Exploring Christmas: Jerusalem

Introduction and Scripture

Luke 1:5–25 NIV

5 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. 6 Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. 7 But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old. 8 Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, 9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside. 11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. 13 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. 14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15 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. 16 He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 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.” 18 Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” 19 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. 20 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.” 21 Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. 22 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. 23 When his time of service was completed, he returned home. 24 After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. 25 “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.”

Pray.

A recent article in Newsweek, citing a 2020 survey from Ligonier Ministries, reports that 52% of U.S. adults believe that Jesus is not God. Today only about 65% of Americans identify as Christian, so we should expect that Jesus-as-God is a non-starter for 35%. But how do we account for the other 17%?

According to the same article, “Nearly one-third of evangelicals in the survey agreed that Jesus isn't God, compared to 65 percent who said ‘Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God.’” Beware the Arian heresy redivivus. Athanasius was exiled five times by four emperors for insisting that the Son is not a creation, but is co-eternal with the Father. The Son has no beginning. He is God--not a demigod, not an angel, but the one and only eternal God. Christians have died for this claim. They die for it even today.

Even this week I saw video of a pastor in India being dragged out of his church and beaten to the point of hospitalization simply for preaching the gospel.

Advent is a time of preparation as we look to one of the most astounding example of God’s divine action in the world. Becoming enfleshed and walking among us, coming to serve, die, for the redemption of the world.

This is a full frontal confrontation of our modern reconfigurations of the miraculous.

1/3 “evangelicals” believe that Jesus isn’t God.

For many the scandal that God of the universe would come and come as God did is too much for our modern constructs.

A mentor of mine, David Watson, puts it this way:

One of the great cruelties of modernity is that it formed generations of people in such a way that they could no longer affirm belief in the great hope of the Christian life. It took away the expectation of divine action, if not belief in God entirely. We came up with a variety of ways to maintain the structures, language, and practices of the Church, while dispensing with belief in the divine actions that gave rise to the Church in the first place. - David Watson

Now we all may shrug at this and think not me, I believe in divine action. Look at me, I am here thanksgiving week and advent 1. Gold star friends haha.

But thought experiment:

If someone would come in here with a word of prophecy, would you hear it? Would you meet it with skepticism? Would you even receive it and test it with Scripture?

What about prayer for healing? Are you like me and cover your basis?

What about Holy communion? What do you think when the pastor says that Christ is present and we receive the spiritual presence of Christ in that moment?

Advent is a time of preparation....for what because Christ has already come, supposedly.... it is the preparation and reminder that God still acts and will act.

Today we see God’s divine action in the expected and ordinary place.

God moves in the darkness

Even the setting tells a story. Luke gives these historical markers throughout and he sets it off even at the beginning Writing to Theophilus, bringing together eyewitness acounts “so that you may know with certainty of the things you have been taught.” So the historical markers mean something but they also paint a theological picture of God working in the midst of darkness....

Luke 1:5 (NIV)

5 In the time of Herod king of Judea ....

When we read this we might quickly gloss over this, but to the hearers of the gospel, they would quickly remember this Herod and the time period.

Herod is responsible for the rebuilding of the Temple and the scene for much of the gospel narratives throughout Judea. But even in rebuilding the Temple, it was not out of loving benevolence of the Jews but to keep them subdued and paying taxes. This Herod would kill his own children for suspicion that they wanted his throne. He would kill wives just because. When he was near death he ordered the execution of Jewish elders so that people would be in mourning during his death. And do not forget the ordering of the death of every Jew under the age of two to try and snuff out this “King of the Jews”

400 years since the last prophetic voice.

“In the time of Herod of king of Judea” ....could be in the time of the darkest days man can remember.

In the midst of darkness, God was getting ready to turn on the light.

God is at work in the darkness and in ways that are not immediately obvious.

(Preach this out)

God moves in the ordinary

Pay attention to what is going on here. As you read Luke particularly, as we will this coming month, the birth narratives, there is historical data set next to the miraculous. God moving in the midst of everyday life.

Zechariah, a righteous man, a priest in line Abijah....was chosen by lots to burn incense.

A priest in the line of Abijah.... who cares haha?

1 Chronicles 24.... the divisions.

Josephus, historian estimated conservatively that there were 20,000 priests.

Show Temple and talk about what is going on here.

God works as Zechariah goes to work. As would have done year after year. He his righteous because he is faithful.

General means of Grace - John Wesley

Deny yourself

Take up your cross

What was Zechariah praying for? Was it a child. Likely not, not anymore. He was doing his priestly duty, praying for God to come.

God moves even when we respond poorly

The righteous man, is not perfect as we will see.....

Luke 1:18–20 NIV

18 Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” 19 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. 20 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.”

Mirroring the response of Abraham and Sarah from the OT, Zechariah just blanks on this response. He misses it.

So the angel of the Lord hits the mute button on Zechariah. This is both hilarious and terrifying. It feels a little much, like this angel was a moody teenager.

Here is the thing, if we want to be a mouthpiece, a key figure in what God is unfolding, our faith, imagination, expectation need to be turned back on. But if we do not, God will still accomplish what God is going to accomplish.

It is great news that it does not depend on us.

It is sobering news because we probably sideline ourselves with comfort, self-serving, self-preserving, conventional wisdom, attitudes.

I have a friend named Matt. He is a normal average guy who serves as a pastor in Ohio. Years ago he heard a calling to step out of local church ministry and start a non-profit organization that would serve and equip the church for evangelism. This was a scary move for he and his family. Fast-forward several years and they are training dozens of churches every year, hosting a large conference for pastors, have a major online publication for Wesleyan Christians, and most recently are launching churches in Kenya. When Matt was there a few weeks ago, he learned that churches consider themselves, Spirit and Truth churches, that is the name of his organization. He was joking because now he does not know what to do with basically accidentally starting a denomination. When he got over there, one of the churches presented him with a chicken. A live chicken.

He was there to see the church multiplying before his eyes, people being delivered and healed miraculously, people giving there life to christ every Sunday.

This is what it looks like to believe God is still at work.

That a light has come into the darkness. That God is at work in the daily grind, that God is moving with or without you and me.

This advent, we have an opportunity to be available, expectant, even prepared.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!