ZECHARIAH-TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL

ZECHARIAH-TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL Luke 1:5-20 December 3,  2000 Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Introduction One of the favorite movies of the Christmas season, maybe one of the favorites of all time is "It's a Wonderful Life". You'll see it on television again this year, I'm sure. The movie starts off with an angel who needs to earn his wings and is being given an assignment to go to earth and help a man named George Bailey, a banker who has lost all hope and feels useless. Out of desperation George Bailey is ready to commit suicide and the angel rescues him and begins to show him what life would have been like if he hadn't lived. Mr. Bailey regains a sense of purpose, the angel returns to heaven, having accomplished his purpose, and George and his family are happy again. And everyone is reassured after all that it is a wonderful life. The film closes with the ringing of a Christmas bell, which assures George that his angel has received his wings. Because, as everyone knows (at least in the film) that when a bell rings on earth it means some angel in heaven has earned his wings. Good movie-bad theology. The subject of angels is prominent in the Bible, with well over 300 references to them. My hope is to look at three or four of the accounts of the ministry of angels surrounding the birth of Christ in these three advent weeks leading up to Christmas Eve Sunday. There are some things I believe the Lord would like for us to understand about Him and His will for us out of these stories and, along the way we will be learning a little more about these creatures we call angels. As we do we will debunk a few "angel myths" and get a better understanding of these beings whom Billy Graham calls "God's Special Agents." Turn in your Bibles to the gospel of Luke, the first chapter. Our text this morning begins at verse 5. Textual Study "In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly. But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well along in years." Here's a nice couple-the kind of people you'd love to have for your neighbors-always interested in doing the right thing. Both were from families in the line of priests. They were loyal and obedient servants. The one thing they had prayed for and asked of the Lord for all these years was a child-a son, perhaps who could serve like his father as a priest. Maybe he would even serve as high priest someday? But there was never a child, and now they were well beyond childbearing years. The dream had died and they had gotten more comfortable with the stigma of being childless. It was to good Hebrew people like them a curse to not have had a child. Many said that if a couple had no children it was because God was judging them for some heinous sin in their lives. So they lived with their sorrow and their quiet disappointment with God. It was almost like a cruel joke, given the meaning of their names. Zechariah means "The Lord remembers" and Elizabeth means "My God is faithful." He had been anything but faithful to them, they thought to themselves. But, they knew God had His reasons and they had finally resigned themselves to their fate. They had not way of knowing what they were about to discover -that God had been planning all along to honor them with a son named "John" - which mean "gift of God." Verse 8 - Once when Zechariah's division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside. There were 24 divisions of priests and each division took turns attending to the temple duties. They covered many responsibilities, one of which was the burning of the incense at the altar. It was considered a holy and special task because the smoke of the incense was the symbolic representation of the prayers and longings of the people to God. There were so many priests in a division that the honor of burning incense might happen once in a lifetime for a priest. Zechariah's name came up in the drawing this week, and it was a very special occasion for him. You can imagine how excited he was. And Elizabeth was probably back home fixing a big meal of celebration because she had probably invited all their friends to dinner that night. As she prayed and cooked she thought of how the table conversation might go - "so, tell us, Zechariah, what was it like?" "Did you sense the presence of the Lord?" "How long did you stay at the altar?' "Did you have any trouble getting the incense lit?" Meanwhile, Zechariah is performing the most memorable duty of his whole priestly career. Suddenly, memorable is given a whole new meaning. Verse 11: "Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the alter of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. 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 give him the name John.'" Are you ever awakened in the middle of the night, 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning, and you can't get back to sleep? You figure you're supposed to pray, though you don't have any idea what for. You dutifully pray, and you still can't sleep. So you get up and stumble your way to the kitchen to get a glass of water. You flip on the light, and there, standing by the refrigerator, is an angel. How do you respond? What do you say? "Whassup?" somehow seems inappropriate. Probably you do like Zechariah does and you stand there "gripped with fear" and unable to speak. So the angel speaks first, and he says what every good angel has learned to say when they appear to frightened human beings: "Don't be afraid." In one quick sentence the angel gives him the life-changing news that they are finally going to have their baby, and he even tells him what to name the baby! Don't you suppose Zechariah is thinking to himself, "Wow, they are never going to believe this at dinner tonight!" or "Wait 'til Elizabeth hears this!" Angels are God's emissaries. The Bible says they are created beings, so they are not eternal, like God. But they are of a higher order than human beings (Psalm 8 says we are made a "little lower than the angels"). Angels are usually invisible, although they are given a human form now and again when doing their jobs on earth. They always appear as men, though. This may shatter your notions that they are blond females. Incidentally the never appear on earth with wings either, nor with harps. There are "fallen angels"-the devil and all his band are angels who rebelled against God's authority in heaven. The jobs of angels included protecting and guiding God's people (although there is nothing about each person having his own guardian angel). They carry messages, of course (their name, ANGELLOS, means messenger), and, generally, doing the bidding of the Lord. In the heavenlies they stay busy praising the Lord, especially when someone on earth repents of sin-that's when the Bible says they get extra excited. Angels seem to be getting a lot of press these days-bad press in many cases. Angels are a craze these days-from movies to television series to little figurines and whole books written about alleged appearances of angels. I wouldn't believe everything I hear or read about angels. But there really is an amazing amount of material that can be gleaned from the Bible about angels. If you're interested I would recommend Billy Graham's book, interestingly entitled Angels. The angel in our text continues. Verse 14: 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 from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back 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 fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous-to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." It wasn't enough that this couple was going to have a baby-but the child is going to be mightily used by God! I'm sure Zechariah was taking all this in, thinking to himself: "Yes, he's to take a Nazirite vow.filled with the Holy Spirit from birth?!-at least he'll be well behaved for his old parents!-and you say he's going to be used to spark revival in Israel?!. Like Elijah?! He's going to be the forerunner for the Messiah?! Wait a minute-this is too unbelievable! Anyway, I'm 65 years old and so is Elizabeth!" So he turns to the angel and speaks. Verse 18: "Zechariah asked the angel, "How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years." Oops! As soon as he said these words he probably realized, "Wait a minute-I'm talking to an angel! Just like Abraham and Sarah who laughed when she heard such news!" This is, you realize, a study in how not to speak to an angel, even if he is delivering unbelievable news. "Faithlessness 101." Verses 19 and 20 give the angel's response: "The angel answered, 'I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time.'" Notice the authority. The messenger identifies himself by name (one of only two angels mentioned by name in the Bible--Gabriel and Michael, the archangel). He says, "You don't believe me? Look, I stand in the presence of God. You're standing here putting a match to incense, hoping your prayers will reach Him-I talk to Him daily. He gives me orders, like go tell Zechariah the news that he's finally going to have a son. So I leave heaven, catch the southbound, fight with the traffic in the second heaven (miserable this time of year)-I come all this way to give you the message --some pretty good news, I might add-and this is the thanks I get?" Maybe that's not exactly the way it went. But clearly Zechariah's response is not meeting with heavenly favor. Because Gabriel aims his remote at Zechariah and pushes the "mute" button, and now Zechariah is unable to talk. There goes the joy of sharing his story over dinner tonight! Struck dumb, he will not speak again until he proves he is obedient to the word he received. In nine months the baby is born and everyone crowds around Elizabeth congratulating her. Someone asks, "So, what's his name? Zach, Junior? Maybe Aaron or Abijah?" Elizabeth dutifully says, "John." "What? Why John? Nobody in your family is named John." "Ask his father." "Zechariah, what're you going to name the baby?" He thought only for a moment and asked for a writing tablet. He wrote, in obedience to the word of the angel, "His name is John." And verse 64 says, "Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak, praising God." Lessons we should take from this text 1. Believe in angels 2. Understand the nature of God He has a plan for getting things done He communicates that plan to His people He involves people in His work 3. Instant obedience is the key to being meaningfully involved in God's purposes 4. Listening is the key to instant obedience Report out this past week re: the difference between how men and women listen - cranial leads with computer images shoed that women use both sides of their brain when listening. Men use only one side. Women are saying, "I knew it-they don't listen to us!" Of course, men interpret the data a little differently and conclude this way. Men listen so well and their brains are so superior that they only need one side of their brain to listen (ROSE) Whatever, it takes focus and concentration. "Listening Room"     [Back to Top]