Chapter # 1 Paragraph # 5 Study # 17
November 7, 2004
Lincolnton, N.C.
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<109> Thesis:  The focus of the prophet will be to bring about the knowledge of salvation as it relates to the issue of the forgiveness of sins. Introduction:  Last week we began to consider those words of Zacharias that have to do with the place his newborn son will take in respect to the plans of Yahweh Elohim. In that study we saw that John was going to be known as "Prophet of the Most High". We concluded from this that one of God's most fundamental works in bringing His plan of salvation to its fulness of accomplishment is to create a desire in His people to know the truths of His Word. The entire idea of "prophet" is "revelation of God by means of words"...i.e., making it possible to know God in His reality by communicating words about Him. In reality, then, the creation of a desire to know the truths of His Word is the creation of a desire to know Him coupled with an understanding that He will ultimately only be known by what He says. Now, this raises a fairly big question: How will God create this desire? The answer is given in the text before us: The desire to know God is created by Him in us by His bringing us to the knowledge of His willingness to "save" us by the "forgiveness" of our sins. This morning we are going to look into this issue of God's "salvation" in respect to the "forgiveness of our sins".