Zechariah: The Song of Belief
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“Don’t make me come down there”. - GOD
“Don’t make me come down there”. - GOD
"Don't make me come down there."
—God
You might have seen the above statement on a billboard. It puts a smile on the face of the Christian who knows that Jesus has come already, and believes that Jesus is coming back. We know that God himself has actually ALREADY come down, and the annual season of ADVENT is a time for us to celebrate that fact.
Advent is our annual time of preparing and celebrating the birth of Jesus on earth. Prophecy predicted his birth hundreds of years before it happened!
The next several weeks are a wonderful time of the year in the church— we will be very busy with activities, preparations, shopping lists, decorating (didn’t the folks do a great job on our sanctuary already?) A theme that has jumped out at me is this “Lifesong” idea. That several of the characters in the Christmas story expressed their hearts through a “song”. Each week we’ll examine one of these “LifeSongs”- and perhaps grow in our appreciation for and sing our own “Lifesong” together. It is very inspiring and encouraging to our faith to understand the prophecies foretelling His first arrival on this planet.
Today, we’ll meet Zechariah, a priest in the 1st century AD. He’s husband to Elizabeth, a cousin of Mary’s, and they together are the parents of John the Baptist. He is honored to be the one who God breaks his silence with— 400 years of silence… But could Zechariah truly believe?
Before we dive in, I would like to take a couple moments to review the prophecies and knowledge that Zechariah would have had— like the rest of society and Jewish people— they had the prophecies and predictions of their scriptures.
Hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus many godly people from Moses to Malachi prophesied about the coming Messiah, the King who would deliver Israel. In fact the prophets revealed so many details about the coming Christ that it is difficult to believe that the people around Him didn't recognize who Jesus was. But it's still like that today, isn't it? Despite much evidence, many refuse to acknowledge Him.
These predictions fall into three general categories:
Prophets spoke of his family line.
Prophets spoke of his birth.
Prophets spoke of his name.
If we turn the pages of our Bibles to Micah 5:2, we'll see that out of the insignificant village of Bethlehem would come one who would rule over Israel. We also read that kings from distant shores would present Him with gifts (Ps. 72:10). You can start singing, "We three kings of Orient are …" right about now. Besides the Magi, Jesus was, of course, recognized as the Messiah by the shepherds and even by the evil king Herod, who tried to have Him killed while He was still an infant.
Prophecies about Jesus’ family line:
The very earliest statement about Jesus would predict his victory over Satan:
15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
Speaking to the serpent, God mentions the offspring of a woman. Her offspring. Interesting that Jesus would become a descendent of Mary— but not physically of Joseph!
18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
Speaking to Abraham, naming the great blessing that Jesus will be to all nations.
1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
5 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
We see predictions that the Messiah would be a descendant of Abraham (Gen. 22:18) and of Jacob (Num. 24:17), from the tribe of Judah (Gen. 49:10), and a descendant of Jesse (Isa. 11:1) and David (Jer. 23:5). See the genealogy of Jesus in the first chapter of Matthew for confirmation that all these predictions were fulfilled.
Prophecies about Jesus’ birth:
The prophets predicted that He would be preceded by a messenger (Mal. 3:1).
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.
5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.
6 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.”
Jesus’ virgin birth:
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
In the town of Bethlehem:
2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.
Prophecies about Jesus’ name:
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
God with us. We just sang that wonderfully haunting song. To ransom captive Israel— that mourns in lowly exile here— until the son of God appear!
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
This was written some 700 years BEFORE Jesus was born.
The ancient Scriptures say that He would be a prophet (Deut. 18:18),
a priest (Ps. 110:4),
and a king (Ps. 2:6).
All these titles are attributed to Jesus in the pages of the New Testament.
This is all the evidence that Zechariah would have studied, and known as a priest and believer in God.
Let’s read what happened next:
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. 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. 16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, 17 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.” 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. 24 After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying,
Luke 1:57-66 “57 Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. 58 And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. 59 And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father, 60 but his mother answered, “No; he shall be called John.” 61 And they said to her, “None of your relatives is called by this name.” 62 And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. 63 And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And they all wondered. 64 And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. 65 And fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea, 66 and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be?” For the hand of the Lord was with him.”
And what does Zechariah say next?
He sings!
Zechariah sings of God’s salvation: vv. 68-71
69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David,
Zechariah sings of God’s faithfulness: vv. 70-73
72 to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, 73 the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
Zechariah sings of God’s purpose: vv. 74-76
74 that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear,
Zechariah sings of God’s mercy: vv. 78-79
78 because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high 79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
Jesus, in coming to earth, fulfilled the scriptures and embodied God’s salvation, faithfulness, purpose and mercy. He would bring these to life, through his life and death and resurrection. Zechariah couldn’t help but sing, for his belief was realized!
“He who sings, scares away his woes”
-Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra