Tag Archives: Zachariah

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 – 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.

A Tender Moment

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A TENDER MOMENT

“‘And you, my child, ‘Prophet of the Highest’,

will go ahead of the Master to prepare His ways,

Present the offer of salvation to His people,

the forgiveness of their sins,

Through the heartfelt mercies of our God.

God’s Sunrise will break upon us,

Shining in the darkness,

those sitting in the shadow of death,

then showing us the way, one foot at a time,

Down the path of peace.’

“The child grew up healthy and spirited. He lived out in the desert until the day he made his prophetic debut in Israel,” Luke 1:76-80 (The Message).

What a privilege we have to eavesdrop on Zachariah’s tender moment with his baby son! Many a father has cradled his new-born child in his arms, nuzzled its downy cheek and whispered words of expectation and hope into its ears. For Zachariah, this was a moment he never thought would happen. There was no digital camera to capture it for him, but Luke’s pen did the job equally well.

Instead of words of uncertainty and skepticism, Zachariah uttered the words that were birthed in the heart of God and spoken by the angel into his reluctant ears. All his doubts were swept away by this flesh-and-blood baby boy he held in his arms. If God could go against physical nature to make it happen, he had no doubt that God could overcome every other obstacle to fulfil His dream for this child.

There are two profound principles in the prophetic utterance of the old priest. Firstly, it was imperative that he release through his oneness with God, the will of God to be fulfilled in the life of his son. In the beginning God appointed mankind to manage the earth for and with Him. How would this be done?

This is an aspect of prayer that many believers do not understand. God revealed to Amos that He does nothing without telling His servants the prophets. Why? Was it just to keep them informed or was there something more to it? We find the clue in David’s response to God’s word to him through the prophet Nathan (2 Samuel 7:18-29). David affirmed and released God’s promise to be fulfilled by these words, “Do as you promised…”

Perhaps many of God’s promises to us remain unfulfilled because we have not released them into our lives through our declaration of faith in what He had said. “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through Him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.” 2 Corinthians 1:20 (NIV).

There is a second important principle in Zachariah’s words. He was not only affirming God’s word, he was also affirming his son. At the beginning of John’s life, before he had done anything good or bad, Zachariah gave him his fatherly blessing, releasing him into the potential for which he was created. No child can ever become everything he was made to be without the father’s blessing.

Our world is full of broken and unfulfilled lives because fathers have never said these simple words, “You are my son; you are my daughter, and I love you.” It was in the strength of these words, spoken at His baptism, that Jesus went out and conquered the world. He could say with utmost confidence, “My Father…” because His Father had audibly affirmed the relationship that gave Him His identity and released the power to become who He was, the Son of God.

It’s no wonder John grew up “healthy and spirited”!

Zachariah Breaks The Silence!

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ZACHARIAH BREAKS THE SILENCE!

“Then Zachariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied,

“’Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, he came and set His people free.
He set the power of salvation in the centre of our lives,
And in the very house of David His servant,
Just as He promised long ago
Through the preaching of His holy prophets:
Deliverance from our enemies and from every hateful hand;
Mercy to our fathers,
As He remembered to do what he said he’d do,
What He swore to our father Abraham –
A clean rescue from the enemy camp,
So we can worship Him without a care in the world,
Made holy before Him for as long as we live.’” Luke 1:67-75

Finally, after nine months of silence, Zachariah’s voice was restored. What a difference from the last time he spoke! Skepticism and unbelief were not permitted to escape his lips during the entire duration of Elizabeth’s pregnancy. God’s will was in the process of being fulfilled and He would not permit foolish and unbelieving words to inhibit His plan from being fulfilled.

Those nine months of silence when his thoughts were locked up inside his mind, his only expression so laborious that he was limited to writing his basic wishes, must have been months of slow metamorphosis, like the gradual thickening of Elizabeth’s waistline as the child grew in her womb.

Perhaps his unbelief embraced more than just a pregnancy for his wife. Did he also balk at the idea that this child, whose coming he doubted anyway, would be all that the angel Gabriel prophesied; his child a prophet of the highest rank among all God’s prophets; a forerunner of the Messiah for whom they had waited so long that His coming seemed only like a pipe dream? Could it be that their deliverer could finally be on the doorstep after all these years of longing and waiting?

What was the hope that formed in Zachariah’s mind as his thoughts ran riot in his brain? What did deliverance mean to him? Did he have the same expectation as the disciples of Jesus had? Their expectation of a national and political deliverer shut their minds to a greater deliverance even from Rome, which Jesus could only achieve through His death and resurrection.

Zachariah spoke of salvation. What was this salvation of which he dreamed and spoke with such eloquence when his tongue was finally loosed? Was he longing for a new kind of freedom, when the guilt and power of sin would be removed forever? Did the possibility of deliverance from his own treacherous nature ever cross his mind? Did he see God’s salvation as the process of becoming whole again, restored to fellowship with the God from whom mankind had been estranged since the day Adam chose to go his own way?

I don’t think any of these thoughts crossed his mind as he pondered the nature of the child in Elizabeth’s womb. But, nevertheless, he must have considered the possibility that, since the angel had prophesied the birth of a baby to two people too old to have a child, the child would become and do all that Gabriel had said.

When Zachariah’s thinking became one with the mind of the Father, he was ready to receive and father the prophet in whom was invested the honour of fulfilling God’s plan. The early years of this child were crucial to his mission. He had to have a father who clearly understood his role in the raising of this boy. Unless Zachariah fully embraced the angel’s prophetic words, who would sow the seeds of John’s future into his life and destiny?

It was Zachariah’s role to prepare him for his future task. In this prophetic utterance of an overwhelmed dad, Zachariah expressed his confidence in the prophetic word and fully embraced his fatherly responsibility to raise his son into the role of which the angel had spoken.

Amazing Grace!

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AMAZING GRACE!

“When Elizabeth was full-term in her pregnancy, she bore a son. Her neighbours and relatives, seeing that God had overwhelmed her with mercy, celebrated with her.

“On the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child and were calling him Zachariah after his father. But the mother intervened: ‘No. He is to be called John.’

“‘But,’ they said, ‘no one in your family is named that.’ They used sign language to ask Zachariah what he wanted him named.

“Asking for a tablet, Zachariah wrote, ‘His name is to be John.’ That took everyone by surprise. Surprise followed surprise — Zachariah’s mouth was now open, his tongue loose, and he was talking, praising God!

A deep eventual fear settled over the neighbourhood, and in all that Judean hill country people talked about nothing else. Everyone who heard about it took it to heart, wondering, ‘What will become of this child? God has His hand in this.'” Luke 1:57-66 (The Message).

Zachariah was finally released from his silence because of his unbelief. What transpired in those nine months when he spent a lot of time with his own thoughts? Whatever went on in his mind, he was completely transformed, especially when he saw Elizabeth’s girth beginning to increase and he realised that the angel’s promise to him was for real.

It was a discipline he probably would not like to go through again but it was necessary and he learned his lesson well. He was quick to obey the Lord’s instruction regarding the naming of his son. Contrary to custom and culture, he would not allow the present company to call him Zachariah. He backed up his wife’s declaration that the baby’s name would be John – meaning “grace”.

With this act of obedience came Zachariah’s moment for truth. Through the angel Gabriel, God has spoken an amazing prophecy over the child that was to be born. Now the baby boy had safely entered the world and all the things spoken about him were about to be played out from this time on. He and Elizabeth would be witnesses to and a part of the life of this unusual boy, filled with the Holy Spirit from his birth and ministering in the power and spirit of Elijah.

What did Zachariah feel like, especially as an elderly first-time father, when he looked into the pink and wrinkled little face of his new-born son, knowing that this was a very special and hand-picked child who was his responsibility to raise and train in the ways of the Lord? Did he also think of the fact that he might not even live to see his son into adulthood or into the fulfilment of his calling to be the forerunner of Messiah? Who would take over his role when he was no longer there?

This must have been an overwhelming moment for the old man. He displayed his confidence in the promises of God by giving him the name John. Why John? Was it because everything about the child was pure grace?

It was God’s grace that produced the miracle of conception and birth for an elderly couple who were well beyond childbearing years. It was God’s grace that gave them this special child, whom Jesus called “the greatest of the prophets”. It was God’s grace that took away the reproach of barrenness from Elizabeth and flooded her heart with gratitude for His mercy.

Most of all, it was God’s grace in its fullest measure that would be revealed through the Messiah who would be coming into the world, and who would be the focus of John’s ministry. “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14 (NIV).