Elizabeth's Veil
Notes
Transcript
Handout
We spent 5 weeks talking about doing nothing. The basic idea is this: God is the one in charge, who has the plan, who knows when and how to fix things. The logical conclusion: there will be (many) times when I want God to act, but he has not decided to act yet. The right thing to do then is “nothing.”
However, there are different ways of doing nothing, some that are faithful and some that are not; some that are helpful, and some that are not. It is one thing to wait. It is another to expect. Advent is all about waiting well—about expectation. This Advent we are going to focus on what it means to wait well-to wait with expectation—by looking at a series of stories known as the “annunciations:” stories in which God announces to a couple that they are going to have a miracle child. In scripture there are five annunciations: Sarah and Abraham, the parents of Sampson, the parents of Samuel, Elizabeth and Zechariah, and Mary and Joseph.
Luke 12:35-46
Luke 12:35-46
The difference between good waiting and bad waiting is expectation: are you expecting God to act? Because if so, you need to be ready.
Luke 1:2-35
Luke 1:2-35
Elizabeth and Zechariah were waiting for God to INTERVENE in their LIVES. (1:6-7, 13)
Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.
The Jews were waiting for God to INTERVENE in the WORLD. (1:13-17, Malachi 4:5-6)
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. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 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. He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 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.”
“See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”
Zechariah was not expecting God to act because he was FOCUSED on his own CAPACITIES. (1:18, Romans 4:17-20)
Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”
As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.
Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,
Elizabeth was expecting God to act because she knew God’s CHARACTER and PROMISES. (1:24-5, 42-45, 59-60)
After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. “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.”
In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”
On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.”
Zechariah learned expectation by WAITING and WATCHING God work. (1:63-79)
Living in Expectation (2 Peter 3:3-14)
Living in Expectation (2 Peter 3:3-14)
Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.
Living in expectation means behaving in HOLY ways—DEDICATING your life to God’s will. (2 Peter 3:11, Luke 1:6)
Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly.
Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives
Living in expectation means HONORING God—TRUSTING your life to God’s will. (3:11, Luke 1:24-25)
After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. “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.”
Living in expectation means INVESTING your life in FULFILLING God’s will. (3:12, Luke 1:63)
as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.
He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.”
