Speechless in Jerusalem
Luke 1:5-25
How many of you have ever had a moment where something happened to you that just made you feel special? And there you were, just living your life. You were just going throughout your day, minding your own business. But then out of the blue, there was a moment where something happened to you and you just felt blessed and highly favored. You felt special. I don’t know if you know what I’m talking about. One of these things happened to me this past week.
So, I was at the grocery store, picking up a few things for the family. I got my little buggy, walking through the grocery store as one does. I start to pass by the coffee aisle, right? Of course, I began to walk down the coffee aisle because I’m a Christian and I love coffee, and I had to get some. And so I’m walking down the coffee aisle, and then I look up and there’s one lady on the coffee aisle, and she’s an older lady. She’s down at the end, probably around 70 years old or so. She’s looking at me, and she starts waving at me. So I’m looking at her, and I have this odd moment where I’m thinking, “Do I know this lady?” Have you ever had that moment where someone is doing this and you wonder, “Do I know this person? Who is this person? I don’t recognize this lady.” But I’m thinking to myself, “Okay, I don’t recognize her, but she’s waving me down, so I can’t pretend like I don’t see her, because what if she goes to the church? That would be rude.” Then it becomes a point of gossip, and that evil pastor, and they’re blogging about it, and putting Google reviews up. So I’m going, “Okay, okay, let me just go say hello.” So she started waving, so just to make sure, I looked back at her and waved. She waved again. So I’m thinking, “Well, I must know this lady.” So I pushed my buggy to where the lady is, and I said, “Hey, how’s it going? It’s great to see you.” She said, “Well, good to see you.” I said, “Tell me again where I know you from.” She said, “I don’t know you.” I said, “Oh, I thought maybe you…” She said, “No, no, no, no, sweetie.” She said, “I don’t know you. I was just waving you down to see if you could help me.” I said, “Okay, yes, ma’am. What kind of help do you need?” She says to me, “Well, you see up on that top shelf? That’s my favorite brand of coffee on that top shelf, and I can’t reach it. And so I saw you, and I decided to ask you to help me since you’re so tall.” I had this moment where I felt blessed and highly favored at this. I felt so special, because here’s this sweet old lady in the grocery store who can’t reach her coffee on the top shelf, and she sees me down the aisle, and she immediately knows that I can help her because I’m 6’2″. 5’11”. I’m 5’9″. You happy? Okay, the point is she couldn’t reach it. She couldn’t get it. I could, and I got it for her? So, I felt so special. I felt so blessed and highly favored. I felt so tall for once.
Now follow this. Here’s why I tell you that story. It’s interesting because as we jump into Luke chapter 1, we get into the very first historical account. And at the beginning of the Gospel of Luke, Luke begins to tell us a story of the life and ministry of Jesus. He’s backing up. He wants to tell us how this stuff happened from the very beginning. And the very first story that Luke tells us in the gospel of Luke is about this man who had a specific experience that caused him to feel blessed and highly favored; a powerful encounter, a powerful experience, and this is the very first story, the first historical account that Luke feels compelled to tell us about when it comes to the life and the ministry of Jesus.
There are four very powerful and significant truths that the Lord wants us to see here in this text. Luke chapter 1, starting in verse 5. Luke is writing real history. This isn’t mythology. This isn’t some fairy tale. Luke is trying to give us a historical account of the events that Christ accomplished, as he says in verse 1 of this gospel. The very first thing that Luke does, much like a good historian, is to tell us when these things took place. He has to set the stage like a good historian. First of all, let me tell you when this is going down. It’s the first thing that Luke wants us to get, and so he lays it out here in verse 5. Pay close attention to what he says. “In the days of Herod, king of Judea…” So, time out. That’s when this stuff is happening. You have to get this. This sets the stage for everything else that’s about to occur here in these verses. Luke chapter 1 is happening; it’s going down in the days when Herod is the King of Judea. Another way to say this is that Luke chapter 1 is happening during a dark, depressing, brutal, oppressive season in the history of Israel. That’s the first thing we’re supposed to get. It’s a dark day in Israel when this stuff right here is going down.
So, here are a few things we know to be true about this guy, Herod the Great. Herod is the King of Judea during this time and was basically a puppet king for the Roman Empire. He ruled from 40 BC until 4 BC when he eventually died, so his rule lasted for 36 years. Understand that these were basically 36 years of the proverbial hell on earth. It was brutal what happened under this dude’s reign. Not only did King Herod oppress his own people with unbelievable levels of taxation so that he could just build whatever in the world he wanted to do, but on top of that, he was actually in fact a sociopath who was kind of obsessed with violence. History tells us that Herod had three of his own sons murdered because he was freaked out and scared that one day they might attempt to overthrow him and take his throne. So he had three of his own kids killed. On top of that, Herod ended up murdering his mother-in-law and he murdered his own wife, so quite the family man this Herod guy was. As a matter of fact, Caesar Augustus, the Roman Emperor, once said this about Herod, “I would rather be Herod’s pig than his son.” He said this because he knew that Herod, at least being part Jewish, would never kill a pig, but apparently he had no problem killing his own sons. As a matter of fact, there’s a story from history where Herod wanted to kill a Jewish high priest, but he was struggling with this, thinking, “I want to kill this guy. I don’t like this dude. But, how do you kill a high priest without the people revolting? This might cause quite the stir in Israel, you know, murdering a high priest.” So here’s what Herod did in this true story. Herod invited the high priest over to his palace for a swim in the pool, and then it turns out when the high priest went to Herod’s pool to swim, oops, he drowned. And then after that happened, when the people came and pressed into Herod and said, “Hey, why did you kill the high priest?” You know what he said? “I didn’t kill him, he just can’t swim good. He should have worn floaties.” Right? So nobody wanted to go to a pool party at Herod’s place. Ever. Furthermore, look up in the gospel of Matthew where we are told that when Herod found out that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, he ordered that all the baby boys in Bethlehem be slaughtered.
Now get this. This is a complete toad who’s king in Israel during this day. So immediately, right out of the gate, what our boy Luke is signaling to all of us is this: it’s a dark day. It’s a bad day. It’s a hopeless day for the people in Israel. And that’s when we read this in verse five: “In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah of the division of Abihah, and he had a wife, from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.” This is fascinating. So immediately in verse five, the camera zooms in on a family. We’re introduced to a family. It’s an up close and personal shot of a family. But it’s not just any family, they’re a ministry family. We’re told right out of the gate that Zechariah is a priest. You know another way of saying it? Zechariah is a pastor and his wife was from the sons of Aaron. You know what that means? That means she grew up in a priestly family. That means Elizabeth had been a pastor’s daughter and grew up to marry a pastor. So they’re a ministry family. Picture this: an old country pastor and his wife at Second Baptist Church of Roosterbeak, Israel. That’s Elizabeth and Zechariah. They’re out in the sticks, living a humble life and have a couple people in their little congregation, their synagogue, where they minister. That’s Elizabeth and Zechariah.
And we have to pay attention to what verse six says about this ministry family, Elizabeth and Zechariah, “They were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.” So pay close attention to this. Here’s what we just found out about Elizabeth and Zechariah, this old couple: They’re in ministry and they love God. And I know what some of you are thinking. You’re thinking, “Oh, timeout. Shouldn’t those two things kind of go hand in hand? You’re in ministry and you love God. Aren’t those two things automatic? Shouldn’t those things go together?” Well, yeah, they should. But sadly, that’s not always true. See, one of the things that you see in the Scriptures is that it is totally possible for someone to be in ministry and not love God. Do you know that? It is completely possible for someone to be in the employ of a church, doing ministry, and not love God. Remember what Jesus says in Matthew chapter seven? “In that day, many people will say, ‘Didn’t we cast out demons in your name? Didn’t we preach mighty sermons? Didn’t we do awesome deeds?’ And Jesus will say, ‘Depart from me, workers of iniquity. I never knew you. You did a lot of ministry and it wasn’t for me. We didn’t even have a relationship.’”
The Old Testament tells us over and over again about different priests who were in ministry and did not love God. The sons of Eli in 1 Samuel chapter two, working in the church, were wicked, evil dudes. You read the book of Malachi and see that Malachi is speaking and he’s prophesying against a bunch of priests who were doing ministry and don’t love God. You flip over to the New Testament and read about the Pharisees all the time. Remember most of the Pharisees were doing ministry and appeared to not love God at all. It’s possible to be in the employ of a Christian organization or church or ministry and to not love the Lord. But right out of the gate, what are we finding out about Zachariah and Elizabeth? Just so there’s no mistake, God wants us to be really clear on this. Not only are they in ministry, but they love God with all their heart. They’re righteous before the Lord, walking blamelessly before God. That doesn’t mean that they were without sin, but it does mean they were living a life in faithfulness to God’s Word and God’s law because they loved God. These are people that love the Bible. They love to worship. They love being generous. They love spending quality time with God. They love doing ministry together. They love having people into their home and sharing meals and talking about the Lord and his word. They love God. And this is really important for us to grasp. Because some of us are thinking at this moment, “Wow.” So here we have this couple who has given their life to serving the Lord in the church and doing God’s work. And at the same time, they love God with all their hearts. They love the Bible. They love to worship. They love to tell other people about the Lord. So obviously, these people would have the blessing of God in their lives, right? Obviously their life must be blessed. Obviously their circumstances must be great because God blesses people who do his work and walk in faithfulness to his word, right? So obviously, these people must be experiencing an incredibly blessed life. Their circumstances must be amazing. That’s what we’re all thinking when we read about their faithfulness to the Lord.
And then we read verse seven. They were walking with God. They loved God. They were doing ministry together, but they had no child because Elizabeth was barren and both were advanced in years. See what we just saw. Here is a couple, a man and a woman, who love God more than anything and they’re suffering. Here’s a man and a woman married who love the Lord more than they love anything else in this world and are walking in faithfulness and obedience to the word of God and their circumstances stink. And God’s telling us here, through the Holy Spirit inspiring Luke to pen these words, that God is pleased with Elizabeth and Zechariah. He’s pleased with them. They’re walking with Him. They’re talking with Him. They’re spending time with Him. They’re worshiping Him. God’s pleased with them. And at the same time, what are these two experiencing? Heartbreaking, disappointing pain. Wow.
A Painful Situation Is Not Clear Evidence of How God Feels About Me
This brings us to the very first point for today. A painful situation is not clear evidence of how God feels about me. We’ve got to get this. So right out of the chute, Luke’s forcing us to see something here. We’re seeing a couple who love God. They’re godly. They’re faithful. They’re not only attending church, they’re ministering to the church. They’re praying with people. They’re doing ministry together and they’ve been in it for years. And at the same time, their circumstances stink, but here’s what they’re not doing. They’re not looking at their circumstances and saying, “Well, I’m going to judge God’s disposition towards me based on the pain I’m walking through. So God must not care or God must not love me or God must not be paying attention or maybe God isn’t even real because look at the pain I’m walking through.” They’re not doing that. See, somehow Elizabeth and Zechariah know that it’s totally true that a painful situation, a painful circumstance, is not clear, reliable evidence of how God feels about me at the moment. I mean, here they are walking through pain and heartbreak and infertility. And some of you know that pain. And they’re walking through infertility and the pain of all that and yet, even though that’s incredibly disappointing, what are they doing? They’re trusting God. They’re serving God. They’re telling others about God. They’re reading the Word of God. They’re rejoicing in God. They’re obeying God. In other words, Zechariah and Elizabeth haven’t fallen into the trap that many of us sometimes fall into of judging God’s faithfulness or God’s feelings about us or disposition towards us based on the pain and the suffering that we’re walking through at a particular moment in life.
See, here’s the reality. See if you agree with this or not. In this life, we all go through seasons that stink. Can I get an amen? Sometimes life just stinks. We walk through pain and through heartbreak. We walk through grief and suffering. And if we’re not careful, long extended seasons of suffering and pain and disappointment can actually begin to lead us to a place where we start making some crazy unbiblical assumptions about God. Anybody with me? Anybody ever noticed this? Anybody ever lived this? I have. You walk through a long painful situation of disappointment and heartbreak and you start to think some crazy thoughts about the Lord that are totally not in line with the Scriptures. We begin to think things like God must not care about me or God must not be a God of love or maybe God isn’t even real because if God was real, why am I having to walk through this stuff? Forget this. I’m just going to the lake on Sundays. I’m going to sign my kids up for that travel while I live every Sunday thing and just forget to bump that whole God thing, I’m done because what’s the point? It’s pointless. We start to make these crazy assumptions about the Lord when we walk through long extended periods of pain and suffering. And what most of us have in common in this room, if we’re being honest, is that whenever we’re walking through long extended periods of suffering, we want answers. Don’t we? We want answers. We become Tom Cruise and a few good men. I want answers. I think I’m entitled. Put God on trial. God in the dock. C.S. Lewis wrote a book entitled that. God in the Dock. We’re putting God on trial. “God, I’ve got some questions for you.” We start to ask questions in the midst of our suffering. Why is this happening to me? Well, God is sovereign. Why is God allowing this? We start asking questions like, “What did I do to deserve this kind of pain? What did I do, man?” I messed this thing up so royally that I deserve this season of my life. It’s the questions we want answers to when we walk through suffering. But listen. Somewhere along the line, we all desperately need to begin to understand that the right question for me to ask whenever I’m walking through suffering is not, “What did I do to deserve this?” The right question to begin asking when I’m walking through suffering is this, “How can I glorify God through this?” And our girl Elizabeth right here in Luke chapter one is the perfect example of this.
You know what’s astounding to me? In an ancient Jewish world where Elizabeth lived in a culture where, you want to talk about stigma when you weren’t able to have a baby? You talk about there being a stigma attached to it? That’s the culture in which Elizabeth has lived in for years. And yet even though it’s true that she lived in that kind of world where there was reproach, meaning there was disgrace, meaning the people would walk. They were nice to Elizabeth to her face and then behind her back, they were thinking, “I wonder what she must be doing to be in that kind of sin and not be able to have a baby” Elizabeth was suffering reproach and living in that kind of culture where there was a disgrace when you were unable to have a child. What’s amazing to me is that Elizabeth didn’t wait until she had a baby for her life to begin. She didn’t think, “Well, I guess I don’t have a baby, so I guess I’m less of a person, so I guess I don’t have a purpose. So, what am I going to live for?” It’s not what she did. But instead, she lived for God. She served God. She worshiped God and she did ministry with her husband. She obeyed God. What many people would have seen as an absolute tragedy, Elizabeth seems to see as an opportunity. I don’t have a baby, and that’s disappointing and heartbreaking, and it’s devastating, but I do have more time to serve the Lord. Somehow, Elizabeth knows that her painful situation is not the evidence of how God feels about her.
How many of you actually believe, just like Elizabeth did, that God is still good when your circumstances aren’t? Somehow Elizabeth knows this. My God is still good. He’s still worthy of worship and He’s still worthy of song. He’s still worthy of service. He’s still worthy of all of it, even though my circumstances have caused me reproach and pain and heartbreak. See, beloved, here’s the point. Life is hard. And some of us limped in here with pain and burden. Some of us didn’t even want to come today, because you just want to sit at home and think about all the pain. And just so much pain. The reality is, we’re all walking through pain at some point, and here’s the thing. Some of you are walking through pain right now. Some of you are coming out of pain and some of you are about to go into pain, but you don’t even know it. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but read the Bible. Whatever painful situation you may be walking through right now is not clear evidence of how God feels about you. It’s not. And by the way, if you don’t believe me, look at Jesus. You want to know the ultimate example for the truth and the idea that your painful situation is not a clear indicator of how God feels about you? The ultimate example is Jesus. It’s Jesus. Because later on in Luke chapter three, guess what God the Father is going to say to his son, Jesus? Read ahead and you’ll see that God the Father in Luke three says to Jesus, “You are my beloved Son. In you I am well pleased.” What’s he saying about Jesus? I love You and I’m so pleased with You. And yet, what do we know about the life of Jesus? Jesus Christ, our great God and Savior, suffered more in His life than any of us ever have or ever will. Why? Because God has a plan. He’s doing something.
God’s Desire Is That a Marriage Would Overcome Life’s Painful Situations
The second point is that God’s desire is that a marriage would overcome life’s painful situations. Can we just say that? I know there are different stories in this church and different experiences and different baggage and different pathways we’ve walked and different pain we’ve had to go through, but there are also timeless principles found in Scripture that transcend time and space and generations and what year it is. It’s important to understand and see that God’s desire is actually that a marriage would overcome life’s painful situations. Here’s what’s so amazing to me about this story. Zechariah and Elizabeth have gone through an incredible amount of pain and heartbreak. Every married person knows that pain and suffering and disappointment and heartbreak has a way of putting an incredible amount of stress on a marriage. A heavy load to bear when you as a couple are walking through disappointment, heartbreak, a season of angst, uncertainty, or confusion. It’s a heavy load to bear. And yet after all those years of confusing pain, where are Zechariah and Elizabeth? They’re still together. They’re old and they’re still together. There’s an old Shania Twain song, Still the One I Want that says, “You’re still the one I’ve run to, the one that I belong to.” I hear this in the background when I’m reading this text. There’s this old couple and they’ve been through the gauntlet and they’re still together. Does that not blow your mind? Zechariah never ever gave Elizabeth a certificate of divorce, even though according to ancient Jewish law, it would have been totally legal for him to divorce her. Because in ancient Israel, it was wrongly taught that infertility was always the fault of a woman. And a man could legally slide a certificate of divorce across that dinner table and say, “I’m going to go start over with somebody who can maybe give me a child.” But Zechariah never did it. They never called it quits with the thought, “Well, apparently God’s blessing isn’t on this union and we were wrong. And so let’s just go our separate ways and let’s just find somebody different. Let’s press the reset button on this whole relationship romance thing.” They never did that. Instead of pursuing a divorce attorney when things got really hard, they pursued God together. There’s a lesson in that.
Now watch verse eight and look at what happens. “Now while he, Zechariah, 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 to burn incense.” So at this moment in history, Israel had 18,000 priests. And all of those priests were split up into 24 different divisions. They were scattered all over the nation. So Zechariah would have been out in Podunkville. He was in the division of Abijah, which we already read at the beginning of this text. And so that’s his division. Here’s how this worked. For two weeks out of every single year, one of those 24 divisions of priests would supply all of the priests for the temple in Jerusalem for that two-week span of time. So, it became Zechariah’s division’s turn and all those priests of the division of Abijah had to travel to Jerusalem, and they were the ones who were in charge of doing ministry in the temple of Jerusalem during that particular week. Now, in that one single year span of time, only 14 priests out of 18,000 priests were allowed to be a priest who walked into that temple. So, think about the odds there. Only 14 priests in the span of the year out of 18,000 priests could go into the temple to offer incense to burn and prayers on behalf of the nation of Israel. And here’s the thing, once you had your time, that was it. You were done. You could never do it again. That was your Super Bowl. And the only way that you could be chosen to be the one priest out of the 18,000 priests on your particular week who would go into that temple was through the casting of lots. The only way you could be chosen to go into the temple was if someone rolls the dice and your number comes up, There was no other way. It’s not like the priests were going, “Let’s arm wrestle for it,” or playing “rock, paper, scissors,” and having a contest. There was one way you could be the priest. Lots were cast.
So on this particular occasion, when the lot is cast, it lands on Zechariah, and we’re supposed to read that and see that God’s up to something because there’s a verse that the people reading this would have been reminded of. It’s in Proverbs 16, verse 33, and the verse says, “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.” In other words, what our boy Luke is clearly trying to tell us is that it is God who has just chosen Zechariah to be the one priest out of the 18,000 who gets to walk into that temple to offer incense and prayers. It’s God who has chosen Zechariah for this on this particular day. It’s his one shot. It’s his Super Bowl. And at this moment, we’re reading this, and alarm bells are supposed to be going off in our brains. Ring-a-ding-a-ding-a. God’s up to something and we’re supposed to see it.
Watch what happens in verse 10. I love this. “And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. And there appeared to him, Zechariah, 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.”
Prayer Is Never, Ever a Waste of Time
And that’s the third point for today. Prayer is never, ever a waste of time. So here’s how this worked. One single priest out of the 18,000 would be chosen for that particular day, whatever that day was, to walk into the temple. Just one. The lot falls on Zechariah. Here is what would happen. The priest would be the only one to walk into this particular section of the temple. The rest of the people were outside, and they were praying. And you’ve got to understand, because this is going to make sense a little bit later. So here’s how the people would pray on the outside. There were rocks, there was stone, there was pavement. And in Israel, they’re in the temple in the outer courts and would pray with their knees on the rocks. Now what do you think you might be thinking with your knees on rocks for a really long time? Hurry! Right? That’s what you might be thinking for the priest. Hurry up, do this. This hurts! And so you have to imagine, as these people are on their knees, Zechariah goes into the temple, takes the incense and burns the incense there on the altar. Why? Why do they burn incense? Were they first century hippies? What’s going on there? No. They burned incense because the Scripture talks about the fact that incense is symbolic because the prayers of God’s people are like a sweet fragrance to him. And so the burning of incense was a symbolic gesture of our prayers going to God, and they’re like a sweet fragrance. And so as he burned incense, the priest would offer prayers.
But you have to understand the context of this. When a priest was chosen as one out of those 18,000 to walk into God’s temple to offer prayer and incense, his responsibility at that very sacred moment was not to pray for his own issues. That’s not how this thing works. The priest’s responsibility was not to walk in and say, “Okay, Lord, Yahweh, let’s do this. Here’s my list. And, you know what? Lord, if you could please give me patience immediately, that’d be awesome. And if the church could give me a raise, yeah. And my uncle has leprosy again, so please heal that. And please help my postmenopausal wife to have a baby. Amen.” That is not how this thing worked. This was not about the priest offering up prayers on behalf of himself. That was not the responsibility of the priest at this moment. But instead his job was a sacred job. It was to offer up prayers on behalf of the whole nation. “Lord, we’re being oppressed by an evil kingdom and we have been for a long time. Please hear our prayers and deliver us. God, would you bring your people salvation?” And I know we’ve been praying this for a long time, but we keep praying it. “God, would you bring your people salvation?” Listen, this is what our boy Zechariah, the priest, would have been praying inside the temple at that moment.
And in response to that prayer on behalf of the nation for deliverance, the angel Gabriel shows up and declares to Zechariah, “Do not be afraid. Your prayers have been heard. Get ready to have a baby. Better learn to change some diapers, boy.” But at the same time, this is complex. Because at the same time, you can bet your life that for years and years and years and years and years and years, through a whole lot of tears, Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth had been praying, “God, would you give us a baby? God, would you give us a baby? God, would you give us a baby? Please give us a baby,” for years and years. And you could assume that most likely those prayers ended a while ago because again, she’s gone through menopause. Her ship has kind of sailed. And yet in response to that prayer, the angel Gabriel shows up and says to Zechariah, “Do not be afraid. Your prayer has been heard. Get ready to have a baby.” What I’m trying to get you to see here is two different prayers and one answer to two prayers. How good is God? Think about this for a second. Do you actually believe that when you pray, God hears you? Do you believe that? Do you really believe that when you pray your prayers, the prayers you prayed last night, the prayers you’ve prayed this past week, the prayers you prayed silently in this room already today, that God is paying attention? God is listening? God is involved? Or instead, have you kind of gotten to a place where you sort of believe that prayer is kind of a waste of time and you do it because you’re Christian, but you don’t really believe that God’s involved. You don’t really believe that God’s interested. You don’t really believe, if you’re being honest, that God hears it. You just do it because it’s sort of a Christian thing to do, but you’re struggling because you don’t really believe it. Do you really believe that when you pray, God listens and God hears? Because let’s be honest. One of the problems with the American church today is that we have no clue how to persevere in prayer. We have no stinking clue for the most part how to persevere in prayer. What I mean is this: a lot of us start to doubt the existence of God if we pray for something on a Sunday and don’t have that thing I prayed for by Tuesday. I might be buying a book to deconstruct my faith. Maybe the church is just a social construct. It’s just dumb, so what’s the point? God must not be real because God won’t answer. God, don’t you answer prayer? God, don’t you listen to prayer? God, I thought you blessed prayer. God what’s going on here? And if we’re being honest, what we’d have to admit is that some of us don’t want a sovereign God that we pray to who, according to His will and His purposes, does what He deems to be best for our good and for His glory. Instead, what we tend to want is a magic eight ball. We take the magic eight ball, we shake it up, and bam! There’s the answer. We got it immediately, right? We know the deal. We got the answer. Lord, if you could be like Amazon Prime, that’d be great. Two day maximum delivery. I want to pray, cha-ching, bam.
We tend to believe in the doctrine of prayer but we really struggle because we think: pray, get it, bam, got it, good. You have to be really careful because you know what that is? It’s Word of faith theology and that’s not biblical. We don’t command God. God doesn’t work for us. God’s not an employee of Emmaus Church. We are the sheep of his pasture. So at some point, we have to be very careful because internally we are thinking, “I’m cool with praying but I want the answer fast.”
Like the other day, I was walking out of Publix and I had some bags in my hand and I was dressed like a bum. I had my athletic shorts on and my t-shirt and my flip-flops and I’m just walking out to my car on a Saturday and I have these bags. You know how you have your bags and your wallet and your keys and you’re trying to put stuff in your pocket. Well, I’m trying to do that and fumbling with stuff. Finally, I get my keys out. I open up the car, put the bags in the trunk and slam it shut. I get in the car and I drive and I’m thinking to myself that I have to get gas on the way home because I’m riding on fumes right now. The gas station was about three miles away on the way home. Three miles later, I pull into the Exxon and I get out of the car. I get ready to pump the gas and reach into my pocket to get my wallet. It’s not there. I’m thinking, “What’s going on?” So I look in the car and I start looking under the seat and I start looking all around. My wallet is not there and I’m thinking, “oh no.” You know that terrible feeling you have when you can’t find your wallet and you’re thinking my whole life is in that thing. So immediately I get my keys and I start up the car and I know I have to go back to that Publix’s parking lot and I have to retrace my steps. So, I am flying the speed limit, for those of you who are police officers. I’m a good citizen, a godly man, okay? I’m going the speed limit really fast and I’m praying. This did wonders for my prayer life. You know how these moments are where you’re like, whoa, my prayer life just got on steroids. I am praying in that car. “Lord Jesus, please let me find my wallet. Please lead me to my wallet. I know you’re up to a lot of things in the universe, but my wallet is really important and so please sovereignly lead me back to my wallet. Because, Lord, right now my fear is that someone has found my wallet and I know we live in a depraved place where hearts are deceitfully wicked above all things. And somebody most likely has found my wallet and now they have the church credit card and they’re out racking up $2,000 worth of taquitos and beer on that thing. And how am I going to explain this to the elders? So please God. Please, please lead me to my wallet. I get to the Publix parking lot and I swing in there and I park where I was parked before. I’m looking around and no wallet. I retrace my steps, my path out to the car, no wallet. In desperation and fear, I walk up to customer service and I said to the lady behind there, “Nice lady, ma’am, is there any way anyone’s turned in a wallet to you today?” And she smiled and she said, “What color is it?” I said, “It’s brown and it’s got a Georgia Bulldog logo on it because I’m a Christian.” And she smiled at me and held it up and said, “Today is your lucky day.” And I grabbed it from her. I said, “No ma’am, it’s my blessed day.” And I walked away.
That’s what we want from prayer. We want prayer to be: Boom. I prayed. I was in desperation. I prayed and boom! ta-da! Immediate answer. But here’s the thing. That longing that we have in our lives to pray but want the answer now is exactly why we all desperately need Luke chapter one. That whole fast track the will of God as I pray thing. That immediate answer to prayer was not at all the experience of Zechariah and Elizabeth. But instead, they prayed and they prayed and they prayed and they prayed and they prayed and they prayed and they prayed some more. And they prayed some more and they persevered in prayer for years. “God give us a baby. God would you give us a baby. God would you give us a baby.” And guess what? God’s answer to that prayer wasn’t “yes” and God’s answer to that prayer wasn’t “no.” God’s answer to that prayer was, “Wait and I’m going to prepare you for a yes.”
But let me ask you a question. What if that thing that you’ve been praying for for years and years and years and years is actually something that God wants you to keep praying for? And He loves the fact that you keep coming back over and over and over and over again knocking at the door. What if he wants you to keep praying for that thing while he’s doing the good work of maybe preparing you for a yes? And in the meantime, you’re supposed to pursue Him and you’re supposed to love Him and you’re supposed to enjoy Him and you’re supposed to serve Him and give to Him and worship Him and grow in Him while He prepares you for “yes”. Maybe there’s a reason you’re not ready for yes. And He wants to do a good work in you.
I love what Charles Spurgeon, my favorite old dead preacher, has to say about persevering in prayer for the long haul. I love this quote.
When we ask God for a mercy once, we are not to consider that now we are not further to trouble Him with it, but we are to come to Him again and again. If we have asked of Him seven times, we ought to continue until 70 times seven. Men ought always to pray. Week by week, month by month, year by year; the conversion of that dear child is to be the father’s main plea. The bringing in of that unconverted husband is to lie upon the wife’s heart night and day till she gets it. She is not to take even ten or twenty years of unsuccessful prayer as a reason why she should cease. She is to set God no times nor seasons, but so long as there is life in her and life in the dear object of her solicitude, she is to continue still to plead with the mighty God of Jacob. The pastor is not to seek a blessing on his people occasionally and then in receiving a measure of it to desist from further intercession, but he is to continue vehemently without pause, without restraining his energies, to cry aloud and spare not till the windows of heaven be opened and a blessing be given too large for him to house. But brethren, how many times we ask of God and have not because we do not wait long enough at the door! We knock a time or two at the gate of mercy, and as no friendly messenger opens the door, we go our ways. Too many prayers are like boys’ runaway knocks, given, and then the giver is away before the door can be opened.
Do you believe that when you pray, God hears you? Do we as a people persevere in the work of prayer? Elizabeth and Zechariah did. Verse 14. Here’s what the angel says about this baby, “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 I’m pretty sure at this moment, Zechariah’s mouth dropped wide open because he’s a priest and he knows the Bible. He knows the Scriptures. He has the prophets memorized by heart. Zechariah knows that 400 years before this moment, there was a final prophet who spoke before God gave the people 400 years of the silent treatment. Malachi. Malachi was the final prophet before 400 years of complete silence. And what was the last thing that Malachi said before it went dark for 400 years? It was a prophecy. He said this in Malachi 4, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes, and he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers.” Sound familiar? “Lest I come and strike the land with the decree of utter destruction.” In other words, before the Messiah would come, God was going to send a prophet who would prepare the way for the Messiah. And according to the angel Gabriel, as he’s speaking to Zechariah, that prophet is going to be the baby that Zechariah and Elizabeth are going to have. Turns out it might have been worth the wait.
And then something really crazy happens. How many of y’all ever had a moment where you’re there’s a burden on your heart and you’re praying for it. You know it’s a huge thing and you’re praying for it. God, would you do this? And God, would you bless in this way? And God, would you do this? And then there came a moment where God did it. And your very first thought was, “Well, I didn’t think it was going to happen.” Anybody like that?
Here’s how we know God wrote the Bible. Because these people aren’t superheroes, they’re human. Zechariah’s been praying for this stuff for years, and then something crazy happens after the angel says, “Ta-da, here we go. Let’s do this.” Verse 18, “And Zechariah said to the angel, ‘How shall I know this? For I’m an old man and my wife’s advanced in years.'” Now, time out. Let’s think about this for a second. The brother spent years and years and years and years praying for this exact thing; praying for a baby. And Zechariah, being a good Jew who knows the Old Testament by heart, would have been totally familiar with the Old Testament story in Genesis of Abraham and Sarah. Remember them? They were 18 years old, couldn’t have a baby, and God gives them a yes, and blesses them with a baby. They would have been completely familiar with that story. Zechariah would have known it. And think about this, what just happened to Zechariah? He has just miraculously been providentially chosen by God through the casting of lots to be the one out of 18,000 priests in Israel, who’s the only guy who gets to go into the temple and offer up prayers and incense for God’s people. And when he did it, the angel Gabriel shows up and is standing there next to the altar and declares to him that this thing that you have been praying for for years is going to happen. And how does Zechariah respond to all this? Give me proof. “Excuse me? Have you not been paying attention? Have you been watching this whole time to what circumstances led you to this moment?” “Hello?” And I don’t know about you, but I love how the angel responds. I think it’s hilarious. Zechariah’s like, “How shall I know this? For I’m an old man and my wife’s advanced in years,” in verse 19. And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel.”
There are two angels named in all of the Scriptures. There’s Michael and there’s Gabriel. And Gabriel is basically saying, “Remember me from the book of Daniel? Hello. I’m standing right here.” He says, “I am Gabriel.” Look at what he says. I love this. He’s like, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God. “Don’t you know who I work for?” This isn’t like Uber Eats. I brought your Taco Bell. This is, “I came from God, man. I stand in the presence of God. I came to tell you what God said, 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.” Boom. Think about this, family. The angel is like, “Guess what, Zechariah? If you don’t believe what God has to say, I’m not going to let you tell people what God has done. I hereby pronounce you mute.” Bam. And he can’t talk. Can’t say a word.
Believing In God Is Not the Same as Believing God
Now, here’s what I love about this. There’s a really important principle here. Believing in God is not the same thing as believing God. It’s not. Believing in God is not the same thing as believing God. See, beloved, here’s the deal. At the end of the day, Zechariah’s problem was this. At this moment, at least in his life, he believes in God. I mean, he’s a priest for Christ. He’s a pastor. He’s serving the Lord. He’s going into the temple to burn the incense, to offer up the prayers for the people. He’s doing the stuff and the things. But then there came a moment, a really important moment, where even though he believes in God, he doesn’t believe God. He doesn’t trust, in other words, what God has to say. And just to be clear, believing in God and believing God is as radically different from each other as knowing about something and experiencing something. How many of you that there is a massive difference between knowing about something and experiencing the thing? You know what I’m talking about? I can know about something and think, “Okay, well, I know about it and that’s cool, but I’m not as affected or as impressed as if I experienced that thing.” And experiencing it is totally different.
I’ll give you an example. So some years ago, I’m in the car with my wife and my daughters. We’re driving to visit family. We’re on interstate 75. We start passing these massive billboards. Every few miles, we’rre passing these billboards. I’d never seen them before. These billboards advertising some new theme park that apparently was trying to compete with Disney World. There are big signs everywhere. It just said, “Buc-ee’s.” “Buc-ee’s.” There’s another one. “Buc-ee’s.” “Buc-ee’s.” “Buc-ee’s.” And they all had a different phrase on them. “Come to Buc-ee’s.” “Don’t stay thirsty, my friends. Buc-ee’s.” “Risk it for brisket. Buc-ee’s.” “Only 262 more miles to Buc-ee’s. You can hold it.” I’m like, “What is this thing?” I thought it was weird. Apparently, they had a beaver for a mascot instead of a mouse. I’m just thinking, “This is strange.” I didn’t think much more of it. And then at some point, I was having a conversation with some friends here at the church one day and we started talking about it. Somebody mentioned Buc-ee’s. I’m like, “Yeah, what is that? A new theme park?” And they’re like, “No, man. Apparently, it’s a gas station. Apparently, it’s not a theme park at all. It’s a gas station.” And then I started to become very concerned. I’m thinking, “What kind of a world do we live in where people are obsessed with a gas station?” This is South Alabama, man. Right? You’ve been to that new Exxon? They’ve got RC Colas and Moon Pies. This is just crazy, man. You’re really impressed about a gas station? It’s weird. And then two months ago, on a road trip with my wife up to Chattanooga, I visited Buc-ee’s for the first time in my life. Up to that point, I had heard about Buc-ee’s and not real impressed because I only heard about the Buc-ee’s. But then I experienced a Buc-ee’s, and my life will never be the same. We’re pulling in. We see the big Buc-ee’s. Now, let’s see what this place is all about. We walk in. First of all, the place is gigantic. Like if you look north, you could probably see it from here right now. Seriously. It’s gigantic. It’s like a mall. If you don’t know what a Buc-ee’s is, imagine this. A Walmart, a Cracker Barrel, and a gas station have a baby. That’s Buc-ee’s. We walk in and I’m like, “What’s that smell? What’s that smell?” I look over and there’s a counter in the middle of the store. There’s a man chopping up fresh brisket just right there on the counter. Like the aroma is filling the temple. It smells so good. I look over to my right. There is a wall of beef jerky. Not a section. Not a shelf. A wall of every flavor of beef jerky you could imagine with a light from heaven shining down on it. I look down the corridor. There are Dr. Pepper Slurpee machines as far as the eye can see. I’m like, “What is this place?” I start walking around. They sell socks. They sell T-shirts. They sell overalls. They sell smokers! At some point, I was looking at a smoker, not because I wanted to buy one, just because I was amazed that they were selling a smoker. A guy walks up to me wearing a beaver costume and gives me a hug. Apparently, the guy makes $55 an hour. It’s unbelievable, man. Like I had heard of it but I wasn’t really impressed. But then I tasted and saw that Buc-ee’s is good. The point is this. There’s a huge, massive difference between knowing about something and experiencing something, just like there’s a huge difference between believing in God and believing God.
Listen. Do you believe God? Not do you believe in God. Well, believing in God is important, Anson. Well, kind of, but you know what the Bible says? The demons believe in God and they tremble. It’s not about believing in God. Do you believe God? Do you believe Him? Do you take Him at his Word? Do you hear it and believe it? Because He said it? Do you trust the Word of God or do you simply believe in God? There’s a huge difference. The angel is like, “You didn’t believe God. Boom! You’ll be mute until your baby’s born.”
Look at verse 21. “And the people were waiting for Zechariah and they were wondering at his delay in the temple?” Again, ouch. What’s taking so long? Because typically, when the priest would go in it was a pretty quick process. He would burn the incense. He would offer prayers for the nation. He would come back out and then the priest would offer a blessing over the people. That blessing from the book of Numbers, “May the Lord’s face shine upon you. May it be gracious to you.” He would deliver that blessing and it would be over. But he’s not coming out. The people are like, “What’s taking this cat so long?”
“And when he came out,” verse 22, “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.” He’s playing charades now. Trying to explain to them. How do you explain what just happened in the temple when you can’t talk? It’s like a game of charades. He can’t say anything. He can’t speak. He’s playing charades. “And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home and after these days his wife Elizabeth conceived and for five months, she kept herself hidden.” Isn’t that curious? For five months, Elizabeth doesn’t leave the house. We don’t know why. And it’s totally pure conjecture, but here’s what I like to think. I like to think that Elizabeth spent five months rubbing her belly. Thanking God for a baby and for a husband that couldn’t talk. Can I get an amen?
“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.” In other words, what Elizabeth is saying here is that God has been so good to me. All that pain, all that grief, all those tears, and God has been so good to me. And just so you know, what is true for Elizabeth is also absolutely true for you because just so you’re aware, God has been so good to you too. And some of you are like, “No, man, I got some pain. I got some disappointment. I got some struggles. I got some real grief, real bummers going on in my life right now. So I beg to differ. I don’t know that God’s being very good to me at all.” And I press back and go, “Yeah, he is being incredibly good to you. You’re just not looking at it right now. You’re looking at the other stuff. You’re looking at things you hadn’t prayed for before. You’re thinking your life can’t start until you get that thing that you’ve been asking God for and you haven’t gotten it and you’re thinking you’re disappointed.”
But the reality is God has been incredibly good to you. “Well, how has God been good to me?” Well, in much the same way that He was good to Elizabeth. Because just so you know, this baby that Elizabeth is going to give birth to will one day stand in front of a gigantic crowd and say this about Jesus Christ, our great God and Savior. In John 1, verse 29, he says, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” So if you’re sitting in here right now and you’ve trusted in Jesus Christ as your great God and Savior, He has taken your sin away. You have the promise of eternal life. You have the promise of hope and future. You have the promise of glory. You have the promise of being with Him forever. You have the promise of being called to a greater mission and a greater purpose here in this world until you meet Jesus. And the reality is if Jesus Christ is the only gift that God ever gives to you in your entire life, He has still been better to you than you could ever deserve. “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” What a gift we have in Jesus. And so we love Jesus and we look to Jesus and we love the story that Luke’s telling us about the story of our hero, our champion, our great God and Savior, Jesus.