continues until our time. This whole period of two thousand years is a time of grace.
Whoever is thirsty can come and drink freely of life. But the days of grace will come to an end one day. The door of grace will be closed. A change of time will come upon this earth.
We know that our Lord Jesus is coming again. At His first coming, He brought grace into this world. At His first coming, He came as the Lamb of God. But our Lord Jesus is to come again.
When He comes again, He shall come as the Lion of Judah. That is to say, He shall come to judge the world. At His first coming, He brought in grace; but at His second coming, He will exercise judgment upon this world.
At His second coming, this age will come to an end, and the age to come will be ushered in. The age to come is the coming of the kingdom of God upon this earth, and righteousness shall rule upon this earth.
Today, it is grace; but in the days to come, it will be righteousness. Christ shall rule the world with an iron rod.
Brothers and sisters, we know that Christ is coming soon. So we are on the verge of another great change. But before this change comes, again you will find God looking for epoch-making vessels.
This epoch-making vessel will not be an individual. It will be a corporate body. God is looking for a corporate body, a body of people whom He can use to change the time.
They will be used to conclude the period of grace, and they will be used to bring back the King.
In Revelation 12, there is a man child. That man child is collective, because later on you find that “they overcame him.” The “they” refers to the man child. So the man child is not an individual; it is a collective term. It includes a number of people.
Who are these people? They are those in the church who overcome, because they overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony, and because they love not their lives even unto death.
And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony; and they loved not their life even unto death.
— Revelation 12:11
There will be a group of people who know the value of the blood of the Lamb. They are not better than anybody else, but they know the value of the blood of the Lamb. They are not perfect, but they know to receive forgiveness of their sins through the blood of the Lamb.
Brothers and sisters, we need the blood of the Lamb not only at the time when we believe in Christ Jesus. At that time, when we believe in the Lord Jesus, His blood cleanses us from all our sins. But to live on this earth as an overcomer, we need to be washed by His blood all the time.
Whenever we fail, we need to depend upon the blood of the Lamb for cleansing. In other words, we are being washed all the time.
In 1 John 1, it says:
If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanseth us from all sin.
— 1 John 1:7
Every day we need to walk in the light, in the light of life, because the life that is within us will give light to us and guide us in our journey through this world.
You remember John 1:4 says:
In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.
— John 1:4
Today we have the life of Christ in us, and this life of Christ will shine light upon our path. We need to walk in the light of life as God dwells in the light. That is how we can fellowship with one another.
But as we walk in the light, the light will reveal all the darkness in us. So we need the blood of the Lamb to wash us from all these things. That is the way we grow in the Lord.
With more life, we have more light. With more light, we see more of our own darkness. When we see our own darkness, we are cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, so we enter into more light. With more light, we again see more darkness.
Gradually, we are being brought into the light of God, and our life in Christ begins to grow from glory to glory, to be transformed and conformed to the image of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
So we need the blood of the Lamb every day. Sometimes even our prayers need to be washed by the blood of the Lamb, and even our tears need to be washed by the blood of the Lamb, that we may be more like Him.
We need to appreciate the value of the blood of the Lamb. We will never outgrow the blood of the Lamb. We need the blood of the Lamb all the time. The closer you are to God, the more you sense the need of the blood of the Lamb.
Satan is an accuser, and he is always trying to accuse us before God. He is always trying to accuse us in our conscience. How are we going to overcome that accusation? By the blood of the Lamb.
Secondly, they overcome because of the word of their testimony. They have a testimony. What is their testimony? Their testimony is that Jesus is not only their Saviour but also their Lord.
Many believers receive Jesus as their Saviour, but they have not received Jesus as their Lord. But these people not only receive Jesus as their Saviour; they receive the Lord Jesus as their Lord, the Lord of their life.
This is a reality in them. When they say, “Jesus is Lord,” it is real. Many people may say, “Lord, Lord,” but they do not do the will of God. When they say, “Lord, Lord,” and do not do the will of God, it is not real. There is no power in their word.
But for those who really put themselves under the lordship of Christ, when they say, “Jesus is Lord,” there is power behind it, and Satan will flee from them.
Thirdly, they do not love their lives even unto death. The life there is their soul-life. In other words, they are willing to deny themselves, even unto death, in order to do the will of God.
These are the overcomers of the church. They will be the epoch-making vessel of God in the last days.
What is God looking for today? He is looking for such epoch-making people. With these people, He is going to conclude this age and bring in the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
By the grace of God, may we be in that epoch-making vessel. That is the reason why this morning we would like to talk about John the Baptist. We would like to learn in him the different principles that govern an epoch-making vessel.
I hope we will listen very carefully, because this is of tremendous importance in our days. To some, it may be a little deep. But if you can receive it and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal it to us, you too will enter into these principles.
The history of John begins with his parents. Here you find an old couple, Zechariah and Elisabeth. They were both descendants of Aaron the priest. The Scripture says they were righteous before God, and they walked in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
This was most unusual in those days. That was two thousand years ago, when Christ came the first time to this earth. Even though the chosen people of God, the Jews, were back in the promised land, the temple was rebuilt, and the priesthood was serving in the temple, the spiritual condition was low.
The law and the prophets were being read. Outwardly, the people in Jerusalem seemed very religious. They kept the Sabbath, read the law and the prophets, offered sacrifices, and served in the temple.
But strangely, during those years God did not reveal Himself to them. There was no vision of God, and God did not speak to them. The word of God was not only rare, but there was no word from God.
It was because of the low spiritual condition of the people of God. God could not speak to them. God could not reveal Himself to them. Yet, outwardly, they seemed to be very religious. In reality, they were an ungodly people.
But among the ungodly people, you find an old couple who were different. They were righteous before God and kept all the commandments and ordinances of God blameless. They were different from the other priests.
Even the priests at that time were just being religious. They served God as a profession instead of serving God out of love. But this old couple was different. They really loved God. They feared God.
They were advanced in age, and the Bible says they had no child. Now, brothers and sisters, if you know the Bible, you find this was most unusual. Under the law, in Old Testament times, those who feared God were promised blessing with the fruit of the womb.
In Deuteronomy 28, they were promised a fruitful womb. In Psalm 128:3:
Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine,
In the innermost parts of thy house:
Thy children like olive plants,
Round about thy table.
Behold, thus shall the man be blessed
That feareth the Lord.— Psalm 128:3–4
According to the law in the Old Testament, the blessing of the Lord to those who feared Him was that they would be blessed with many children. If they had no child, it meant that they were cursed by God.
Here you find an old couple. They feared God, but they had no child. What a contradiction. God did not fulfil His promise to this couple. On the contrary, God shut up the womb of Elisabeth.
This old couple must have prayed and asked the Lord to give them a child. But their prayers were not answered. They must have said to God, “You promised. Now fulfil Your promise.” But God did not.
Because of this, they were misunderstood. People would look at them and say, “Well, they look as if they were very pious, but who knows what is in secret?” They must have committed serious sins, because they were cursed by God.
God’s name was under a cloud because He did not keep His promise, and the couple was under a kind of reproach because they were misunderstood by everybody.
Were they offended by God? They were not. Even though God did not fulfil His promise to them, they continued to serve God. They continued to walk uprightly before God and continued to keep all the commandments of God blameless.
Why did God treat them in this way? Because God had a higher will concerning this couple. God wanted to do something, but He could not find another couple qualified for it.
With other people, if they feared God, God would bless them with many children. But with this couple, God dealt with them in a special way. He did not fulfil His promise because He had a higher will concerning this couple.
He allowed them to go through trials and suffering. Eventually, you find that their prayer began to change. Instead of asking God to give them a child to take away their shame, they began to pray exclusively for the coming of the Messiah.
They began to be delivered from their own self-interest. They devoted themselves completely to the interests of God. They began to travail in prayer. They prayed for the coming of the Messiah.
One day Zechariah, already advanced in age and probably almost at the time of retirement, was still serving in the temple. During those days, the priests of each course would gather together and cast lots to decide who would do what work in the temple.
On that day, the lot of burning incense fell upon Zechariah. I am sorry; I have to give you more information, because I am afraid you do not understand the background.
The priestly service was composed of many things, but the highest service was to burn incense at the golden altar of incense, because the golden altar of incense was closest to the ark and the mercy seat behind the veil.
You could be a priest and serve in the temple for life, and the lot of burning incense might never come upon you. If the lot fell upon you to burn incense at the altar, you were allowed to do it only once in your lifetime.
So you find that Zechariah, until he was advanced in years, had never had the opportunity of doing the highest priestly service. But now the lot fell on him.
During the time of prayer, he would go into the temple to burn incense at the golden altar of incense. During that time, he was the only one in the temple. All the rest of the people were waiting in the court. They would be praying, but he would be the only one in the temple.
He would represent the whole nation of Israel, burning incense before God. He would pray the prayer of the nation. What was the prayer of the nation? The prayer of the nation was, “Oh, that Messiah may come.”
On that day, Zechariah was praying that prayer on behalf of the whole nation. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord stood on the right side of the altar. Zechariah was frightened, and the angel said, “Fear not. Your supplication has been heard. You shall have a son, and you shall call his name John.”
Zechariah had long given up praying for a son. When he was burning incense, he could not pray a private prayer; he had to pray the prayer of the nation. Yet the angel said, “Your supplication has been answered, and you shall have a son.”
Why was this? Because his son was related to the coming of the Messiah. His son was to prepare the way of the Lord. So you find that his prayer was answered, but God answered his prayer in a higher way.
God kept His promise, but He kept His promise to the very last so that, when the promise was fulfilled, it was fulfilled on a higher ground—not merely a child for themselves.
That is how John came into this world. John was born through the travailing prayer of his parents. They prayed and prayed and prayed. They prevailed in suffering while looking for a child. When God did not answer in the ordinary way, they began to pray not for themselves anymore, but for the Messiah to come.
God answered them at the last minute. So the first principle of an epoch-making vessel is prevailing prayer.
Whenever God wants to change the time, He raises some people who are willing to give themselves to pray. It is not merely ordinary prayer. The prayer becomes travail. The burden is so heavy that they have to pay a cost to pray.
When God has such people, God will change the time. If you read church history, you find that whenever God is going to make a new move, He always first finds some people who will travail in prayer.
This is how the church began. Before Pentecost, for ten days, there were one hundred and twenty believers. They prayed together with one accord. It was through the travailing prayer of the one hundred and twenty believers that the church was brought to birth.
In 1904 and 1905, there was a great revival in Wales. We call it the Great Welsh Revival. The Spirit of God swept over that country with such power that the judges wore white gloves. In other words, they had no cases to judge.
In Wales, there are mines, and the miners were very rough people. They cursed all the time, and they used donkeys to carry the coal. But these rough miners were saved, and because they did not curse anymore, the donkeys could not understand them.
A great revival came upon the people. Do you know how it happened? There was a young man by the name of Evan Roberts. He was a miner, but he loved the Lord.
When he was working in the mine, he read the Bible and prayed. This is how he prayed: “Oh God, save the world and save the church.”
Of course, he was not alone. There were others praying with him. Through their travailing prayer, the Spirit of God swept over Wales.
Even when I was in New Zealand in 1970, I met people who were the result of that revival.
Now, we are meeting here today. Do you know how the whole work began and spread over the world? Back in the 1920s, it was through the prayer of two sisters.
They were missionaries in China. They were in a country place in Fujian, near Fuzhou, in a village. They knew the Lord, and they realized that, for the work of God really to grow, God must apprehend a group of young people—a group of college students.
With this group of college students, God could change China. So they gave themselves to prayer. It was through the prayer of these two sisters that a revival broke out in Trinity College. That was where Brother Watchman Nee and other young people were saved. From that, you find that it began to spread.
Travailing prayer is the first principle. How we need to ask God to raise brothers and sisters who are willing to give themselves to prayer—not praying for their personal interests, but praying for the kingdom to come.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.— Matthew 6:10
Pray for the coming of Christ, to prepare the way for the return of our Lord Jesus. If God has a people who pray and prevail, He will change the time.
The second principle is hidden in the name of John. John was born when his parents were beyond the age of bearing children, but God renewed the womb. He was born miraculously, and his name was given by the angel: “You shall give birth to a son. His name shall be called John.”
What is the meaning of John? The Lord is gracious. The Lord is gracious. Our God is a gracious God; that is His character.
You remember when Moses asked to see the glory of God, and God passed before him and declared His name:
The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.
— Exodus 34:6
Our God is a gracious God, and the name of John means, “God is gracious.” John was to be characterized by the character of God. He was to be a person who knew the grace of God. To put it another way, he was a product of God’s grace.
He knew how gracious God was because he himself had experienced God’s grace. Because of this, he was able to represent God, and he was able to preach repentance. Because God is gracious, if people repent, God will forgive their sins and save them.
The second principle of an epoch-making vessel is knowing the grace of God.
What does Paul say? Paul says, “By the grace of God I am what I am.”
But by the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not found vain.
— 1 Corinthians 15:10
We do not know God’s grace. We do not appreciate His grace. We are not characterized by God’s grace because we believe in ourselves. We are self-confident. We think that we are able.
Before we believed in the Lord Jesus, what hindered us from believing in Christ Jesus? It was because we believed we were good. We believed we could keep the law, so we did not need the grace of God.
But thank God, one day we realized that we could not do it. We had no righteousness. We humbled ourselves, repented, and saw the grace of God, which is Jesus Christ.
Unfortunately, after we are saved, we forget. We still live by ourselves and by our own strength. We do not appreciate the grace of God, just like the Galatian believers. They began with the Spirit, but they wanted to be perfected by the flesh.
An epoch-making vessel is one who knows God’s grace. It is grace, grace; all is grace. Then you can be used by God.
Before John was born, the angel told Zechariah that this boy who was to be born should drink no wine or strong drink, even from his mother’s womb. It means that John would be a Nazarite for life.
Again, I have to explain a little bit. Go back to the Old Testament. God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt and brought them to Himself at Mount Sinai.
God said, “If you keep My covenant, if you obey Me, I will make you a nation of priests.” In other words, every Israelite was to be a priest. Every Israelite was to live to serve God. That was the highest occupation.
But unfortunately, they worshipped the golden calf and disqualified themselves from serving a holy God. So God called one family, the family of Aaron. The people could not go to God directly; they had to go to God through Aaron and his sons.
But God opened a back door. In Numbers 6, God said that even though the people were disqualified, if any man or woman truly loved Him and wanted to serve Him, they could serve Him through the vow of a Nazarite.
Nazarite means consecration and separation. You separate yourself for God. God may not have chosen you for the priesthood, but you can choose to separate yourself. You can take a vow and say, “For one hundred days, I will separate myself for God. I will devote myself to God. I will be consecrated.”
It is very strange: in the Nazarite vow, it does not tell you what a Nazarite does. It only tells you how a Nazarite lives. We think serving God is doing something for God, but serving God actually is living for God.
If you live for God, you will have something to do for God. If you do not live for God, you may do many things, but God is not pleased with them.
Usually, people took a vow for thirty days or for one hundred days. But very rarely did you have a Nazarite for life. Samuel in the Old Testament was a Nazarite for life, and John the Baptist was a Nazarite for life.
A Nazarite must abstain from three things:
In the old days, because Israel was God’s earthly people, these requirements were physical. Today we are God’s heavenly people. Therefore, what is the Nazarite vow to us today?
Because we love the Lord, we want to separate ourselves for God. We want to live for Christ. If you want to live for Christ, you have to abstain from three things.
You cannot take anything that is of the vine. Of course, this does not mean physically, because we took the cup this morning. It is not physical.
You remember how the Lord Jesus said, “I am the true vine.” Why is He the true vine? Because all the other vines are false vines. Wine in Scripture gives pleasure and satisfaction to men.
The world is like a wild vine. It produces things that give pleasure to men. It satisfies the flesh. The Bible calls it the pleasure of sin. The world does have something to offer, but the satisfaction is temporary, the pleasure is transient, and at the end there will be sorrow.
But Christ is the true vine. Those who separate themselves to live for God find all their pleasure and satisfaction in Christ. They do not go to the world to try to find pleasure, satisfaction, or strength from the world, because their spring is in God and their resources are in Christ.
Brothers and sisters, do we still go to the world to find pleasure, as though Christ is not enough? Or do we find that Christ is enough? We drink of Him. He is the cup.
Secondly, no razor is to come upon your head. Why do you put a razor on your head? To beautify yourself. But the Nazarite was to allow the hair to grow long.
The spiritual principle is this: instead of trying to beautify our head—that is, to become head to ourselves—we are willing to have our heads covered so that Christ may be our Head.
Our beauty is in obedience, not in taking the place of authority. A Nazarite is a person who always has his head covered before God. In all things, he allows Christ to be his Head.
Thirdly, he does not go near a dead body. The flesh, in the sight of God, is like a dead body. It defiles. So we live by the life of Christ; we do not live by the life of the old man.
We live by Christ. “For to me to live is Christ.” That is the meaning of a Nazarite.
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
— Philippians 1:21
Are we Nazarites? Do we live for Christ? Are we separated? Are we devoted to Him? This is a principle that makes an epoch-making vessel.
John was filled with the Holy Spirit even when he was in his mother’s womb. This can be proven, because when Mary came to visit Elisabeth and greeted her, the babe leaped in Elisabeth’s womb.
That shows that John was filled with the Holy Spirit even in his mother’s womb.
Thank God, all who believe in the Lord Jesus have the Holy Spirit. We all have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us—the divine Person. But not all are filled with the Holy Spirit.
What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit? It simply means that you allow the Holy Spirit to rule over your life.
Brothers and sisters, are you filled with the Holy Spirit? Being filled with the Holy Spirit is not just an emotional thing. It means that you allow the Holy Spirit to have control over your life. Instead of walking in the flesh, you walk in the Spirit.
To be filled with the Holy Spirit is another principle of an epoch-making vessel. Like the five wise virgins, they not only had oil in the lamp; they had oil in the vessel. They were the ones who went out to meet the Bridegroom.
Finally, you find that John would come in the spirit and power of Elijah. He would walk before the Lord to prepare His way, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
What is the spirit of Elijah? The spirit of Elijah is simply this: in 1 Kings 19:10 and 1 Kings 19:14, Elijah said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord.”
Elijah had a great victory, but then his life was threatened by Jezebel, and he fled for his life. God asked him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Elijah said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts.”
The spirit of Elijah is a jealousy for God. Elijah was jealous for God. He saw the whole nation worshipping Baal, and he was jealous for God. He wanted to turn the nation to God, and this jealousy consumed him; it ate him up.
That is the spirit of Elijah. The apostle Paul had the same spirit. In 2 Corinthians 11:2, he said:
For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy: for I espoused you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
— 2 Corinthians 11:2
Paul was afraid that the enemy might entice the believers and draw them away from the simplicity of Christ.
Brothers and sisters, are we filled with the jealousy of God? Are we jealous for God? Are we deeply concerned with God’s name? His name is not sanctified in this world. Are we jealous for His name? Are we filled with the jealousy of God?
We want God to be what He should be. Are we jealous? That is the spirit of Elijah.
What is the power of Elijah? The power of Elijah is in prayer. In James 5, Elijah is described as a man of like passions, but he prayed with prayer, and he prayed again. He was a man of prayer. That is where his power was.
Brothers and sisters, what is the greatest power that God gives to His church? It is prayer. So let us give ourselves to prayer.
These are the principles governing the making of an epoch-making vessel. May God raise many brothers and sisters who will be marked by these principles. What an honour and glory to be used by God to conclude this age and to bring back the King.
Dear heavenly Father, we do come to Thee this morning. We pray that we may learn the lessons from John the Baptist and how Thou didst make him an epoch-making vessel.
We pray that Thou wilt make us epoch-making vessels. We pray that Thou wilt enable us to prevail in prayer, that Thou wilt enable us to know Thy grace, that Thou wilt enable us to be separated for Thee, to be filled by Thy Spirit, and to be marked by the spirit and power of Elijah.
Dear heavenly Father, we ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.