A Voice In The Wilderness

Good morning!

Man, I want to start this morning by saying a huge thank you to Carey.

He did an amazing job last week and if by chance you missed it, you would be doing yourself a huge disservice by not going and listening to the podcast.

I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am for us to dig into Luke’s work.

I want to remind you of a few things as we get started today.

We are not in a hurry.

Carey alluded to this once or twice last week. wink wink

between this gospel and Acts, Luke wrote 1/3 of the new testament.

Our goal in this study is not to complete it but to come to know Jesus. It will take what it takes.

That is a life-long process and we are here for it. Amen?

Luke’s goal was to investigate for himself the person of Jesus and then he compiled what he discovered.

This is our goal as well. We want to discover the person and mission of Jesus.

We want to allow God to challenge our preconceived ideas of who He is and what He is about.

We are going to see over and over again that Jesus challenges the religious people who thought they understood/knew God. We are going to be challenged in the same way. It would be hubris for us to think we have it all figured out already.

God wants us to invite others to join us along this journey.

This is how Jesus did ministry. He would reveal a bit of God’s power and Kingdom and then invite people to literally follow Him.

God wants the same thing to happen in our lives.

I intend to preach each week in a way that doesn’t require that people have heard the previous sermons in order to know what is going on.

Don’t shy away from inviting people to join you. God wants us to experience this together and we are going to see the crowds grow as Jesus reveals God. The same should naturally happen for us if we are growing too.

These first few chapters are narratives that are packed with allusion.

Last week Carey mentioned Luke’s mastery of Greek and of the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament).

As Luke shares these accounts of Jesus’s life, he packs them with throwbacks to Old Testament stories.

More than likely, you will pick up on those as you read ahead.

As we read, my goal is to draw out some of those allusions so that we can see what Luke was communicating to the original audience and then make application for us today.

Are y’all ready? Let’s dive in. Turn with me to

Luke 1:5-25

Luke begins his book before Jesus’s birth is announced, and this is very intentional.

If you think back to some of our prior conversations, until this moment of Zechariah's encounter with the angel, there had been no prophet and no discernable action by God among His people.

For Luke, this point marks the beginning of the Messianic age when God would not only return to His people, but He would be doing so to fulfill the promises He made.

Luke begins here because it this visitation is the moment that God begins His work.

Immediately we begin to see the allusions that Luke is making.

Just the mention of the name Zechariah, which was a very popular name, and the temple people would have remembered the prophet, Zechariah.

English Standard Version Zechariah

As Haggai encouraged the returned Jewish exiles to rebuild the temple, Zechariah encouraged them to repent and renew their covenant with God. Such spiritual renewal would be necessary for the people to be ready to worship God once the temple was rebuilt (about 516 B.C.). He accused them of doing the very things their ancestors had done before the exile. He was concerned about social justice for widows, orphans, and foreigners. But as the people endured opposition from the non-Jewish inhabitants of Judea, Zechariah reassured them of God’s abiding comfort and care. God would continue his covenant with Israel. Messianic hope was rekindled during Zechariah’s ministry, and the book ends with the promise that the Lord would establish his rule over all the earth (14:9).

“Repent and renew their covenant with God.” It seems like that is something that we are going to hear from a voice in the wilderness.

Here is the interesting thing, during the Babylonian exile, Israel is allowed to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple, God’s dwelling place on earth.

They go back to Jerusalem, but rather than rebuilding God’s house, they build their own.

The prophet Haggai calls them out and they begin to do the work God told them to do, which was building the wall.

The prophet Zechariah comes and tells the people that their sin patterns are the very same thing that caused the exile, and the destruction of the temple, in the first place.

He reminds them that God told their forefathers that if they would obey His commands, He would be their God, and they would be His people.

So the temple is completed, but God doesn’t show up like he had done when Solomon’s temple was dedicated.

1 Kings 8:10–11 CSB

10 When the priests came out of the holy place, the cloud filled the Lord’s temple, 11 and because of the cloud, the priests were not able to continue ministering, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple.

Everyone is obviously bummed and so God sends Malachi.

English Standard Version Malachi

Although the urging of Haggai and Zechariah had brought the completion of the temple (516 B.C.), this had not produced the messianic age many expected. The warm response to Zechariah’s call to repentance had grown cold, because God apparently had not restored the covenant blessings. Malachi, writing a short time later, called the people to repentance with respect to: the priesthood, which had become corrupt; worship, which had become routine; divorce, which was widespread; social justice, which was being ignored; and tithing, which was neglected. “Will man rob God?” the Lord asked through Malachi (3:8), and he promised to “open the windows of heaven” (v. 10) for those who pay their full tithe. Malachi predicted the coming of both John the Baptist and Jesus, referring to each as a “messenger” of God (3:1).

So what we see is that the sin that Israel struggled with in the desert, under Saul, David, Solomon, and many other kings, was still there.

God’s people, over many generations, had not changed.

So God speaks through Malachi that He will be sending another prophet. The one that would prepare the way for the Messiah.

Malachi 3:1 Malachi 4:5-6

Malachi 3:1 CSB

1 “See, I am going to send my messenger, and he will clear the way before me. Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to his temple, the Messenger of the covenant you delight in—see, he is coming,” says the Lord of Armies.

Malachi 4:5–6 CSB

5 Look, I am going to send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse.”

These two verses are the last verses of Malachi.

This is the last thing that God says to Israel and then God makes His return to another Zechariah.

And then… 400 years of nothing.

This is the backdrop that Luke is building on.

Luke picks up where God picks up and Luke wants us to see from the outset several important things.

400 years of silence, and Zechariah goes into the Holy of Holies and an angel appears.

Here is what we need to see in this passage.

1. God works in the circumstances of our lives to complete His mission.

One of the commentaries I read said that there were usually around three thousand priests working in the temple at any given time.

We see in verse nine that Zechariah was chosen by lot.

This was a common practice and we see it all through the old testament. This was one way that they believed that God spoke.

His being chosen was quite literally a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

His job was to go into the Holy of Holies, where God’s presence was supposed to be, and clean up the old incense and replace it.

As Zechariah is going about his priestly duty, his job, God sends the angel Gabriel with a message from God.

Zechariah was doing the work that God had given him.

He was righteous, not sinless, but intentionally living to be as righteous as possible.

Whatever God has called us to is the place where He intends to show up.

When God shows up He is there to do a work.

Let’s look again at what God was doing through Zechariah.

Luke 1:10-17

Man, that sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

God is going to send Elijah. Where have we heard that before? Malachi...

Elijah has come and he has come to prepare the way!

Jesus even testifies to this and Matthew records it in his gospel.

Matthew 11:10-14

Matthew 11:14 CSB

14 And if you’re willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who is to come.

This is what Gabriel is telling Zechariah, “your son will come in the same power as Elijah did.”

Zechariah makes a mistake, though.

Remember, righteous, not sinless.

Luke Luke 1:8–23

Zechariah’s response, though coming from a pious man, is very human. He does not take the miraculous as a matter of course. He has a natural objection to the promise that they will receive a child: their old age. Zechariah understands the basics of biology and aging. He and his wife are “past their prime.”

Common sense and basic biology agree that what Gabriel is saying won’t work.

Remember, we’ve talked about this for the last few weeks.

God’s ways are not the world's.

He makes the same mistake we sometimes make when God speaks.

“God, are you sure?”

“God, how can this happen?”

Luke 1:18-19

Listen, this question sounds innocent, but it’s not. You probably remember Mary asking something similar and we will cross that bridge when we get there.

Luke uses a Greek word for “How can I know,” whose root we are very familiar with. Genosko

Zechariah is asking, “how can we possibly experience this because my wife is so old?”

This is another allusion to many stories that Zechariah, a priest, would have been intimately familiar with.

Abraham and Sarah Gen 11:30 , Issac and Rebekah Gen 25:21, Jacob and Rachel Gen 29:31, and Hannah 1 Sam 1:5.

In all of these stories, God used what the world would consider a curse, and God made it a blessing for them.

God does the same thing for Zechariah and Elizabeth.

Just because our lives don’t look like everyone else’s doesn’t mean we have done anything wrong or God doesn’t love us.

Whatever your circumstances, God is working for your blessing.

God can and will use your life right where you are to reveal Himself to you and others.

The second application we need to see in this passage is how God uses His work.

2. Others notice God’s work in believers’ lives.

Even though Zechariah struggled with disbelief, God still used him.

Church, can we just pause right here for a moment and soak this in?

It is easy to forget because it is so different from what we experience in everyday life that God’s view of us does not change when we don’t get it.

I don’t care how long you have been a believer; the pattern is the same.

Regardless of how well you know God, your faith is going to be challenged.

We grow when what we currently know is challenged by something we don’t know.

Our faith grows as God challenges us to step into the unknown, and we obey.

God used this revelation to begin laying the groundwork for what Z and E’s son would be and do.

Luke 1:20-22

We have to take notice that even though Zechariah’s faith was not where it needed to be, God still did what He said He would do.

God’s ability to work in our lives is only dependent on God.

Now, how that works out for us may be more complicated, but our level of faith does not hold God back.

God will still work through us, and He is going to do it in a way that grows our faith.

God worked in Z’s life to reveal Himself and He did it by shutting his mouth and ears.

The circumstances surrounding God’s revelation and work in Z’s life caught the attention of all the people that were around him at the temple.

Now Luke doesn’t spell this out, but I think we can safely infer that Z’s experience in the temple was the talk of the town.

Based on the rest of this story, I don’t think Z told them what the angel said, but they definitively knew that God had revealed himself.

Again, more allusion. It was common knowledge that God had revealed himself through angels in the past.

This was an accepted understanding of God’s revelation.

The reason we can safely infer that the whole town was talking about it is because this is the first time in 400 years that they have experienced anything from God.

Luke is leading us right into his final point for this passage.

3. The promises of God always come true.

Have you ever noticed that in every Disney movie, or really any movie, there is a hope or dream for something?

The main character desires something, but there is a major tension that makes it seem impossible for that dream to be realized.

Then towards the end of the movie, at the climax, all the pieces fall together and the main character gets more than they had hoped for.

That kind of storyline wasn’t just dreamed up by some writers and they then followed the pattern in the rest of the movies.

This is the storyline of God’s people.

From the outset of the story of God’s people, God made a promise that we will be redeemed, and this moment in the temple is building towards the climax of the story, which is Jesus.

God was working in Zechariah and Elizabeth’s life to fulfill His promise, and what we need to realize is that God wants to work in our lives to fulfill His promise.

What I’m saying is this is your opportunity to be a Disney Princess!

Our lives are all filled with tension.

There are things that we struggle with.

There are promises that God has made that we cannot see how in the world He will accomplish it.

This is where Z and E are at this point in Luke’s narrative.

This may be where you find yourself in the story.

If you find yourself in the midst of the tension, I will encourage you, and Luke will encourage you to have faith.

Let this work of God challenge what you know with what you don’t know.

Whatever God has spoken may seem impossible, but we are going to discover as we read through this book that God purposely does the impossible to show the world that He is God.

I titled this message “A voice in the wilderness” because that is who John becomes.

I also titled it that because that is who we are to become.

God wants to work in our lives in such a way that the world takes notice.

That passage from Matthew 5:16 keeps coming up.

Matthew 5:16 CSB

16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

The whole point that Luke is trying to make in this opening narrative, the reason it is here, is to show that God was doing what He said He would do.

God was keeping His promise.

They may not have known the whole story yet, but God was doing what He spoke through Malachi.

God was bringing forth the one that would prepare the way for the Messiah.

Z and E knew it, at least in part, because the angel told them.

Luke 1:23-25

I can only imagine the joy that this married couple was experiencing as they celebrated being pregnant, and as an added bonus, they were giving birth to the new Elijah.

At this point, they have somewhat figured out what God is up to.

They had the message from the angel and now they have had time to ponder on all this and make the mental connections.

In light of what they have seen, heard, and experienced, they can only praise God.

Where ever you find yourself today in your faith journey, don’t be discouraged because things don’t look like you want them to.

God is working in your life and He will reveal Himself through it.

Our role is to watch, listen, obey, and wait for God.

As we do that, the world will notice and God will be glorified through our lives.

There is a theme that we are going to see develop as we study this book.

Jesus’s activity in people's lives reveals God’s character.

People are drawn to it, experience God for themselves, and are forever changed by that experience.

The same will be true for us as we pursue God.

People will see it, be drawn to it, and be forever changed by God.

Be that voice in the wilderness.

Let’s pray.

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