God's Perfect Plan And Timing Series

Do you believe in chance encounters?

Two people meet on a bus ride and end up getting married, remaining so for over 70 years.

A random introduction leads two men to become the best of friends and end up establishing Apple computers.

A random encounter between a 9 year old girl and a Theology graduate lead to the establishment of Gallaudet university - a school dedicated to equip the deaf.

Are those encounter chance encounters or something more? I’d like to suggest that it’s more, that it’s God working in mysterious and wonderful ways. Throughout the Bible we get to witness God’s direct hand in so many different places. We get to see God’s sovereignty at work in the passage that we will consider today.

Luke 1:5-25.

As we walk through these verses, the overarching theme that we will see is…

Theme: God will accomplish his plan in our lives and in the world in his perfect time no matter what obstacles seem to be in the way.

As we work toward seeing how this theme is developed in this passage, we’re going to do so with a five-fold outline.

a moment ordained

a misery to heal

a miracle promised

a ministry to perform

a mark to confirm

As we walk through this, I want to encourage you to keep this outline or at least some of these thoughts in your mind as we will find a similar scenario next week. There are some striking parallels between the announcement of this baby and the announcement of Jesus.

But let’s begin where this section does with…

A moment ordained (5-10)

There are so many times when we will think of certain encounters as being a matter of luck or chance, but when we think about the fact that God is at work in the world and in our lives, we have to recognize his sovereign rule and reign over everything - even what seems like a fortuitous moment.

After providing an initial introduction to his reader, Luke dives into the birth announcement of John the baptist. But as we read these opening remarks, note the detail that Luke provides.

Luke 1:5–10 ESV

In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years. Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense.

Time

So Luke here provides a general timeline - noting that this happened during the reign of Herod. Historians note that Herod became king about 37BC and died in 4BC. Comparing this with the account in Matthew’s gospel suggests that this happened near the end of Herods reign - 5-4BC.

Rotation

But notice too, there is a specific priest who served in a specific division of priests. A according to 2 Chronicles 24, there were 24 divisions of Levitical priests who would serve in Jerusalem for approximately 2 weeks each year. They would assist with some of the formalities of worship and the sacrifices. The division of Abijah was one of those groups. In total there were approximately 18,000 priests who would serve (Bock).

Assignment

So Luke notes the general year and the Levitical assignment, but he also notes specifically that Zechariah was chosen by lot to go into the Holy Place to “burn incense.” Now, according to the Midrash (a resource that provided guidance for specific religious functions) there were a few other priests who would have been chosen by lot to go and remove the old ashes and clean the area. One priest was given the assignment to offer the incense. This happened twice a day. (Midrash, Tamid 6-7). Burning incense was a representation of the prayers of the people. This holy place was just outside of the holy of holies or the most holy place in the Temple. So twice a day incense was burned near the altar close to the presence of God. So for Zechariah, this would likely have been a once in a life time privilege to enter into this place to burn incense while the congregation was praying outside. What a sacred duty. What a divinely ordained moment!

Point of application

Zechariah may have been felt honored to do this duty at this time. I think we have to recognize that every moment, every assignment, every encounter is one that God has divinely allowed or ordained. Do we view those that way? Do we take advantage of the opportunities that God places before us? Do we pay attention to God’s work in the ordinary moments and the extraordinary?