Behold God's at Work: Luke 1:1-25

Introduction

Optical Illusion

Due to the fact that we have the kids in the room, I want to get the adults a little flashback with this picture…

No matter when or where you went to grade school, there was always a universal assignment that would bring kids to a heated debate.

How many of you remember this photo?

Let’s ask the kids!?”

Kids, how many of you see an older woman?

How many of you see a young woman?

I mean, it doesn’t matter which side you’re on, but man once kids see one or the other, there is NO CONVINCING THEM that the other could be right.

But the truth is… you’re both right.

You see this is an optical illusion.

The word illusion is latin meaning “to mock”. And pictures like these just mock us!

They are effective because they send information to our brains that trick us into perceiving things that don’t match reality.

Life can be a lot like optical illusions.

But in life its not just our eyes that mock us, but the trio of the world, the flesh, and the devil gang up on us and trick us into perceiving things that don’t match reality.

And what’s sad, is that we can spend the entireity of our lives, totally conviced of an illusion, and in so doing, miss out on the beautiful realities of God.

Today, as we kick off our Advent Season in preparation for Christmas, our text is going to expose some illusions surrounding the Work of God.

God is at work church. Always has been, and always will be… but

Do you perceive it? Or has the illusion of life tricked you into thinking that He is absent, on vacation, maybe taking some R&R, or non-existent as you always thought?

Don’t be fooled church, He is always working

and the first thing our text shows us is that God is at work in Dark Days.

In Dark Days

In Dark Days

Vs. 5 beigins, “In the days of Herod, King of Judea.

The year was 4.B.C., and up to this point 400 years has transpired between the closing of the building of Nehemiah’s Wall, and the story unfolding in our text today.

400 years of silence. No voice from God. Just darkness.

And throughout that 400 years, Israel was a political ping-pong ball paddled back and forth among the major powers of the day vying for world domination.

At the close of the OT it was the Medo-Persian Empire.

But in 331 Persia was conquered by Alexander the Great, and Israel was “greek-ified.” Or Hellenized as the proper way of saying it.

Under the Macebees they experienced a little reprieve, but that only lasted about 75 years, when in 63 B.C. The Romans conquered Judea under General Pompey!

And in 40 B.C. Cesar Augustus set a local vassal king over the Jews, his name?

Herod the Great

Now Herod did some great things, he built the Jerusalem Temple, as well as some other great building projects, but by and large he was known for his cruelty.

He had a real dark side.

And his darkness was fueled by fear of political rivals.

He murdered his wife’s brother.

He put to death 46 members of the Sanhedrin.

Killed his mother-in-law, his own wife, and his 2 sons, conisdering them potential rivals to the throne.

Cesar once reported, “It is better to be Herod’s dog than one of his children!”

So it was in these dark days Luke 1 opens...

But let’s keep reading… because these were’t just dark days geopolitically, but also personally for one particular family.

Vs. 5, “a priest named Zechariah of the division Abijah…

Zechariah whose name means God Remembers, was a priest of the division of Abijah.

The service of the Jerusalem Temple was divided into 24 divisions, and each division served the ministry of the Temple for 1 week at a time, and twice a year.

And this Zechariah had a wife, Elizabeth whose name means, God is my oath, or Consecrated to God.

And surely she was, even from birth she was raised in the faith as a daughter of a priest.

So a real Religious Power Couple here, and to drive the point home Luke says,

Luke 1:6 “And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.”

This doesn’t mean they were sinless, but it does point to their moral and ceremonial zeal for obedience to the Law of God.

But there was one thing lacking in their life, and that was children.

Luke 1:7 “But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.”

Advanced in years, probably means they were in their 60s… so picture their life.

Married for well over 40 years, and for 4 decades Zechariah returns from his priestly duty, sits down to eat I’m sure a nicely prepared meal with Elizabeth, and afterwards they huddle together and remember the fact that they are aging… and as the twilight of life is fading, a shadow rests upon them.

A darkness. A Barrenness that stands as a daily reminder that regardless ofhow righteous or faithful, or blameless they are… somehow God is still displeased.

There’s nothing they can do to secure the blessing of a child, and as Proverbs 13:12 “Hope deferred makes the heart sick,...” and after 40 years of hope deferred, their barrness tempts them to bitterness.

Dark Days.

Chuch, Dark Days are inevitable

And when you find yourself in the midst of them, the world, your flesh, and the devil will flood your life with illusions.

They will whisper to you in the same way they whispered to the people of Israel.

God is silent, he has abandoned you.

400 years of political ping-pong, and He’s done nothing, God doesn’t care.

And yet, even in spite of the darkness you try to hold on, you try to remain faith filled, so like Zechariah and Elizabeth you remain righteous, and blameless, and walk with God…

And yet, he doesn’t deliver.

He doesn’t answer.

Leaving you to question, God where are you!? God will you ever do anything!?

Zechariah’s name may mean God Remembers, but the illusion of the dark days screams God has Forgotten.

But here’s what you need to know today… In the darkest days of our text, God was ready to turn on the light. Specifically to send to the world, the Light of the World, who would shine in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it.

Church God is Always Working even in Dark Days.

The second point for us this morning is that God is at work in Divine Ways

In Divine Ways

In Divine Ways

vs. 8 goes on to say, “Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.”

This wasn’t random, but a divine appointment!

You see, I mentioned it earlier but there were 24 divisions of Priests across Israel totaling about 18,000 individual priests.

Which equates to about 750 priests per division.

And each division worked the ministry of the Jerusalem Temple for 1 week at a time, but only twice a year.

And only one priest would be selected each week to step into the Holy of Holies and burn the incense.

So 2 of 750 would be selected a year!

So in the 40 years that Zechariah had been Priest, only about 10% of his division had ever been selected!

What I’m trying to say is that there was a very low chance of you ever going into the holy of holies and if you did it was a once in a lifetime opportunity!

And how was one selected?

By lottery. By the casting of lots.

Now Zechariah has been a priest for a long time up til this point, remember “he was well advanced in years, but it had never occurred.”

I’m sure just another example of the perpetual darkness or cloud that seemed to follow him.

But once again… an illusion!

Because in those dark days, God began to Work in Divine Ways.

Proverbs 16:33 “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.”

That day God had Zechariah on his mind, and was working through the lots.

God was at Work in Divine Ways, this was a divine appointment for Zechariah.

So as Zechariah enters, he sees an angel of the Lord, and responds as you and I would respond.

He shrieks in terror and hit his face, fearing his days were over.

Luke 1:13 “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 shall call his name John.”

And here lies another Divine Way that God works through… Prayer.

The angel says… your prayer has been heard.

Now what prayer!?

First, the prayer for a child. For 40 years, Zechariah and Elizabeth had prayed for a child, and here God is saying, “I have heard everyone of your prayers.”

1 Peter 3:12 “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer.”

Do you believe this church? Do you believe that God hears you when you call on him?

Or have you been mocked by the illusion, and misinterpreted the delay of his answers as indifference toward your prayers?

Prayer is one of the divine ways, through which God works. And I say that it is divine, because it isn’t something that we can control!

We don’t twist God’s arm to intervene, instead we are only commanded to ask like a little child and leave the answer to our Father who hears.

So God answered the prayer of Zechariah personally, but he was also answering the prayer of Zechariah Professionally

You see Zechariah was a priest.

And a priest served as an intermediary between the People of Israel and God.

They would speak on behalf of God and teach the people what God expects and requires, but more importnatly

They would speak on behalf of the people and intercede to God for the redemption of the sins of the people.

This is most likely what the whole multitude of the people were praying for in verse 10…

For salvation. For redemption. For freedom. For forgiveness.

Gabriel announces a miracle! He says, “for you will have a son, and all his name JOHN.”

John means God is Gracious, and this name is significant because as we learn later, nobody in Zechariah’s family had that name (Luke 1:61).

It was a divinely selected name, communicated the work of God in divine ways… That God will use this child to show his Graciousness.

And the angel says, that John would be great before the Lord, and Holy even in the womb. And that he would be used in the Work of God to prepare the people for the Lord.

And as you read the Gospels you see that he did just that.

He prepared the way by helping the Jews understand that their ancestral heritage couldn’t save them. Only faith in Jesus Christ, whose sandal John was unworthy to untie, could save.

So he told them to repent. To turn away from dependence on self, and preapre to depend on Christ and Christ alone.

In Dark Days, God was working in Divine Ways

He was sovereignly selecting, angel dispatching, prayer answering, and miracle working!

Church, so often we buy into the illusion that God isn’t Working, because He may not be working in ways we expect.

This is why so many missed JESUS as the Messiah, because he didn’t work within the confines of their own expectations.

He ate with sinners, he selected tax collectors, he healed on sabbaths, he rode donkeys, and he hung on roman crosses.

But in all of these, Jesus was Working in Divine Ways…

Don’t fall for the illusion church. He is working, and if you aren’t seeing it you may want to check your expectations.

God doesn’t work in conformity to our expectations, instead we need to conform our expectations to the Work of God as revealed in Scripture.

God works in Divine Ways, but let me give you one more.

God is also working in Determined Delays

In Determined Delays

In Determined Delays

Unfortunately the Divine Ways, didn’t align with Zechariah’s expectations either and in verse 18 he says,

Luke 1:18 “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.””

He was full of disbelief. He doubted what his old eyes were seeing. He was fooled by the illusion, and convinced that God couldn’t possibly be speaking to him by an angel… so he asks for a sign!

And Gabriel delivers the most mic drop statement of all time… “I am Gabriel who stands in the presence of God!

There are only 2 angels mentinoed in the Bible by name, and Gabriel is one of them. And by standing in the presence of God he’s communicated that he comes in the authority of God.

In essence, Gabriel is saying… You really want to question me…” But Gabriel goes on to say

I’ve come to bring you the Gospel. some really really good news! But if you want a sign… let me give you some bad news first.

You will be MUTE! Unable to speak!

Luke 1:20 “because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.””

Church, don’t miss this, Zechariah received discipline fro his disbelief, but his disbelief did not determine the delay of the fulfillment of Gabriel’s words.

What God was going to do, as spoken by Gabriel, was going to take place in God’s time. There was no doubt about it. It was a determined delay.

Isaiah 46:9–11 “I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.”

Isaiah 14:24 “The Lord of hosts has sworn: “As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand,”

Zechariah’s disbelief did not determine God’s delay.

God does. God determines his timing!

But… Zechariah’s disblief did determine his discipline.

How many of you have bought into the illusion, that you have done something that has led to a delay of God’s work?

Your sin, your doubt, your lack of prayer, your whatever has somehow altered the plan and purposes of God.

No, God determines His delays, not your disbleif.

But, your sin, doubt, lack of prayer or whatever may demand some discipline.

Church, God disciplines those that he loves. Jesus tells us that the Father PRUNES his followers, so that they will bear more fruit.

But discipline and pruning HURTS. Pruning actually wounds the branch!

Hebrews 12:11 reads, “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant...”

It HURTS

Zechariah wasn’t having fun, miming his way through life. It wasn’t fun to suffer the humiliation of silence. It was painful!

But Hebrews 12:11 ends saying, “but later it yields a peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

And that’s the goal of discipline! To strengthen us and mature us, to train us, that we may bear fruit for the Kingdom and Glory of God.

Think about it as parents…

Proverbs 22:15 tells us, “Folly is bound up in the heart of a child,”… anybody?

Aw come on. Some of you are so biased, and you think your little 18 month old is so adorable, and perfect… but its just an optical illusion! They’re not!

They are little sinners, who have folly bound up in their heart!

Your little angel sees a hot stove, and what’s the first thing they want to do!?

Because their foolish!!! Because they don’t know any different! And the responsibility of a parent is to train them.

To smack their little hand and tell them that the stove is hot, and if they touch it it will hurt them.

And to smack their hand and train them like this IS LOVE! It’s the most loving thing you can do!

And to not discipline them, would be the most evil thing we could do.

So we discipline our kids, because we love them, because we want them to know what is right and wrong, and what is good and what is evil.

God disciplines his children in like manner

Hebrews 12:10 “he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.”

But its painful!

And because its painful we get frustrated by the delay instead of focusing on the intent of our discipline!

Right!? Oh God, why aren’t you making my job more bearable! My boss is a tyrant! Don’t you see, where are you!?--- focused on the delay!

Instead, God is actually using that tyrant in your life to discipline you, to mold you, to train you, to mature you so that when that job change comes, you’re character is strong enough to support your calling!

Character will trump calling all day long, but we are too busy being disillusioned with the delay of the calling when we need to be submiissive to the discipline of our character.

You see God needed Zechariah to be a man of faith, because the time was coming when everybody in town will tell Zechariah and Elizabeth, that John is a stupid name. That he should be named something else… and ole doubtful, disbelieving Zechariah may be prone to give in.

But after he endured the discipline of the Lord, he stood firm and wrote on a tablet in Luke 1:63 “His name is John.” He then proceeded to prophecy about the redemption of Israel, and that day he became a well of faith that the whole village could draw from.

Church God is working in these determined delays, and its always for our good and maturation, and don’t worry.. all of God’s work will be fulfilled in its time. just as gabriel said.

So Luke 1:23–24 “And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home. After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived.”

Conclusion

The Old Testament closed, with 400 years of silence, but in the stillness there was a pregnancy of purpose.

God is always working ya’ll.

As darkness engulfed Israel, and filled the little village home of Zechariah and Elizabeth… God was ready to turn on the light.

As Zechariah went about his ordinary duties, on an ordinary day, God was working in Divine Ways.

As Zechariah questioned Gabriel’s message of hope, God was working in Determined Delays.

And as we celebrate the Arrival of Christ as a baby in a manger, I want to remind you this advent that He has promised to Arrive again, but this time as King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.

And it may seem dark now… but God is working even in these dark days

And it may not be what we expect… but God is working in his divine ways.

And it may not be in your timing.. but God has determined his delays.

Concerning the 2nd Coming of Christ Peter says,

2 Peter 3:1–4 “This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing (ITLL BE DARK!), following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? (IT’LL BE A PERCEIVED DELAY) For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation. (IT WON”T BE WHAT YOU EXPECT)””

2 Peter 3:8–9 “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

He is always working, and one day it will culminate His glorious return.

And God, your bride says “Come”.

Let me pray for us.