THEME STUDY: GOD’S GRACE REVEALED 12-01-02
"PREPARING THE WAY." LUKE 1
LUKE 1:5-7, 11-15a, 18-20, 68-69, 76-79.
PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO LUKE 1.
The five lessons in December all deal with "God’s Grace Revealed." The lessons in this unit highlight the Christmas stories in Matthew and Luke. Today we will study the unusual birth of John the Baptist, who would prepare the way for Jesus. Dec. 8 we will explore Mary’s willingness to be the virgin mother of the Messiah. Then on Dec. 15 we will study Joseph’s consistent obedience as he learns about May’s virgin conception and follows God’s instructions. Dec. 22 we will discuss the story of the angels appearing to the shepherds near Bethlehem and the shepherds’ visit to the baby Jesus. Finally, on Dec. 19 we will examine the story of the Magi from the east and their meeting King Herod and then visiting the baby Jesus.
In Luke 1:17 the angel Gabriel pronounced the purpose of John’s coming
; "And he shall go before His face in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to walk in the wisdom of the just; to make ready for the Lord a people prepared for Him." the Christ.)Luke is careful to give us the time, place and conditions that exist when John is born. In Vs. 5-7 we have the introduction of John’s parents. I cannot read the story without being arrested by their names. Zechariah means "Jehovah remembers." Then in the process of time he married a daughter of Aaron, whose name was Elizabeth. Perhaps her parents were a little disappointed that they did not have a boy, but they gave her a great name. They called her Elizabeth, "the oath of God." These two ordinary people had names that suggest hope, aspirations and faith still living in that ancient time.
This is the Herod commonly called Herod the Great. He was anything but great by God’s standard. He began reigning in 37 BC and reigned until his death in 4 BC. He was an Idumean. In Gen. 27:41 we find these words:
"And Esau hated Jacob." I need not say more. Herod was an Idumean. He did not belong to Jacob. He belonged to Esau and that long line of continuous hatred between the grandsons of Abraham had lasted across the centuries and continues even today between the Arabs and the Jews and even more so between the Muslims and the Jews. Each seeking ownership of Jerusalem.An Idumean was ruling over the Jewish people. Herod was the king of Judah. He despised the people and they hated their king.
Our lesson begins with an introduction to a priest called Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth, both descendants of Aaron. The male descendants of Aaron were automatically priests. By the time of King David, as recorded in 1 Chronicles 24, they were so numerous that he divided them into 24 orders or groups. Zechariah belonged to the 8th order, called Abijah. By the time of Herod as many as 20,000 priests were in Palestine with hundreds of priests in each group. Each order served in the Temple one week twice a year, plus all served during the Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of the Tabernacles. Priests who loved their work looked forward to that week of service above all things; it was the high light of their lives.
Zechariah was one of the priests, but he was not one of the prominent ones. Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous in the best sense of the O.T. righteousness. They recognized their need for the mercy of God and they sought to live in the way that was pleasing to Him. "Blameless" does not mean they were sinlessly perfect, but it does mean their faith and lifestyle were pleasing to God. They were nobodies in the eyes of the world; but in the eyes of God, this simple priest and his wife were highly favored people. They were both righteous before God.
As we move through this series of lessons we will find God using six common people with humble faith and true goodness to perform roles in the coming of Jesus into the world. The other four we will be studying are Mary, Joseph, Simeon and Anna. And of course the shepherds. None of these were from among the rich and famous people of their day. But they were they were the kind of people through whom God chose to bring His Son into the world.
Luke and Matthew have given us the only historical accounts of Jesus’ birth and Luke also provided details about the conception and birth of John the Baptist. Like a historian today, Luke did research for his book by talking to eyewitnesses and organizing his material into an "orderly account". Luke wrote his Gospel to a man named Theophilus, who also received the Acts of the Apostles from Luke.
The events in today’s lesson tell how God prepared for the coming of Jesus with the unusual conception and birth of John the Baptist. John the Baptist would later be the forerunner who announced the coming of the long-awaited Messiah, Jesus.
While Vs. 6 points out that both Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous before God, and Vs. 7 presents their problem. "They had no child because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years." For a Jewish married woman to be barren was considered punishment from God. Elizabeth lived under a cloud of her own disappointment and also the reproach of others. When she later conceived she praised God in Vs. 25 for taking away her "reproach" in society.
No doubt Zechariah and Elizabeth were tempted to lose heart from years of praying with no answer. Yet from Vs.13 we learn that their faith had not faltered. They had continued to pray. They maintained their relationship with the Lord and with each other during the long years of waiting and praying. Any personal relationship must be renewed and expressed. This is true of our personal relationship with the Lord, and it is true of human relationships, especially of a husband and wife. In some ways they were like Abraham and Sarah, who waited for years for the fulfillment of God’s promise of a son. Each passing year made the birth of a child less likely.
Vs. 8-10 bridge the gap between Vs.7 and Vs.11. Zechariah was a member of one of 24 divisions of priests in that day. He was from the division of Abijah. Each division served two weeks per year in the temple, and all divisions served on the three main feasts. Within the sections or groups of priests; the duties were allocated by lot. Because of the large number of priest, most would never be chosen to offer incense on the altar of incense.
Priests offered animal sacrifices on the altar of sacrifice, and twice a day during morning and evening sacrifices one priest offered incense on the altar of incense. The Temple was a series of courts surrounding the holy place and the holy of holies. The altar of sacrifice was in the court of the priests. The altar of incense was in the holy place. The holy of holies contained the ark of the covenant; and was entered only one day a year by the high priest. In the holy place on one side was the table with the showbread, and on the other side was the seven-pronged lamp stand. At the back of the holy place, near the curtain into the holy of holies, was the altar of incense.
Offering incense signified the prayers of the people. At that particular moment Zechariah was the focal point of the entire Jewish nation. The officiating priest was selected by lot and could serve but once in his lifetime. This was the day when Zechariah served, while the rest of the priests, and worshipers, stood outside the holy place in prayer.
This service in the temple was already the high point of Zechariah’s life as a priest, but something happened to make it even more important. As Zechariah went about his task, suddenly he saw an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of he altar of incense. Zechariah was a godly man, but he was troubled and afraid when he saw the angel (whom we later learn was Gabriel). Angles were active in the lives of Bible people, but they seldom appeared in visible form. Thus Zechariah’s response was a normal response.
It must have been a startling thing. No living Israelite had ever seen an angel. They had read of angelic appearances in years gone by, but they must have thought that perhaps that was over forever, and that none of them was ever likely to be so visited. It was a customary thought among the Jews that it meant death to look either upon God or upon any heavenly representative.
After trying to reassure the priest with the words "fear not", the angel delivers his message that Zechariah’s prayer had been heard. The Gospel of Luke has been referred to as "the gospel of prayer" because there are more references to prayer in it than in the other Gospel account. Vs. 10 records the first of 21 times when Luke mentioned prayer. "The assembled worshipers were praying outside" the temple while Zechariah offered prayers at the altar of incense. The ascending smoke from the altar symbolized the prayers of God’s people.
Bible students discuss whether the angel was referring to the old couple’s prayer for a son or their prayer and the prayer of the people for the coming of the Messiah. Many favor the former view, pointing out that the angel went on to say, "Thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son." Others point out that an officiating priest for the nation, Zechariah would have been leading in a prayer shared by all the worshipers praying outside the holy place. Actually, both prayers were to be answered.
In Zechariah’s words of praise after the birth of John, he thanked God for his son and also for the coming of the Son of God, whom his son was to declare. The angel told the priest to name his son John; this is the Greek form of a name meaning, "The Lord has been gracious. The angel not only gave the name of the son, but also detailed six accounts of John’s character.
This note of Joy, which John will bring, is found throughout Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus and the events surrounding it. It is an appropriate feeling during the Christians celebration of the birth of the Savior. No one else ever received such a high commendation as John when Jesus said in Matt. 11:11, "I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist."
In the secular world, greatness was and is associated with persons of prominence and power, such as Herod the king. But in God’s sight, true greatness comes as the result of service to others. John was great because he served as the one who prepared the way for the Messiah. His faithfulness to this mission brought fulfillment to the angel’s predication that "many will rejoice because of his birth."
Vs. 15b-17 continue the description of John’s mission. He was obviously the prophet like Elijah whom Malachi had foretold in Mal. 4:5-6. His mission was to "make ready a people prepared" for the coming of the Lord. Gabriel, in declaring what the office of the forerunner was to be quoted in the listening ear of the priest in the Temple, the very last words of the Prophets, with which these Hebrews were familiar. Four hundred years before the coming of the Messiah; four hundred years before John, Malachi was the last of the great messengers, and these were His words:
"Behold, I will send you Elijah, the prophet before the great and terrible day of Jehovah come."It is significant that the angel ended with the last words of hope from the Hebrew prophet. For four hundred years there had been no word from God, and then the final words from Malachi were spoken in the Temple to a listening priest, Zechariah.
The faithfulness of Zechariah and Elizabeth was expressed in their persistent praying for a son. All true prayer is by nature persistent. This is not because w must convince God of our faith or because we must influence a reluctant God to do our bidding. True prayer is persistent for several reasons. For one thing, since prayer is communion with a personal God, this relationship is expressed over and over. Second, we always have things for which to thank God. Third, real needs in our lives and in the lives of others make it necessary for petitions and intercessions to be expressed repeatedly
It was a great day for Zechariah as he burned the incense in the Holy Place of the Temple. Now let us turn to the extraordinary or supernatural things. Luke does not argue for the existence of angels. He writes it down with perfect naturalness. The supernatural is written down as being natural. The extraordinary is recorded as ordinary. Why? Because Luke was writing from the Divine standpoint; and all the things we call supernatural are only supernatural because they are super; beyond the range of our mentality to explain. The angel standing facing Zechariah was supernatural to men, but natural to God.
This is the first angel communication of which we have any authentic record for four hundred years. Its keynote was "Fear Not." God found His vintage ground in the soul of a man exercising his priestly office.
Zechariah was overwhelmed by the unexpected appearance of an angel and the amazing promise that his son was destined to "make ready a people prepared for the Lord." Addressing himself to the angel, Zechariah asked a question: "How can I be sure of this?" or "How will I know that this is so?" Zechariah and his wife had been praying for a child for years. Then when the angel told Zechariah that Elizabeth would conceive and bear a son, the priest asked how this impossible thing could happen. It seemed impossible because as Zechariah noted, "I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years."
The angel responded to the priest’s words "I am an old man" by saying "I am Grabriel." The angel’s description of himself emphasized that he had been sent by God to deliver His message to Zechariah. Only those who are God’s most important messengers stand in the presence of God. Gabriel implied that Zechariah ought to be overjoyed because he had told him these glad tidings. Glad tidings is one of Luke’s favorite words for declaring the good news of God.
Gabriel then proceeded to pronounce a judgment on Zechariah. Gabriel told him that he would not be able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed. The Lord apparently looked into the heart of Zechariah and saw unbelief and doubt. Notice that Gabriel accused Zechariah of not believing his words. Since Gabriel spoke for God, failing to believe his words was the same as not believing God’s words.
How could a man of such persistent faith and prayer fail to believe the promise that his prayer was to be answered? Sometimes even people of faith falter in their faith. Zechariah is an example of how a man of faith had a lapse into doubt. Notice several things about Zechariah’s doubt and God’s response to it. For one thing, Zechariah asked a similar question to that asked by many people of faith: Abraham, Moses, and Gideon are examples. Each of these men asked questions of the Lord, some of them tinged with doubt.
In other words, people of faith sometimes ask questions of the Lord. Sometime they even stumble into doubt. However, there are three differences between the occasional doubts of believers and the continuous doubts of unbelievers. (l.) Unbelievers usually spread their doubts far and wide. Believers ask God for help. (2.) The normal stance for unbelievers is doubt; the normal stance for believers is faith. Doubt is a temporary lapse from which believes move on to stronger faith. The prayer "Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief" of the man in Mark 9:24 is a prayer that God will answer. (3.) Zechariah asked for a sign. When it was given, he was open to what God said through the sign. When unbelievers ask for signs, they refuse to believe the signs they receive. Thus they continually are asking for more signs.
Having identified himself and clarified his purpose, Gabriel proceeded to give Zechariah the sign he requested. The unbelieving priest would be silent and not able to speak until John was born. Vs. 62, implies that Zechariah was deaf as well as mute. Thus Zechariah remained in total silence for more than nine months. The angel rebuked Zechariah by declaring that his silence was not only a sign but also a punishment because he did not believe the heaven-sent message. The promise that the angel’s words would come true at their proper time affirms the certainty of the miraculous birth and ministry of him whom Jesus called John the Baptist (Baptizer).
When the priest came out to the people and was unable to speak in Vs. 21-22, the people took it as a sign of some-thing unusual. When Elizabeth conceived, that was further confirmation of the truth of God’s promise. When Mary visited Elizabeth in Vs. 44, and the baby stirred in Elizabeth’s womb, that was yet another confirmation. When Elizabeth’s child was born, the neighbors and family were about to name him Zechariah. The mother insisted that the child’s name was John. When Zechariah was asked he wrote in Vs.63, "His name is John." Then Zechariah’s speech immediately returned, he was filled with the Holy Spirit, and he praised the Lord for the birth of his son, and for the coming of the Savor. All of these things were confirmations, signs, and fulfillment of the promise to Zechariah. He moved from a moment of doubt to greater faith. If we are to influence others we must be people of faith.
While Elizabeth’s pregnancy continued, Gabriel appeared to Mary in Vs. 26-38, to announce the conception and birth of Jesus. Mary then visited her relative Elizabeth. We will study these events in next week’s lesson.
When Elizabeth gave birth, many friends and relatives rejoiced with her. The family would follow the Mosaic law requiring that the boy be circumcised on the eight day. Some of the spectators assumed the infant would be named after his father, but Elizabeth insisted he should be named John. Zechariah had probably informed Elizabeth in some way what the angel told him to name their son.
Since John was not a family name, the audience protested about this choice of that name. Zechariah was still unable to speak because of his earlier doubt, but in Vs. 63 he wrote down that the boy’s name would be John. Zechariah’s punishment was then over, and in vs. 64 he praised God. These unusual events startled the neighbors, and news spread throughout the region. Everyone who heard about these events realized that God must have an important purpose for John’s life.
Luke reported in Vs. 67 that "Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied." Notice that the angel had declared in Vs. 15 that John would be "filled with the Holly Spirit," and when Mary greeted Elizabeth in Vs. 41, Elizabeth was "filled with the Holy Spirit". Thus all three members of this family were Spirit-filled! God was working in and through each of them to accomplish His purpose.
Vs. 68-79 are written in the form of poetry, and sometimes they are referred to as Zachariah’s Song. There are two parts to this hymn of praise. The first part in Vs. 68-75 focuses attention on the Messiah and His work of salvation. Zechariah was inspired to offer praise to the Lord God of Israel. He spoke of Him as though He already had come and redeemed His people. Since horns are the weapons of some animals, they are used in Scripture to represent power. Thus a horn of salvation describes the Lord’s power to save His people—the house of his servant David. John as a son of a Priest was of the tribe of Levi, but Jesus was a descendant of David.
The second section of this prophetic song in Vs. 76-79 descries the work of John the Baptist as the one God sent to prepare the way for the Messiah. Zechariah declared that this son, whom he affectionately addressed as my child, would be know as a prophet of the Most High. Most High is a title for God used several times in this chapter. He is the One above all other so-called Gods. The forerunner’s task as a prophet was to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord. Zechariah realized that God was not only blessing him with a son but also performing a far greater work on behalf of His people. How would this preparation be done? By giving his people the knowledge of salvation, that is, by revealing the true nature of the kind of deliverance God offered. The Jews were expecting a Messiah who would save them from the oppressive control of the Roman Empire. John was sent to prepare the people to receive a spiritual deliverance by the forgiveness of their sins. This salvation came, not because the people deserved it, but because of the tender mercy of our God—salvation by grace.
Zechariah employed a beautiful metaphor when he described Jesus’ coming as the rising sun, coming from heaven to give light of salvation to all people who, because of spiritual darkness, lived under the shadow of death. The original metaphor here refers to a party of travelers who, before reaching their destination, have been overtaken by the darkness of a pitch-black night and are now sitting terrified and powerless and expect any moment to be overwhelmed and killed by wild beasts or enemies. But all at once a bright light appears to show them the way, so that they reach their destination safely where they enjoy rest and peace.
The promised Messiah would guide His people to walk in the path of peace. Note the key words and concepts of John’s message: salvation, forgiveness of sins, God’s mercy, and peace. Here is a clear statement of the way John was to prepare his listeners to receive God’s offer of salvation through His Son. The fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy began about 30 years later as John began his public ministry in Luke 3: 1-19.
NEXT SUNDAY IN LUKE 1 GOD REVEALED TO MARY THAT SHE WOULD GIVE BIRTH TO THE MESSIAH. A.V. Daugherty 12-01-02