This matter of the birth of John the Baptist is amazing. Jesus said of him that there were none born of women greater than he. He was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother s womb. Even his birth was miraculous. His father Zacharias and mother Elizabeth were well advanced in age, well past child bearing age. But then God revealed Himself to Zacharias that they would bear a son and call him John, meaning the "grace of God". The birth of John was prophesied many years before. Isaiah who lived about 740 BC prophesied of his birth and so too Malachi, about 540 BC. One could have a whole sermon on Isaiah s prophesy and another of Malachi s. They prophesied how that John would be the forerunner of the Messiah.
