God Keeps His Promise

Introduction

Advent is a season where we prepare to celebrate the arrival of Jesus. The word advent means coming as in the arrival of Jesus. All of us can relate to the preparations of the Christmas season. Just look around this space. It has been wonderfully transformed in preparation of celebrating the birth of our Savior for this Advent season.

And I would assume many of your homes are being prepared to Christmas as well. Some have all kinds of lights to hang. Others have nativities to place and wreaths to freshen up. And some of us more savage people will go and chop down a tree to honor the birth of Christ.

One of the most memorable traditions we had growing up was the baking of Christmas cookies. Mom would spend days gathering groceries, organizing the recipes written on 3x5 cards and carefully baking, decorating, and storing some of the best treats a boy could hope for. We had a table in the living room which was adorned with a long table cloth. under the traditional red and green cloth were hidden containers of cookies. Chocolate Chip, Crume Kaka Cookies, Peanut butter cookies with a hersey’s kiss in the center, my favorite were the bird’s nests which were chow mein noodles, covered in melted chocolate and peanuts. There were others, but these were my favorites.

What preparations do you make? How do you prepare your home and food and presents for the holiday season?

But I wonder with all the preparation we make around this time of year, do we pause daily to prepare our hearts to fully embrace the magnitude of this celebration? How much time does a bride put into getting ready for her wedding? How much preparation goes into a job interview? How much preparation is necessary for school homework and sports activities?

This morning I want us to consider how God himself prepared the way for the coming of Jesus. His preparation was not external, but was focused on the hearts of the people He loved. God went to great lengths to prepare for Jesus birth and in the same way He desires to prepare you heart for the celebration and remembrance of God breaking into human history in the person of Jesus.

The People of the Promise

Luke 1:5–7 ESV

5 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. 6 And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. 7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.

Luke 1:5-

For roughly 400 years before this moment God’s people had heard nothing from God via a prophet or a man of God that was new. The promise of the Messiah which means rescuer was still present, yet no word of anything had come. But the moment is here where all that changed. What was once silence, would ironically become a silent man after hearing of a promise being kept.

We are introduced to a sweet couple advanced in years named Zechariah and Elizabeth. Zechariah was a priest who served in the temple. He served two weeks a year full time in the temple and the rest of his year he would work the land he lived on to provide for his family. Sadly, this couple had no children.

Scripture is clear in Luke that they had not children not because of sin they had committed. It was a common belief that if you had no children it was because you were guilty of something or your parents were. But they were blameless in all the commandments and statutes of the law.

They were righteous people on the outside and the inside which could not be said of all religious leaders of that day or this one.

They were by no means sinless, but they were God fearing, God worshipping people. And it would be upon this unsuspecting and undeserving couple that God would graciously begin the preparations for the birth of His Son.

The Promise Foretold

Luke 1:8-

Luke 1:8–15 ESV

8 Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, 9 according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. 11 And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 12 And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. 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. 14 And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 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.

The beginning of this promise long foretold coming to fruition begins with God selecting Zechariah through the normal customs of the day to serve in the temple or the sanctuary. He was to go into the inner chambers.

What is amazing about his selection is the odds of being chosen to serve in this way. With around 18,000 priests serving at two weeks annually, the odds of having this duty fall to you may never occur in one’s lifetime. But God wanting to use this couple to prepare the way for Jesus, at just the right time, Zechariah was selected by lot to serve.

He enters at the appropriate time to burn the incense while people pray to God. When he enters he sees something unexpected. God had been silent for 400 years, but in this moment an angel of the Lord appeared.

Fear immediately fell over Zechariah. And anytime someone in the bible has an encounter with God fear and awe are the emotions displayed.

When was the last time you were in awe of God? When was the last time the presence of God brought a sense of fear because of His presence?

The angel brings words of comfort and peace. The prayers of Elizabeth and Zachariah had been heard. They will bear a son in their advanced years. His name will be John.

The name John means Yahweh has been gracious. This is significant. The name signifies that the childlessness and insufficiency of the aged couple have been relieved not by their own piety or merit but by divine grace.

In a world filled with entitlement, the idea of grace here is refreshing. God gives what they don’t deserve. And perhaps in this season of preparation for the arrival of Jesus we would be will served in being reminded that we don’t deserve any of what we have.

This child will be great before the Lord. There is no promise of great renown before people, but he will be great in the sight of God. As such he will be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Remember the Holy Spirit has been active in the world and working. But the Holy Spirit had rarely indwelt a person. Jesus is the one who made it possible by his death burial and resurrection to have God’s people sealed with the Holy Spirit.

Like the prophets of old this boy would grow up to speak for God because God through the influence of the Holy Spirit would speak through John.

The outcome of the life of John was to turn many of the people’s hearts toward God. What greater hope could we have than that God would use our children to change hearts and lives.

But this is where the main OT promise is revealed. John will make ready for the Lord a people prepared.

What is that Old Testament promise?

Isaiah 40:3 ESV

3 A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Malachi 3:1 ESV

1 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.

John is the promised one to prepare the way for the Lord. He will be the one crying out from the wilderness.

This is one of the greatest promises outside of Jesus made in the bible. God’s promise to prepare the way for the coming of His Son is gracious and kind.

just like you prepare your house for guests, God prepares His house, his people for Jesus. Just like venues are prepared for the arrival of a big act, so God prepares his nation for the arrival of His son.

Whenever royalty traveled there was typically a road crew ahead to fill in the low spots of the road and to bring low the high spots so that the travel was easier. This visual picture is what John would do.

He would make a level playing field through his preaching of repentance. It didn’t matter your family background. It didn’t matter your financial situation. It wouldn’t matter how religious you were. John was going to bring the high low and lift the low up through preaching repentance.

To put it simply he prepared the way for others.

What about me? What am I preparing the way for? What am I actively doing so that those around me will be prepared to see Jesus for who He is?

The Promise Disbelieved

Luke 1:18–23 ESV

18 And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” 19 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. 20 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.” 21 And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. 22 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. 23 And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home.

Luke 1:

I am always amazed that when God does something unexpected and over the top, like sending an angel to speak to someone, that typically the response is a lack of faith.

After God reveals all this to Zechariah his response is, but I am old and how can I know this will happen.

Where are you not believing God?

The Promise Kept

Luke 1:24–25 ESV

24 After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, 25 “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”

Luke 1:

Just like Zechariah and Elizabeth had the black stain of no kids removed from their family life, you and I can have have the black stain of sin removed from our souls.