THE PREPARATION OF ZECHARIAH AND ELIZABETH
Series: To Make Ready a People Prepared for the Lord
by Doug Goins
While all of Scripture is 'inspired of God and profitable,' most of us have
favorite sections and passages. If pressed to name my favorite gospel, the
one I read most often devotionally, it would be the gospel of Luke. Matthew
is special. It has the Sermon on the Mount, those beautiful statements of
spiritual reality in the Beatitudes. Mark, the briefest of the gospels,
is the gospel of action. It is filled with miracle narratives and exhortations
to see life with spiritual, not just human eyes. The gospel of John is the
grandest of the gospels, the most cosmic in its scope. It speaks of eternal
life, eternal realities. In it we have those gracious, wonderful words of
hope where Jesus talks about his Father's house that he is going to prepare
for us, a house of 'many mansions.'
Luke is my favorite because it is the gospel of stories. There is the beautiful
Christmas story that we will consider together these next six weeks the
angelic appearances to Zechariah and to Mary, angel choirs that appear to
lowly shepherds and sing 'Glory to God in the highest.' There is the unforgettable
story that Jesus told of the Good Samaritan; our Lord's three parables of
salvation, the lost coin, the lost sheep and the lost son; his sobering
narrative of Lazarus and the rich man; the resurrection story of Jesus'
walk with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Luke is a master storyteller.
It is hard to imagine the life and teachings of Jesus without these incredibly
vivid pictures. Yet not one of those stories appears in any gospel but Luke's.
Something else unique about Luke, that is attractive to me as a student
of God's word, is that it is the only gospel whose author wrote a sequel.
That is what the book of Acts is a companion volume to the gospel of Luke.
The gospel tells the story of Christianity from the very beginning--the
life of Christ through his death, resurrection and ascension; and the Acts
of the Apostles continues that story the missionary advances made in the
church in the years following the ascension of Jesus and the gift of the
Spirit at Pentecost. It is really the story of the life of Christ continuing
to be lived out through those in the early church, his body.
Luke's own preface to Acts is really an historian's introduction. Look at
the opening paragraph of the book, verses 1-4:
Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the
things which have been accomplished among us, just as they were delivered
to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of
the word, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely
for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent
Theophilus, that you may know the truth concerning the things of which you
have been informed.
The essayist Northrup James has written, 'Every biographer and historian
attempts to write the best account yet. Drawing on all that has gone before
him, yet adding that unique quality which he alone can give, he seeks to
say the definitive word, the one that will martial all the others into gleaming
perspective. Even though additional writers may come after him, assaying
the same task, his story, he hopes, will provide the unavoidable focus for
theirs.'
Luke expresses that concern as he begins his account of the life of Jesus
and the early church. He draws on previously written narratives of the life
of Christ. He personally interviewed people who were eyewitnesses to the
life of Jesus. Beyond that he interacted with people who ministered with
the Lord Jesus, whom he identifies as the 'Word', the logos of God. Luke's
methodology as an historian reflects the uniqueness of his person. He is
an educated man, a medical doctor. As such he brings to this account the
precision of a scientist but the sensitivity of a physician. Luke is a cultured
Greek, with an obvious artistic sensitivity that comes out through this
gospel. He is a friend and co-worker of Paul's, committed to the same truth,
the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. His writing reflects a Spirit-controlled
commitment to historical accuracy and the beauty of artistic order.
Let us look at the introduction to this first story, the preparation of
Zechariah and Elizabeth, in verses 5 through 25 of the first chapter of
Luke's gospel. In verses 5 through 7, Luke introduces the time-frame and
the central characters.
In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named
Zechariah, of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife of the daughters
of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before
God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced
in years.
Herod, the king of Judea, ruled in Israel from 37 B.C. to 4 B.C. He was
the first Jewish king to sit on the throne since the fall of the Southern
Kingdom some 580 years before. There had been 580 years of Jewish humiliation
and servitude under Babylonians, Persians, the Greek Empire of Alexander
the Great, the Ptolemy Empire of Egypt, and the Syrian domination of the
Seleucids. Now, at this time, Israel was controlled by the might of Rome.
There had only been 105 years in that entire period when Israel had known
any independence, after the Maccabean revolt against the Syrians.
Herod was not a real king of Israel. He was merely a puppet, a vassal put
there by the authority of Rome. He was a man of degeneracy, not a man of
God. He should have been a spiritual leader, a model to the people, yet
he was everything but that. The land was rife with immorality. Herod had
introduced Roman temples into the land and had built idols to Roman gods.
He had introduced the Roman games into the life of Israel. Gentile money
flooded the country, causing great economic instability and imbalance. He
had encouraged a Babylonian immigration into Israel which upset the economy.
Even the priesthood was corrupt; there was much buying and selling of priestly
offices. These were desperate times in Israel, times of darkness, weariness,
injustice, disease, economic desperation.
In terms of how they affected people, those times were not that much different
from our own. Look at the prayer sheet in our Peninsula Bible Church Family
News. The things that bedevil people have not changed that much since the
time of Herod. The first prayer request is from a sister who is struggling
with cancer. The second, from a family that is unemployed. There is a request
from a woman who is concerned about her sister's relationship to men and
problem with drugs; yet another for a woman involved in a wrongful relationship.
There are prayer requests for someone following an attempted suicide; from
a man struggling with an addiction to drugs, to drinking and gambling; from
a single mother who needs work. The last request reads, 'Pray for my father,
having his second surgery in as many months, that he will recover rapidly
and not need me because I am struggling taking care of my two grandchildren,
battling the legal system to protect baby Michael. May the Lord return him
safely to us. Heal my daughter who is a drug addict and help me retain my
sanity.' These are desperate times for many people, as they were back then.
But in the midst of that darkness and corruption, Luke introduces us to
a simple, faithful couple, an elderly priest and his wife, who lived lives
pleasing to God. They were both of the tribe of Aaron, and had been born
and raised in homes of priestly families who served the temple in Jerusalem.
They had been given very special names by their parents. The boy was named
Zechariah ('Yahweh remembers'), while the girl was named Elizabeth ('the
oath of God'). By naming them in this way their families appealed to God's
character, to his word, that he would be true to his promises. The children
carried those names and that identity throughout their lives.
Their marriage was seen as a great blessing to their families. It was considered
a double honor from the Lord to marry a virgin from a priestly family .
But the rejoicing quickly faded as it became evident that Elizabeth was
barren; she could not have children. That was her 'reproach among men' (verse
25), her humiliation and shame, the subject of gossip. They had lived with
this throughout their married life, yet before the Lord there was something
attractive about them both. They are described as spiritually beautiful,
righteous before God. They were in right relationship to Yahweh, to one
another and to the community. The evidence for that was their faithful ministry
and service to the worship life of Israel. There was consistency between
their inward and outward life. God had seen in this faithful son and daughter
of Israel people who loved him.
The next paragraph, verses 8 through 12, introduces us to a God who answers
prayer, a God who meets needs.
Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division
was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, it fell to him by
lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude
of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. And there appeared
to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.
And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him.
As a male member of the tribe of Aaron, Zechariah was entitled to offer
sacrifices in the temple in Jerusalem. There were so many descendants of
Aaron that they were divided into groups, and those groups served in the
temple only two weeks in the year. Within each group that served, lots were
cast to decide which priest would be permitted to officiate and give an
offering. No priest was allowed to do this more than once in a lifetime,
and even then many never had the opportunity to participate the way that
Zechariah was privileged on this morning.
After a lifetime of waiting, Zechariah finally enters at the 'hour of incense'
and stands at the altar just before the curtain that separated the Holy
Place from the Holy of Holies. There were two prayer offerings, one that
began the day of worship in the temple right at dawn, and the same offering
was repeated at night, to close the day. Aromatic spices were put-on the
coals of the altar, a powerful, beautiful symbol of the prayers of Israel
rising to God. As the priest, alone in the temple, placed the incense on
the altar, he prayed for the deliverance of Israel, and offered prayers
of intercession on behalf of the people of Israel. When he prayed, 'a great
multitude,' as it says here, would have gathered outside the temple, prostrate
on their faces in the outer court, praying with the priest who represented
them in the Holy Place.
Christians have the same privilege. Scripture says that the prayers of the
saints are beautiful perfume in the nostrils of God. Whenever we pray, either
alone or with others, we are presenting an offering to the Lord. Today we
sang the great hymn, 'Jesus Shall Reign Where'er The Sun.' The name of Jesus,
we sang, 'like sweet perfume shall rise with every morning sacrifice.' We
are privileged to continue that ministry as God's people, and every week
our prayer and need sheet provide us opportunity to offer up intercession
for those in our body. Let us be faithful in our sacrifice of prayer.
In the midst of Zechariah's prayer an angel of God appears and stands at
one end of the altar, right in front of the priest.
After 400 years of silence there had been no supernatural manifestations
from God, no prophetic word, since Malachi some 400 years before to a people
praying and hoping, God sends an emissary to speak on his behalf.
There are three things to note about the angelic appearance at this particular
time and place. First, it is amazing that God even chose the temple at all.
He chose it in spite of the fact that much of its ministry had become trivialized,
much of its priesthood politicized. Herod himself was in a 30-year process
of building a new temple. Even then it was considered a monstrosity. One
first-century observer says it looked like 'gilt boxes laid end-to-end.'
Further, it was not a spiritual place for much of Israel. It was regarded
as sort of an historical landmark, a national shrine. Evelyn Underhill calls
the temple worship of the period 'a frozen doxology.' It was a mere whisper
of the life and vitality it once represented. Yet God chooses the temple,
historically the center of corporate worship, to announce the continuation
of his eternal plan of salvation.
The second significant thing to note is the time of day that God chose.
It was the time when the most believing people would have been gathered
praying for their nation and for their identity as a people.
Finally, God's choice of Zechariah is amazing. The angel appeared before
a simple, even rustic, priest. Zechariah and Elizabeth did not live in Jerusalem,
in the priestly enclave. They lived in a little town out in the hill country
of Judea (vs. 39). Fifty weeks a year they lived and worked there, but two
weeks a year he would come in and minister in the temple. The angel did
not appear to the high priest, to one of the priestly elite, the religious
upper crust, but to Zechariah.
I can understand Zechariah's fear. 'He was troubled,' we read in verse 12,
'and fear fell upon him (or overcame him).' He was probably scared to death.
That is not hard to understand. He had waited a lifetime for this opportunity
to minister in the temple. It was for him a time of great emotion.
He is ill prayer before the Lord, finally fulfilling this act that he had
hoped for all his life, and while he is intently focused on that, an angel
appears right in front of him. All the Bible tells us about angels is that
they are young men in white robes. Zechariah knew the angel did not belong
there at least under normal circumstances.
I can identify somewhat with Zechariah's fear. I have been a pastor at Peninsula
Bible Church for more than seven years and this is the first time the elders
have asked me to preach a series of messages. Just this experience alone
is intimidating enough, but if on top of that an angelic being presented
himself in front of me I'd probably fall down dead!
But look at God's personal words of reassurance to Zechariah. Here are the
first words spoken by the angel, verse 13:
But the angel said to him, 'Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for
your prayer is heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son...'
The angel addresses him by name, to calm his fears. 'Your prayers have been
answered.' The prayers of Zechariah for the salvation of Israel and for
the deliverance of his people, yes, they would be answered, for God was
about to inaugurate a saving purpose. But the prayer that perhaps had long
since been forgotten, the aching prayer that God would bless him with 2
son God was going to answer that prayer as well. 'Elizabeth is going to
have a baby. Your prayers have been heard . '
It is hard to tell whether these next verses are hymnic. They are, at least,
poetic, as the angel conveys God's message in a beautiful artistic form,
verses 13-17:
'...and you shall call his name John.
And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth;
for he will be great before the Lord, and he shall drink no wine nor strong
drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's
womb.
And he will turn many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God, and he
will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts
of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the
just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.'
The angel names the baby that is coming, he describes his character, and
identifies the purpose he will serve. The name John means 'God is gracious.'
So a father named 'Yahweh remembers' and a mother named 'The Oath of God'
are to be gifted with a baby boy whose name is 'God is gracious.' The angel
says too that this birth will have a very immediate personal impact on Zechariah
and Elizabeth: 'You will have joy and gladness,' he promises. God cares
about people. He is concerned about how this news will affect them. That
theme of rejoicing and gladness is repeated over and over again throughout
Luke's gospel. Luke knows that Jesus Christ brings joy to people, and that
joy is going to start with Zechariah and Elizabeth.
The angel describes the character of this miracle baby, saying that God
has already determined his spiritual effectiveness, his 'greatness.' From
conception he will be filled up, controlled by God's Holy Spirit, like the
judge Samson and the prophet Samuel in the Old Testament. His life will
be one of single-minded purpose. He will be a man spiritually disciplined
for God's use, influenced perhaps by his father's priestly ministry in his
growing-up years, and by the ascetic focus of the Nazarites.
The angel talks about the ministry of John, a ministry of preparation for
the coming of the Messiah. These words in verses 16 and 17 echo the words
of the prophet Isaiah. Luke himself uses the exact same words to describe
the ministry of John, in chapter 3, verses 2-6:
...the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the
wilderness; and he went into all the region about the Jordan, preaching
a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written in
the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,
'The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.
Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be brought low,
and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough ways shall be made smooth;
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'
This baby boy would be a forerunner, preaching repentance, purifying the
hearts of people, creating a desire and expectancy for the gospel of Jesus
Christ which would follow.
These words of the angel also echo the last written prophetic word of some
400 years earlier when the prophet Malachi spoke of this one who was to
come. Malachi 4:4-6:
'Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and ordinances
that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. Behold, I will send you Elijah
the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. And he
will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children
to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse.'
He would come in the same spirit, the same power and with the same effectiveness
as the greatest of Old Testament prophets, Elijah himself. John was coming
to restore the purity of Old Testament faith and turn a generation of rebellious
children back to the faith of their fathers, Abraham, Moses, Isaac and Jacob,
to prepare their hearts for the life and preaching of Jesus Christ.
This miraculous announcement really underscores an important principle of
God's economy: no matter how long it takes, God will accomplish his stated
purposes. There may be periods of seeming inactivity like the 400 years
of silence in the history of Israel but those periods really suggest that
God is sovereign over his salvation history. We are not sovereign. Even
in our own lives, our own personal salvation history, God is in charge.
From his perspective everything is on schedule.
It is hard for us to understand this. It must have been hard for the people
of Israel to understand it. Godly men and women who lived during that 400-year
period would cry out, 'Has God forgotten us? Has God's plan of salvation
broken down? Has God failed? Is he not one who keeps his word?' But when
the angel appeared, the answer to those questions was an emphatic 'No.'
God had not forgotten. His word was trustworthy. The thing predicted is
now coming. God is true to his word. As a matter of fact, in his final word
the angel says, 'These things will be fulfilled in their proper time.' (vs.
20) God will accomplish everything I have said to you, Zechariah, in the
proper time sequence. We often sing that praise chorus in worship, 'In His
Time': 'He makes all things beautiful in His time.' It is much easier for
me to sing the chorus than to really live it out, however. I struggle with
impatience. It is easier to talk about trusting God and waiting than it
is to actually do it.
The issue of impatience became a little clearer to me last week. Some months
ago I promised my children that one day soon we would all take a train ride
together. As to when, in my mind there was a certain openendedness about
the date. But for the last couple of months, now, my four- and six-year-olds
have been impugning my integrity, asking, 'Daddy, did you really mean that?
Are you ever going to take us on the train?' They were genuinely concerned
whether I would keep my word. Last Monday (before I preached this message,
thank goodness!) all six of us rode the train for three hours. As delighted
as my children were, my six-year old was especially relieved and happy that
her dad could be trusted, that I did what I said I was going to do. My children
taught me how the people of Israel must have felt, and reminded me of my
own struggles in trusting God's timing to accomplish the things he says
he will accomplish.
Look at Zechariah's response to this truth. Verses through 22:
And Zechariah said to the angel, 'How shall I know this? For
I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.' And the angel answered
him, 'I am Gabriel, who stand in the presence of God; and I was sent to
speak to you, and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent
and unable to speak until the day that these things come to pass, because
you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.' And
the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they wondered at his delay in
the temple. And when he came out, he could not speak to them, and they perceived
that he had seen a vision in the temple; and he made signs to them and remained
dumb.
What began as fear had by now grown into full-blown disbelief. Zechariah's
question, 'How shall I know this?' is really inferring, 'Give me a sign;
proof that I can trust your word.' He says, 'My wife and I are too old.
This doesn't make sense . '
Look at Gabriel's pointed response in verse 19. First, he identifies himself.
'My name is Gabriel.' (His name means 'the power of God.') 'I represent
God's power.' Secondly, he declares, 'I stand in the presence of God always.'
This is the same angel Gabriel whom the Old Testament prophet Daniel had
seen with the host of heaven some 600 years before. Thirdly, Gabriel reminds
Zechariah that he is personally sent by God. Finally he says, 'What I told
you is good news. You should be deliriously happy, praising God, not questioning
my word. You want a sign? All right, you've got a sign. All these things
will come to pass in spite of your fearful disbelief, but you will not speak
for nine months, until the baby is born, There is your sign.' God's purposes
and commitments will not ultimately be thwarted by fleshly human frailty.
Notice also that in the beginning Gabriel is very gentle and understanding
with Zechariah's fear. But in the face of a choice to not believe God's
word he becomes very stern. In this sign, this nine months of dumbness,
there is a strong discipline. God disciplines those whom he loves.
Zechariah has spent much more time than normal in the Holy Place. The people
are waiting outside for the benediction. They know there is something out
of the ordinary going on. When he finally does appear, his inability to
speak perhaps something about his physical appearance suggest that the supernatural
is at work. The news spread quickly through the crowd, through the city
of Jerusalem, through the countryside. 'Did you hear what happened to the
old priest Zechariah? When he came out of the Holy Place he couldn't talk.
He probably saw a vision or something.'
The story ends quietly, almost matter-of-factly. When you consider the intensity
of this vision and the angelic message, Luke concludes this story very softly.
Verses 23 through 25:
And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home.
After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she hid
herself, saying, 'Thus the Lord has done to me in the days when he looked
on me, to take away my reproach among men.'
Following his two weeks of service, Zechariah leaves the hustle and bustle
of Jerusalem, goes home to the privacy and obscurity of his village and
tries to communicate to his wife all that happened to him, all that he saw
and heard and how he felt, all of his struggles. We learn later that he
did this by writing. He must have had writer's cramp by the time he finished!
But the angel Gabriel's strong word of discipline must have gotten through
to him because he was obedient to what God had said. He went home and made
love to his wife. That was an act of faith, an act of obedience. Faith finally
exercised itself in obedient activity.
Elizabeth, a senior citizen, became pregnant. Her response, in the last
verse, is very different from Zechariah's first response of disbelief. Hers
is a beautiful prayer of gratitude, a softly reflective prayer. She believes
God: 'The Lord has done this to me.' Here is a beautiful picture of believing
faith. She uses three personal pronouns, 'done to me...when he looked on
me...take away my reproach among men.' She understood that God cares deeply
about the 'reproach' of his children. God sees us each one individually.
In Elizabeth's pregnancy two things are happening. God is accomplishing
his eternal plan, universal in its scope, through Zechariah and Elizabeth
and their son who was to come, but on a very personal, intimate level God
is mercifully healing this couple's pain of barrenness.
In response to God's gracious act, Elizabeth chooses five months of isolation
and privacy. She needed time to pray, to commune with the Lord, to study
the Old Testament prophecies about what was beginning to unfold. She needed
the time to fellowship with her husband, to minister to him in his struggle,
time to draw deeply from God's well of resource .
It was a period of preparation for the ministry she would have with her
young cousin Mary, a preparation for what, at her age, would probably be
a difficult birth; and finally preparation to parent the baby John, this
one who would be forerunner of Messiah.
There is much here for us to ponder as we prepare, through this season of
advent, to celebrate the birth of Messiah. As Zechariah was confronted with
God's truth spoken by Gabriel, we are now confronted by the truth of God's
word written by Dr. Luke. It is truth that calms our fear, extends to us
the grace of God, challenges our impatience, confronts our unbelief, and
heals our barrenness.
Like Zechariah Elizabeth, we have the wonderful privilege of responding
to God's word in believing, active faith. May this six-week season before
Christmas be one of preparation for us as a church family and may it 'make
us ready, a people prepared for the Lord.'
Catalog No. 3896
Luke 1: 1-25
First Message
Doug Goins
November 17, 1985
Copyright (C) 1995 Discovery Publishing, a ministry of Peninsula Bible Church.
This data file is the sole property of Discovery Publishing, a ministry
of Peninsula Bible Church. It may be copied only in its entirety for circulation
freely without charge. All copies of this data file must contain the above
copyright notice. This data file may not be copied in part, edited, revised,
copied for resale or incorporated in any commercial publications, recordings,
broadcasts, performances, displays or other products offered for sale, without
the written permission of Discovery Publishing. Requests for permission
should be made in writing and addressed to Discovery Publishing, 3505 Middlefield
Rd. Palo Alto, CA. 94306-3695.