Welcome to Truth for Life Weekend, where we are beginning a series that will look at the events that preceded Jesus' incarnation. Today, Aleister Beck describes the circumstances that broke God's apparent 400-year silence since the final words of the prophet Malachi. We'll see how God gives ordinary people extraordinary roles in His plan of redemption. I invite you to turn with me to the Gospel of Luke and to Chapter One, and we're going to read together the first twenty-five verses of Luke Chapter One. It begins with an introductory paragraph as Luke dedicates this to Theophilus, and through him to all who would then read, and then he proceeds with the account as he has given it to us.
First one, inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me, also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty. Concerning the things you have been taught, in the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zachariah of the division of Abijah, and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.
Now, while he was serving as priest before God, when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zachariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zachariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.
And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 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." And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, 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. And Zechariah said to the angel, "How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years." And the angel answered him, "I am Gabriel." Who stands in the presence of God? And I was sent to speak to you, and to bring you this good news.
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. And the people were waiting for Zachariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. 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. And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home.
After these days, his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, "Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me to take away my reproach among people." Amen.
Now, I don't think that many of you will recall the fact that on this particular Sunday last year, as we began to get ready for Christmas, we turned in the Bible to the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke. During the week, I was thinking to myself, "I wonder why we started at the second chapter. Why did I neglect chapter one?" And so, feeling that way, I decided that I would have the opportunity to rectify that, and that is why we have begun this morning to read Luke chapter one. The title of this morning's study should be no surprise to you. It is called Elizabeth and Zachariah, or Zachariah and Elizabeth.
It made me think of Nicholas and Alexandra. Maybe didn't make you think of that, but that was what was in my mind. And so I said that will do fine. It is all about God's work in the lives of this very interesting couple.
Now, Luke, and we didn't take a long time on this, along with all of the gospel writers, begins with John the Baptist. In fact, Luke is the only one who begins with the birth of John the Baptist, and as we've seen in the past in our studies, his meticulous approach to things comes out so clearly in this regard as well. We've said again in the past that we like the way in which Luke approaches and introduces his gospel. There's no sense in which we have a notion that this gospel, this material, has appeared in some dramatic or bizarre fashion. That he was told to go to a place in the wilderness and he found it under a tree, or it was found in a big golden box, or the kind of thing that mythology is marked by.
No, he. Says very clearly as he addresses this and dedicates it to Theophilus, that his gospel is the product of his own careful investigation. He has gone to the sources. He's gone to the eyewitnesses, and he has done so. And his purpose has been to provide such a record of these things that Theophilus and all like Theophilus who would read his gospel will find that they have grounds for certainty in relationship to these matters.
And we do well to remind ourselves of the fact that Luke and the gospel writers, along with him, the others with him, describe these things out of the ordinary things, dramatic things, interventions from the heavens. These things are described within the framework of everyday, ordinary life.
So you have extraordinary occurrences set within ordinary life unfolding. In fact, it occurred to me this week that if Luke had been setting out, as some suggest, to deceive his readers to create a kind of mythological account whereby people might be led astray, then frankly, he did a really poor job of it, because he is very precise in his history. And he is equally clear in his geography. If you were setting out to hoodwink people, you ought not to tie yourself so clearly to these precise historical figures or to a geography that anybody with an atlas can actually go and find. In reading through the infancy narratives again, in preparation for these studies.
I have had three words in my mind that have just helped me navigate. They're not an outline for a talk, but I want to mention them to you. These are the words I've had in mind: history, divinity, mystery. History and divinity and mystery. Divinity being the study of the divine or the study of God.
For divinity, we could have said theology, but I just like divinity better this week. All right.
So every so often, you ought to be saying to yourself, "Ah, divinity! Ah, mystery! Ah, history!" So it is with history that we begin, as you will see in verse five. After his introduction, he immediately ties himself down with the phrase, "In the days of Herod, king of Judea." The historical element is straightforward, isn't it? This is the Herod who is referred to, in some places as Herod the Great.
His greatness extended to the things that he managed to build, and some other dimensions of his leadership. But greatness could never have been a designation of his character, because, in short order, Herod was a nasty piece of work. By any standards at all, he was not a nice person. He was tyrannical. He was cruel.
He was suspicious, and he was vindictive. Eddersham, the commentator, says that as long as he lived, no woman's honor was safe, and no man's life was secure. The word on the street was it was safer to be Herod's pig than to be Herod's son. He was detested by his subjects; they abhorred his deeds of cruelty, deeds of cruelty which readers of the Bible identify and tie to one specific instance, which is also recorded for us later in the Gospel. Namely, of his act of malicious spite, whereby, in being unable to get access to this child who had been born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the King, he determined that all of the boys under the age of two that were living in the area should all be put to death.
That's what we know from reading our Bibles. But if you've read secular history, you will know this: that his vengeance and his cruelty and his bloodshed were of such proportions that, by and large, Jewish historians did not even mention in their writings the murder of the innocents. It was simply lost, if you like. In the vast scheme of the atrocities that marked Herod's reign, there was no way that it was making it onto the front page. It was a small paragraph buried somewhere on page three.
So, when you read in the days of Herod, king of Judea, what you need to understand, what we need to understand, is this: that that might be equated to, in the darkest. And most evil days that men can remember.
So, if you read and say, "Oh, there's a king called Herod," without the understanding of what is conveyed by that, then we immediately go wrong. That's why it's important that when we read our Bibles, we actually think. In the darkest and most evil days that men can remember, in the darkness, in the evil. God was getting ready to turn on the lights. God was getting ready, if we might say reverently, for Christmas Day.
He was about to turn on the lights. He is preparing the way for the arrival of one who is not himself the light, but who whose existence was to point people to the light, the true light of every man, was coming into the world, namely in the person of the Messiah. And so, the first thing to notice this morning, simple and yet important, is this: that God is at work in the darkness. God is at work in the darkness. There's 400 years have elapsed since the last prophetic voice, and for 400 years, no voice has been heard from God.
The prophets have apparently dried up. Silence. And darkness, a deep, deep societal darkness, and in the middle of all of that, the temptation for the people of God to say, "Where is God now? What will God do? Has God forgotten?
What about His promises? What about all the things the prophets said would happen?" And in the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest. Named Zachariah.
So the camera, if you like, sweeps from the palace of this despot to the home of a devout priest.
Now, this priest did not come from the equivalent of Canterbury in English terms. He he really came from like the Yorkshire Dales. He came from the hill country, a sort of inauspicious background. That's what makes it all the more wonderful, that God is at work in the darkness, and that God is at work in ways that are not immediately apparent. Both of those things are very important.
If I had a dollar for every time people come and tell me about how dreadful everything is, how dark the world is, how America is this and that and the next thing, I could take everybody out for a very good meal. I'm not. I'm not unfamiliar with the context in which I'm living my life, but I am also aware of the fact that God is at work in the darkness, and that God is at work in ways that are not immediately apparent. In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zachariah. Woo.
Well, there's something, huh? What are you going to do with this?
Well, read on. Of the division of Abijah. Oh, now it's falling into place, isn't it?
Now we're making sense of it.
Now, how dramatic and amazing is this? There's nothing dramatic or amazing about it at this point. Nothing at all. In fact, I was I was delighted that when I read this phrase. And I hope you are too.
Now, when I read of the division of Abijah, I decided I don't feel so bad about all those jolly readings we've just gone through in First and Second Chronicles, because now I understand. For in First Chronicles twenty four, when we waded our way through First Chronicles twenty four, and we said, "What is all this? The divisions of this, and the divisions of that, and the divisions and the divisions." And then I said, "Oh, wait a minute! That's what it is. God had decided that the priests under the order of Aaron should be formed out in this way.
In post exilic Israel, there was only about four of the groups left, but still the designation continued." And what Luke is telling us here matters. That Zechariah was part of the division. That was his core, if you like. That was his area of responsibility. And he came down into the framework of Abijah.
Do the homework for yourself. Not only was a priest, but he also had a wife who was the daughter of a priest.
So that's I mean that's really nice. This is a nice family. It's a nice boy, Zachariah, and he has a nice wife, and she is the daughter of a priest as well. And what would it be like if we went to their home? It would be wonderful.
Why? Because of what we're told, and they were both righteous before God. What does that mean? It means they served God. They loved God.
They obeyed God, and when it came to abiding by the statutes of God, which is what it says here in verse six b, when it came to abiding by the commandments of the Lord, they were as blameless as it's possible for a couple to be. They weren't perfect, but they were really, really good.
So far, so good. But verse seven, they had no child. Because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years. In other words, they were at least sixty years old. Because at this point in time, sixty was regarded as the threshold for agedness.
They didn't know that sixty is the new forty. How could they? They didn't know that.
So, if you imagine them as a couple, here they are. He goes to his priestly duties. He comes home. They have a nice meal together. They talk about the fact that life has unfolded as it has.
The twilight of life is now a shadow upon them. They huddle together. They pull the blanket over their knees, and they think about where they've been, and they ponder the prospect of the future. And they have no children to brighten up their day or to cause them concern. She is childless.
She is barren. It stood as a symbol of the fact that somewhere or another, it would appear that God had been displeased. With her, that's the way they thought of it.
So culturally, the context is deep darkness, and personally, there's a shadow over their home. But their names would be a help to them when they spoke to one another in the morning. They were actually not simply giving each other a designation that would be helpful by way of identification, but also affirming certain things that were true of God. Because Zechariah actually means the Lord remembers, or the Lord watches over you. Watch in Psalm 121, He watches over your going and your coming from this time forth and even forevermore.
All of that is wrapped up in the name Zechariah. And Elizabeth means my God is an oath, or my God is faithful. Or if you're like, my God keeps His promises.
So in the morning, when she woke up, and she reached over and she and she reached out for Zachariah, said, "Good morning, Zachariah. How are you?" Zachariah was a reminder to us that the Lord is watchful, and he says, "I'm okay." Elizabeth, did you sleep? She said, "Yes, I did." He says, "You know, Elizabeth, the Lord is faithful." I don't know what the future holds for us. I don't know if we'll live a long time or a short time. But I do know this: that God is all that God has pledged Himself to be, and this God is at work in the darkness, and this God is at work in unlikely ways, and thirdly, this God is at work in the line of duty, in the line of duty.
Because he was serving as a priest, verse eight tells us, and when his division was on duty, a bit like you know the White House detail, only the Temple detail. I'm reading a book by about a Secret Service guy at the moment, so that's why I'm thinking White House detail. But anyway, when his detail, when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he he was there to do to do what he had to do.
Now he would have been well known in the Temple. After all, there was no retirement for priests. Retirement for Levites, but not for priests.
So he was going full steam ahead. They would have seen him day after day and week after week. When it came his time, and so on, and he would perform the functions that were assigned to him. But now something very significant has happened. This is verse nine.
He was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. Again, you're going to look at that and say, "Well, that's very interesting." I thought that's what priests did. In any case, no, no, you need to understand something. This is highly significant. There was only one temple, but there were thousands of priests.
Josephus, the Jewish historian, estimated conservatively that there were twenty thousand priests that served in the temple. And the assignment for the burning of incense, although it took place in the morning hour and in the evening, was an assignment that was made as a result of the drawing of lots.
So, what were the chances that your name was going to get pulled?
Well, you can do the mathematics. Don't confuse me. It wasn't strong. In other words, what is described here in verse nine is essentially a once-in-a-lifetime event. All right.
So, in the course of his routine activities, he is now given an assignment, which is a privilege, and which is largely unique. And the whole multitude, verse ten, says that they were praying outside at the hour of incense.
So that within the temple courts, there were various courts. He is now going into the holies, not the holiest of the holies, but he's going in there to perform his function. And in the courts, the the multitude has gathered, and they are praying at the time of the burning of the incense, praying outside at the hour of incense.
So it was a very specific thing, and there appeared to him an angel of the Lord. Just when he's got his chance to do the one burning of incense routine, he gets interrupted. Before he can get the whole thing put in place, an angel of the Lord—mystery. Angels, mysterious, an angel of the Lord, divinity, at the routine hour of the burning of the incense, history. You're listening to Truth for Life Weekend.
That's Alister McGrath assuring us that God is at work in the darkness in ways that may not be immediately apparent. Like Elizabeth and Zachariah, we all know how difficult waiting can be, but we can also, like them, trust in God's promises while we wait. What were the Old Testament promises and prophecies that gave the people of God hope? Through four hundred years of silence and darkness.
Well, the book we are currently recommending, called "There Shone a Holy Light," beholding Christ and Christmas in the Old Testament, guides your Advent meditations through God's Old Testament promises. Long before John the Baptist arrived to prepare the way for the Messiah, long before angels announced Jesus' birth in Bethlehem, the Old Testament was foretelling Christ's arrival. In the book "There Shone a Holy Light," you'll read how promises. And prophecies recorded in the Old Testament all point forward to Jesus and His ministry. They're shown a holy light as a 25-day Advent devotional that'll focus your worship on God as you prepare to celebrate Christmas.
The daily readings trace His faithfulness as they present the Christmas story within the overarching unfolding plan of redemption. And this is the last week we're featuring this engaging Advent devotional.
So, for more information. Visit our website at truthforlife.org. I'm Bob Lapine. Thanks for studying the Bible with us. Do you ever have questions about why God puts up with all the wickedness in this world?
Why He's so slow in fulfilling His promises? Join us next weekend as we hear God's compassionate response to those questions. The Bible teaching of Aleister Beg is furnished by Truth for Life. Where the Learning is for Living.
