Advent Day 9: Unbelievable News!

Today's Text: Luke 1:5-25

Angelic visitations - a person would tend to think that they are a rare thing. I mean, how many people do you know that have seen an angel and knew it? So I was very surprised to discover that there are many accounts throughout the Bible of human encounters with angelic beings when I was doing research for this post. The second theme in our preparation for Christmas is the angelic announcements.

Today we begin with the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth.

5 When Herod was king of Judea, there was a Jewish priest named Zechariah. He was a member of the priestly order of Abijah, and his wife, Elizabeth, was also from the priestly line of Aaron. 6 Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous in God’s eyes, careful to obey all of the Lord’s commandments and regulations. 7 They had no children because Elizabeth was unable to conceive, and they were both very old.

There are some important things to notice here. First, we see that both Zechariah and Elizabeth were from the tribe of Levi - Aaron was a descendant of Jacob's (Israel's) son Levi. This will be important to know later this week. Secondly, we see that both Zechariah and Elizabeth were considered righteous by God. Which makes the fact that they had no children amazing because barrenness was often considered a disgrace among the people of Israel, and because the Scriptures tell that children are a blessing from the Lord. Something else that is interesting to me is that Zechariah and Elizabeth are described as being very old. According to the Law the Levites weren't supposed to perform service in the tabernacle after they were 50. While I don't consider 50 old, I will concede that it is pretty old to be having children. (If anyone has any insight into this point I would appreciate it. Has anyone seen anything in a commentary about this Levitical law?) Anyway, on with the story.

8 One day Zechariah was serving God in the Temple, for his order was on duty that week. 9 As was the custom of the priests, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and burn incense. 10 While the incense was being burned, a great crowd stood outside, praying.

11 While Zechariah was in the sanctuary, an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the incense altar. 12 Zechariah was shaken and overwhelmed with fear when he saw him. 13 But the angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer. Your wife, Elizabeth, will give you a son, and you are to name him John. 14 You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great in the eyes of the Lord. He must never touch wine or other alcoholic drinks. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth. 16 And he will turn many Israelites to the Lord their God. 17 He will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah. He will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and he will cause those who are rebellious to accept the wisdom of the godly.”

The first thing that I notice in this part of the story is that Zechariah was chosen by lot to perform this duty. It is possible that he had never done it before, but today God had ordained for him to burn incense to Him.

Then Zechariah encountered the angel of the Lord. Sadly we don't have a description of the angel, but I doubt it looked like the one to the right. Instead, "Zechariah was shaken and overwhelmed with fear when he saw him. " I dare say that our art falls FAR short of capturing the appearance of an angel. In nearly every encounter recorded in scripture, when human beings encounter angelic beings they are usually so terrified that they are undone. In this case, as in almost every other, the Angel tells Zechariah to not be afraid.

Then the angel told him something amazing. He told him that God has heard his prayer. I wonder if this statement surprised Zechariah. I wonder if he knew immediately what prayer the angel was talking about, or if he was puzzled, wondering, "What prayer?" Well, he didn't have to puzzle for very long, for the angel gave him a wondrous message of a great prophet that God was going to bring about through him and Elizabeth. What a message! Not only was he going to finally have a son, but that son would be a mighty prophet - the prophet foretold many years ago that would prepare the way for Messiah! And even better than that, it meant that Messiah was finally coming! You would think that Zechariah would be excited beyond description by this news, but the Scripture tells us a different story.

18 Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I be sure this will happen? I’m an old man now, and my wife is also well along in years.”

This was the wrong response. In fact, it is a shocking response. How could you doubt the veracity of the message when you are talking with an angel? What more proof do you need than to see Elizabeth's belly begin to swell? It would seem that the prayers for a child had ceased long ago from Zechariah. He had accepted the "fact" that this dream wasn't to be and had believed that God had ignored his prayers.

How many times we do the same thing. We believe that we have seen a promise in the Scriptures or have heard a promise from God and we believe it. We pray, and believe, and hope, but we don't seem to be getting any results. Eventually our hope begins to flag, our prayers slow from a stream to a trickle and eventually dry up. We are wounded in our souls because God has let us down and mourning, we bury that promise. We accuse God of lying to us and it becomes even harder for us to believe the next time.

I believe that this is where Zechariah was. He still assented to the fact that nothing is impossible for God, but he really didn't believe that God would. Friends, if this is where you are, you must repent for you have believed a lie. God cannot lie. His promises are true. And He loves us more than we can possibly imagine. Everything that He does is for our benefit - even the unpleasant things and the delays.

19 Then the angel said, “I am Gabriel! I stand in the very presence of God. It was he who sent me to bring you this good news! 20 But now, since you didn’t believe what I said, you will be silent and unable to speak until the child is born. For my words will certainly be fulfilled at the proper time.”

21 Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah to come out of the sanctuary, wondering why he was taking so long. 22 When he finally did come out, he couldn’t speak to them. Then they realized from his gestures and his silence that he must have seen a vision in the sanctuary.

23 When Zechariah’s week of service in the Temple was over, he returned home. 24 Soon afterward his wife, Elizabeth, became pregnant and went into seclusion for five months. 25 “How kind the Lord is!” she exclaimed. “He has taken away my disgrace of having no children.”

Thank God, that Zechariah's unbelief did not hinder the will of God. What a great encouragement! There are far too many times that I also despair of waiting for the promises of God to be fulfilled in my life. This may also be a good opportunity to mention that it is wise to be careful what you ask for - Zechariah found out that you just might get it. He lost his ability to talk as a sign that what the angel said was true.

The text doesn't tell us whether or not it is so, but what if this was Zechariah's last tour of service before retiring? So often God seems to wait to the last possible moment to make the things that we have been dreaming about and praying for to become a reality. Wouldn't it be just like God to make Zechariah's last opportunity to burn incense before Him a moment that he would never forget? Be encouraged! God hasn't ignored your prayers. Sometimes, like Zechariah and Elizabeth, He is just making you wait because the gift is so great, and the time isn't quite right yet!

NOTE: If you are interested, two other very good devotions using this text can be found HERE and HERE.

Questions and thoughts to discuss with your family:

1) What are your chores around the house? Do you expect anything interesting to happen while you are doing them?

2) How do you imagine angels to look? If you saw one that looked like the one in your imagination, would you be afraid? Why do you think Zechariah was frightened? You can click HERE for a description of an angel from the Bible. Would you be frightened if you saw something like this?

3) What is the best news you ever got? How did you react to the news?

4) Who was Elijah? (His story begins with the beginning of the rule of Ahab in 1 Kings 16:29 and runs through 2 Kings 2:11) How would you feel if you were told that your son was going to have the spirit and power of Elijah?

5) The angel's message told Zechariah that John would be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he was born. What does this statement tell us about the beginning of life? Does life begin for us at birth or before?

6) Have you ever prayed for something that didn't come to pass? Why do you think that it didn't?

7) Have you ever had to wait for something? Did it make you appreciate it more? Have you ever given up on a dream and then it was finally fulfilled? How did that make you feel?