to Make ready a people (Luke 1a)

To make ready a people

Luke 1:5-25

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 before he is born. 16 He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.

Introduction: Happy New year to you all! This is the first worship for 2014. It is a period when we become keenly aware of passing of time. We have grown up more in Christ the last year.

In Christ we are victors in all situations because God is with us. But these are the past and now we are to look forward with great hope and vision. This shall not be based on what I have or what I can do or what the situations of the world would become. It all has to do with our faith in Jesus and His power upon our lives. How can we be used as the source of God’s blessing and God’s power in this year?

Based on the wisdom, knowledge and faith that we have acquired, this year we can expand our vision and hope.  How can we? God began a new beginning for his chosen people Israel through the faith of Zechariah and God began fulfilling his promise through John, a son-to-be-born through Zechariah’s faith. May God give us His vision through today’s message!  

A.      God uses the faith of a priest Zechariah[5- 12]

Breaking a long silence of over 400 years, God intervened to the history of Israel. It was near the end of the rule of King Herod in Judea. Herod lived 74BCE to 4BCE. He ruled Judea. He was well known among the Jews because he killed many of his family members and built many buildings including Jerusalem temple. So what happened on these passages was anchored at a particular time in history.  As we are at the beginning of New Year, so was this time in making a new era in God’s history. But this shift of history did not come by someone great with mighty power but through a nameless priest. His name was Zechariah. He was old and did not have a child. He had one wife Elizabeth who was as old as Zechariah. By this time both of them were so old that having a child looked an impossible dream.  Despite of this, Zechariah did not take another wife as was the custom of the time but kept his marriage pure. Such decision might be a rare one in those times. But such decision might have come from their faith in the Lord. It is said that they were righteous in the sight of God.  They kept all Lord’s commandments and decrees blamelessly. We can say that they were devout couple, not like any people of the time. Nobody has noticed such a ‘devout faith’ in this old couple.

Since he was a priest, it is good to discuss about the priesthood at this time. Their ancestor, Jacob, had 12 children. God appointed the fourth son Levi and his descendants to serve the temple. So among them are the priests. During the time of King David, all the priests were divided into 24 divisions. At the time of Herod, it is estimated that there were about 18000 priests. So each division was to serve two weeks in a given year.  This meant that if the chance was equally distributed among 18000 priests, then the chance to serve the temple is about once every 50-70 years. So being chosen to serve the temple was once-in-a-lifetime event. It was a great honor and privilege for any priests.

How was the priest chosen each week among so many? Each day a priest was chosen by lot. One day, the lot fell on Zechariah and he went in to the holy place to serve the Lord. So the chosen priest was to go in the Holy place to do daily routines. But here it says that Zechariah went in to burn incense while many were praying outside. He was called for this specific purpose on that day. There are many routines every day such as lighting up the lamp, burning incense to the Lord, and putting up the new holy bread so on.  Among many activities of the priest in the temple, this was a particular moment that prayer is offered to God while incense was burned to the Lord. All people outside offered prayer and at the same time Zechariah offered his prayer. Most likely the main theme of prayer might have been asking God’s mercy so that God may restore the nation Israel. Actually this routine, burning incense and prayers offered to the Lord by people along with a priest, has been going on every day and hundreds of years. But God kept his silence so far. But on that particular day when Zechariah went in the temple and burned incense to the Lord with prayer, something remarkable happened.

V11-12

An angel appeared to him standing at the right side of the altar of incense. Zechariah was gripped with fear and did not know what to do. But the angel started to deliver his message to Zechariah.

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 call him John.

When God said ‘your prayer’, we can take this in two ways. First God heard the prayer of one person, Zechariah. Second, God heard the prayer of the nation Israel and Zechariah as the representative of the nation. But it is not clear which one. Actually both are intertwined into one and it is hard to separate one from the other.  God heard the prayer of a person, Zechariah and at the same time God heard the prayer of the nation Israel, which Zechariah was praying for. Through this it is quite clear that God wanted to accept the prayer of the nation through the person Zechariah. So the prayer of a person Zechariah would be fulfilled by sending a new baby John through his wife. The prayer of the nation was heard and would be fulfilled through John as well. The meaning of name ‘John’ is ‘God is gracious’. God’s grace that the nation Israel was waiting for so long is now being unfolded through this old couple.

What am I saying? God had a great plan to save his people. The time has come to fulfill that plan. God did this through meeting the personal prayer of a devout man Zechariah. In this way God made it clear that God chose Zechariah as the source of blessing for the nation Israel. Why did God choose Zechariah? What was good about him?

 V6-7 say that they were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. Also they did not have children and were very old.  What do these tell us about them? In time of darkness they kept themselves pure and endured loneliness and hardship.

Light shines in the darkness. During the sunny day, head lights do not do much. Even we can barely see head lights. Bu at night, the head lights are so strong that we have hard time to look straight at the head lights. So is true in our lives. How do we know whether one is really good and godly? It is easy to know when one is put under darkness of life. The darkness might be when one is surrounded by ungodly people. It might be when one is going through hard times in life such as sickness, financial crisis or failure in job or school.  Darkness is the time we must shine our faith in the Lord. No one may notice such good things in our inmost heart but God knows even if we do not tell or publicize. Zechariah was, and Elizabeth was like that.

Romans 2:7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.

In the darkest time, God chose to use this devout couple for the salvation of his chosen Israel. The time we live is like the time of Zechariah and Elizabeth.  There are so many ungodly things among the people of this age. It reminds me of Rom 1:29-32

29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

It is not just the world that is so bad. Many of those who claim to be Christians also follow the world. Often it is hard to discern Christians from non-Christians. Zechariah and Elizabeth were nameless old couple. In their lives there was nothing outstanding. No one would have thought that this old couple would be the new history makers. If anyone wants to be used by God for such purpose, then he/she must be like Zechariah or Elizabeth. In their lives there was nothing much going on. They were getting old but having no children. Yet they were not given themselves in to depression or fatalism or succumb to the vanity of life. Rather they kept the law and themselves pure and humble.  They were persistent in doing good.

We are living in this world. When we live a pure and godly life, God will use us like Zechariah and Elizabeth.  Humanly speaking there was nothing going on in this old couple. But God chose them to use for His good purpose. God wanted someone like Zechariah or Elizabeth, who kept themselves pure before God. Through them, God sent most important person John. This year I pray that each of us may seek God and persistence in doing good. It means more prayer, more searching for God’s word, more patience and more believing in the power of God, keeping up one’s hope in the Lord.

B.      To make ready a people for coming Messiah. (13-17)

v14-17 What did the Angel say about the baby, Zac jr.?

God gave him a name John, instead of Zac Jr. It means ‘God is gracious’. His entire life represents God’s graciousness to Israel.

In all these, God’s purpose for sending him is to make ready a people for the Lord. John will prepare people so that they might accept the Lord Jesus, the Messiah. How can John do prepare them? There are two characteristics that enable him to do that job.

He will be great in the sight of the Lord because he will be filled with the Holy Spirit and that spirit will be rolled out like the spirit of Elijah.

a.       He is filled with Holy Spirit. He was filled with HS even while he was still in his mother’s womb. The presence of the Holy Spirit is vital for him to do the job; preparing people for coming of the Lord. The people of the world make efforts to keep up their spirit with all kinds of drinks. Most common ones are beer, wine or whisky. Some, in desperate effort to get spirit to go on, use all kinds of chemicals and herbs. Once I drop by a gas station to change engine oil. There were so many different kinds of drinks. Five hour energy, bull, giant size tea.. so on. The spirit lifted up by these drinks does not provide any energy to the truth and power of God. Only the Holy Spirit is the one enable one to challenge all ungodly forces of this age.

b.      He was to have the spirit of Elijah.  What is the spirit of Elijah? At Mount Carmel Elijah shouted in this way:
1 Kings 18:21 Elijah went before the people and said, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him." But the people said nothing.
1 Kings 18:40 Then Elijah commanded them, "Seize the prophets of Baal. Don't let anyone get away!" They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered there.
One thing that stood out in Elijah’s life was his zeal for the Lord. What is the source of such zeal? How does such zeal express itself? He will go on before the Lord. It means that he has highest view of God and his holiness. In other word, he saw all things in reflection of God’s glory and His holiness. Elijah could not put up with idol worshippers because for Him God is almighty and no one should dare to demean his name, his glory or his power. Yet those Baals and Asheratoth did exactly such things. In such view, a stark contrast between God’s holiness and men’s sinfulness was seen vividly.

God planned to send John long before. About 440 years before, God sent to prophecy about coming of the forerunner of Jesus (Malachi 4:5-6 "See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.").

Why did God plan this? There might be many reasons. But one thing is clear, in order to save the nation, God felt that it was necessary to prepare them before coming of the Lord. In order to carry out that duty,  God would fill him with the Holy Spirit and with the kind of spirit of Elijah. The root of sin of Israel was so deep that ordinary messages with human power or knowledge might not do the job that was needed. In order to bring changes in their heart, there needs a man filled with the Holy Spirit and has the kind of the spirit of Elijah.

What would be the purpose of pouring out with the spirit of Elijah?  Two specific goals: turning the hearts of parents to their children; from disobedience to the wisdom of righteousness.

a.       Turning the hearts of parents to their children: The same clause is quoted from Mal 4:5-6. That means God meant to bring something specific changes in the minds of people. Yet, why it have anything to do with preparing them for the coming of the Lord is not clear. We can think in two ways: Fathers are to have compassion and love for their children instead of seeking to satisfy their own needs. Second Fathers concern may change from his perspective geared to selfish wellbeing to a prospect that sees the wellbeing of the coming generations. Though both are reasonable, I believe that the second one was more in the mind of God. Such idea is found in the life of Abraham. When Abraham was concerned only about his life and his immediate generation, a son, God opened his mind to see the generations after him by giving a dream (Gen 15). Looking ahead of several generations means to have or to consider enteral perspective on one’s life. This perspective also forces fathers to think what is genuine and good for the wellbeing of his children. (Matthew 7:10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! )

b.      Disobedience to the wisdom of righteousness: in one’s particular concern to his children, he seeks what is good, that is wisdom of righteousness. To seek his personal wellbeing and freedom, fathers live in disobedience. But fathers has to change gear when they concern on their children.  To seek the wellbeing of children, fathers are willing to sacrifice their own selfishness and pride in order to pursue what is good and right, the wisdom of God. This is an amazing insight of God on men’s nature.

Having defined what should take place before coming of the Lord, now we can think about what God thought it was necessary to send John before coming of the Lord. If John would not come or if such changes, from disobedience to the wisdom of righteousness, do not come, what would happen? We can find this when we compare the two passages Mal 4 and Luke 1.
In Mal 4:6b… or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction." In Luke it is replace with this ‘to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.’ If that change does not take place then the land will face total destruction. If that change comes about through John’s preaching then, they would be ready for the Lord.

What we see here is that in God’s mind, sending John was an absolute necessity because the sins of men are so deep. There is a great danger that even if Messiah comes, they may not be able to see God’s blessing in him at all.

To bring changes in the minds of those whose minds are so deeply stained with sin, introduction of such uncompromising and high view of God’s holiness and righteousness is a must. John was equipped with this in two ways; first through the devout life of his parents, second through being filled with the Holy Spirit and the spirit of Elijah. In this regard, John has to be born through parents who observed all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly.

In thinking of the people today, their evil is so deep and so wide spread. Many evil and ungodly deeds have become norms of our society. Many encourage each other to do evil.  The peoples of today are worse as the people of the time of Zechariah. In such time as this, we need someone like John who is filled with Holy Spirit and has the spirit of Elijah. If the nation that God took care of so long needed a preparation, then what about those who lived wild life in sin? They need a preparation more before they come to Christ. What is the implication for us? We can explore this as we see the interaction between  the life of John and the life of Jesus: 

When Jesus began his work, John had already been working his duty. Soon after John introduced Jesus as the coming Messiah, John was arrested. John did not see the work of Jesus or heard very little the teachings of Jesus. In other words, the two did not work together at all. But John prepared the people of Israel and Jesus delivered the message of salvation.  In this way God created two step approaches in saving of people: First one is a preparation and the second one is real delivery of the message of Jesus. It might sound too obvious but it has an important implication for our prayers for many people. We often want an immediate result. God recognizes that men will have hard time without preparation. They needed a preparation and they need time to think over to make decision of faith. Not having such preparation described more obviously in Malachi

4:6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction."

There is a long process for a man to grow in faith. We do not know how long John preached the message of repentance before Jesus came on. One thing is clear that Israel pondered on what they were doing as John baptized people with a clear message of repentance.
When we preach, patience is important and simple message for preparation is important. I like to be the one that help someone to Christ. So when I talk to students, one at a time, I like to see some signs of change in each of them. But actually we are to work like John in preparing people for the Lord so that in time Jesus comes they might be ready to accept Jesus. Also, we are to offer the salvation in Jesus as well. We do not know which role we are to do for that specific person.

Once I got an email from someone that I barely knew or remember. He wanted to know my telephone number. On the phone, he called me from Germany, and said that I taught him few lessons on the Bible when he was a UM student more than 10 years before. But he quit studying the Bible after few lesson because his mother told him not to.  But what he learned through the few lessons remained in his heart for many years and he could not let it go. Then he decided to seek Jesus and finally met Him personally. It took more than 10 years since I studied with him. As soon as he met Christ, He credited it to my teaching. So in his joy, he decided to look for me. He searched for any information about me for years and finally found my e-mail and sent it to me. On the phone was a man full of joy though I barely remembered his name.  He was proud of his walk with Christ and gave thanks to me for teaching him the Bible.

When he studied the Bible with me, he did not change. But those few lessons prepared him and later he received Jesus in heart. Actually it was not my will to find him and teach him. It was God who arranged this teaching through me so that God may save him from the life of sin and death.

I studied lessons with Iris, Xioxi, and Hao, Andrew, and Jonas. In addition, Last year 25 students received the words of God that I taught at the first meeting on campus. They were full of joy and gave me their informations and showed their willingness to study the Bible. But none of them continued to study the Bible.  Though I did not see any visible changes in their lives, yet I believe that they are prepared for their personal encounter with Jesus in coming days or years in their lives, though I have no way of knowing when.

We all want to be the harvesters. What I mean is that we like to see immediate result of our preaching or teaching. When John preached the message of repentance, the entire nation came to him and was baptized by him. But when he died by the hand of Herod, there were only handful of his followers. He even weren’t sure if his work was effective in leading people to Christ. Yet many of Jesus disciples were once John’s followers. There are planters/or preparers and there are harvesters. God used some to be like John. God uses others to be harvesters. One thing we should not fail to do is to be diligent in teaching students the words of God. God bothered himself so much to send John in order to prepare his people. So must it be true to all men in sin. They must be prepared before they received the Gospel. To prepare the people God filled John with the Holy Spirit, the kind of the spirit of Elijah. What does it mean to you? May God give you understanding the will of God in sending John!  

C.      God’s servant must carry God’s message (18-25)

Abraham and Sarah did not have a child long time. Even after they received the promise of God, God did not allow them a child until Abraham became 100 years old, only after 25 years.  But when a right time came, God visited him and told him that this time next year your wife Sarah will bear a son, and name him Isaac. This was God’s design so that Abraham may know that God is the source of life.  Zechariah was a devout man of faith and he kept his life pure and godly. But when he heard the message from the angel that his wife would have a son, he could not believe. So he said this:

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."

He might have wanted more explanation or reinforcement from the angel so that he might be fully convinced.  But the angel said a strong word of rebuke; He is the Angel Gabriel and he stands in the presence of God. God sent him to tell this good new. The angel had a phenomenal credential; a direct messenger from God. So the message he just heard was not the Angels but God’s personal one.  God can do all things. God even can bring a child from such an old couple. The nation itself is founded on God’s power to bring a child from a very old man Abraham. So Zechariah should be believing. But he gave into his weaknesses and failed to honor God and His word. It is somewhat troublesome if the servant of God failed to believe the message that God delivered, especially in an exclusive setting. Who else can carry this message? Does God have to look for another person?

What did the angel do? V20

God made Zechariah not able to speak. He became dumb. He would be dumb until the day when the baby comes out. How would you feel if you cannot talk at all? You understand everything but you cannot talk. It is very depressing not to be able to express one’s mind. What are the things that he could do? Listen, see what was happening, and learn what God is doing.  

a.       It is better not to speak the words of unbelief. God shut his mouth so that he might not speak the words of unbelief. This is the time to meditate and learn God’s purpose and God’s power and God’s grace.

b.      In a matter of second, he could not speak. This was an awesome power of God. Zechariah himself bore the sign of God’s power.

Zechariah took long time to come out from the temple but also when he came out he could not speak. So he made all kind of motions and gestures to explain what happened in the temple. The people outside came to realize that he has seen a vision. But he could not tell them the details of the vision. All the message about the boy and about what God will do through the boy were kept secret.    But he saw that his old wife with many wrinkles in her face became pregnant and her tommy was getting big and big.
In this way he himself became the sign of God’s work until the baby came out. But what would that mean? The real message was sealed until the baby comes out. It becomes all too clear that God’s power was upon this matter. God has come to be with his people in power. This is the unambiguous message from God and this message must be delivered with clarity and without any ambiguity. Zechariah became able to speak again when the baby John came out and was named John. The meaning of John is YAHWEH is gracious. All the work that John came to do was totally of God’s grace.

There is a faith that takes the word of God as true. There is a faith that accepts that God’s word is true when one sees the outcome of the words of God. Both of them are important. But God wants his servant to believe God’s word long before his word is fulfilled.

So what can we conclude through Zechariah’s weakness? God wants his servant to carry at least one thing; faith in believing God’s word, or sign of God’s word in power. ‘God has come and He is here in power’.   This message must be delivered by his servants with clarity and without any ambiguity.

This year, each of us may carry God’s message by faith. May God bless us this year that God’s message may become evident in our words and in our lives!

Happy New Year!