Sermon Tone Analysis

Paving the Way

When we lived in Liberia, the roads were horrible!

A road trip no longer than from here to Canton would take us hours.

This is a picture taken from the front porch of the home that we built.

Here are a few pictures of what the roads looked like… especially during the rainy season.

The roads were horrible and traveling in the country seemed somewhat hopeless.

But, we started to hear rumors that a Chinese company was coming to Liberia to build the road.

We thought, hey that would be great, but we aren’t going to get our hopes up until we start to see someone actually doing some work.

Sure enough, after years of hearing people talk about this road that would some day come, the Chinese company started building their construction base.

Then they started to bull doze the old road and the surrounding trees to prepare the way.

I don’t know how many of you have ever done road construction but a lot of work needs to be done before you can ever lay down the asphalt that you and I drive on.

A lot of preparations have to take place before you can pave.

The thing is, is that most people never really even see all the effort that goes into the work of preparing to pave.

As we look at the history of the world, from the fall of Man in the garden to the text we will look at today in Luke chapter 1, God has been preparing to pave.

He has been laying the ground work so that the way for the promised Messiah can be paved.

Throughout the whole Old Testament there is a common thread that runs through… asking, when is He coming?

When is this promised Deliverer to come?

Then, as the Old Testament is completed there was prophetic silence.

Then, as we saw 2 weeks ago, after 400 years of silence, God starts to speak again.

God begins to communicate His plan of redemption to the world again and He chooses to use some of the least likely people.

Last week we saw the tremendous truths expressed to Mary that she would bear the Promised Deliverer... the loving awaited Messiah... and his name would be called Jesus.

If you will remember, Elizabeth was also told that she would bear a son and his name would be John.

The angel Gabriel informed Elizabeth and Zechariah that their son would play an important role in paving the way for the Messiah.

Let’s read and remind ourselves what the angel Gabriel toldZechariah and Elizabeth about their future son.

Read

Verse 17 is one of the reasons that John is referred to as the “forerunner” to Christ.

We are going to talk about that in just a little bit.

Now let’s fast forward 9 months and pick up the story when this promised birth comes to pass.

Zechariah can’t believe what he is hearing...

Look with me at .

These verses help to set the context for our study today.

(Find opening illustration about “Paving the way” that ties well into the idea of the message).

Verse 80 gives us the only factual details about John’s upbringing... he “grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel”.

All that we know about John’s life prior to his public ministry was that he was in the desert when he received his call during the priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas ().

Today we are going to look at what the Bible does say about John leading up to his prophetic birth and how God would use John to progress His story of hope… His plan of redemption in the world.

Today in our character study of John, we are going to see the prophetic role that John would play as the forerunner … paving the way for the Messiah.

The Scriptures devote only one sentence to John’s upbringing, and it is found in verse 80 after the conclusion of Zechariah’s song: “And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel.”

John spent years in the desert until A.D. 27 when he received his call during the priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas (Luke 3:2).

Then John burst onto the scene as a bigger-than-life Old Testament prophet.

First, let’s look back at verse 13, at a birth announcement of Prophetic Confirmation.

Zechariah can’t believe what he is hearing...

I. Prophetic Confirmation

a. Birth announcement (13)

Remember Zechariah was doing his duty as priest and then all of a sudden the angel Gabriel shows up and gives his some shocking news… Zechariah you and Elizabeth are going to have a baby!!!

Remember what happened after Gabriel makes this birth announcement?

Zechariah can’t believe what he is hearing…in verse 13 Gabriel says... “Zechariah, your prayers have been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.”

How many of us have had children?

How many of us have had an angel sent directly from God tell us that we are expecting?

Probably not many!

One important thing to understand about this event is the importance of the announcement.

This angelic announcement is given a super high level of importance because it is coming from an authoritative messenger of God.

Look over a few verses at verse 18, where Zechariah says, “How shall I know this?

For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”

I love this part of the story.

(and notice that Zechariah calls himself an old man, but he is wise enough not to call his wife an old woman… she is “advanced in years”).

Somehow I don’t think that is any better.

How does the angel respond?

Look at verse 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.”

Gabriel was sent from the very presence of God to hand deliver a message to Zechariah.

Gabriel brings an important message of hope directly from God and delivers it to whom?… Zechariah.

The authoritative announcement of this birth should make us stop and pay attention.

God is doing something… Something special is about to happen.... and it has something to do with this baby boy who would be named John.

Angelic Announcement — The importance of this announcement is evident by its coming from an authoritative messenger (the angel Gabriel), by its allusions to Scripture, and by its later fulfillment.

The angelic announcement has been prophetically made with the authority directly from the throne room of heaven.

Now let’s look at the prophetic character of the baby who would be named John.

II.

Prophetic Character (14-15)

a.

Great before the Lord (

In verse 14 Gabriel says that they would have “joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his brith,”

b.

Nazarite or not?

I’m sure that Elizabeth and Zechariah were overjoyed to be given the gift of a baby.

The joy and gladness that Gabriel is speaking of here is more than personal feelings of parenthood.

God has announced the arrival of the Messianic age.

The joy and gladness Gabriel is announcing is a joy that can only come from the prophetic fulfillment of the coming of the Messiah.

For hundreds of years now, people had been waiting for a word from the Lord.

Many, I’m sure had lost hope.

But, the birth of John would rekindle hope within the people.

His ministry would call people to a new hope of redemption and prophetic peace.

a.

Great before the Lord (

The first real character quality we see about John is given to us in verse 15.

Look at verse 15 with me: “for he will be great before the Lord.”

The phrase “great before the Lord”, can also be translated as “great in the sight of the Lord.”

This probably reflects a little bit clearer understanding of the phrase.

This was a common NT phrase describing divine approval.

— John was great in the only way that it truly mattered… in the sight of the Lord.

As Gabriel describes that John would be “great in the sight of the Lord”, he explains by giving two aspects of his character related to the fact that John will be “filled with the Spirit”.

b.

Filled with the Spirit (not with wine or strong drink)

Verse 15 continues by saying… “And he must not drink wine or strong drink and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

Here we are told one physical aspect of John’s life as well as one spiritual aspect.

First, John would not drink any wine or liquor.

His lifestyle would be one of moderation, self-denial, and self-control.

His choice of clothing (camel’s hair and leather belt) and diet (locusts & wild honey) would reflect his lack of desire for worldly pleasures.

John would be so preoccupied with the work of God that he would distance himself from all worldly pleasures and vices.

On a side note.

Abstaining from wine and strong drink was an important element to the Nazarite vow ().