The announcement of the arrival of Jesus as Messiah is often met by doubt, despite all the signs that point to His arrival...

This week we have been looking at an event from history that is recorded for us in an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the Gospel of Luke. Wednesday we looked on as a man named Zacharias had an encounter with an Angel of the Lord named Gabriel as he had the incredible privilege to enter into the Temple to burn incense before the Lord.

The angel Gabriel announced to Zacharias that the Lord was going to answer his prayers by supernaturally enabling you and Elizabeth to have a son who would be the fulfillment of a promise that the Lord would send a messenger to 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.

Today, let's imagine ourselves as Zacharias. As a priest, 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 Luke 1:18:

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 of the arrival of a son who would prepare the Jewish people for the arrival of the Messiah, 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:

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 responds 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. The angel Gabriel was sent by the Lord on two separate occasions to one of the Jewish people’s most famous prophets, a man named Daniel, some 500 years earlier with another announcement from the Lord.

However, unlike Zacharias, Daniel did not doubt the angel Gabriel. And much of that earlier announcement had already been fulfilled as being true. 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”. Luke then reveals for us what happened next in verse 21:

The people were waiting for Zacharias, and were wondering at his delay in the temple. But when he came out, he was unable to speak to them; and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple; and he kept making signs to them, and remained mute. When the days of his priestly service were ended, he went back home.

What is interesting here is that the word wondering, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally means to be extraordinarily disturbed by something. You see, while this conversation between the angel Gabriel and Zacharias was going on inside, the multitude of people were still praying outside. And the longer that Zacharias remained in the Temple, the more disturbed the multitude became over the possibility that Zacharias might have done something wrong before the Lord that offended the Lord.

However, when Zacharias finally came out and was unable to speak a sound, the multitude realized that Zacharias had experienced an encounter with the Lord. 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. Actually it was a quiet year for Elizabeth and Zacharias, as we see in verse 24:  

After these days Elizabeth his wife became pregnant, and she kept herself in seclusion for five months, saying, "This is the way the Lord has dealt with me in the days when He looked with favor upon me, to take away my disgrace among men."

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 in her joy, Luke tells us that Elizabeth remained in seclusion for five months.

Now a natural question that arises here is “why do that? Why remain in seclusion? I mean, wouldn’t you want to announce to everyone you know that you are pregnant?” I believe that we discover the reason why Elizabeth remained in seclusion in what Luke says in verse 25. Remember, both Zacharias and Elizabeth were at a place in their lives where children were beyond human possibility. Elizabeth was on the other side of menopause and Viagra was not an option for Zacharias. And in the culture of the day, being childless was a source of disgrace and shame that resulted in a couple being ostracized by others. 

However, at about five months into a pregnancy, what happens? Usually five months into a pregnancy it becomes obvious that someone is pregnant, doesn’t it? After five months, it is very difficult, if not impossible to hide that fact that you are pregnant.

So, by remaining in seclusion for five months, Elizabeth was waiting until the evidence of her pregnancy would be obvious for all to see. After all, if she would have told those in her town that she was pregnant, do you think anyone would believe her? Probably not.

Instead of living with the whispers and accusations of hidden selfishness and rebellion, Elizabeth waited to appear in public until the evidence was unmistakable and so to, once and for all end the whispers and rumors.  Unlike her husband Zacharias, who doubted the Lord’s announcement, Elizabeth trusted the Lord and His announcement and waited so that all would be able to see the supernatural evidence of the Lord’s activity in her life.

And it is here, from the life of Zacharias, that we discover a timeless truth as we approach Christmas. And that timeless truth is this: The announcement of the arrival of Jesus as Messiah is often met by doubt, despite all the signs that point to His arrival. Just as it was for Zacharias, the announcement of the arrival of Jesus as Messiah is often met by doubt, despite all the signs that point to His arrival.

Just like Zacharias, we can find ourselves at a place where, despite Gods’ promise to send a rescuer to deliver us from the selfishness and rebellion that separates us from God, we doubt that Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise. Just like Zacharias, we can find ourselves at a place where, despite all the signs that point to the arrival of Jesus, we deny Jesus only to demand more proof.

Just like Zacharias, we can find ourselves at a place where, despite all the signs that point to the arrival of Jesus to bring us into the relationship with God that we were created for, we doubt that Jesus can bring us into that relationship. And just like Zacharias, we can find ourselves at a place where we are experiencing the consequences that flow from a life of doubting unbelief in Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s promise.

So here is a question to consider: How are you responding to the announcement of the arrival of Jesus as the rescuer, deliverer, and Messiah? Are you responding to the announcement of the arrival of Jesus with doubt and disbelief? Are you responding to the announcement of the arrival of Jesus by demanding more proof?