The Prayers of the Righteous are not Forgotten
Luke • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 1 viewZechariah had waited for God to answer his prayer until he thought God forgot him. But God had a much better plan waiting for him than he could have imagined.
Notes
Transcript
Scripture Reading
Scripture Reading
There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.
And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years.
So it was, that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division,
according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.
And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense.
Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense.
And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.
But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall 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 shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.
And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.
He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
And Zacharias said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.”
And the angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings.
But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time.”
And the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he lingered so long in the temple.
But when he came out, he could not speak to them; and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned to them and remained speechless.
So it was, as soon as the days of his service were completed, that he departed to his own house.
Now after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived; and she hid herself five months, saying,
“Thus the Lord has dealt with me, in the days when He looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”
I. The Affliction of a Righteous Couple
I. The Affliction of a Righteous Couple
Who are they?
Who are they?
Luke locates them in time - the days of Herod the Great (37-4BC). Herod the King was not an Israelite, but an Idumean [Edomite]; however, he had worked his way into the good graces of the Romans, and they had installed him as king over this region. Israel, at this stage in history, is still under the thumb of the Romans. The people longed for a Davidic King to overthrow the foreigners and restore Israel to a place of honor among the nations. However, many in Israel did not truly know the Lord, being essentially culturally worshippers of Yahweh without actually serving him from the heart, as Moses commanded. God had exiled Israel from her land 500 years before, and while some did eventually return, and Nehemiah and Ezra did rebuild the temple and the city of Jerusalem, Israel did not return to her God as Moses had prophesied was needed before God could fully bless them.
In the intervening centuries after the OT closes, Israel had gained her independence from the Greek peoples, and had nominally rededicated herself to the law. Ever since then, Israel has never had the problem with idolatry that plagued her during the OT. However, this did not mean that they loved God. Instead of turning to the Lord who made the Law, they made the Law their lord.
But this is not to say that everyone in the nation was purely a cultural Jew with no heart for God. Truly righteous, redeemed people did exist.
What was their Character?
What was their Character?
Zechariah and Elizabeth were from the priestly line. A millennia ago David had organized the priests into 24 orders according to their lineage (1 Chron 24:10) , so each course would serve for half a month every year. In the time of Ezra, the priesthood was greatly reduced, so many courses never returned, but the remaining priests were reorganized into 24 courses again, with two courses on rotation every month.
Zechariah was of the eighth course, a descendant of Abijah. He had married a daughter of Aaron. This was not required by God - God only forbid priests from marrying a prostitute or divorcee since the priest was holy. Still, we see already that Zechariah was careful to obey the law of Moses
Luke has two descriptions that might seem to be a bit odd at first. If we had been writing it, we would probably have said something like - Zechariah and Elizabeth believed in God, and were among those who waited for the Messiah, so they had a real relationship with God. All this was true, but that’s not what Luke says. Instead, he says they were
Righteous before God - this refers to positional righteousness Gen 15:6, something that can only come by faith. Since it specifically righteousness with God, it has to refer to justification. Before the coming of Christ, this was achieved by believing the Word of God, which meant reckoning that God was just so we needed to truly worship and obey him. It meant abandoning your own scheming and trusting that God would be merciful; it meant believing that God would send the Messiah. Now Messianic expectation wasn’t uncommon in Israel at the time. What was less common was that this was tied to a spiritual relationship with God. Salvation has always meant believing what God says, and it has always come only by faith. This was true before Jesus came, and it is still true today. Romans 3:21-25
And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.
But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference;
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed,
Walking blamelessly in the commands of the Lord - this does refer to behavior. Not that they never sinned, but that they were careful to obey the Law of Moses - all of it, not just the bits that were distinctly Jewish.
To walk blamelessly means your life is consistently as God would have it Prov 11:20; Psalm 119:1; Prov 10:29; 2 Chron 16:9. God commanded Israel to be blameless Gen 17:1; Deut 18:13.
Those who are of a perverse heart are an abomination to the Lord, But the blameless in their ways are His delight.
Blessed are the undefiled in the way, Who walk in the law of the Lord!
The way of the Lord is strength for the upright, But destruction will come to the workers of iniquity.
For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. In this you have done foolishly; therefore from now on you shall have wars.”
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless.
You shall be blameless before the Lord your God.
Blamelessness in the sight of God is our destiny as Christians Eph 1:4; and the fervent prayer of the righteous 1 Thess 5:23; and therefore also something we ought to strive for 2 Pet 3:14.
just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless;
The relationship between positional righteousness and practical righteousness is stated by James 2:20, 26.
But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?
For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
What was their problem?
What was their problem?
The problem was simple - they were childless. But that doesn’t quite communicate the depth of the problem.
First of all, childlessness is a devastating affliction regardless of culture. Our culture is not one that reproaches people who don’t have kids, yet even in our culture, it really hurts when you want kids and can’t have them. I didn’t have to wait nearly as long as Zechariah did, yet in the five years we prayed for a child, I spent many hours agonizing to God that we had no children.
Second, their culture prioritized children so any woman who couldn’t have them would be subject to ridicule (v. 25). Thus it was considerably worse for Elizabeth than it is today, for not only does she have to deal with the pain of childlessness, she additionally has to deal with people whispering that God must be punishing her for something.
Third, in their culture there was no safety net, and no expectation that people would save for retirement. Instead, your children were expected to support you in old age. That presented quite a problem for the elderly Zechariah and Elizabeth. In addition to all the other problems, they would also worry about how they would live when they got old.
II. How did God Answer Prayer?
II. How did God Answer Prayer?
Zechariah prayed until all hope was gone. (v.13) Clearly Zechariah prayed for a child, but if he did why did he doubt the angel? Because all hope was now lost. He had prayed, and prayed, and prayed, but the heavens were silent. And I think he had become just a bit bitter. When you pray earnestly for something, and it doesn’t come, the longer you wait the more disappointed you get. Zechariah and Elizabeth were now old, so he thought God had denied his request. And when you get bitter, you no longer are receptive to hopeful news. He had by bitter experience learned that this was not going to happen, despite his earnest prayers. He’d given up, so when the angel told him his prayers were answered, his bitter disappointment caused him to be incredulous.
God sovereignly arranged everything for his glory and to convince Zechariah. Why make this godly couple wait? Many other, less deserving people had plenty of kids. But because it was evident that God had done a miracle, everyone knew that this wasn’t just good fortune, it was the hand of God. But it doesn’t stop there. When it was time to announce to Zechariah the good news, God arranged it so he would be in the temple. Now at that time there were something like 18,000 priests, so it was the privilege of a lifetime to offer incense in the temple. Some priests could go their whole life and never get the chance. So what are the odds that Zechariah just happens to be chosen that day? But why announce it then? Not only to convince Zechariah, but to give him the opportunity to announce the birth of the forerunner to the world - Zechariah wiffed the chance, but God made sure the world found out anyway.
In addition, God sent Gabriel down from heaven to do the job. The last time we saw Gabriel he was given Daniel revelations some 500 years earlier. But of course, angels are immortal. How much more convincing do you need than to have an angel appear to you while you are in the temple? What else could God have done to make sure Zechariah would believe the news? And yet he didn’t!
Zechariah’s bitterness is why he did not believe. It’s perfectly understandable, but it’s still sin. Heb 12:15
looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled;
The Angel states his name and that he had the privilege of standing in the presence of God himself. That ought to be proof enough, but he does answer the request for a sign. Zechariah gets a bit more than he bargained for. He is unable to speak for the next nine months until John the Baptist is born. Well, he believes the angel now, but it’s a bit late. This is one of the few punitive miracles in the Bible. Given Zechariah’s song later, I think he did repent of his bitterness and unbelief, but for now the old priest is stuck.
We get a hint that what we have here is a summary of the conversation, not a transcript. The people wondered at the delay, so it must have been a much longer conversation than the few verses we have here. Since appearing before God was hazardous, priests who served did what they needed to do and left quickly. Once he was done, it was customary for the priest to bless the people. That posed a bit of a problem for poor Zechariah. He tried to communicate with signs what had happened. The people understood he must have seen a vision or something, but they didn’t figure out what happened.
III. What made this answer special?
III. What made this answer special?
Zechariah is given the name of his son. The name means “Yahweh is Gracious,” doubtless because the message that John will have is that God will graciously welcome all into his kingdom who will repent and believe.
Of course he and everyone else would rejoice at his birth. That’s rather obvious to anyone who has walked a while in his shoes. What’s new is that God would give Zechariah a special blessing, not by the number of children, but by the quality of his son
God’s blessing would be evident in John’s identity and his actions
Identity -
John would be great in the sight of the Lord. Now this is really the only kind of greatness that matters. But how great is that? listen to Jesus’ opinion on the subject Luke 7:28. John would be nothing less than the greatest prophet the world had ever seen. Great because he is the forerunner of the Messiah.
For I say to you, among those born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”
We can’t be great in exactly the same way as John the Baptist. That was a promise unique to him. But we can and should aspire to be great in God’s sight in our own race Matthew 20:25-28
But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them.
Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.
And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—
just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
there’s a reference to John not drinking wine. It’s possible he was a Nazarite, as Nazarites couldn’t drink wine either. But more likely the reason is due to need for John to have a clear head Prov 31:4.
It is not for kings, O Lemuel, It is not for kings to drink wine, Nor for princes intoxicating drink;
But the other primary reason for John’s greatness is that he would be filled with the Spirit from his mother’s womb. This is the only person in all of Scripture that would be like this, so Zechariah had a guarantee from God that his son would turn out to love God. wow. I wish I had a promise like that.
Now this filling of the Spirit is not like ours today. John was a prophet, and prophets had a special empowering of the Spirit so they could know what God said. John had no choice himself in the matter, as God filled him before he could choose anything. But it’s this filling that is the reason he could be great.
However, we are also called upon to be filled with the Spirit Eph 5:18. That means to be under the control of the Spirit, just as someone filled with alcohol is controlled by drink.
Actions -
John’s primary job will be to turn Israel to God.
John will go in the spirit and power of Elijah - that is, he will fulfill the role and responsibility of Elijah
To turn the disobedient to wisdom
To turn the hearts of the fathers to their children - in other words renewed conversion will bring healed families.
The purpose of this conversion is to make Israel ready to receive the Lord.