In particular, Ash's perspective on Luke 1:39-45 is very interesting. This passage recounts Mary visiting her cousin, Elizabeth, and as Mary greets her, Elizabeth's baby "leaped in her womb." Elizabeth's baby, of course, would become John the Baptist. Ash finds deep meaning in this reaction. Here is what he says:
John the Baptist will be the last prophet, the final spokesman, of the old-covenant era. In his preaching he will be the summing-up witness for the Old Testament. And everything about his preaching will point to one man, and one man alone. We know this from what the Gospels teach us of his public ministry. But here, even before he is born, his whole tiny being leaps for joy in the presence of the only-just conceived Jesus. In this lovely moment, we learn that the whole of the Old Testament, as it were, jumps for joy in the presence of the One to whom it has pointed, for whom it has longed for all these centuries of waiting. All the longings of the Old Testament feed that joyful jump of John the Baptist!
May our hearts never be slow to leap for joy at the wonder and truth of Jesus. Pray that you would know the thrill and delight of this King more and more this Christmas, and beyond.
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