Who do you Trust? Luke 1:5-25

Who do You Trust?
Luke 1:5-23

INTRODUCTION:
Have you ever heard of an upside down Christmas tree? Some of the first trees to be offered were 18 years ago by a New York based company called Hammacher Schlemmer. The trees retailed for $600. The company’s website advertised that the tree would make it easier to see ornaments and would allow more room for the accumulation of presents underneath. Other retail sites got in on the action and now you can order a 7’ tall Christmas tree through Amazon for $74 or through Home Depot for $160 (which is pre-lit)…

When we become a follower of Jesus Christ, our world gets turned upside down. When we truly try to start walking by faith and not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7), we learn what it means to trust God for His promises. We will not obey Jesus in any way until we trust Jesus.

Has Jesus ever told you something that you did not like? That you did not want to believe? That you did not want to obey?

Let’s take a look at the first event recorded in Luke in which Jehovah God sent a messenger from heaven, for the first time in four hundred years! And this messenger, the angel Gabriel, tells a godly, faithful man, a message that he does not believe; but to encourage him to believe and obey it, the angel disciplines him.

Let’s take a look at the text, Luke 1:5-25…

THE HOPELESSNESS OF MAN:
1:5-7: “In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years.”

First, observe that Luke places these events squarely within human history. These are real events with real people involved. Luke is the perfect historian.

King David had divided the priests into 24 orders so that each individual priest would serve for one week, twice a year. Zacharias was a priest and he was married to a descendant of the priestly family. Both these individuals were righteous in the eyes of God. They walked “blamelessly” in all the commandments God had given them through the Law of Moses. This does not mean they were sinless; it means that when they did sin, they did what God told them to do in order to receive forgiveness.

Luke emphasizes their godly conduct because then he states they had no children and Elizabeth was barren, sterile, so that they could not have children. In fact, they were both “advanced in years” with the implication that they were physically too old to have children. In other words, their situation was hopeless. But Luke doesn’t want us to believe that Elizabeth’s sterility was caused by sin. It was not. Sometimes bad things happen to good people.

When Paul wrote about Abraham’s faith in God in Romans 4:18-19, Paul said that Abraham “hoped against hope” even though he was “as good as dead” and Sarah’s womb was dead.

So Luke places the birth of John the baptist in the context of the other miraculous births in the OT, such as Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Samson’s parents, and Elkanah and Hannah. Luke wants us to understand that the same God who made promises in the past, recorded in our OT, who acted in strange and mysterious ways in Israel’s history, is the same God who has broken the silence of 400 years to act again in strange and surprising ways. He is working now to fulfill those very promises. It’s almost as if those 400 years of silence had never happened. God is still working.

Now, you might feel that your own situation in some way is hopeless. But its when we have found ourselves hanging on to the end of our rope that we quit trusting in ourselves and we begin trusting God and His promises. Do you think God wants you to be successful and to use your skills in His service? Then you’ve got to trust Him to do that in His own way.

Consider Gabriel’s message to Zacharias…

THE MESSAGE FROM GOD:
1:8-13: “Now it happened that while he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division, according to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside at the hour of the incense offering. And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. Zacharias was troubled when he saw the angel, and fear gripped him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John.”

In this account and in the account of the birth of Jesus later in the chapter and into chapter 2, we see many references to faithful Jews who were obeying the Law of Moses. These individuals were righteous and it is partly because of their righteousness in the eyes of God that He chose them for these specific roles to serve in His plan.

Now Gabriel tells Zacharias not to be afraid. That is easier said than done, I’m sure. Don’t you think it is the natural reaction, when you see a divine being, to be afraid? 58 times in the Bible God or one of His messengers says “do not fear” and the expression “do not be afraid” is found an additional 47 times. Clearly, God does not want us to live in fear!

Now here, the message from Gabriel to Zacharias is this:

1) Your petition is heard. Do you trust God to hear your prayers? Do you trust God to answer your prayers? Mark 11:24; John 14:13; 1 John 5:14.

2) Specifically relative to Zacharias, “Elizabeth your wife will bear you a son.” Elizabeth was sterile, but through the power of God, she will give birth to a son. When Gabriel appears to Mary, Jesus’ mother, with a similar but even more astounding message, he tells her: “Nothing will be impossible with God” (1:37).

3) Then, Gabriel, reflecting God’s plans, gave John his name. The name “John” means “a gracious gift” or “merciful God.” Either way, it would be a reminder of Elizabeth every time she called his name that he was God’s gift.

God certainly does not bless us in the same way that He did Zacharias and Elizabeth, but we still need that same confidence in Him and that same assurance that what God gives us is by His grace and His mercy and He will provide for what is in our best interests.

THE MESSENGER OF JESUS CHRIST:
1:14-17: “You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God. It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

This paragraph is the most important from a theological perspective of this whole section. Who is this messenger of Jesus? What was he supposed to do?

He will bring joy and gladness to his parents and even more will rejoice when he is born. Why? Because he will be “great” in the eyes of Jehovah God. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit so he needed to stay away from fermented drinks - “wine” was made with grapes; “liquor” (NASV) was made with anything else. Just like in Ephesians 5:18, Paul tells Christians not to be under the influence of alcohol, but rather to be under the influence of the Holy Spirit. John would be filled with the Holy Spirit even while he was still in the womb of his mother!

As to his responsibility, he would turn many of the sons of Israel back to God. So, John preached: “Repent for the kingdom of God is near!” (Matt. 3:2). Israel as a nation had wandered far from God and John’s responsibility was to call them back to their Savior.

He would also be the forerunner before the Lord, that is the forerunner before Jesus Christ. It is important to observe here that Gabriel identifies Jesus with Jehovah God from the OT. Jesus is Jehovah God in the flesh.

Using the great prophet Elijah as a model, Gabriel says that John will preach with the “spirit and power” of Elijah. Malachi preached that Elijah would come before the “great and terrible day of the Lord” (4:5-6) and he would prepare the way for the coming of Jehovah (3:2). Jesus, of course, fulfills the purpose of John’s preaching and teaching.

Through John’s preaching, he would turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, apparently suggesting that the Jewish men would finally realize the influence their righteous (or unrighteous) behavior had on their children and they would take their example more seriously in leading their own children to God. John would also turn the hearts of the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous. Through this work, John the baptizer would “make ready a people prepared for Jehovah.” In other words, after hearing John preach, then the Jews would be ready to accept Jesus as Jehovah God in the flesh and their Savior.

THE UNBELIEF OF MAN:
1:18-20: “Zacharias said to the angel, “How will I know this for certain? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years.” The angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you shall be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time.”

I don’t know if I would have responded differently than Zacharias; after all, it had been many centuries since God had done such a things as this. But it was punishment nevertheless. When God tells man something, God expects man to accept it and to obey it, not to question it.

It is remarkable that even though Zacharias has been praying - likely for his wife to become pregnant (has he given up on his prayer?) - when God sends an angel to confirm that God has heard his prayer, Zacharias does not believe him!

Gabriel states that he stands in the presence of God - he is a divine messenger - and he was sent to tell Zacharias this message, this “good news.” The verb “to bring good news” is the Greek verb “to evangelize” or “to share the gospel.”

In order to establish that Gabriel was telling the truth, he struck Zacharias mute and, apparently, deaf (verse 62). Zacharias would be silent and not able to speak for the next nine months (depending on when exactly Gabriel appeared to him). This was because Zacharias did not believe Gabriel’s message. But they will be fulfilled in their proper time.

When you and I open ourselves to being led by God, both in the Scriptures and through prayer, He will guide us where He wants us to be, doing what He wants us to do. This miracle, among all the miracles in the Bible, are designed to help us have faith and confidence in the word of God so that we will trust the promises of God.

THE WORDLESS MESSAGE:
1:21-23: “The people were waiting for Zacharias, and were wondering at his delay in the temple. But 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. When the days of his priestly service were ended, he went back home.”

It was typical for the priest to come out of the temple and give the blessing on the people that was recorded in Numbers 6:23-26. The Jews were waiting outside, wondering what was taken so long. There was more than one occasion in the Law of Moses that God warned the priests that if they did not come into His presence in the way He commanded, they would die (Exo. 28:35, 43; 30:20-21, 38; Num. 1:51; 3:10, 38; 18:7).

When Zacharias finally exited the tabernacle, he was not able to talk. Then the people realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. He “kept making signs” to them but remained mute. That makes me wonder if he thought that, perhaps, if he tried talking to them and told them about Gabriel, that God would give him his speech back. But, it didn’t work, not until after John’s birth and Zacharias wrote on a tablet that the boy’s name would be “John” (ver. 63-64).

When Zacharias left the temple, he went home.

THE WORD FULFILLED:
1:24-25: “After these days Elizabeth his wife became pregnant, and she kept herself in seclusion for five months, saying, “This is the way the Lord has dealt with me in the days when He looked with favor upon me, to take away my disgrace among men.”

And when the time was right, based on God’s schedule, Elizabeth became pregnant. She kept herself secluded for five months, but felt blessed and in awe that Jehovah God had treated her as He did. She felt like God looked on her with favor and took away the disgrace she felt for not being a mom.

When God answers our prayers, the best thing we can do is thank Him and worship Him. We praise God because of answered prayers. And it strengthens our resolve to trust Him more strongly and more broadly in the future.

Take home message: It really will turn your world upside down when you learn what it means to trust God’s word. Your prayers will be answered and your life will be enriched.