At the church where I server, we are in the middle of our
Christmas sermon series entitled the original Christmas playlist. We launched
into this series by talking about the reality that the Christmas is a season
filled with sights and sounds that provoke memories, hopes, and aspirations.
And perhaps the most powerful aspect of the sights and sounds of Christmas in
found in Christmas music. So, in the weeks leading up to Christmas, we are
spending our time together looking at the first Christmas Playlist that was
composed by those who were involved in the very first Christmas.
During this series, we are going to discover that the
Christmas story is told through song as well and a recollection of events from
history. During this series, we are
going to discover that each of these songs helps us
discover something different, something important about the coming of Jesus
that first Christmas. And as we go through this series, our hope and prayer is
that God would move by the power of the Holy Spirit in our heads, hearts, and
hands in a way the enables us to learn several timeless truths that these songs
teach us about the very first Christmas and its place the grand story of God's
activity in history.
This week, I would like for us to
spend our time together looking at another song that was a part of the original
Christmas playlist that was written by a man named Zacharias. And it is in this
song that Zacharias composed during the very first Christmas that we discover a
timeless truth about Christmas and God's activity in history. However, before we look at Zacharias’
contribution to the original Christmas playlist, let's look at the circumstances
the led to his song. We find these circumstances, and his song, in a section of
an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Luke. So let's jump
into this event from history together, beginning in Luke 1:5-7:
In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest
named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife from the
daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. They were both righteous in the
sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of
the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were
both advanced in years.
Luke brings us
into this section of his account of Jesus life by introducing us to a man named
Zacharias. Zacharias was a priest who was a direct descendant of a man named
Aaron, who was the very first priest of the Jewish people. Zacharias was
married to a woman named Elizabeth, who was also a direct descendant of Aaron.
So both Zacharias and Elizabeth were pastor’s kids who were very familiar with
the message and teachings of the Lord.
Luke tells us
that Zacharias and Elizabeth were righteous in the sight of God, walking
blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord. In other words, Zacharias and Elizabeth were
model citizens who did what was right in the sight of the Lord. However, Luke
tells us that Zacharias and Elizabeth were childless, because Elizabeth was
barren and they were both advanced in years. You see, Elizabeth was incapable
of bearing children. And not only was Elizabeth barren, both Zacharias and
Elizabeth were at a place in their lives where children were beyond a
possibility.
Now in the
culture of the day, being childless was viewed as a sign of God’s judgment and
punishment for one’s selfishness and rebellion. Being childless was a source of
shame and resulted in a couple being ostracized by others. Now imagine yourself
as Zacharias and Elizabeth. Place yourself in their shoes. You have strived to
follow the Lord in a way that honored and pleased the Lord. You grew up in a
home that served the Lord and you have continued to serve the Lord. Yet, even
though you wanted to have children, you are childless. Even though you served
the Lord and prayed to the Lord for children, you are still childless.
And you hear
the whispers. You hear the accusations of hidden selfishness and rebellion. You
feel the shame. And you are at a place in your life where there is no hope of
ever having a child. You are Zacharias and Elizabeth. How would you feel? How
would you respond? Luke records what happened next in verse 8-10:
Now it happened that while
he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division,
according to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by lot to enter
the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people
were in prayer outside at the hour of the incense offering.
Luke tells us that Zacharias
was selected by lot to have the privilege to enter into the sanctuary of the
Temple to burn incense before the Lord. You see, at this time
in history,
prior to having the letters that make up the Bible that we have today and the
Holy Spirit, casting
lots was used to either determine blame or know God’s will. To be selected to
enter into the Temple to burn incense was significant because the privilege to enter into the Temple to burn incense before the Lord
would only occur once in the lifetime of a priest. So the custom of the priests
was to cast lots to determine who would have that privilege.
By being
chosen by lot, Zacharias was viewed as being chosen by God for the privilege to
come before His presence to worship Him. As Zacharias entered into the
Temple to offer up the incense before the Lord, Luke tells us a multitude of
people remained outside the Temple in prayer. This multitude of people would be
praying to the Lord and would be praying that Zacharias would honor the
Lord through his offering of incense to the Lord. However, as the multitude of
people prayed to the Lord and as Zacharias approached the
Lord to honor the Lord, Luke reveals for us the reality that this day would be
unlike any other day, as we see in verse 11:
And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the
right of the altar of incense. Zacharias was troubled when he saw the angel, and fear gripped him.
Now when Luke states
that fear gripped Zacharias, this phrase conveys the sense of fear cascading or
falling upon Zacharias. You see, Zacharias recognized that
he was in the presence of a messenger of the Lord. Zacharias
recognized that this was not normal. And as a result, Zacharias
experienced an inward turmoil that produced alarms in his mind as a sense of
overwhelming fear fell upon him. An alarming fear of being face to face with a
being who has been in the presence of the Lord and who could take him out in an
instant, which is most likely what Zacharias thought was going
to happen. “Uh oh, I’m in trouble. Did I do something wrong? What did I do
wrong, because this does not happen every day? This does not happen any day.”
We see what happens next in verse 13-17:
But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid,
Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear
you a son, and you will give him the name John. "You will have joy and
gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. "For he will be great in the
sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled
with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother's womb."And he will turn many
of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God. "It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the
spirit and power of Elijah, TO TURN THE HEARTS OF THE FATHERS BACK TO THE
CHILDREN, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make
ready a people prepared for the Lord."
The angel
basically says to Zacharias “Zacharias do not be afraid because I am here to
tell you that your prayers have been heard. And the Lord is going to answer
your prayers by supernaturally enabling you and Elizabeth to have a son. But
Zacharias, your son is not going to be just any son. Zacharias, your son is not
only going to cause you to powerfully proclaim your joy and gladness, your son
is going to bring joy and gladness to many people. You see, Zacharias, your son
is going to have a position of prominence before the Lord and in the Lord’s story.
Your son is to be set apart to the Lord in such a way that he will never be
influenced by alcohol. Instead, he will live a life that is controlled and
influenced by the Holy Spirit. Zacharias your son is the fulfillment of a
promise that the Lord made that last time He spoke to the Jewish people over
400 years ago through the prophet Malachi. Your son is the fulfillment of a
promise that the Lord would send a messenger that would turn the hearts of the
Jewish people from a life of disobedience to a way of thinking that is right
before the Lord. Your son is the fulfillment of a promise that the Lord would
send a messenger prepare the Jewish people for and to announce the arrival of
the Messiah who would bring the Jewish people back to the Lord and back to
prominence in the world.”
Now you are
Zacharias. You are very familiar with the Lord’s promise to the Jewish people
that He had proclaimed through the prophet Malachi. And now, you are told that
not only are you going to have a son; you are told that your son will be the
fulfillment of that promise. What would
you be thinking at this point? What would you be feeling? How would you
respond? We see Zacharias’s response in verse 18:
Zacharias said to the angel, "How will I know this for certain? For I am an old man and
my wife is advanced in years."
Instead of
rejoicing at the angel of the Lord’s announcement, Zacharias doubted the angel
of the Lord’s announcement. Zacharias basically said to the angel of the Lord
“How am I supposed to know for sure this announcement of yours is true? You
need to prove it to me before I am going to believe and trust you. I am an old
man and my wife is on the other side of menopause, so I really doubt this
announcement that you have made to me is true and is going to really happen.”
We see how the angel of the Lord responded to Zacharias’s doubt in verse 19-20:
The angel answered and said to him, "I am Gabriel,
who stands in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to
bring you this good news. "And behold, you shall be silent and unable to
speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe
my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time."
The angel
responded to Zacharias’s doubt by providing him with the credentials to prove that
he was a messenger from the Lord that had been authorized to announce the
arrival of the son who would prepare the Jewish people for the arrival of the
Messiah. After providing his credentials to Zacharias, the angel Gabriel then
proclaimed what the immediate future would hold for Zacharias as a result of
his doubting disbelief.
The angel
Gabriel basically said to Zacharias “So you want a sign, well I’ll give you a
sign. Here’s a sign for you to know that I am who I say I am and that my
announcement of the arrival of a son who would prepare the Jewish people for
the arrival of the Messiah is true. Because you doubted and disbelieved me and
my announcement, you will be unable to speak until your son is born. Since you
were not silent and did not embrace my announcement to you, you will be silent
until these things come true, because they are sure to come true”.
When Zacharias
emerged from the Temple, he was unable to speak a sound. Luke tells us that
after finishing his time serving the Lord at the Temple, Zacharias and
Elizabeth returned to their home in the hill country of Judea. I bet that was a
quiet trip home. A short while after returning home from serving the Lord in
Jerusalem, Luke tells us that Elizabeth became pregnant.
However,
unlike her husband Zacharias, who doubted the Lord’s supernatural activity in
his life, Elizabeth responded to the Lord’s supernatural activity in her life
by rejoicing in the Lord. And during the time of her pregnancy, Elizabeth
rejoiced in trustful expectation of the promise of new life as Zacharias
remained unable to speak. Then, a few verses later, in Luke 1:57-62, we see
Luke give us a glimpse into the arrival of this new life.
Tomorrow, we
will look at these verses…
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