Praying and trusting the Lord for the difficult and humanly impossible"
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Introduction:
Introduction:
How do we/can we determine what is difficult and what is humanly impossible?
“The difficult we do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer.” (US Armed Forces slogan)
Few situations were more difficult and humanly impossible than the one personally faced by Hezekiah, one of Judah’s later kings.
- King Hezekiah’s response to Isaiah, the prophet’s message, “Thus says that the LORD, ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.” - 2 Kings 20:1
2 Kings 20:2 - turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD - God Most High - possessor of heaven and earth.
- REFLECTED ON HAVING DONE HIS BEST TO BE A MAN OF FAITH WITHOUT DUPLICITY - Please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.
Summation in the Scriptures - trusted in the Lord - 2 Kings 18:5 - previous prayer when Judah was distressed with threats from a nearby power - 2 Kings 19:3-4 - continued prayer after repeated foreign threat - 2 Kings 19:15-19 - God’s answer - I will crush this foreign power - Sennacherib & care for you - 2 Kings - 19:21-28, 29-31 - THE ZEAL OF THE LORD WILL DO THIS.
With that backdrop - Hezekiah ill and message of death. GOD HEARD HIS PRAYER, INTERVENED IN THE IMPOSSIBLE GIVING HIM 15 MORE YEARS.
WHILE FEW SITUATIONS SEEM MORE DIFFICULT AND HUMANLY IMPOSSIBLE THAN IMMINENT DEATH, THE SITUATIONS THAT WE WILL CONSIDER THESE NEXT FEW WEEKS PROBABLY WOULD HAVE SEEMED JUST AS DIFFICULT AND HUMANLY IMPOSSIBLE.
These accounts from the Word of God are especially relevant these days.
From an increasing segment of today’s world, secular, irreligious and religious, the real-life events of the long-promised Immanuel are regarded as way beyond the difficult and in their minds impossible for man and even God.
BUT for those who then and now who continue to believe, pray and trust the Lord, the examples of Zechariah and Elizabeth affirm our faith.
We see this in the context of the announcement of the birth of John, later John the baptizer, who prepared the way for the Lord.
The birth of John was foretold to:
Faithful believers who faith was stretched - Lk 1:5-7
Life for faithful believers like Zechariah & Elizabeth was not easy. In that day, many of those who professed faith in Jehovah/Yahweh
Since the days of Abraham - times of blessing & cursing, allowed to occupy and govern the land promised to them, captivity, return, control by the latest victorious foreign kingdom
Succession of God’s prophets - all rejected. 400 years since Malachi.
Like a few other faithful believers sustained by the LORD of hosts’ promise delivered by Malachi. Zechariah quoted that and other OT Scriptures when he began to speak after 9 months of silence because he initially refused to believe.
“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.
But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
in the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
Zechariah believed that the son born to Elizabeth was part of the LORD of hosts fulfilling His promise to give light to those sat in darkness.
CONTEXT:
Luke’s intro connected OT & NT
John the Baptist - fulfillment of an OT prophecy
Through Gabriel, God broke centuries of silence
John’s birth miraculous
John - divinely prophesied forerunner of the Messiah
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
Zechariah - “Jehovah has remembered”
Herod - Herod 1 - first and greatest - Herod’s father had supported Julius Caesar at the battle of Pompey and for that had been appointed procurator of Judea
Herod - not a Jew - an Edomite - descendant of Esau - traditional enemy of Israel.
Proud, ruthless, jealous and paranoid
Priest - sacred and respected privilege - sacred and respected position - agents of God’s rule in Israel’s theocracy - brought people to God by interceding and offering sacrifices for theirs and the sins of others.
Part of division of Abijah - 1 of 24 divisions - 8th Abijah - only 4 of 24 divisions
Expected to marry and Israelite woman who was a virgin - Lev 21:7; Ezek 44:22
Wife - Elizabeth - named after Aaron’s wife - “My God is an oath.”
Both righteous before God:
As compared to before/in the sight of men
Justified by faith like Abraham - believed in the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness - Gen 15:6
Walking blameless in all the commandments of the Lord blameless.
Would have believed God’s Word true and law right and true, but could not be kept - therefore the need of repentance and faith.
The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
“Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,
but the righteous shall live by his faith.
But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Not only righteous before God but also blameless.
Blameless = sanctified
Luke 1–5: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Zacharias’s Personal Righteousness
“Christ … justifies no man without also sanctifying him” (John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, III, 16, 1
And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
BUT:
No child & Elizabeth barren
Seen by many as a sign of divine disfavor - reproach - 1:25
Others in similar situations has wept and prayed for children - Rachel & Hannah
When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!”
OVER THE YEARS, WE HAVE LEARNED AND RECOGNIZED THAT HAVING CHILDREN IS MUCH MORE COMPLEX AND PRIVATE THAN WE DARE EXPLORE TODAY.
UNTIL RECENT GENERATIONS, BIRTHING OR ADOPTING THE NEXT GENERATION, WAS FOR MOST ESSENTIAL FOR ECONOMIC AND EMOTIONAL STABILITY.
HAVING SAID THAT, WE DO WELL TO ASK OURSELVES HOW WE SHOULD VIEW GOD USING US OR CEASING TO USE US TO THE END THAT ANOTHER GENERATION COME TO NEW LIFE IN CHRIST.
Advanced in years.
2. Faithful servants who were afraid when their faith was stretched. - Lk 1:8-17
The BUT that weighed heavily on the hearts of Zechariah and Elizabeth did not sour their commitment to serve.
Heavily - prayer had bee heard - 1:13 - reproach sense - 1:25