The announcement of the arrival of Jesus as Messiah provides us an opportunity for second chances...

At the church where I serve we are spending the weeks leading up to Christmas looking at an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Luke, where we are discovering several timeless truths when it comes to how we respond to announcement of the arrival of Jesus as the Messiah today.

This week I would like for us to jump into the next section of this account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Luke,  where we are going to discover another timeless truth when it comes to how we can respond to announcement of the arrival of Jesus as the Messiah that marks the Christmas season. So let’s do that together, beginning in Luke 1:57:

Now the time had come for Elizabeth to give birth, and she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had displayed His great mercy toward her; and they were rejoicing with her.

Luke brings us into this section of his account of Jesus life by describing the response of Zacharias and Elizabeth’s family and friends to the birth of their first son. As family and friends heard the news that Elizabeth had successfully given birth at her old age, they responded by celebrating with her with great joy.

The family and friends recognized that the Lord had demonstrated His great kindness and concern for Elizabeth over the fact that she was unable to have children by miraculously providing her a child. The Lord had demonstrated to Zacharias and Elizabeth that He was a promise maker and a promise keeper who was able to bring forth life from that which had been unable to bring forth life. And it is in the midst of this celebration of joy over the blessing of new life that Luke provides the context for another announcement of the arrival of the Messiah in verse 59:

 And it happened that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to call him Zacharias, after his father. But his mother answered and said, "No indeed; but he shall be called John." And they said to her, "There is no one among your relatives who is called by that name." And they made signs to his father, as to what he wanted him called.

Luke explains that eight days after John the Baptizer’s birth, as they came to circumcise their firstborn son, Elizabeth officially announced that that they were going to name their son John. Now a natural question that arises here is “Why did they wait until eight days after John was born to name him?” Usually, in John’s day, just as it is today, the naming of a child would take place immediately after the child was born. Here however, Zacharias and Elizabeth waited until the day that John was circumcised. But why would they do that?

To understand why they would wait until just before John was circumcised, we first need to understand what circumcision is and its significance to the Jewish people. Circumcision involves a surgical procedure that involves removing the foreskin from the male genitals with a surgical knife, or in this case, a knife made of stone. In addition, in a letter in the Old Testament of our Bibles called the book of Leviticus, we see God command that a circumcision was to be performed on the 8^th day after a male child was born.

The reason that circumcision was so significant was that circumcision was a covenant sign that identified the Jewish people as being God’s people. Circumcision was an outward sign was done in order to demonstrate an inward commitment and relationship to God. Circumcision was a religious act that was required to be performed under the Law so that you would be able to be identified as being right with God as part of the Jewish religious system. Here we see Luke reveal for us the reality that Zacharias and Elizabeth were responding to the birth of John by following and fulfilling God’s commandments when it came to John.

Luke tells us that Zacharias and Elizabeth’s friends and family wanted Elizabeth to name her first born son after his father Zacharias. However, instead of naming their son, as the first born son, after Zacharias or another male family member, Zacharias and Elizabeth followed the angel Gabriel’s command to name the baby John. And Zacharias and Elizabeth also followed and fulfilled God’s command in the Law to have Jesus circumcised.

You see, Zacharias and Elizabeth were responding in worship to God by being obedient to God. Zacharias and Elizabeth were making sure that John was identified with God’s people so that He would be able to fulfill the role that he had been given in God's story to be the messenger who was to prepare and announce the arrival of the Messiah who would bring the Jewish people back to God and back to prominence in the world.

Luke tells us that the move by Elizabeth to name her firstborn son anything other than Zacharias was met by skepticism and objections by the rest of Zacharias and Elizabeth’s family and friends. And in their skepticism, the family and friends asked the wordless Zacharias his opinion when it came what he wanted his son to be named. You see, the rest of Zacharias and Elizabeth’s family and friends assumed that Zacharias would want to name his firstborn son, who he had waited so long for, after himself.

But since Zacharias had not been able to speak for the past ten months as a consequence from the Lord of doubting the Angel Gabriel’s announcement, they had no idea what was going on in his mind regarding the naming of his son. So Zacharias family and friends signaled to Zacharias to make his wishes known concerning the naming of his son. Luke records for us Zacharias response in verse 63:

 And he asked for a tablet and wrote as follows, "His name is John." And they were all astonished.

Luke tells us that Zacharias responded to his friends and families request concerning the naming of his son by asking for a small wooden tablet that was used for writing notes. And on that tablet, Zacharias made his wishes concerning the naming of his son crystal clear: “His name is John”. In other words Zacharias basically says “This is not up for debate. We have already made our decision. We have already named our son and his name is John”.

When Luke tells us that they were all astonished, this phrase literally means to be extraordinarily disturbed by something. Zacharias family and friends were extraordinarily disturbed that Zacharias would not want to pass on his name to the next generation after God had acted in such a miraculous way to provide them a son by which to pass on his name. However, Zacharias family and friends would become even more disturbed with what was about to happen next, which Luke records for us in verse 64:

 And at once his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he began to speak in praise of God. Fear came on all those living around them; and all these matters were being talked about in all the hill country of Judea. All who heard them kept them in mind, saying, "What then will this child turn out to be?" For the hand of the Lord was certainly with him.

Luke tells us that as Zacharias made his wishes concerning the naming of his son known, his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed. In other words, Zacharias mouth and tongue were once again enabled to function by the Lord. And here we see the Angel Gabriel’s words come to fulfillment. As Zacharias responded to the announcement of the arrival of his son who would be the Lord's messenger to prepare and to announce the arrival of the Messiah by obeying the Lord’s command to name his son John, the Lord enable Zacharias to be able to speak.

And as Zacharias spoke, he responded to the evidence of the Lords activity in his life by praising and worshipping the Lord. And as those who lived around Zacharias and Elizabeth received word of all that was happening in their lives, Luke tells us that fear filled their lives. And in their fear, word spread throughout the region regarding the events that surrounded the birth and circumcision of John the Baptizer.

Throughout the region, those who heard of the evidence of the Lord’s supernatural activity wondered aloud what this activity meant for their lives. Those in the region wondered aloud what role John the Baptizer would play in God’s story as a result of God’s activity in his entry into God’s story. However all of those questions would be answered by the Lord through Zacharias as he exercised his renewed ability to speak in verse 67:

And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying: "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people, And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of David His servant-- As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old-- Salvation FROM OUR ENEMIES, And FROM THE HAND OF ALL WHO HATE US; To show mercy toward our fathers, And to remember His holy covenant, The oath which He swore to Abraham our father, To grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.

Luke tells us that Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied. But this morning, what does that mean? When Luke says that Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, he is explaining that Zacharias was controlled, influenced and empowered by the Holy Spirit to do something. And that something was to prophesy.

Now to prophesy is to declare new verbal revelation about God and God’s divine plan that lies in the future and that could only be known by God. So Zacharias was empowered by the Spirit of God to deliver new verbal revelation about God and His divine plan in the world to the world.

Zacharias statement about God’s Divine Plan, if communicated in the language that we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “Praise be to the Lord God who is going to look after us and come to help us in a way that is going to bring about a great deliverance for us. Praise be to the Lord God who is going to cause to come into existence as the Messiah through a descendant of King David and who has the mighty power to deliver and rescue us from the transcendent danger of selfishness and rebellion according to the promise that He made to us. Praise be to the Lord God who is going to fulfill His promises to extend kindness and concern for us in need as He promised our ancestors in Psalm 106:10. Praise be to the Lord God who is remembering the promises that He made to our Father Abraham in Genesis 22:16 to rescue and deliver us from our enemies so that we would be able to serve and worship Him fearlessly with a proper attitude toward God that is reflected in our actions and that results in a life that is right in God’s sight.”

You see, when provided a second chance to respond to the announcement of the Messiah, Zacharias responded by proclaiming that announcement to everyone around him. Zacharias then continued to announce God’s Divine Plan by shifting the focus of his announcement to the role that his son would play in the announcement of the Messiah in verse 76:

  "And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; For you will go on BEFORE THE LORD TO PREPARE HIS WAYS; To give to His people the knowledge of salvation By the forgiveness of their sins, Because of the tender mercy of our God, With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us, TO SHINE UPON THOSE WHO SIT IN DARKNESS AND THE SHADOW OF DEATH, To guide our feet into the way of peace." And the child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

As the family and friends of Zacharias and Elizabeth looked on in fearful and disturbed astonishment, Zacharias continued by announcing that the son whom they just circumcised and strangely named John would become the prophet of the Most High. Their son would grow up to be the fulfillment of a promise God made some 400 years earlier in a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of our Bibles called the book of Malachi.

In Malachi 3:1, the prophet Malachi had predicted and proclaimed to the Jewish people that the Lord would send a messenger ahead of the Messiah in order to announce the arrival of the Messiah. That messenger would call the people to prepare for the Messiah’s arrival by removing the obstacles of unbelief that would cause them to miss the Messiah’s arrival. And here Zacharias is proclaiming that his newly born son would be that messenger that would prepare and make known how all of humanity could have the opportunity to be rescued from the selfishness and rebellion that separated them from God so that they could experience the forgiveness and the relationship with God that they were created for.

Zacharias then quoted from a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of our Bible called the book of Isaiah to reveal the reality that their son would be the messenger that would announce the arrival of the Messiah who would be sent by God as a demonstration of His merciful heart to reveal and explain God to those who were far from God. Their son would announce the arrival of the Messiah who entered into humanity to direct and point humanity to the path that would provide them an opportunity to live in a state of harmony and well being with God in relationship with God.

And it is here, in this event in history, that we see the Lord reveal for us a timeless truth as we approach Christmas. And that timeless truth is that the announcement of the arrival of Jesus as Messiah provides us an opportunity for second chances. Just as it was for Zacharias, just as it has been for humanity throughout history, the announcement of the arrival of Jesus as Messiah provides us an opportunity for second chances.

Just like Zacharias, we can find ourselves in a place in our lives where we have responded to the announcement of the arrival of Jesus as Messiah with doubt, despite all the signs that point to His arrival. Just like Zacharias, we can find ourselves at a place in our lives where we are experiencing the consequences that flow from a life of doubting unbelief in Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s promise of a Messiah. And just like Zacharias, the Lord responds to our doubts by providing us an opportunity for second chances to respond to the announcement of the Messiah by placing our confident trust in Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s promise by believing, trusting and following Jesus as Lord and Leader.

So have you responded to the announcement of the arrival of Jesus as the rescuer, deliverer, and Messiah with doubt in the past? How are you going to respond to the idea that the announcement of the arrival of Jesus as Messiah provides us an opportunity for a second chance when it comes to how you are living your life?