The return of the Spoken Word by the coming of a prophet

Luke 1:18-22: And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years. And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings. And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season. And the people waited for Zacharias, and marvelled that he tarried so long in the temple. And when he came out, he could not speak unto them: and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple: for he beckoned unto them, and remained speechless.

Luke 1:62-64: And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called. And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelled all. And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God.

The Angel Gabriel made visitation to Zacharias, telling him that his barren elderly wife Elisabeth would bare a son who would forerun the first coming of the Lord Jesus. Zacharias however had a very hard time believing and accepting the Angel’s message, for he failed to anoint the scripture of Abraham and Sarah who were both elderly (Abraham’s stream of life had dried up, and Sarah was past childbearing) when the promise of a son was given to them. Because of his unbelief, Zacharias was struck with dumbness until the day his son was born; in other words, Zacharias lost the power of the spoken word.

Zacharias’ failure to believe the message of the Angel meant that he was reduced to a state of expressing himself using confusing gestures as signs and symbols to convey to others what he was trying to say. This sad state of affairs is very similar to what is witnessed in many churches that rejected the Voice of God through the seventh angel (Revelation 10:7) in these last days. Their unbelief is manifest by an inability to clearly understand the Word and express It in a manner that others can understand. As a result, much preaching is presented in a most confusing way, filled with all kinds of signs and symbology that in no ways matches up with what the Bible actually teaches.

The dumbness with which Zacharias was struck is representative of the creative power of the Spoken Word that was lost when Adam and Eve fell in the beginning because of unbelief. But as Zacharias regained the power of speech by the birth of his prophet son John, who foreran the first coming of the Lord Jesus, so the Spoken Word that Adam lost has returned in these last days by the coming of a prophet (Malachi 4:5; Revelation 10:7) who foreran the second coming of the Lord Jesus, showing that the prophet and the Spoken Word are connected. And indeed, the prophet demonstrated this in the resurrection of a little fish (1957), the creation of squirrels (1959), the salvation of Hattie Wright’ sons (1959), the calming of a storm (1963), and the healing of Sister Branham (1963). This wonderful return of the Spoken Word was not just for the prophet, but is the Bride’s portion too, for She is getting back all that which Adam lost in the beginning.