"In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah, and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and righteous requirements of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years.
Now it happened that while he was performing his priestly service before God in the order of his division, according to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of the incense offering. And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw the angel, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will call his name John. And 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 not drink any wine or strong drink, 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. And he will go 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, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."
And Zechariah said to the angel, "How will I know this? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years." And the angel answered and said to him, "I am Gabriel, who stands before God, and I was 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."
And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and were wondering at his delay in the sanctuary. But when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. And he kept making signs to them, and remained mute. And it happened that when the days of his priestly service were fulfilled, he went back home.
There is one thing that is clear in New Testament is the record of the person and work of Jesus Christ. Though each of the four Gospels tell the story of Jesus from four different perspectives. Matthew presents the Lord Jesus Christ as the Messiah, King, and Redeemer, Mark presents Christ as the mighty Conqueror and Ruler of the world, whereas John presents Christ as the Son of God, and all of that is certainly true.
Open your Bibles with me, if you would and turn to the Gospel of Luke. As we return to our study of Luke's Gospel, we going to take our time going through all these verses, so I'm not sure how far we'll get today. I invite you to follow along with me as I read to set the text in our minds, I pray that you will listen for the voice of our Lord with open ears and a hearing heart.
"In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah, and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and righteous requirements of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years.
Now it happened that while he was performing his priestly service before God in the order of his division, according to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of the incense offering. And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw the angel, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will call his name John. And 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 not drink any wine or strong drink, 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. And he will go 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, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."
And Zechariah said to the angel, "How will I know this? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years." And the angel answered and said to him, "I am Gabriel, who stands before God, and I was 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."
And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and were wondering at his delay in the sanctuary. But when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. And he kept making signs to them, and remained mute. And it happened that when the days of his priestly service were fulfilled, he went back home.
Let's look at verse 5, "In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah, and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth." Luke begins with "In the days of Herod, king of Judah," to accurately established the timing in history where the story begins to unfold. Since the New Testament mentions several Herods, it's important to sort out all the information. Herod the Great was the patriarch, the founder of the Herodian dynasty. Although he ruled over Judea, he was not Jewish, he was an Edomite, born in 73 BC to an Edomite man named Antipater and a woman named Cyprus, the daughter of an Arab sheik. And history tells us that Edom was cursed by God. The Edomites, were the descendants of Esau, the firstborn son of Isaac and the twin brother of Jacob. Esau became the father of the Edomites and Jacob became the father of the Israelites, and the two nations have continued to struggle throughout most of history.
Herod was concerned about his reputation, paranoid that someone was going to take his position and power, so being a very clever man devised a scheme to marry a Jewish girl by the name of Mariamne, an heiress to the Jewish Hasmonaean house, to make himself more acceptable to the Jewish people over whom he now ruled. The Lord uses even evil people to accomplish His purposes, and make no mistake, Herod, a cruel and vicious man beyond description. It was Herod, known for his insane cruelty, that ordered the , known as the slaughterer of the innocents, when he heard that a king had been born in Bethlehem, paranoid he might someday become a threat to his throne.
He also had the Jewish high priest, Aristobulus drowned in the baths at Jericho by his soldiers, who was his wife brother. And, if that wasn't bad enough, he attended the funeral of the brother-in-law and wept under the false pretense of mourning and affection, which his wife wasn't happy about, so he killed her to ensue her silence, then he killed her mother to prevent her from becoming a potential problem. Afraid that his sons might tell the truth about what happened, he had two of them killed. When he realized he was dying, knowing no one would mourn his death, he had the most distinguished citizens of Jerusalem rounded up and put in prison and ordered that they be instantly executed at the moment of his death, so there would be mourning in Jerusalem when he died. Just five days before his death, he had a third son killed. Among his list of his achievements, he built the remarkable fortress of Masada, in the desert by the Dead Sea, which was his summer home, where nearly a thousand Jewish defenders committed suicide rather than be captured by the Roman general, Flavius Silva in 73 A.D.
He restored the incredibly magnificent Jerusalem temple, known as Solomon’s temple, doubling the size making it one of the most spectacular buildings in the ancient world, embellished with gold and costly gifts to assure his eternal remembrance, which was later destroyed by the Romans following the rebellion in A.D. 70., which Jesus prophesied in the final week of His ministry. Herod also launched building of the beautiful port city of Caesarea, named in honor of his benefactor, Caesar Augustus. He even contributed to the rebuilding of the city of Athens and embellished the cities of Beirut, and Damascus, and Tyre and Sidon and the city of Rhodes.
Now let's meet Zechariah, a representative of God, set apart for holy service, a priest of the division of Abijah and the father of John the Baptist, whose responsibilities included offering sacrifices, taking care of the Temple and making sure the incense was burning before the Lord at all times, like his other eighteen thousand priestly colleagues. Chronologically, he was the first person in the New Testament to speak with an angel, after four hundred years with no word from God, finally the silence is broken, which we'll get to in a few moments. By the way, being a priest of the division of Abijah isn't saying that he was a descendant of Abijah. Prior to the Babylonian captivity in 586 B.C., there were twenty-four orders of the priests. After crowning Solomon as his heir, King David chose 24 male descendants of Aaron to lead 24 divisions, the division of Abijah was the eighth of the 24 divisions. Starting and ending on the Sabbath day, the 24 divisions took turns, always in the same order, to return to Jerusalem once about every 6 months to serve as priests for one week, the departing division performed the morning sacrifices from 9 AM to noon, and the arriving division performed the afternoon sacrifices from noon to 3 PM. After the Babylonian captivity only four of the twenty-four came back under Zerubbabel, so they divided the four families of priests back into twenty-four and restored the original names for the sake of tradition.
Zechariah had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, the daughter of a priest, whose name was Elizabeth, named after the wife of Aaron, who was the original high priest in a long line of priests, since all male descendants of Aaron were priests.
Verse 6, "And they were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and righteous requirements of the Lord." What a tremendous statement that summarizes what it means a true devout worshiper of God, one who takes their faith seriously. Both Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous in the sight of God, not just outwardly righteous like the phony religious hypocrites who John would later call "a brood of vipers," who were more concerned about appearing to be righteous in the sight of men, rather than righteous in the sight of God. It's no wonder God chose this remarkable heritage for John the Baptist to confront the Jewish people in a time of hypocrisy and defection from true worship of God. I believe Zachariah and Elizabeth both knew there was one coming, who God would provide to be the final sacrifice and bear their sins, because no one but a holy God could cover them with a robe of righteousness so that when He looked upon them He saw righteousness, not sin. Surely they would have known the utter hopelessness of the current Jewish sacrificial system, butchering and slaughtering innocent animals day after day, over and over again, year after year and never was the price fully paid to satisfy the righteous justice of a holy God for even one sin. There is only One Lamb of God that can take away the sin of the world and satisfy the righteous justice of a holy God for a lifetime, the Messiah. I believe that what Luke is trying to do here, is lay an essential foundation for the story of salvation and being in a right relationship with God. Wasn't that the purpose of the miracles Jesus performed, that men might know He has power to reverse the curse, healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind,
Verse 7, "But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years." Both Zechariah and Elizabeth were very old, advanced in years, past the age of child bearing and they had no children, much like Abraham and Sarah before the birth of Isaac. It was considered to be a disgrace for a woman to be childless, if a woman was barren, she was thought to be cursed by God, He has shut up her womb because of sin. This couple, righteous in the sight of God, was probably seen as unrighteous in the sight of men. They would have probably lived all these years in that society with that shame they had done something wrong, they committed some sin that deserved their barrenness, it had to be God's divine punishment. They were serving and worshipping, probably praying all these years, asking God for a child, and now that they were too old, disappointed, finally giving up hope, it was hopeless, humanly speaking. Unfortunately, what ought to sustain us and strengthen our faith in disappointment, knowing God is working all things out for our good, for His own purpose, can often cast a dark shadow over our greatest joys when things seem to be going wrong. When a true believer faces disappointment, he will recognize his need to look to God to provide the answers in life's difficult matters, rather than human reasoning.
Have you ever felt that way? Praying and praying, year after year for something and you begin to feel it's hopeless because nothings happening, you're so disappointed that you just stop praying, no longer expecting an answer? Well, don't! Remember, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, "Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." Never abandon your trust in God, He often puts us in hopeless situations so that there’s no doubt that His divine power is at work when God shows up and proves Himself to be trustworthy. Paul says in Ephesians 3:20, "Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or understand, according to the power that works within us." I confess, there have been times early on in my faith, when I've prayed for something for so long and nothing happens, instead of trusting God, I've been surprised when God finally answers my prayers. Daniel 10:12-13, reminds us that Daniel’s prayer was heard right when he prayed but the answer was delayed for three weeks.
One of the hardest things to do when we pray is to wait for God’s answers, but as I've grown in my faith and matured spiritually, I've learned not to worry, leaning on my own limited understanding in my circumstances and pray, putting my faith in Him, submitting to His will, trusting in Him with all my heart, realizing that His ultimate purpose in life's difficult trials is to build greater strength and greater endurance. We have a loving and gracious God Who desires to generously give us everything we need to sustain us, unless we've prayed with wrong motives, than we ought not to expect that.
In Matthew 6, Jesus tells us "Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."
What Luke wants us to know, is that sin had nothing do with it, this was God's divine planning! They would be beyond their wildest dreams, giving birth to a son, born to be the first prophet in 400 years, a voice in the wilderness, the forerunner for the Messiah, and the last Old Testament prophet. A son who would be called the greatest man who ever lived up until that time, by the Son of God. These passages remind us what seemed like unexplainable years of silence, was really God preparing Zechariah and Elizabeth from the very beginning, to be part of His divine plan to offer salvation to the world. The fulfillment of Malachi 3:1, "Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me."
So, come back next and we'll see what happens when God breaks His 400 years of silence.
Remember, Abraham waited 25 years for the son that was promised to him. Jacob was not given prosperity until after he became a fugitive. Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of all Egypt but only after he was in prison. Gideon experience victory but not before his army was taken down in size to only 300. God often waits until things are humanly impossible in order to display His glory! When you’re going through something you can't understand, remember to let God do His perfect work in His perfect time, rather to expect Him to fit His plan into our imperfect schedules. God wants to use you to help someone who is going through what seems to be an impossible situation that you have already experienced, may I suggest that you might be the only one to reach someone who doesn’t know Jesus yet.
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
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