How Can I be Sure of This? Zechariah and the Angel of the Lord

By Rev. Matt Kennedy

The Church of the Good Shepherd

Advent 1C

December 3rd 2006

Luke 1:5-25

Zechariah was a priest. To be a priest in Israel you had to be directly descended from Aaron, Moses' brother, who was set apart by God to minister before him in the Tabernacle. Luke tells us in verse 5 that Zechariah was descended from Aaron through the division of Abijah.

There were 24 priestly divisions each made up of several closely related families. Each division was named after an ancient descendent of Aaron from whom the clans of each division claimed ancestry.

If you were a boy born into a priestly clan, you wouldn't worry about finding a career. Unless God personally called you to something else you'd be a priest. As a priest you'd be responsible for teaching the law of God and ensuring the proper observances of festivals and sabbaths. And for two weeks out of the year you'd serve at the Temple with your division. In verse 8 we are told that this account takes place during the two week time that “Zechariah's division was on duty”.

So Zechariah was a priest. But what about Zechariah, the man? Well, first, he was married to Elizabeth who, Luke tells us, was also a descendant of Aaron. Who else was Elizabeth related too? Mary. Second, we know that both Zechariah and Elizabeth were older. Elizabeth was past the age where could become pregnant. Third, we know that they were righteous. Look at verse 6:

“Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly.”

We need to be careful when the bible describes someone as upright or righteous. No one but Jesus was ever perfectly righteous. We're all sinners. But Luke says they were both “upright in the sight of God”. “In the sight of God” is important.

No one is righteous on their own but all who trust in Jesus Christ are considered righteous in God's sight not on our own merits but on the basis of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Jesus was not yet born, but like all believers who lived before Christ, Zechariah and Elizabeth trusted in the promise of God to send a savior and on that basis both were considered or counted righteous in God's sight. Both were believers.

As a result, though sinners, they lived lives characterized by obedience. The decision you make about Jesus Christ determines the shape or outcome of your life. The believer, though a sinner, is forgiven and embraced by Jesus Christ, and for that reason has a desire to please the Lord. Ultimately, and it may take a while, that desire bears fruit and obedience begins, more and more, to mark the believer's thoughts and actions. By contrast, those who reject God's forgiveness and love offered through Christ, ultimately seek to please the self. Outwardly, they may appear good, but inwardly, without Christ, the heart grows cold.

Ultimately, the absence of God produces a hardness of heart which comes to characterize the whole person.

But Zechariah and Elizabeth have committed their lives to the Lord and as a result, they desire and seek to please him and in their maturity their lives have come to be characterized by obedience.

But there's a problem. Verse 7 tells us that Elizabeth is barren. She's not been able to conceive or bear a child. Now the scriptures say that one of the special rewards God gives “upright” people is the gift of children. In Deuteronomy 28:11 we're told that when you carefully follow God's commands, “The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity in the fruit of your womb.”

The people of Zechariah's day knew that promise. They knew babies were signs of God's blessing. But they also came to believe that childless couples were childless because they offended God in some way. Otherwise God would bless them with Children. So Zechariah and Elizabeth though they were upright in God's sight, were probably looked at skeptically. So why don't you have a baby yet? What sin did you commit? You must have done something wrong.

 It must have been very hard on them and in verse 13 Luke says that they had long prayed for a child.

But now they're older. Elizabeth is past age and God hasn't given them the child they prayed for. And yet Zechariah, who's served the Lord faithfully all his life, continues to serve. That's hard to do. Often we come to God not seeking God but seeking something else. Okay God, I'll come to church every Sunday so that you'll fix this situation for me or give me this thing. And when those gifts and blessings are not forthcoming, people often turn away. Why? They weren't seeking God. They wanted God to give them stuff. Zechariah knew that the greatest blessing in this life is to be with God. He could live without a baby. He couldn't live, he wouldn't want to live, without the Lord.

So it was at this time, when Zechariah and Elizabeth had grown old, that Zechariah's division was called up for their two week rotation. During this rotation a different priest, chosen by lot every day, burned incense on the high altar inside the Temple once before morning prayers and once after evening prayers. Many in Jerusalem gathered each morning and evening to worship with the priest. They stood outside while he entered the holy place, the room right before the Most holy place that housed the Ark of the Covenant, and there as close to the personal presence of God that any mortal could get with the exception of the High priest, he burned incense before the Lord. It was a great honor and because the priest was chosen by lot, some died without ever having this opportunity.

So this was a great day for Zechariah and a fearful one. The temple was a dangerous place, sinful men walking before a holy God. Priests had died for failing to heed the special instructions God gave Moses for serving in the Temple.

So you can imagine Zechariah trembled as he turned his back on the crowd, entered the Holy place, and approached the altar.

  Have you ever felt that tingling sensation when you walk into a room and feel like you're not alone? For Zechariah it wasn't just a feeling. “Then,” Luke says, “an angel of the Lord appeared to him standing at the right side of the altar.” Now, an Angel of the Lord isn't like the cute naked baby angles with golden trumpets you see floating about on Christmas decorations. It isn't like the wispy angels with flowing gowns popular in the New Age section of Barnes and Nobles. An Angel of the Lord bears the mighty power and piercing glory of Heaven. Zechariah wasn't filled with warm gooey feelings of peace and joy. Zechariah was “gripped with fear." The natural response of fallen creatures when confronted by the glory of heaven is fear. Zechariah was gripped, his body frozen, his face ashen, unable to speak or move.

But the Angel spoke: “fear not, Zechariah, your prayer has been answered. Elizabeth will bear you a son.” The Angel bears a message. The child Zechariah and Elizabeth had longed for and prayed for and wept for and finally ceased to hope for was being given. And he would not be just any child, but the last and greatest prophet of the Old Covenant. John, who would be called John the Baptist, would, the angel said, be a joy and a delight to his parents. Many would rejoice because of his birth”(v14) because he would fulfill the prophesy given by Malachi that in the days before the Messiah, a great prophet would turn “the people…back to the Lord their God. He would turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

God chose Zechariah and Elizabeth to raise the greatest prophet the world had ever seen.

But at this moment, standing before the Angel of the Lord in the antechamber of the holiest place on earth, Zechariah's faith failed him. When God calls a man or a woman to a great mission, the answer given throughout the scriptures is always “I will.” Mary said, “May it be done to me in accordance with your will”. When God promised to give Abraham a son through his wife Sarah even though she was in her 90's, Abraham trusted God and believed the promise and God credited to him as righteousness. But Zechariah did not believe.

 “How can I be sure of this? I'm an old man and my wife is well along in years.”

Had he just stopped with, “how can I be sure of this?” he would've been fine. When given a promise, believers can ask for a sign. But don't ask for a sign because you doubt the word of God or doubt his ability to fulfill his promises. Ask for signs because we hear wrongly. Sometimes you think you hear God's voice in your heart but it's really the voice of your own desires. So first you check what you hear by the light of the scriptures and then if it's consistent with his Word, you ask for a sign to confirm that it really is God's voice and not your own. Then, if it comes, you can rest and trust that the promise will come to pass.

But Zechariah asks for a sign because he doubts God. “How can I be sure of this, I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” Zechariah did not doubt he was hearing from God, he doubted God's promise.

Notice the Angel's response. “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God and have been sent to speak to you and tell you this good news.” Zechariah, do you know who I am? Do you know who I serve? I come directly from God Almighty. “And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words which will come true at the proper time.” Zechariah asked for a sign that God would do what God promised to do and a sign is given. Since Zechariah has doubted God's spoken word, Zechariah will be unable to speak until God's Word is fulfilled.

So what can we learn from all of this?

First, despite Zechariah's failure, the Lord didn't revoke his promise. God chose Zechariah and his lack of faith didn't change God's mind. John was born. They had their baby. Israel had her prophet. God is trustworthy even when we're not. If you're a believer your sins, your failures don't change God's promises. Every day we sin against God in some way. But despite that, if you're a believer, God's promise of salvation stands. God disciplines, but he keeps his promises. God's grace is more powerful than your rebellion. There's nothing you or I or Zechariah could ever do to change that. And since that's how God treats us, we should treat others the same way. If someone rejects you, if someone hurts you, if someone breaks trust with you, that does not give you license to do the same.

Second, despite his failure here, Zechariah sought after God for God's sake. Why are you here? What do you want from God. Whatever you want God to give you, whatever it is, it pales in comparison to having God himself. Like Zechariah we must seek him first and his righteousness and then all these things will be given.

Finally, we learn that a life of faith and obedience is a blessed life. It's not, of course, that all your wildest dreams come true. They usually do not. God is a good Father. If you ask for a snake, he won't give it to you. But he will give you bread. Even if Zechariah had lived and died childless, he no doubt would say that he had lived a blessed life. God had given him enough. Obedience results in peace with God, peace with others, and peace within your own soul. That is enough.

Amen