PREPARED FOR THE PROMISE
Luke 1:8-20
GOD POSITIONS US FOR BLESSINGS
V:8 Once when Zechariah\’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, 9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.
DEVOTION TO DUTY
The priest on duty drew lots to determine what work they would perform. Zechariah drew a lot for Burning incense in the Temple Holy Room. This high honor was performed by a priest only once In his lifetime. There were 24 divisions of priests, and maybe thousands of priests in each division.
God has a way of positioning the faithful in the right time and, the right place for His plan.
700 hundred years earlier, God revealed this event.
Isaiah 40:3-6
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.
4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.\”
There are three other elements of serving God.
Follow God’s Order
God uses the existing order to bring about blessings for the world and to fulfill his prophecy.
He chose the priesthood to bring a preacher into the world. Out of the 20,000 Levite
Priest, God chose a married man and his wife. He chose a priest busy doing His work
He chose a righteous couple made faithful through time and prayer who dedicated their lives to Him
Faithfulness
Zacharias was faithfully performing the duties of the lot he picked. His job was to take Fresh burning coals from the burnt altar in the courtyard into the Holy place of The temple. He would remove the ashes from the former service and replace them with Burning coal. Sprinkle them with incense making intercessions for the people.
It is fitting that God chose a particular priest for the particular job of fulfilling
His prophecy of The Intercessory High priest of all mankind for all times.
God confirmed His prophecy again 430 years before Christ.
Malachi 3:1
\”See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,\” says the Lord Almighty.
What you and I need to understand is God sees the future in the present time. God in fact Sees all time at once. You and I cannot see past the present moment.
This emphasizes the unlimited tolerance and unlimited forgiveness God has for His people.
Church Support
Any time a preacher stands before the Lord, you and I ought to be in prayer. He stands Before God interceding for our sins and needs. Zechariah was making intercessions for the sins of the nation. We must pray first that the sins of the priest be forgiven. In that time to Appear before the Lord in an unholy manner would be sudden death.
It is our job to support the pastor in prayer. We never know what blessings God will reveal to him for us.
EXPECT GOD TO SPEAK WHEN YOU SERVE
V:11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and gripped with fear.
The word angel in Greek means messenger. When God shows up it can be a blessing or a curse.
We never know when God will show up in our lives. We need to be ready at all times to receive Him. Notice Zechariah was in the right standings with Lord, obedient to his call. He was busy bringing glory to the Lord with his assignment. In due time God will reveal to us His plan for our lives.
The incense offering was twice a day, at 9 AM and 3 PM. Zechariah had to prepare himself for acceptable service.
Leviticus 16:11-12
\”Aaron shall bring the bull for his sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household, and he is to slaughter the bull for his sin offering. 12 He is to take a censer full of burning coals from the altar before the Lord and two handfuls of finely ground fragrant incense and take them behind the curtain.
How often do we prepare ourselves for acceptable service to the Lord? Do we just show up?
We do not have to make animal sacrifices for our sins. Jesus\’ death on the cross was the final sacrifice for all times. But we are required to be prepared for Holy Service
Romans 12:1
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
TRUST THE LORD FOR AN ANSWER
V:13 But the angel said to him: \”Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. 14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth.
Prayer is our way of communicating with the Lord. Zechariah and his wife were in their golden years, well past the normal childbearing age. They kept praying. We are commanded to pray without ceasing even if we do not get the answer we want. Our prayers never go unheard. Our prayers never go unanswered.
Every man wants a son to carry on the family name to the next generation.
They were not only blessed with a child, but a son. God did not give them the chance to name the child. God named the child John. The Greek word John is Ioannes.
According to the Theopolis Institute,
John means “the LORD has been gracious.” Buried in there are the Hebrew words “Yahweh” and “chanan”, the latter meaning “to be gracious”. The noun form of the word, “chen” (favor), is what the Lord gives to both Noah (Gen. 6:8) and Israel (Ex. 3:21).
The LORD’s grace and favor will always swiftly follow his remembering, and this is why the naming of John the Baptist is so significant. Without his name, he would have been another forgotten rememberer. With it, he answers the lament of the Psalmist “Has God forgotten to be gracious?” (Ps. 77:9).
We serve a God whose grace and mercy fall fresh on us each day. We never know all that God is doing for us
God has a specific reason why He waits to answer our prayers. At a young age, we may not be ready for the blessing we are asking for. God has a blessing beyond what we are asking.
No matter how bad we think we are, we should never be afraid to go before the Lord in prayer.
God\’s delay in answering our prayers is not to keep us from getting what we want but to bless us so others can rejoice.
God’s timing for answering their prayer, brought Zachariah, brought his wife joy, and the whole nation joy. Zachariah’s blessing reach 1000’s years beyond him and brought us joy. We are always in a blessed position when we serve the Lord faithfully.
God appeared to Zechariah while he was serving Him. He didn’t appear outside the Temple. He didn’t appear with other people. The angel of God appeared
To Zachariah in the Holy place when he was alone. Notice the angel appeared
On the right side of the altar. The right hand of God is the hand of power and blessings.
FOLLOW GOD’S INSTRUCTIONS
V:15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. 16 Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. 17 And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to 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.\”
Each one of us is on a mission for the Lord. We are individuals. Our mission for the Lord Is specifically designed for our situation and the circle of people we are placed in. God did not call us to sit on the sidelines. Each believer was called to serve and give God glory.
John’s mission has several aspects
- Turn the children of Israel back to the Lord.
- Stand before the Lord in spirit and power.
- Turn the hearts of people to wisdom and obedience.
- Make people ready to receive the Lord Jesus.
John needed the power of the Holy Spirit to preach the coming of
Jesus with power and conviction. John was able to preach the truth
In face of opposition, even unto death.
Do you realize that each believer has the same mission (Matthew 28:19)?
Each believer under the guidance of the Holy Spirit can accomplish
John’s mission.
You and I cannot operate as Christians without the power of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus said without him we can do nothing. But with Him, we can do all things.
God gave specific directions to Zechariah and Elizabeth for training their child. We have a child training manual, the Bible. Have you read it looking for scriptures for your children?
Train up a child in the way he should go. As parents, we have to prepare our children to serve the Lord. My best friend and partner shared with me her goal for her children. Serve the Lord first and everything else will fall in place.
Your child will be great in the sight of the Lord. It takes a commitment from the parents to encourage that greatness. Each of us has the potential to be great. It is in the text.
Not great before man, but great before the Lord. You may never achieve greatness in the world. But it is easy to obtain greatness before God. All you got to do is serve Him faithfully. The first training instruction is to prepare your child to serve the Lord.
Certain missions require you to be sober at all times. We must be sober in body,
Mind and spirit. Wine was the normal drink for the Jews. The mission of John required a higher level of spirituality. John was set aside for God\’s holy use. Zachariah and his wife were required to make a vow before the Lord.
Numbers 6:2-4
a vow of separation to the Lord as a Nazirite, 3 he must abstain from wine and other fermented drinks and must not drink vinegar made from wine or other fermented drinks. He must not drink grape juice or eat grapes or raisins. 4 As long as he is a Nazirite, he must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, not even the seeds or skins. The Hebrew meaning for Nazirite is one separated from God. Jesus was a Nazarene.
As parents, we must train our children that they belong to God and
Have been set aside for God’s use. I think we would train our children differently if we see them as future servants of God. The second rule of training is to make a vow to the Lord that your children will be trained according to His commands.
The third rule of training is to nurture their spiritual growth and development.
John was filled with Holy Spirit from birth. As guardians of God’s children, we must submit to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We must allow ourselves to be
Filled with Holy Spirit each day. Our children are influenced by us. Elizabeth and Zachariah had to continue their devotion and serve the Lord.
When we train our children to serve the Lord, they will draw others to Christ.
GOD SAID IT, DON’T DOUBT IT
V:18 Zechariah asked the angel, \”How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.\”
19 The angel answered, \”I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. 20 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 their proper time.\”
Don’t reject the good news of the Bible. God will give you want. You have to wait
On His timing.
God generated you from the cells in your mother’s body. He can regenerate anything that’s not working in you. Zechariah made excuse for his unbelief. He had the Word, but he knew by experience that old folk didn’t have babies. What Zechariah didn’t consider is that there is nothing too hard from God.
Zechariah spoke before he considered what God had already done. The Old Testament was complete 300 years before the birth of Christ. What God planned to do for Zechariah and his wife was nothing new. Abraham was 99 years old and Sarah was 90 years old when Isiah was born.
Jacob was in his nineties when Joseph was born. What God did for others, He can do for you.
When God gives you a mission, He has already given you the capability and resources to accomplish it. The existence of the resources lies in your faith. God\’s resources do not rely on man’s abilities. What God will do for you has nothing to do with what has been done in the past. God may do a new thing for you. Assurance in what God can do comes from the miracles we have seen and what we know He has done in the past.
There are consequences for our unbelief. Our unbelief blocks God’s blessings.
Zechariah lost his voice. He could not share the good news with the expression
He normally used.
You would expect that a priest of God would have the greatest faith. We all fall into doubt from time to time. God is tolerant enough to teach us the value of faith in His Word. We can learn not to doubt God from Zachariah.
One of the key points is God answers prayers according to His will. The answer to Zechariah and Elizabeth\’s prayer was delayed to coincide with God’s Plan of
redemption. In addition, God got the glory because a baby was born to
A couple well past the childbearing age.
SERVE THE LORD WITH CONFIDENCE AND JOY
Rev. M. Mitchell
