Joy and Wonder: The Promise of Christ's Coming
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There were many different Herods that you read about in the Bible. This was the Herod that you're most familiar with. He was the one that's called Herod the Great. He reigned for about 40 years. He was a great builder, but not a great man at all. He was a cruel man, paranoid. Many people thought that he was literally insane. He was a murderous man. He had his wife and children killed because he was conceited. He was concerned that they had intentions for his throne. [00:01:01] (31 seconds)
What a great thing to be known, that you were righteous before God. There are many things that we want to be remembered as, you know. Hey, he's a guy who had really great Christmas lights every year on his light. He was a guy who had a really cool boat. Oh man, I wonder what happened to that boat after he died. That's not what you want to be known for, right? What you want to be known for is being righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. They were known for their walk. They were known for their godliness. Now, this doesn't mean they were perfect, okay? [00:03:37] (38 seconds)
So it was that while he was serving as a priest before God in the order of his division, even though he didn't have children, that outward sign of blessing, he faithfully continued to serve, right? He served whether there was a reward or whether there was not in his sight. So he was serving in the order of his division. Now, we read that he was in the division of Abijah. There were 24 divisions or courses of priests at the time that Christ was born. And we know from historians that the average division had about 1,000 priests. [00:05:56] (40 seconds)
And to his amazement, as he's praying, an angel appears to him. What's really amazing is this. For 400 years. There had been no angelic prayer. There had been no angelic presence that was visible to man. For 400 years, there had been no divine communication to man. We read about that in Malachi. Malachi, that was the very last of the Old Testament. It had been 400 years since they had heard a word from God. God had gone silent for 400 years. And now he sent his messenger. He sent an angel to Zacharias. Look what it says. [00:12:56] (47 seconds)
God hears all of our prayers, whether they were 10 years ago, whether they were 20 years ago, whether they were 30 years ago. He takes our tears and he puts them in a bottle. Does he not? And in answering Zacharias' prayer for the people of God, he was bound up, unbeknownst to Zacharias, with his own life, because his son, John, would be the forerunner of the Messiah, right? Let's look in verse 14. [00:15:13] (38 seconds)
He'll be great in the sight of the Lord and he was going to be from birth a Nazarite. A Nazarite vow was something normally you took temporarily for a defined period of time. It was a sign of outward denial that symbolized a consecrated heart to the Lord. There were three things involved in the Nazarite vow. The first thing was that you would not drink any intoxicating drink. The second, that you would not cut your hair. It'd grow long. And then the third, you would not touch anything dead. [00:17:56] (33 seconds)
And Zechariah said to the angel, how shall I know this? For I'm an old man and my wife is well advanced in years. Zechariah was struck with unbelief, actually. Now, in scripture, you'll find when God told Abraham he was going to have a son in his advanced age, he did not necessarily believe God as far as at least what it sounded with his words. He said, show me a sign of this. And remember Abraham and Sarah, they did what? They laughed, right? But the scripture says that though his words may have sounded that way, he had a heart of belief. [00:23:53] (37 seconds)
Already we see that people are taking joy in the birth of John the Baptist, right? This is her neighbors and her relatives, just as promised by Gabriel back in verse 14. Verse 59, and it was so on the eighth day that they came to circumcise a child and they would have called him by the name of his father Zacharias. That was a custom. You named your children with a family name. His mother answered and said, no, he shall be called John. This tells me that John had been able to communicate to Elizabeth what the angel had told him, right? And he wanted to make sure he would be obedient to the Lord. [00:32:06] (44 seconds)
Zacharias' lips have been opened. And he prophesies, is what the scripture says here. And he prophesies by reciting a song. This song, I believe he'd been working on for nine months, right? For nine months while Elizabeth was pregnant, he couldn't speak. Nine months, I think he thought about what Gabriel had told him inside of the temple, that this would be no ordinary child, that he'd be a forerunner of the Messiah, that he'd be declaring the gospel to all men, even the Gentiles, the disobedient, would learn the ways of the just. And so he composed this beautiful hymn. [00:36:14] (45 seconds)
Zechariah was a man who knew God's word. And at that time, that's all they had was the Old Testament, right? So he committed himself to it. We see in verse 68, he's quoting Psalm 72. Blessed be the Lord God, the Lord God Israel, who only does wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name forever. And let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and amen. Purposely encapsulating what John was feeling. And expressing right here. He says, for he has visited and redeemed his people. The word visited here is a direct allusion to Exodus chapter 3. Remember at the burning bush? [00:37:39] (42 seconds)
Christ would be the one who would show us the very heart of God. It says, Through the tender mercies of our God, with which the day spring from on high has visited us. Day spring is a messianic term, and it means the sunrise, the day break. It can also be translated, We see this, actually, in the Old Testament. In Malachi, the very last chapter of the Old Testament, it says, But to you who fear my name, the Son of Righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings, and you shall go out and grow fat like stall -fed calves. You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day that I do this as the Lord of hosts. [00:52:18] (55 seconds)
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What a great thing to be known, that you were righteous before God. There are many things that we want to be remembered as, you know. Hey, he's a guy who had really great Christmas lights every year on his light. He was a guy who had a really cool boat. Oh man, I wonder what happened to that boat after he died. That's not what you want to be known for, right? What you want to be known for is being righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. They were known for their walk. They were known for their godliness. Now, this doesn't mean they were perfect, okay? [00:03:37] (38 seconds)
So it was that while he was serving as a priest before God in the order of his division, even though he didn't have children, that outward sign of blessing, he faithfully continued to serve, right? He served whether there was a reward or whether there was not in his sight. So he was serving in the order of his division. Now, we read that he was in the division of Abijah. There were 24 divisions or courses of priests at the time that Christ was born. And we know from historians that the average division had about 1,000 priests. [00:05:56] (40 seconds)
And to his amazement, as he's praying, an angel appears to him. What's really amazing is this. For 400 years. There had been no angelic prayer. There had been no angelic presence that was visible to man. For 400 years, there had been no divine communication to man. We read about that in Malachi. Malachi, that was the very last of the Old Testament. It had been 400 years since they had heard a word from God. God had gone silent for 400 years. And now he sent his messenger. He sent an angel to Zacharias. Look what it says. [00:12:56] (47 seconds)
God hears all of our prayers, whether they were 10 years ago, whether they were 20 years ago, whether they were 30 years ago. He takes our tears and he puts them in a bottle. Does he not? And in answering Zacharias' prayer for the people of God, he was bound up, unbeknownst to Zacharias, with his own life, because his son, John, would be the forerunner of the Messiah, right? Let's look in verse 14. [00:15:13] (38 seconds)
He'll be great in the sight of the Lord and he was going to be from birth a Nazarite. A Nazarite vow was something normally you took temporarily for a defined period of time. It was a sign of outward denial that symbolized a consecrated heart to the Lord. There were three things involved in the Nazarite vow. The first thing was that you would not drink any intoxicating drink. The second, that you would not cut your hair. It'd grow long. And then the third, you would not touch anything dead. [00:17:56] (33 seconds)
And Zechariah said to the angel, how shall I know this? For I'm an old man and my wife is well advanced in years. Zechariah was struck with unbelief, actually. Now, in scripture, you'll find when God told Abraham he was going to have a son in his advanced age, he did not necessarily believe God as far as at least what it sounded with his words. He said, show me a sign of this. And remember Abraham and Sarah, they did what? They laughed, right? But the scripture says that though his words may have sounded that way, he had a heart of belief. [00:23:53] (37 seconds)
Already we see that people are taking joy in the birth of John the Baptist, right? This is her neighbors and her relatives, just as promised by Gabriel back in verse 14. Verse 59, and it was so on the eighth day that they came to circumcise a child and they would have called him by the name of his father Zacharias. That was a custom. You named your children with a family name. His mother answered and said, no, he shall be called John. This tells me that John had been able to communicate to Elizabeth what the angel had told him, right? And he wanted to make sure he would be obedient to the Lord. [00:32:06] (44 seconds)
Zacharias' lips have been opened. And he prophesies, is what the scripture says here. And he prophesies by reciting a song. This song, I believe he'd been working on for nine months, right? For nine months while Elizabeth was pregnant, he couldn't speak. Nine months, I think he thought about what Gabriel had told him inside of the temple, that this would be no ordinary child, that he'd be a forerunner of the Messiah, that he'd be declaring the gospel to all men, even the Gentiles, the disobedient, would learn the ways of the just. And so he composed this beautiful hymn. [00:36:14] (45 seconds)
Zechariah was a man who knew God's word. And at that time, that's all they had was the Old Testament, right? So he committed himself to it. We see in verse 68, he's quoting Psalm 72. Blessed be the Lord God, the Lord God Israel, who only does wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name forever. And let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and amen. Purposely encapsulating what John was feeling. And expressing right here. He says, for he has visited and redeemed his people. The word visited here is a direct allusion to Exodus chapter 3. Remember at the burning bush? [00:37:39] (42 seconds)
Christ would be the one who would show us the very heart of God. It says, Through the tender mercies of our God, with which the day spring from on high has visited us. Day spring is a messianic term, and it means the sunrise, the day break. It can also be translated, We see this, actually, in the Old Testament. In Malachi, the very last chapter of the Old Testament, it says, But to you who fear my name, the Son of Righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings, and you shall go out and grow fat like stall -fed calves. You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day that I do this as the Lord of hosts. [00:52:18] (55 seconds)
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