The Song of Zechariah

I don't preach very often at church, but it is such a blessing to me when I get to. Pastor Aaron asked me to preach the first sermon in our series Advent: Songs For The Savior.

It was an honor and a privilege to serve BLDG28 Church by opening up the Word with them last Sunday.

Below is my sermon transcript if you'd like to read it. I hope that God's Word will speak to your heart and begin to prepare you for this Advent season.

Be Edified!

I don’t know about you, but I get very excited about the Advent season. I love all the fun traditions that our family has done over the years. I look forward to seeing my children’s faces when they open up their gifts, and I love sitting down to a big full, Christmas meal. I expect all of those things to happen. I expect for this season to be similar to last year.  Part of me has the expectation that this year is going to be better than last year.

Some of you might not have that sort of expectation this year. Some of you are looking at your lives and you are in the middle of a huge trial. Things at home are not what you want them to be. Relationships might be strained, people may be in the hospital, you are wondering if you are going to get over the flu in time to celebrate with your friends and family. 

But we expect that something good will happen because it’s Christmas, that Christmas miracle is bound to happen.

A couple nights ago, my son Ethan really built up my expectations.  

As we were driving home from a friend's house, he said, “Dad, when I get home, me and George are going to clean my room.” As soon as he said those words, I thought, “Wow, Louise and I are getting through to him. He is really beginning to mature."  At the same time I felt so proud of him for saying what he said. "What an incredibly giving and thoughtful attitude my 4 year old really has down deep.” 

Then just moments later, he says, “Just kidding, Just kidding.”

My next thought was, he must get that from his mother’s side of the family...no what I really thought was, what a cruel joke.

For all you Georgia fans yesterday, that game was a cruel joke. I could have never imagined such a disappointing loss. I did not expect Georgia Tech to come up with the win.

Some of us build up expectations in our mind of what someone might buy me this year…are they really going to Jared’s or whether that special someone is going to “pop the question.”

When it doesn’t happen, we are filled with disappointment.

I heard Matt Chandler say, “All FRUSTRATION is birthed from unmet expectations.”

As we go into the Christmas season,  we need to set our minds on the right expectations…The Advent of Christ should be dominant in our minds and hearts, and our expectations should be centered on the promises of our God.

Today we are going to camp out in Luke 1, so if you have your Bible’s turn to Luke 1.

It’s important for us to keep in mind what Advent is all about.

The word “advent” simply means “arrival” or “appearance.” When we use the term in Christianity we are always referring to the coming of Christ. While many Christians celebrate the birth of Christ, the Christmas season is more than a celebration of Christ’s birth, it’s a celebration of his first coming, and all that Christ came to accomplish. As Christians we believe that someday there will be a second advent or second coming of Christ where he comes to gather his church and we will be with our Savior forever.

My wife has this horrible habit whenever we decide to watch a new TV series. We don’t have cable, so if we watch a TV series we either watch it on Netflix or Hulu Plus. We love watching TV shows on Netflix because we don’t have to wait till next week to find out what happens at the end of the show, we can just play the next episode.  We always look for a TV show that has multiple seasons so we know that if we invest our time to watch the show, we are going to be entertained for weeks to come.

What my wife likes to do though, is go preview some of the future episodes of the next season, so she knows what’s going to happen to a certain character. When she does this I say to her, “Louise, what’s wrong with you, don’t you want to be surprised. Why are you trying to find out what’s going to happen?” She always say, “I don’t care, I want to see.”

If you are like my wife then you will love studying prophecy in the Bible. Prophecy is a way that the Bible allows his people to glance into the future, and see what’s going to happen.

Luke 1:68-79 is a prophecy of all the things Christ will do when he arrives. God begins the first advent story with sort of a spoiler so that we can catch a glimpse of God’s Glory in what the future holds.

Let’s meet the cast of characters and put this prophecy in it’s proper context.

First we have Zechariah. The first part of this chapter tells us that Zechariah was a priest, and he married a woman named Elizabeth.  Priests were honored among the Jews. They were men who were considered to be leaders who were set apart by God for duties that gave them access to the holy place, the temple.  Luke tells us that that Zechariah and Elizabeth both come from the line of Aaron to communicate to the reader that Zechariah and Elizabeth would have held a sort of an elevated level of status in the community due to the fact that they both came from levitical ancestry. 

The second character in our story is Elizabeth. I’ve already told you that she is Zechariah’s wife and comes from the line of Aaron.  This means that she was very well acquainted with the life of a priest as she would have grown up in that type of surrounding.  We learn from Luke 1:7 that Elizabeth and Zechariah were very old, but specifically that Elizabeth could not have children.  

At this time in history, it would have been very common for someone to pronounce judgment on this couple. Not being able to bear children would have been considered a sign to some that she or Zechariah may have committed some grievous sin, or maybe their parents did.  

We actually know this is exactly what was going on when we see Elizabeth’s response to her pregnancy in verse 25, when she says, “the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”

The idea that “God controls the womb” is firmly embedded in the Old Testament.  Ps. 139

Children were seen as a blessing from God (Ps. 127:3-5), and many times if there was some sort of physical issue, many would think that God was punishing  them for something they had done.  Deut. 28:15-17

A good example of this can be found in John 9. In John 9 Jesus and his disciples come to a man who is born blind. In verse 2, the disciples say to Jesus, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”  This type of thinking was very common in those days.

However, Jesus’ answer shows us how stupid and ridiculous this type of thinking can be.  In verse 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

The same is true in our story of Zecharaih and Elizabeth.

The text says they were both “righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.” Now that doesn’t mean that they were perfect, but what it does mean that her barrenness was not the result of sin in her life.

You see, God had a much bigger purpose behind what was going on with with Zechariah and Elizabeth.

It is wrong for us to jump to conclusions about people when they are going through a difficult time, may have some sort of sickness.  There are preachers today that continue to spread these types of lies.  They teach that Christians should never get sick, and if they do it’s because of some sort of sin or lack of faith.

James 1:2 say, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”  One thing that many Christians overlook in this verse is that little word, “when”…”when” you go through trials, that make you ask the question, “God, what is going on? What are you doing? Why is this happening?” This verse doesn’t say “if” you go through trials. The point is that YOU WILL go through things that will make you question God.

1Peter 1:6 tells us that we are to REJOICE in the various trials we go through. Both of these passages say that trials are GOOD for us. Trials make us STRONGER.

Wayne Grudem puts it this way, “It seems best to conclude that the sufferings which God allows us to experience from time to time in this life may at times include physical illness, which God in his sovereign wisdom decides not to heal. There may in fact be many cases when, for various reasons, we do not feel freedom to ask in faith for God to heal. Yet even in these cases the heart of faith will take God’s Word as true and believe that this also has come into our lives for good (Rom. 8:28), and God will bring good to us from it!

This is the attitude that the text seems to communicate to us when describing Zechariah and Elizabeth. This seems very evident to me because verse 6 says they walked blamelessly in ALL the commandments and statutes of the Lord.

It is also important to note that Zechariah and Elizabeth were advanced in years.  While you might read this and simply note their age, it’s important to realize that they have gone almost their entire lives dealing with this issue…dealing with the turmoil of their trial.

We don’t always understand God’s timing. Someone may deal with a trial for a short amount of time or a long amount of time, we simply rest in God’s sovereignty, knowing His plan is good.

Luke 1:8-9 says, “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.”

Zechariah was chosen to enter the temple and burn incense, by the casting of lots.  If you don’t know what casting lots is, it’s kind of like rolling dice, or flipping a coin. Casting of lots was mentioned 70 times in the OT and 7 times in the NT. We know that casting lots eventually became somewhat of a gambling game because we see the Roman soldiers doing it in Matthew 27 for Jesus’ garments, but we also see it a method used to determine God’s will throughout the Bible.  We see the apostles doing this when they had to determine who would replace Judas in Acts 1. We see it in Joshua 18 when he is determining the Lord’s will with apportioning the land to the people of Israel.  We see it in other places in the OT as well, and we see it here as Zechariah is chosen to burn incense. One of the reasons they had to cast lots in the first place was because of the large number of priests who would be considered for this honor. This was an honor that a priest would receive once in his life as part of the preparation for the sacrificial offering.

While some might think that these events were a quincidence or possibly random, Proverbs 16:33 tells us that they are not.

Prov. 16:33 says, “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.”

Nothing here is happening by chance. Every part of this story is part of God’s Grand design to rescue and redeem his people. 

This is made even more evident  when an angel appears to Zechariah and tells him what he’s been praying for, and that his prayer has been answered.

Have you ever noticed that in this story? The text doesn’t say that Zechariah told the angel that he wanted a son, it simply implies that the angel knew his thoughts. He knew what he was praying for…why…because the Lord told him, and verse 14 says, “you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth…

Then we see Zechariah’s doubt in the way he responds to this news. In verse 18, he says, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”  Verse 20 says that because Zechariah did not believe, he would not be able to speak until all of this came to pass.

Zechariah’s reaction to this news at first seems crazy. When I first read this section, I said to myself, “I would never doubt God if an Angel came to me and told me my future, but then I thought about it again and started to ask myself, how would I know if the angel was really from God, why would I believe some crazy vision, over the overwhelming scientific evidence and logical reasons for the problems, sickness, and issues that I am going through at that moment.”

I think all of us would like to think we would be convinced of the reality of Jesus if some miracle happened before our eyes, but the truth is that miracles happen every day, and we don’t pay any attention to them.

What’s sad is that we doubt an ALL POWERFUL, ALL KNOWING, SOVEREIGN Creator God, to fulfill his promises to his people.

Turn now to verse 67 and let’s look at what many throughout the years have called the Benedictus.  The name comes from the first word of this prophecy in the Latin Vulgate.

This series is titled: Advent – Songs for the Savior. This prophecy is commonly known as the 3^rd of 5 songs mentioned in the book of Luke. We see Elizabeth’s song in 1:41-45, Mary’s song at 1:46-55, Zecharias song at 1:68-79, The angels announcement in 2:13-14 and finally Simeon’s song in 2:25-32.

The song of Zechariah introduces us to two more characters in our story.  The first is John the Baptist.

When John is born, Zechariah’s mouth is opened, and he is able to speak again. And Zechariah, being filled with the HS prophecies.

We will come back to verses 68-75 to talk about the final character of this story, but first jump down to verse 76 and following, which reads,

“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

John the Baptist is the one who will go before Christ and prepare the way for him. We see John role reinforced in Luke 7:26-28

“What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you’ I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John.”

Specifically we see John’s task to “give knowledge of salvation.”

Last time I preached, I explained the Great Commission passage in Matthew 28. Luke parallels the task of John the Baptist with the Great Commission in Luke 24.

It is prophesied that John the Baptist will “give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sin…” and In Luke 24:46 it says, “Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the 3^rd day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem. “

We have this in common with John the Baptist. God has given us the same task he gave John the Baptist. We are to proclaim salvation. We are to proclaim repentance and the forgiveness of sin.

Most of you know that I am a bi-vocational pastor.  In my full time job I spend time as an admissions director for a small bible college. Believe it or not, I get all kinds of applications from people who want to attend bible college. I don’t always know all the reasons, but when an application looks strange, their essay doesn’t seem to be complete, or there is an academic issue, I call the prospective student and conduct an interview over the phone. Sometimes I can’t seem to tell whether they truly are a follower of Christ based their application alone, so I ask them a very simple question.

I say this, “If you were to die tomorrow, and stand before the gates of heaven, and Jesus asked you why he should let you into heaven, what would you say?”

I have heard prospective students, who want to come to bible college mind you, say things like, “I’m a good person, and I don’t deserve to go down there.” One student told me the reason he should get into heaven is because he makes people laugh.

Last year, after one of these interviews, the prospective student asked me what I thought. He said do you think I will get into heaven? I paused for a second , thinking as a director I am trying to protect the institution from students who aren’t there for the right reasons, but then I thought, what a great opportunity to share the true gospel with this young man, so after a brief pause, I said, “No, I don’t think you will be in heaven.” The student then said, “well what would you say?” I paused again, and said a quick prayer, “Thank you Lord” and then I proceeded to tell him the following:

Romans 3:23 says that we have all sinned and it is sin that separates us from God.

Romans 6:23 says that the consequences of sin is death, which means we will be eternally separated from God, but…

Romans 5:8-9 says that while we were sinners, Christ died for us, and through the sacrifice that Christ made for us, we can be saved from God’s wrath.

I said that Eph. 2:8-9 says there is nothing we can do to earn salvation, rather it is only by God’s grace that it can be received.

And finally I told him that Romans 10:9 says when you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved.

At the end of that conversation, I knew now that he understood that he was not actually a Christian, because he said to me, “Wow, I guess I need to learn more.” From then I was able to talk to him about getting more involved with the church he said he attended.

You never know who God will bring into your life, but there is no doubt in my mind that God continues to set up “divine appointments.”

One of the Bettelli family holiday traditions is to get 90% of our shopping done on Black Friday. For us, it is the perfect time to go shopping. Grandma and Grandpa take the kids for a sleep over, while mom and dad shop all night. 

While in line at Target, I had a conversation with a lady which ended with her taking down our church information.  Then on my way out of the mall, I ran into a friend who I had been talking about coming to BLDG28 for a while. I was able to spend the next hour and a half with him.

We are called to take the Gospel into the community, which out compromise, without hesitation, and without apology.

This was the purpose of John the Baptist, and as the advent story unfolds, we eventually see John the dying for what he believes.

This brings us to the final character of our story today, Jesus Christ.

Go back to verse 68 and lets look at who this prophesy foretells of:

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.“

This prophecy speaks of a savior. A man who will come and redeem his people, save them from their enemies, and keep the covenant that he swore to Abraham.

In the very first sentence we see God conquering Zechariah’s unbelief.  In his announcement of Christ’s redemption of his people, he puts it in the past tense. It’s as though Zechariah is so sure that Christ will accomplish his purpose that He’s already done it.

John Piper puts it this way, “For the mind of faith, a promised act of God is as good as done.”

Now in Zechariah’s mind, it is probably most accurate to say that he has in view a messiah who will procure physical salvation for national Israel from the tyranny of the Roman Empire, however as we see the story unfold, we find out that Jesus was more than a man, and he didn’t come to save a nation from the Roman empire, he came to save his people from sin and death and give them life.

Isa. 9:6 says, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 

The man that is coming is more than just a man, it is God in flesh coming to redeem his people through his death on the cross.

Isa. 53:5 tells us, “He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his wounds we are healed.”

You see Zechariah as well as the rest of Israel had it all wrong, they were expecting to return to political power, but that wasn’t God’s plan. God’s plan from the very beginning was to send his son into this world to rescue his people from eternal death and give them eternal life through the sacrifice of his son on a cross.

One of the most significant parts of this prophecy is that the messiah is reference as a “horn of salvation.” We are not talking about an instrument, but rather a weapon. Think of a bull or a wild ox. Their horns are used to protect and defend.

This is the only place in the NT that this phrase is used, however it is used in the OT, but only twice. We see it in 2 Samuel 22:3 and Psalm 18:2. It’s important to note that both of these passages use this title for God, and now we see it in the NT referring to the messiah that is so come.  The inevitable conclusion is that the one who is coming is God himself.

Zechariah’s song alludes to no other man but Jesus, the son of God, the one who would bare the wrath of God so that we might be reconciled back to God.

Jesus is the from the house of David, Jesus is the one spoken by the prophets of old, Jesus saves us from sin, death, and Satan. It is Jesus who pours down his amazing grace and mercy on us.

 At the beginning of the sermon I said that our expectations should be centered on the promises of God, so where exactly should our expectations be focused?

1.      We should expect hard times. We should expect to go through trials and sickness, but at the same time

2.      We should expect to be made stronger through our trials.

3.      We should expect God to conquer our unbelief and reveal his sovereignty

4.      We should expect to share the Gospel with people God puts in our lives

5.      We should expect God to rescue lost souls who need to know who Jesus is and that he came to die so that we might live.

As we go into this season of Advent, let’s turn our expectations off of people and places that disappoint, and let us focus on the purpose Christ came in flesh, to save sinners like you and me.