Those Who Led the Way.

Introduction: The importance of the Nativity Story and the Characters that were involved. Liken it to a movie of vignettes. How each one has a part to play and then how they come together to fulfill prophecy.

We will begin with Zacharias, Elizabeth and John the Baptist. Their story is in the gospel of Luke 1:5-25

Luke 1:5–25 NASB95

5 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord. 7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years. 8 Now it happened that while he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division, 9 according to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And the whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside at the hour of the incense offering. 11 And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. 12 Zacharias was troubled when he saw the angel, and fear gripped him. 13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John. 14 “You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. 15 “For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb. 16 “And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God. 17 “It is he who will go as a forerunner 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, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” 18 Zacharias said to the angel, “How will I know this for certain? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years.” 19 The angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 20 “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.” 21 The people were waiting for Zacharias, and were wondering at his delay in the temple. 22 But when he came out, he was unable to speak to them; and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple; and he kept making signs to them, and remained mute. 23 When the days of his priestly service were ended, he went back home. 24 After these days Elizabeth his wife became pregnant, and she kept herself in seclusion for five months, saying, 25 “This is the way the Lord has dealt with me in the days when He looked with favor upon me, to take away my disgrace among men.”

The house of Zacharias prepared the way for the Messiah’s birth and ministry by bearing and raising the one who will go as a forerunner 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, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

Zacharias - Meaning of name - The Lord Remembers, in a slang kind of version it means God’s Guy. In other words He was chosen by God when He was named. Zacharias is the Greek version of Zechariah. So what are some things we know about Zacharias?

Division of Abijah (Family lineage) and (burn Incense) So let’s take a look at these two things.

Verse 5 gives us his Family Lineage. The division of Abijah - When King David set up the system of worship for the Temple before his death there were 24 families who could trace their lineage back to Levi. 1 Chronicles chapter 23 & 24 (expand) tells how the sons of Levi were placed into service as Priests before the Lord. 1 Chr 24:3

1 Chronicles 24:3 NASB95

3 David, with Zadok of the sons of Eleazar and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, divided them according to their offices for their ministry.

Eleazar and Ahimelech were the sons of Aaron when God gave the law to Moses. Aaron traced his lineage back to Levi a son of Israel. It was the descendents of Levi that were selected to minister before the Lord as an inheritance. The families which traced their lineage back to Eleazar and Ithamar were divided into Divisions, 24 divisions in all. This small piece of information tells us that Zacharias traces his family line back to the time of David to the family of Abijah and further back to Levi, the son of Israel. This is a very important piece of information - if he didn’t have papers proving his lineage he would not have been allowed to minister before the Lord.

And Verse 9 gives us the purpose for him being in the Temple - to Burn Incense before the Lord. Ex 30:7-8

Exodus 30:7–8 NASB95

7 “Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it; he shall burn it every morning when he trims the lamps. 8 “When Aaron trims the lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense. There shall be perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations.

It being the Altar of incense. This altar was inside the Temple but in front of and not behind the veil that separated the space that was the Holy of Holies. The incense itself was holy. The Mosaic law had numerous recipes for incense depending on the use for it. This incense however, was special. This recipe was not to be copied or used for any other reason. It was holy before the Lord and if it was used for some other person that individual would be cut off from the people of God. The recipe is found in Exodus 30:34-38.

This time of ministering before the Lord was one of honor for Zacharias, it only happened once in the life of a priest. He would have lived in one of the rooms of the Temple and kept himself consecrated for this time. This time lasted a short while, two weeks at the most; which is alluded to in verse “23 When the days of his priestly service were ended, he went back home.”

That is the why of his presence at the Temple. Another piece of information we learn in verse 2 is that he and his wife Elizabeth were:

Righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the law. In other words they did all the stuff of the law to include marrying properly. Which seems to have become a problem since the return from exile about 450 years earlier. Lev 21:13-15 has this piece of information about a priest who is getting married.

Leviticus 21:13–15 NASB95

13 ‘He shall take a wife in her virginity. 14 ‘A widow, or a divorced woman, or one who is profaned by harlotry, these he may not take; but rather he is to marry a virgin of his own people, 15 so that he will not profane his offspring among his people; for I am the Lord who sanctifies him.’ ”

That means he would have needed to marry someone from the tribe of Levi - a priestly woman.

Something else that we learn about Zacharias is that he is just like everyone else when he meets an Angel for the first time. He is gripped with fear and then doubts what he is told.

Fear gripped him - have you ever been so afraid you couldn’t even move? I can see Zacharias stumbling backwards at the sight of the angel. Just like with everyone else - the Angel said Do not be afraid. The fear is one thing - It happens almost every time an Angel makes an appearance. That’s not really the problem here - the problem is the doubt. This is one of the men who perform the priestly duty before the Lord. He asks “How will I know this for certain?”

Wouldn’t a response of faith and worship be more appropriate? He should have jumped up and down for joy at the mention of a coming child; after all his barren elderly wife was going to bear a son. This wouldn’t be just any son; this would be the one that was foretold of by Malachi about 430 years before this meeting.

But no, he responded with doubt and then he was prevented from speaking for more than nine months after this meeting.

So, enough about him, let’s talk about his wife.

Elizabeth is a Hebrew name most commonly translated as "God is my oath." So what do we know about Elizabeth from the passage. She like Zacharias was from the line of Aaron so she fit the requirements for a priest to marry, she was from his people. She is also:

Barren - No big deal right - it happens all the time. Unfortunately at the time in their culture children brought great pride and a lack of would bring shame and disgrace. Psalm 127:3 says:

Psalm 127:3 NASB95

3 Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward.

The children were also the means of social security then. They would take care of the parents in their later years. So the arrival of a child would change everything for them. Another great thing about this particular child was the message that Zacharias received about him - the things he would do.

Another thing we know is that a message was given to Zacharias which would give this old woman hope. She would bear a son. This child would remove the shame and disgrace from her, but it would also bring joy and gladness, and many would rejoice at his birth. That’s a nice part of the the message but it also says what kind of man he would be and the part he would play in the life of the coming Messiah.

One last thought about Elizabeth - she spent 5 months in seclusion, Why? Was she hiding? Verse 25 says she thought that He looked with favor upon her. Perhaps it was because being pregnant then was a hard task to complete. There were a lot of ways that babies could die before and even shortly after birth. So keeping to herself probably helped keep her and the baby safe. Perhaps the reason she stopped being secluded was the arrival of a cousin, a cousin named Mary who was herself carrying a child in her womb. I wonder.

So, that brings us the third member of this family. The one who would cause all the fuss.

John is the English version of the Hebrew name Yochanan, the contracted form of the longer name Yehochanan, meaning "Yahweh is Gracious.” An interesting thing about this name is that it is one of the most popular names for boys in the U.S. and England.

So, why the name John? Because that is what Gabriel, the Angel told Zacharias to call him.

Luke 1:13 NASB95

13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John.

Fortunately he followed the instructions. Luke 1:57-66 says:

Luke 1:57–66 NASB95

57 Now the time had come for Elizabeth to give birth, and she gave birth to a son. 58 Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had displayed His great mercy toward her; and they were rejoicing with her. 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. 60 But his mother answered and said, “No indeed; but he shall be called John.” 61 And they said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by that name.” 62 And they made signs to his father, as to what he wanted him called. 63 And he asked for a tablet and wrote as follows, “His name is John.” And they were all astonished. 64 And at once his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he began to speak in praise of God. 65 Fear came on all those living around them; and all these matters were being talked about in all the hill country of Judea. 66 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.

What would have happened if he had named him something else? Would he have been mute for the rest of his life? Would we have known the forerunner of Jesus as Zacharias the baptist? Doesn’t have the same ring to it. But anyway - What else do we know of John from this passage?

He would bring Joy and gladness and many would rejoice at his birth. Why? One possible reason would be that he removed the shame from Elizabeth and the household of Zacharias. But more likely it is the fact that he was filled with the Holy Spirit even while he was in the womb. This wasn’t normal. The Holy Spirit at the time came upon people at specific times and for a specific reason. Not so here. John was born with Him and grew up with Him. So much so that fear came on all those living around them. That must have been an interesting thing. He was probably always being talked about, fingers pointing and people covering their mouths as they talked about him. Always wondering what he would be. Something special that’s for sure.

Another very uncommon thing about John is that he would be raised as a Nazirite.

Verse 15 tells us: “For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb.” Drinking no wine or liquor was part of the Nazirite vow found in Num 6:2-4

Numbers 6:2–4 NASB95

2 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When a man or woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to dedicate himself to the Lord, 3 he shall abstain from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar, whether made from wine or strong drink, nor shall he drink any grape juice nor eat fresh or dried grapes. 4 ‘All the days of his separation he shall not eat anything that is produced by the grape vine, from the seeds even to the skin.

For that time and culture not drinking wine or eating anything from the grapevine would have been tough. It was very common and plain water probably caused a lot of illness. It would have been tough for the short time that someone would have taken a vow as an adult, but this is a child being told he can’t have it. Think back to the time of the Judges, Samson was supposed to keep the same vow, he turned out to be a mess. However, it seems as though John managed to do it, after all he was eating bugs and honey.

And now for the last big idea about John. What will he be? They were wondering back at this birth and constantly as they watched him grow up. I wonder if Zacharias and Elizabeth really understood?

He became the Forerunner for Jesus.

Malachi 3:1 NASB95

1 “Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the Lord of hosts.

Malachi was the last prophet God sent to His people, nearly 450 years before Christ was born. After this silence. The Jewish people lived in silence until John came preaching a message of repentance to prepare for the coming of the kingdom of God. So what did it mean for John to be a forerunner for Christ?

The Romans had a habit of sending messengers before Caesar to alert everyone along the way that he was coming. This would make it so they would be out to watch and bow as he went by with his train. The other thing they were supposed to do was make the way straight. They followed the roads, but the roads weren’t always great. So the forerunners would get fallen trees and rocks out of the way, they would fill holes, level some places or fill other places in. The idea was to have the straightest and flattest road possible. For the convenience of the Caesar.

This was John’s portion. He was supposed to prepare people for the coming of the Messiah. To prepare their hearts so that they would see the truth of who Jesus was and follow Him.

Exit - This was the house of Zacharias, they were the beginning of the Nativity story. They were descendants of the family line of Levi, righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the law. God’s chosen family to bear the child that would become the one to carry the news of the coming Messiah. As soon as the chapter one of the Gospel of Luke ends we hear no more from them. We don’t know if they were present to see John begin his ministry.

Pray

Psalm 23 NASB95

A Psalm of David. 1 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. 3 He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.