Zechariah the Priest
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The Season of Advent
The Season of Advent
First Day of Advent
The word Advent comes from the Latin word “Adventice” meaning coming or arrival or approach.
So this time of year means we are celebrating, and remembering the coming of Jesus or the leading up to His coming.
In the history of the church, at least for the last 20 centuries or so there have been 2 Advent traditions that have been observed.
the first is looking back at the coming of Christ, the incarnation, God coming in the flesh.
The second, we don’t do as well with, the looking ahead to his second coming. This is the advent we long for.
Advent observance started in the late 4th century, starting in medieval times, however 4 Sundays is more of a western tradition, in the east they start advent in the middle of November.
For us in the west advent is the 4 Sundays before Christmas, plus Christmas Eve and Christmas day.
There is no right or wrong way to celebrate advent, it’s not commanded in the scriptures, nor is easter. They are just good things to celebrate.
We celebrate easter weekly by meeting every Sunday, instead of the actual sabbath which is Saturday. The church changed to Sunday because it was the day Jesus was resurrected.
We observe good Friday monthly during communion. So these traditions are not just mainline church traditions that us cool churches quite observing. We observe them all the time.
It’s good to observe these traditions. So we are going to this year as a church observe advent through our sermon series.
We will be taking the next 4 Sundays leading up to Christmas, including Christmas eve to look at 4 or five characters in the Christmas story, and how they bring an important message to the Christmas story.
In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.
Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.
Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”
The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”
Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.
When his time of service was completed, he returned home. After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”
They Were Righteous, Yet Barren.
They Were Righteous, Yet Barren.
Notice verse 6-7, they are very important.
Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.
Notice the word BUT between the two verses.
Being without child, and being considered righteous makes no sense to a Hebrew reader.
Barrenness was seen as God not being with you, God being against you because you were a sinner, thats why you were barren.
This view on sin and barrenness wasn’t just for women.
There is a story of a man who is blind, and the disciples ask Jesus who’s sin caused his blindness. His parents or his own.
They believed that God was against the blind man. He must be blind because of his sin.
The story of the rich young ruler who come to Jesus and asks what he needs to do to get to heaven. And Jesus tells him to give away everything he has. The man walkes away confused, because he felt he was a good person doing the things he needed to do, but was not willing to give away everything.
Jesus says it’s hard for the rich to get to heaven.
The discilples are confused, because if this man can’t get there who possible can.
This is a common Mindset in the 1st century.
“The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”
Look at verse 25 and what Elizabeth says about it.
This BUT in this skewed theology not only confronts this thinking, it dismantles it.
In todays sermon I want to look at 3 reminder gifts that we are shown in this passage. Reminders of how God works through the season of advent.
God Enters Our Barrenness
God Enters Our Barrenness
Barrenness Comes in Many Forms
can be not having children.
there is also barrenness that comes with singleness, loneliness, or unmet expectations.
There is barrenness of the soul that can come with regret, guilt or failure.
Barrenness can come in many forms with many reasons, but God enters our barrenness.
God is in the midst of our barrenness and brings us hope. The Christmas story shows this hope. That miracles happen, that even when you have given up, there is hope.
Let’s look at Zechariah’s conversation with the angel Gabriel.
God Keeps His Promises
God Keeps His Promises
Conversation with an Angel.
But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John.
verse 13 is a key verse in this passage, “Don’t be afraid, your prayer has been heard”
Was this a recent prayer? Probably not, the evidence of this is repeated several times in this text, they are very old (vs 18)
Be encouraged by this, God answers prayer, even prayers that have been prayed for a long time.
Never give up praying, sometimes after decades of prayer God answers in a big way.
For Zechariah and Elizabeth they never thought God would answer their prayer, they had probably given up. Yet God answered it by giving them a child who would user in the messiah.
God Keeps His Promises.
This passage is also the fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy on one who would come before the messiah like Elijah.
Go was fulfilling his promise, to hear our prayers and our cry for salvation.
Notice Zachariah’s answer to the angel in verse 18. After the Angel gives him explanation of who John will be, his character.
He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”
God Presses in on Our Doubts
God Presses in on Our Doubts
Zachariah has doubts.
He can’t believe that God would answer this prayer so late in their lives, it just doesn’t make sense.
The key to understanding what Luke is telling us lies in Gabriel’s answer.
The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”
3. God disciplines Zachariah for having doubts. But when he follows through with naming John, he is released of his punishment.
They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.”
Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.” Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God.
4. But Mary doubts too, why wasn’t she punished?
a. Zechariah didn’t believe Gabriel, Mary didn’t understand how this was going to happen.
“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
Zachariah needed more to believe, Mary just wondered how this was going to happen.
Zachariah and Elizabeth are often compared to Abraham and Sarah, but there is a difference.
Paul says this in Romans
Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,
Zachariah wavered, Abraham excepted the reality.
5. There is good doubt and bad doubt. God works with both.
a. How can this be, and this can’t be.
The fact that Zachariah had doubts, yet God still heard his prayers is encouraging to me! Even in our doubts God can answer our prayers, God presses in to our doubts, and helps us to overcome them, and believe.
Big Idea
Big Idea
Big Idea: Christmas reminds us that God enters our barrenness and brings us hope. He keeps His promises even after we have given up, and presses in on our doubts, helping us grow in our faith. These three things are part of the Christmas message, giving us a beautiful picture of God working in our lives.
This Christmas season, don’t get so caught up in the gifts and the food and miss the true message of salvation. God came in the flesh so that we could live. This is the season that we celebrate this message, yet we live in it everyday.
God saved the world through His son, bringing hope to a broken world full of doubt. Even in our doubts God works through us and in us, answering our prayers and being with us always.