Monthly Archives: September 2019

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – DUMBSTRUCK

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DUMBSTRUCK

“Zachariah said to the angel, ‘Do you expect me to believe this? I am an old man and my wife is an old woman.’

“But the angel said, ‘I am Gabriel, the sentinel of God, sent especially to bring you this glad news. But because you won’t believe me, you’ll be unable to say a word until the day of your son’s birth. Every word I’ve spoken to you will come true on time – God’s time.'” Luke 1:18-20.

Does old age dim one’s confidence in a good God, or had Zachariah become so skeptical that not even a high-ranking angel’s appearance could convince him that God was actually communicating with him?

Imagine speaking to an angel like that! Surely the presence of an angelic being so awesome that Zachariah was paralysed with fear, would have convinced him that this was no joke, especially after Gabriel had given him details about his son’s nature and upbringing?

Gabriel was God’s messenger, particularly assigned to carry messages regarding the coming of Messiah. It was he who visited Mary six months later to announce that she was to be the earthly mother of the Messiah.

Why did Zachariah respond with such skepticism? There are probably many reasons. His longing, together with his wife, Elizabeth’s, had died as old age took away any hope of their having a child, and with it their confidence that God would finally answer their prayers, regardless of their physical impotence to bear a child.

The angel came so unexpectedly and pounced on him so suddenly that his elderly brain had no time to process this surprise. All he could think of was the state of his body and the body of his wife. He was so much like us. We tend to look at the impossibilities rather than God’s promises, and draw our conclusions from what we can see rather than what God said.

Israel reacted in the same way when they were confronted with the prospect of entering and conquering a land that was full of giants and had fortified cities to overcome. They did not reckon on God’s promise, made to Abraham centuries before, and the power of God to override natural difficulties with supernatural intervention.

Zachariah’s unbelief came with a price. God would not let him off for mistrusting His Word. Zachariah was not only emotionally dumbstruck by the angel’s appearance; he would also be literally dumbstruck for the nine months of his wife’s pregnancy. This would present him with some unusual difficulties including the neighbours’ idea that being dumb meant that he was also deaf! (Luke 1:62).

Fortunately Zachariah’s handicap only lasted until the birth of his son. Perhaps it was in the mercy of God that He shut his mouth so that he could utter no more words of unbelief until the promise of God was fulfilled.

How often do we not put God’s promises on hold, or even cancel them by our confession of unbelief because we are more impressed by what we can see and hear than what God has said in His Word. We might learn a lesson from this reluctant priest who robbed himself of speech until the Word of the Lord proved him a liar.

 

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – A DREAM KID ALRIGHT

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A DREAM KID ALRIGHT!

“‘He’ll drink neither wine nor beer. He’ll be filled with the Holy Spirit from the moment he leaves his mother’s womb. He will turn many sons and daughters of Israel back to their God. He will herald God’s arrival in the style and strength of Elijah, soften the hearts of parents to children, and kindle devout understanding among hardened sceptics – he’ll get the people ready for God.'” Luke 1:15b-17.

What went through Zachariah’s mind while he was listening to this prophetic word from Gabriel? What would you think?

Not only did the angel tell him that he and Elizabeth would have a son after all these childless years, and Elizabeth long past menopause, but he also told him what kind of a son he would be; a Nazirite, Spirit-filled from birth, a powerfully effective prophet when all the others had failed – Israel had never fully returned to the Lord to be the nation He wanted them to be – healing family rifts and successfully reuniting God’s people with himself. They were going to have a dream kid alright!

He would be a Nazirite according to Numbers 6:1-21, taking a vow of separation and dedication to the Lord and indicating his vow by drinking no wine or fermented drink, eating nothing from the vine, not cutting his hair, and not going near a dead body which would make him unclean.

He would be Spirit-filled from birth. That does not guarantee that he would be sinless. He would have the potential to sin like everyone else but he would also have the privilege of the Holy Spirit’s inward ministry of grace and power to overcome temptation, and the boldness to carry out his ministry fearlessly – and how he would need that when he confronted Herod and Herodias, and those indomitable Pharisees!

His ministry would be powerful and successful. God’s faithful prophets of the Old Testament never enjoyed that reassurance or experienced the blessing of permanent fruit. On the contrary, many of them, knowing that they would achieve nothing but antagonism, opposition and persecution, laboured with the sword of Damocles hanging over their heads. Jeremiah was called “the weeping prophet”. He was hated, hounded and bullied by both king and people, but he stuck to his calling anyway.

The final prophetic words of Malachi 4:5,6 pointed to this day, after 400 years of divine silence, when God would send His last prophet before Messiah to herald the day of permanent transformation:

“See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.”

How desperately we need John’s message of reconciliation between fathers and children to offset the destruction that is happening in families and to our youth. How many children have fathers in their homes who are not fathers? Fatherless children are a disaster and a hazard, and yet fathers have not learned to father because they themselves were not fathered.

It takes a courageous man to take his fathering role seriously when he had never experienced a father’s love. There is no better role model than the Father of all fathers. He is willing to be the perfect Father to anyone who will come to Him and submit to His embrace. He will teach you the love of a Father and how to be a true son.

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – YOUR PRAYER HAS BEEN HEARD

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YOUR PRAYER HAS BEEN HEARD

“But the angel reassured him, ‘Don’t fear, Zachariah. Your prayer had been heard. Elizabeth, your wife, will bear a son by you. You are to name him John. You’re going to leap like a gazelle for joy, and not only you – many will delight in his birth. He’ll achieve great stature with God.'” Luke 1:13-15a.

“Your prayer has been heard.” That must have been a shock for Zachariah. What prayer? He and Elizabeth had prayed many prayers in their long lives together. Which one was the angel referring to? Perhaps they were still awaiting answers to some of their prayers and some had long been shelved – especially their prayer for a child. You don’t keep praying for something that is long past its “sell-by-date”!

Perhaps it just wasn’t God’s will or perhaps He had forgotten that childbearing ceases after a certain time, or perhaps, God forbid, He had just not heard them. Isn’t that the way we think when God is silent on the things that we are screaming about?

Zachariah had some important lessons to learn about God that day.

Firstly, Zachariah had to learn that God’s time table and his didn’t necessarily have to coincide. God was putting their details into a much bigger picture. If that entailed a long wait for them, it was a part of their discipline in God’s kingdom. God’s silence did not mean He had not heard. It means He was working on a bigger plan and Zachariah needed the patience to wait until His bigger plan was revealed.

Secondly, he had to learn that chronological age is no deterrent to God. The fact that they were old was irrelevant; in fact is suited God’s plan because no one would doubt that it was God at work.

Thirdly, God only works in supernatural ways when there is no possibility of working through the natural. The angel made it clear to him that Elizabeth would have a child by him. This was not going to be a virgin birth like the birth of Jesus. John the Baptist was as human as anyone else. He had an important role to play in preparing the way for the Messiah, but it would be through the anointing of the Holy Spirit, not through any supernatural birth or abilities given to him by God.

We often have the false idea that God overrides the natural and arbitrarily does miracles in answer to our prayers. This is not to deny the miraculous but to put it in perspective. For instance, Jesus refused to turn stones into bread at Satan’s instigation, not only because “Daddy hadn’t told Him to”, but also because that would not have been a miracle; it would have been magic because stones have no “bread” properties.

Yet Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes, using ordinary food in an extraordinary way to meet needs because there was no other way. How often do we ask God to step in and do things for which He has made us responsible? We ask Him to make us more patient in the hopes that He will suddenly fill us with patience, or some other virtue, supernaturally. Instead, He orchestrates circumstances that demand that we exercise patience, and patience grows!

The lessons Zachariah had to learn are for us too. God is writing His big story, and giving us the privilege of being a part of it if we put ourselves at His disposal. He wants us to move away from demanding His attention to willingly fitting into the bigger picture for His glory.

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – ZACHARIAH HAS HIS DAY

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ZACHARIAH HAS HIS DAY

“It so happened that, as Zachariah was carrying out his priestly duties before God, working the shift assigned to his regiment, it came his turn in life to enter the sanctuary of God and burn incense…Unannounced an angel of God appeared just to the right of the altar of incense. Zachariah was paralysed in fear….” Luke 1:8,9,11,12.

It seems to have been quite an event for Zachariah. It was his turn to enter the Holy Place and burn incense on the golden altar that stood in front of the great thick curtain that veiled the glory of God’s presence in the Most Holy Place. He must have gone over this sacred event in his mind time and again. He wanted to be sure that he did everything just right. He would be frighteningly close to the Shekinah, separated only by the curtain from seeing the symbol of God’s presence.

Finally the day came and Zachariah made careful preparation for his once-in-a-lifetime duty. Worshippers gathered outside the temple to pray and, as he mounted the temple steps and entered the sanctuary through the great door between the pillars Jabin and Boaz, he could hear them chanting the set prayers of the day as the faithful did every day at the time of the burning of incense. As the fragrant smoke on the golden altar curled upwards inside the Holy Place, so the prayers of the people rose in unison, to the throne of God.

Zachariah must have felt the thrill of that holy moment. He was part of a long tradition that stretched over more than a thousand years, interrupted only when the people’s rebellion had caused them to be driven from their land, and their temple razed to the ground by marauding enemy armies. The great and beautiful temple, originally build by Solomon, son of Israel’s greatest king, and destroyed by the Babylonians, had been rebuilt by the exiles returning from captivity in Babylon and restored by King Herod the Great in more recent years. It was the pride of Israel as it kept its silent watch over the city of Jerusalem

Zachariah was enclosed at that moment by the thick walls of the temple in the awesome quietness of the Holy Place, in the gloom of that windowless room lit only by the golden menorah, the lamp that symbolised the fervently-anticipated Messiah who would be sent by God in the anointing of the seven-fold Spirit of God.

Zachariah, too, held that fervent hope of Messiah in his heart but he had no idea that God had chosen him and his barren wife Elizabeth, to be players in the greatest drama of history to begin in his own lifetime. The very pain of seemingly unanswered prayer would be a part of God’s story. In their old age and childless marriage, God would step in to carry out His greater purposes in the bigger picture that Zachariah in his feeble humanness could not see.

Then the most unexpected thing happened. Zachariah was suddenly not alone, as the gloom of the Holy Place was lit up by the glory of an unearthly being and the quietness broken by the sound of an unearthly voice. Zachariah was overcome with terror. This was not supposed to be part of the deal! But he was about to be told about the greatest event in his life and the melting of his forgotten hopes into God’s greatest plan for His people and for the world.  3

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – LUKE’S STORY BEGINS

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LUKE’S STORY BEGINS

“During the rule of Herod, King of Judea, there was a priest assigned service in the regiment of Abijah. His name was Zachariah. His wife was descended from the daughters of Aaron. Her name was Elizabeth. Together they lived honourably before God, careful in keeping to the ways of the commandments and enjoying a clear conscience before God. But they were childless because Elizabeth could never conceive, and now they were quite old.” Luke 1:5-7.

Luke’s story beings with simple facts. An elderly priest and his wife, Zachariah and Elizabeth, form the focus of the opening paragraph. Why does Luke make special mention that they were a godly old couple? They lived their lives within the boundaries of God’s law and because of that, they both had a clear conscience before God.

Was it that there were others who were not as careful as they were in being honourable in their lives and service in the temple? It is sad that Luke should even have to comment on their blameless lives, seeing that Zachariah was a genuine Levitical priest of the regiment of Abijah. It should have been a given!

Luke states three simple facts about this couple in his opening paragraph; they elderly, they were godly and they were childless. Each of these facts plays an important part in their story and adds to the ‘wow’ factor that makes their contribution so extraordinary.

Being godly prepared them to be chosen parents for Israel’s greatest prophet, John the Baptist. He was the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophetic vision in Isaiah 40:3 – “A voice of one calling: ‘In the desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.’ Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill be made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (NIV).

He was to play a brief but crucial role in preparing the way for, and identifying the Messiah. He would be nurtured from birth by faithful parents who would teach him God’s Word and prepare him for his prophetic role.

They were elderly and childless – reminiscent of Israel’s forefather, Abraham, and Sarah, who received the miracle of a child in their old age. Because Zachariah and Elizabeth were beyond the possibility of conceiving a child naturally, they were candidates for God’s miraculous intervention. Why did God choose this way of bringing His ‘Elijah’ into the world? Why not some ordinary village kid whom He could set apart for this ministry?

God had His reasons but it is possible that He would call attention to this special child by allowing him to be conceived miraculously in his parents’ old age. God chose this couple because John needed to be raised by godly parents who would recognise the seriousness of their responsibility.

Luke sets the scene for the entrance of John by describing an impossible situation as the backdrop to the things He was going to do to introduce His Messiah to the world. John’s parents were childless and too old; Jesus’ mother was unmarried. None of these things mattered to God. He would use these very ‘impossibilities’ to enhance the glory of His revelation to the world.