A sermon preached at Covenant Presbyterian Church of Fort Smith, Arkansas on April 14, 2024.
In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years. Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.” And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. And 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. And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home. After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people” (Luke 1:5–25).[1]
Luke’s orderly account begins not with Jesus but a priest serving in the temple. The time is identified as “the days of Herod, king of Judea” (5), the Roman-appointed ruler of the region from 37 to 4 BC, a favored time for the temple and its reconstruction, but not for the children of Israel, living under the authority of Rome and the governance of a tyrant. In contrast to the tyrannical, Luke introduces us to the humble, Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth, Levites living in faithful obedience to the Lord. The setting is one of two weeks out of the year that Zechariah’s priestly division, Abijah, is serving at the temple. And Zechariah has been chosen by lot to enter the temple sanctuary to burn incense, before morning and after evening worship services, a priestly honor, a blessing from God. But into this happy scene Luke introduces a burden that weighs heavy upon Zechariah and Elizabeth: Elizabeth is barren.
Of course, she isn’t the first we read of in the Bible. We think of Sarah, who was barren her whole life and then in her old age conceived and delivered her son, Isaac. We think of Hannah, who was barren and petitioned the Lord for a child, receiving Samuel. But this is not the case with every couple who are unable to have children, and we must understand that such miraculous accounts are descriptive not prescriptive. Why some are able to have children and others are not is a mystery.
Luke provides a subtle pushback against the false teaching of his day and ours, that somehow Zechariah’s and Elizabeth’s childlessness is some kind of divine punishment for disobedience. On the contrary, as a couple, “they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord” (6). Their positional standing before God is lived out in practical obedience. It’s a beautiful picture of a couple “advanced in years,” who have not been able to have children and yet have not grown bitter but continue to live in covenant faithfulness to God. But like the examples of Sarah and Hannah, we are told of Elizabeth’s barrenness because change is coming. This aged couple unexpectedly will be expecting.
God’s timing is perfect
Proverbs says, “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD” (Prov. 16:33). And so, Zechariah’s lot is chosen by chance by God, sending him in sacred service into the sanctuary. Inside he burns incense; outside the people pray. And into this ordinary picture of Old Covenant worship, the extraordinary is introduced. As Zechariah burns incense on the altar, suddenly an angel of the Lord appears. Zechariah is “troubled,” perhaps trembling, certainly terrified.
And then the angel speaks, not with words of fear but comfort: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard” (13a). The Lord indeed answers prayer, but in this case, he answers by angelic message: “your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John” (13b). How long had they prayed? Advanced in age, had they stopped praying? There are many things we do not know, but we do know what is most important: God heard.
How many prayers have we prayed that go seemingly unanswered? How many times have we prayed for good things, things in accordance with God’s will, things that you would think God would readily and swiftly answer? How many times have we heard only silence. But silence does not mean God has not heard.
“Prayer,” our Shorter Catechism says, “is an offering up of our desires unto God, for things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgement of his mercies.”[2] That’s what prayer is. But what prayer is is not a guaranteed formula to get you what you want. If you say the words, claim the right promises, follow the right format, does not mean that God will answer accordingly. God answers prayer according to his purpose, not ours, and this in itself is worth giving thanks to God consistently. We do not know the future, nor do we know ultimately what is best for us, but God does, and his purpose prevails.
And yet, how quickly frustration grows, when things don’t happen the way we prayed. The timing of John’s birth would have been far more convenient in Zechariah’s and Elizabeth’s younger years? Doesn’t God know how much energy it takes to raise a child? If only they had prayed harder, claimed more promises, scrutinized every detail of their obedience under the law, right? If only they had tried a little harder, then John’s birth would have come decades earlier, right? Wrong. Zechariah and Elizabeth were “righteous before God, walking blamelessly,” trusting the Lord and knowing,
Whatever my God ordains is right
His holy will abide
I will be still, whatever He does
And follow where He guides.[3]
As the forerunner of Christ, who came in the fullness of time (Gal. 4:4), John was born at the perfect time, according to God’s purpose.
God’s revelation is sure
God sent his angel to Zechariah to deliver a message, special revelation: Aged Elizabeth will bear a son, to be appropriately named, John, meaning “God is gracious.” By God’s grace his birth will bring joy and gladness, but also “many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord” (14). As joyful as the day is at the birth of any child, this isn’t any child. This child will be set apart; the child of a priest shall be God’s prophet.
The priests were required to abstain from alcohol for their term of service (Lev. 10:8-9), but John’s service will not end until death. He will never partake of the fermented fruit of the vine but will be filled with “the Holy Spirt, even from his mother’s womb” (15). We know of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling at conversion; John will know it at conception. He will be one of a kind from the beginning, called before created, with prophetic purpose: to “turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.” “Repent,” John will one day declare, “for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 3:2).
John’s life will be, the angel explains, one of fulfillment and preparation. In fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy of the prophet to come (Mal. 3:1; 4:5-6), John will go before the Lord “in the spirit and power of Elijah … to make ready for the Lord a people prepared” (17), a people who will ultimately enjoy a time of familial and national restoration and unity (Mal. 4:6; 3:18; 2:6). But John will not be the one to make all things new (Rev. 21:5), but shall run before him, a voice crying in the wilderness, preparing the way of the Lord, making his paths straight (Matt. 3:3). It is the Lord who was and is and is to come, who has sent his angel to Zechariah, to tell of the forerunner to come, Zechariah’s son.
All of this Zechariah hears, but perhaps as we would have been after encountering an angel, Zechariah seems stuck at the angel’s first words, asking incredulously, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years” (18). Zechariah has seen and been told the miraculous, so he asks for a sign, something to confirm the unbelievable. The angel in return reveals his identity, and the privilege of his heavenly position, and then the sign to be given:
“I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time” (19-20).
This is Gabriel, the same angel who appeared to Daniel and who will appear to the virgin Mary. He has been sent by God to give Zechariah the good news, and with it a sign of silence.
There is no need for a confirming sign when God speaks. Elizabeth did conceive, and John was born. He did serve as the forerunner of Christ, just as Malachi foretold, as Gabriel said, as Zechariah heard. But God’s special revelation is not only for angelic appearances for aged priests, for in these last days he has given us his written Word. We do not look for signs and wonders when we have the very inscripturated Word of God, a complete canon of Scripture that we may know, without a doubt, the revealed will of God. Gabriel’s message to Zechariah is no more the special revelation of God than the verses we look at today in the Gospel of Luke. We need not look for the miraculous, when we have the miraculous to read, study, and meditate upon, and we need not be supernaturally silenced to learn that God’s Word is sure. As the psalmist teaches us to sing,
the testimony of the LORD is sure,
making wise the simple;
the precepts of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the LORD is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the LORD is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the LORD are true,
and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb (Ps. 19:7b-10).
How sweet indeed is the Word of God, but we must taste it to know. Scripture is not merely words on a page but “breathed out by God” (2 Tim. 3:16a). It is not merely good advice, but “living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb. 4:12). We must go to it and listen, for God speaks directly to us through it, words that require no confirming sign other than its existence, because God has chosen to reveal himself in his Word, that we may know him through faith in the living Word, Jesus Christ.
God’s purpose prevails
We don’t know long Zechariah lingered in the temple, but it was long enough to leave the people wondering, even worried. And when he finally immerges, he is speechless, literally. Trying to communicate inaudibly, the people deduce he has seen a vision. If they only knew, what we know. And so, the aged priest is sent home, his service concluded, and just as the angel said, Elizabeth conceives, a reality so inconceivable she hides herself for over half her term. But in her heart, she knows that the Lord had heard and answered, and so she prays, grateful for what God has given.
Her son John would become the greatest of the Old Testament prophets (Matt. 11:11), not in his works but in his timing, fulfilling every word that was promised, paving the way for the Promised One, our Lord Jesus Christ. He came in the fullness of time, fulfilled the law in his perfect life, bore our sin in his atoning death, and has given us eternal life in his resurrected life, all according to the sovereign purpose of God. None of this happened by accident but everything according to the perfect purpose of God. Let us learn then to trust him, remembering that we have “been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Eph. 1:11), and knowing “that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28). What made no sense to Zechariah and Elizabeth, for what must have seemed like a lifetime, God used to usher in Christ’s coming. So, trust the Lord, for his purpose will always prevail, for our good and ultimately his glory.
[1] Unless referenced otherwise, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton: Crossway Bibles, 2001).
[2] “The Shorter Catechism” Q. 98, The Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms (Lawrenceville: PCA Christian Education and Publications, 2007), 400-401.
[3] https://sandramccracken.bandcamp.com/track/sweet-comfort
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