Christmas Characters: Zechariah Series

Christmas Characters: Zechariah

Luke 1:5-80

November 29, 2020

I want you to think about all of the words you have spoken in your lifetime! Most likely, it’s a lot of words and the majority of us can’t remember what we’ve even said. Out of all the words you’ve said since you first began speaking, up until right now, think about all of those amazing words of encouragement, words of wisdom and truth you’ve spoken to help others.

On the other hand, have you ever uttered a word or two that you regret? If we were to be really honest, we’ve all said a word or two that is helpful and encouraging and we’ve said some really not so good words as well.

Consider what James, the brother of Jesus said. This is from James 2 and I’m using The Message translation --

"We get it wrong nearly every time we open our mouths. If you could find someone whose speech was perfectly true, you'd have a perfect person, in perfect control of life.

A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything — or destroy it! It only takes a spark to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke.

This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can't tame a tongue — it's never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women He made in His image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth! My friends, this can't go on."

Well, with the advent of technology, we don’t always speak those words, we tend to write them on our social media posts. Technology hasn’t helped us.

During the Advent season, we’re going to look at some of the people who were involved in that first Christmas. Today, we’re going to look at Zechariah. He was literally speechless after hearing some great news! Has that happened to you? You wanted to share great news, but were speechless. Let’s look at Luke 1, in which we learn about Zechariah and what happens. Listen to what Luke tells us --

5 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

6 And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.

7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.

So, we know that Zechariah was a priest in the division of Abijah. Without getting into all of the details, in 1 Chronicles 24, David organized the priests according to their duties in the temple, according to the procedure established by Aaron as the Lord commanded. Elizabeth was also in the line of Aaron. Both were righteous and walked blamelessly. That would be great to have that said about us. But they did not have any children because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.

Let’s continue with the story --

8 Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty,

9 according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.

10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense.

11 And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.

12 And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him.

13 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.

Whenever anyone saw an angel, we always read the angel telling the person, “don’t be afraid!” I mean, seriously, if we saw an angel, we would freak out! I think I’d be more than afraid!

This is one of the really great parts of this story. Zechariah is going about his business of being a priest. He’s focused on the task at hand, and God sends the angel, Gabriel to him, telling him, you and your wife are older, but, “good news! You’re going to have a baby boy!”

What strikes me is the angel telling Zechariah, your prayer has been heard. I’m sure there was a time long ago, that Zechariah and Elizabeth prayed for a child. We often do the same for whatever our needs are as well. We pray, and we pray and we pray! Then after time, we often stop, we believe that God has said, ‘you’re not getting what you wanted.’