The Lord Who Remembers

Intro

We are continuing through the Gospel of Luke, and our message today is through the announcement of the forerunner of Christ, the one who is to prepare the people for Christ, John the Baptist. Luke’s account is the only gospel that has this specific details in for the birth account. Luke begins here because he is seeking for a full and orderly account, as he stated in verse 3, and to show God’s preparation for His people in not only John’s ministry, but his birth.

All the gospels follow quickly after the Old Testament’s last book Malachi, which can let us quickly forget, that between Malachi and the coming of Christ is 400 years. 400 years without a prophet in the land. 400 years without direct revelation from their God who has promised them salvation, a messiah, and a new kingdom. As the people of God sit under the thumb of Rome many of them must have wondered, has God forgotten us? Where is He?

Luke shows that the Lord, in His perfect timing, does not forget as we do. He does things in His timing, perfectly. It is why I titled today’s message: The Lord Who Remembers.

Do you think God has forgotten you, people of Rothsay Baptist? Do you think that He has forgotten our community, our church, you who sit in your seat, or even those who are joining us online? As we read through this passage, let us see the care that God has for His people. Let us pray before our reading.

The Prayer

Lord God of all. I thank you for our time of worship in community. Let us not take this for granted and fight for every opportunity to gather together. Lord I pray that You would guide my heart, my mouth, my spirit, and even my body as I preach this message. I pray that it would remind us all who feel that the You have forgotten us, that You know our burdens, better than we do. Let us see your wonderful preparation and timing, and remember that You are not slow to work as we deem slowness, but timing all things for Your glory. In Jesus name, we pray, amen.

The Reading

Luke 1:5–25 “In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years. Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. 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 you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will 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, and he will 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 for the Lord a people prepared.” And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.” And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. And 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. And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home. After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.””

Three Points

The text will be broken up into three points.

The Remembered Priest (v. 5-10)

The Remembered Promise (v.11-17)

The Remembered People (v.18-26)

The Remembered Priest (v.5-10)

The text starts, like many ancient historical texts, starts with who is the ruler at the time. This lets the reader know what time frame the events are taking place. While this is the primary function, there is a secondary function of it, and it tells of what state the land is in at this time. In our modern day, if we talked about who was president during a certain event, we can get an idea of the general climate of the country at that time. This would also be true of King Herod. You see there are many people who liked King Herod, because he served in rebuilding the temple, and was actually quite generous to the poor. He tried really hard to keep up his image because he is Idumean, or an Edomite, who were thought of as enemies of Israel. Many of the Jewish people were suspect of him because of this. So Herod went out of his way to please both the Jews and the Romans to keep his rule under control. However, he has a dark side that many of us are know about. You see he was quite paranoid that someone would take over the nation, so paranoid that at the thought of the Messiah, the new king, being in his kingdom he kills all the young male children in the area to make sure that his rule is secure. He is a foreshadowing of the spiritual leadership at the time. Though on the outside he seems like someone who is doing good for others, it is only for his own gain. Not for God’s sake. This is how the Pharisees were as well. Spiritual and obedient on the outside, but as our Lord tells us, making them as much sons of hell as they are.

During this time, this reign, there is a man named Zachariah, whose name literally translates the Lord has remembered, some of your translations might have his Greek name Zacharias. He is a priest. He would be on who is worshipping during this time of seeming silent. Quietly obedient and set aside for the task of being a mediator for his people on behalf of God. This shows his holy dedication to the things of God. His wife, Elizabeth, is also a daughter of Aaron, of the same priestly line. She would’ve been exposed not only from her husband, but from her upbringing the priestly habits of worship and devotion. The text even builds on this and says, they were both righteous before God. This doesn’t mean perfection, but it does mean that anyone who would look at them would say they are God fearing and obedient to the Law to a degree that was unlike many in their generation. Yet, they were not blessed with a child. Even in their obedience, things were not easy or perfect. The conjunction “but” used in the beginning of verse 7, shows a clear contrast between their obedience and faithfulness. It is not because they did something wrong that they were childless. Elizabeth joins many of the women of the Old Testament, such as Hannah and Sarah, who were barren for the sake of God’s timing. At this time, many women were brought to shame due to barrenness being seen as a direct curse from God. For if God is the God of the womb, why would He not give you the blessing of children? There are even prophets like Isaiah and Hosea who pray that their enemies would be barren and childless, which is a curse that unfortunately many young women today are choosing to put on themselves because of the tide of culture. Here in the West, we tend to forget that children are a blessing. To the people of the Scripture, as it should be to us, children are always seen as a blessing. The psalmist echoes this in Psalm 127:4–5 “Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.” Like disease, barrenness is a curse, but it is not always associated with the sin of the individual. Many times it is simply the result of the Fall of man and sin’s effect on creation. In this case, God uses the barrenness of Elizabeth to show His glory as He has done before. To show that the You see, even today there are many blessings that are better in the timing of the Lord versus ours. This faithful couple got to give birth to the final prophet of old, John the Baptist, who prepares the way for the Messiah. Do we not remember in our own lives when God withheld a blessing from us for our own sake? Do we not think, man praise You Lord for not answering that prayer? Have we not had a prayer that was answered in a way that was better than we anticipated? We must remember this in times of what seems like silence. Not that every wish we have will be granted, but that the Lord works all things, both the good and the bad, for the good of those who love Him. Let us trust His timing in all things, for we have seen that He is trustworthy and worthy of all praise.

Continuing in the text we see that Zachariah was serving as a priest, doing as he normally does, and he knew that his division was on duty this week. So the priests were divided into 24 divisions and each division served about 2 weeks a year. This was a big deal for Zachariah and he knew that it would be important. This is a tradition continuing from the days of David when he divvied up the different tasks to each of the different sons of the priests in 1 Chronicles 24This hour of incense happened twice a day, and was a time to lift the prayers of the people to the Lord. Incense was used to cover the smell of burned offering to make a pleasing aroma, but it also lifted the smoke into heaven, as if to lift our very prayers to God Himself. This task was a big deal, but each division, as one commentary put, was about 18,000 priests. Assuming this is true, Zachariah was picked out of 18,000 other priests. This wasn’t done democratically, but in verse 9 it states that it was done by lot. They did this to allow the Lord to pick who would be the one to burn incense, the one who would go into the high place. Priests waited their whole life for this opportunity, and many of them don’t get it, yet God picked the priest who would have been thought of to have a wife cursed by God. The faithful priest, who on the outside looked like God had either cursed or forgotten, was blessed and brought to remembrance. Not only was he not cursed, but he was told that he has been heard. And will be exalted more than many of us ever will, for the Remembered Priest gets to share the Remembered Promise.

The Remembered Promise (v. 11-17)

The prayers of the people are answered. 400 years of silence is answered as the angel appears at the right side of the altar of incense. This detail does not have theological significance, but it does paint a picture, a vivid picture that the eyewitness remembers exactly where the angel stood. And Zechariah trembles and quakes in fear at the sight of the angel, as many who see angels do. Is it the angels holiness in contrast with our sinfulness that makes this reaction so natural? Is it the form that they take like so many internet memes joke about on the internet? It is not explicitly clear, but it definitely must have been memorable and entirely unexpected. Angels were not always signs of good news either, for they can pass out judgement in whole cities like one did in Egypt in Exodus or Assyria in Kings, but this one brought great news. Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth were to have a son and name him John, which means, “God is gracious.” This name is not in either of the family lines, which is uncommon, but serves a purpose. You see, in the beginning, Adam was the one who got to name the animals, and even Eve herself, so the father naming their children would be a continuation of that authority. By God choosing the name, they are surrendering that right to worship God and acknowledge that He ultimately has the right to call things what He wants. Zachariah’s reaction to this, seems to prove what was said in verse 6 as he has little to no issue with this, if it is true.

This child doesn’t just get a unique name, but he serves a unique role as the forerunner of the Christ, the Messiah to come. This will bring joy to many of the people, for he will be great before the Lord, which is some of the best news one could hear from an angel, but he doesn’t stop there. The angel gives the command to basically start John’s life with the Nazerite vow, a vow that was meant for a period to show serious devotion and willing to sacrifice much for the Lord. Sampson is the most well-known person to take one in the Bible, but his like John’s is from birth. John was to be set aside in a unique way that many other Jews and even prophets did not get to experience. Part of this includes the filling of the Holy Spirit in the womb. That the Spirit of God would be upon John before he has even entered the world. This allows the first witness to Jesus, as we will get to in a later sermon, is a fetus in the womb.

Many of these blessings that are given to John the Baptist are things that I have prayed over my own son, because who wouldn’t want these gift for their own child? But these blessings serve a specific purpose. As the forerunner of Christ, as the NASB puts it, he is to prepare the people for the Messiah. He comes to fulfill what the last prophet foretold that Malachi 4:5–6 states, ““Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”” John will preach a gospel of repentance, to turn the fathers to their sons, to reestablish the familial ties that have been broken due to disobedience. To restore not only the family, but the nation of Israel for the glory of God. John is to fulfill his role in God’s remembered promise to His remembered people.

The Remembered People (v. 18-26)

So after this explanation from the angel, Zechariah asks, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” At first glance, this may seem like a reasonable question, many of God’s people asked for a sign. However, who was the one talking to him? A messenger from the Lord Himself, speaking of the prophecies of old. He could simply have waited for the Lord to work and see the results and trusted in the Lord. Zechariah was also a priest. He should be familiar with what God has done in the past with the men of old. How is a man of God so surprised that the Lord would do as He has done for many women of old like Hannah, Rebekah, Rachel, and of course Sarah the wife of Abraham, the father of their faith? Unfortunately, he reflects many of our own tendencies. Our tendency to drift away from the Lord. Our tendency to forget the goodness of God. Our tendency to forget what God has done, not only for our forefathers in the faith, but for us in our very own lives.

So the angel, probably being a little frustrated,

Conclusion