Good morning. We are spending Advent sheltering in place .
I figure you are looking at this video at a time and in a place that is convenient for you so I am going to ask you to do something before we go any further. Stop this video for a minute and find some paper and something to write with. And find your Bible. I am going to give you some scripture refences as we go along and you can either stop and read the passages then or make a note of them and read them later
We live in a time that could be said to be a time of fear
Seems there is a sort of amorphous fear in our hearts
We hear that we are in prosperous times yet we fear for our economic state
We look at the news and have a fear of the unknown consequences of current events
We read the news of unrest, discontent and conflict in the world and we fear what could happen if that spills over into our lives
There is some fear of the unknown because of the present political climate
And there is still the ever present fear of COVID -19
There are people who live with specific fears that have specific names
Acrophobia Fear of heights
Venustraphobia Fear of beautiful women
Zoophobia Fear of animals
Phobophobia Fear of phobias
Claustrophobia
Fear of Santa or maybe fear of confined spaces
If you are not afflicted with these or any of dozens of other phobias it seems humorous that someone would be afraid of heights or chickens or spiders or fear itself
If you are one who has some kind of specific fear it is very real
Have you heard of the elf on the shelf?
The powerful spell of the Elf on the Shelf was demonstrated to full effect this week when a 7-year-old New Jersey girl freaked out after knocking her family's elf to the floor. Fearing she had ruined Christmas, she bolted to the phone to call her dad, but wound up calling 911 instead.
Isabelle LaPeruta, of Old Bridge, PA, did not want to leave anything to chance, according to USA Today. As soon as she got through to the emergency controller, however, she tried to explain that she somehow dialed the wrong number.
Isabelle begged not to have the police dispatched, but since they are legally required to investigate emergency calls, it was too late. Her mother awoke from a nap to find Isabelle telling a responding officer that he ought to go home, nothing to see here.
"To her, it was an emergency when she touched the elf, and she's going to ruin Christmas, so that was her emergency," Old Bridge Police Lt. Joseph Mandola [said]. "In her mind, she did right, and it was fine with us."
I wonder who the girl fear most: her dad? The elf? or the police coming to the house?
During an annual event for Old Bridge firefighters and police officers to drive around town dressed in Christmas costumes, officers made sure to pay Isabelle a special visit from Santa to prove the laws of Christmas weren't violated. https://www.phillyvoice.com/nj-girl-knocks-over-elf-shelf-dials-911-panic/
Jews in New Testament time in Palestine had plenty to fear
Rome might suddenly increase its oppression and impose severe power against the people
Disease and plague and famine were always just beneath the surface
Indeed there have always been reasons to fear one thing or another at one time or another
You can find things daily to fear or worry about
Today I want to look at three vignettes associated with the birth we celebrate this season
Each of these involves a person or people, an angel and an order to "fear not"
First consider the old priest Zacharias
The account of Zacharias is in Luke 1:5-17
Write that down or find it and read it. I’ll wait
Are you back?
On a certain day Zacharias was on duty in the temple
He was going about his priestly business with one notable exception
He was part of a cadre of priests in the order Abijah
There were twenty-four courses or groups of priests who served a week at a time twice a year in the temple
The rest of the time they lived elsewhere and did priestly functions like help offer sacrifices in their hometown and maybe some minor mediation of disputes and certain health evaluations with regards to ceremonial purity like evaluation of leprosy.
On this particular day it was Zacharias' honor to offer the incense upon the altar of incense in the holy place in the temple
This would be the only time in his life he would be so honored.
Once the lot had fallen to a priest to offer the incense he would never be in the pool again
He continued other priestly service but was not allowed again to burn the incense
As the pious old priest ministered within the Holy Place, he saw with such distinctness that he could afterwards describe the very spot, Gabriel standing, as if he had just come out from the Most Holy Place, between the altar and the table of shewbread, 'on the right side of the altar.'
Chapter Eight - The Morning & Evening Sacrifice
(from The Temple, Electronic Database Copyright (c)1999 by Biblesoft)
Imagine being in a place where you expected to be completely alone in relative silence and solitude and a being appears
Have you ever been standing when someone is beside you and you don't even know it until you turn around and there she is?
All alone in a sparsely furnished room and suddenly there is another being there is startling.
That would be startling enough but Zacharias was troubled and fear gripped him when the being he saw was clearly from another realm
The proper natural response to the appearance of an angel is rightly fear
I dare say if an angel appeared in your room that you would tremble and maybe fall prostrate
If we could speak at all it would be to say, "Woe is me for I am undone!"
So the angel's first words to Zacharias were "Fear not."
Maybe it was easier for Zacharias to hear than to do
And the angel told Zacharias that his and Elizabeth's prayers had been heard
They would have a son
This is not the first time an aged couple had been told they would have a son
Abraham and Sarah were older than Zacharias and Elizabeth when God told Abraham they would have a son. Isaac
We know Zacharias and Elizabeth were good people they were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord.
Zacharias was still fearful
We have every reason to fear when we examine our own righteousness compared to our just God
Fear can make you say or do things you might not say in a calmer state
Zacharias' unbelief or disbelief cost him his voice for forty-one weeks.
The gospel was beginning to unfold
John would be the forerunner of the messiah and he would turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous; so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."
The first word of the unfolding gospel was "fear not"
At about the same time there was a girl or young woman who was engaged to a carpenter
Engagement was not the same as now
It was a more serious, more difficult to undo than a modern engagement
But the couple did not routinely shack up
So Mary was going about her daily business, whatever that was and an angel appeared to her
This is in Luke 1:26-28
A dull pencil is better than a short memory so write this down or stop and read it
This time the angel greeted her, , "Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you."
Mary reacted differently from Zacharias
She wondered and pondered what kind of greeting that was
What had she done that she was favored by God?
Then the angel told her do not be afraid, fear not
The fear Mary experienced must have been at the suddenness of the appearance of the angel but then as she continued to wonder about the salutation and annunciation she must have had plenty of reasons to fear
The angel told her what would happen -- she was going to have a baby
She would get pregnant
She wondered how this would happen and the angel said it would not be through Joseph, but through the Holy Spirit
What could that mean?
I've thought of this a bit and it seems as though Mary must have thought this was going to happen very soon
That is the pregnancy was going to happen soon
The birth would still be in nine months
Her wedding must have been some time off for she wondered how she could get pregnant without normal marital relations.
Then think about the things she had to wonder and maybe be afraid of
What would Joseph think and do?
Would she have to rear the baby alone?
What would her family think and do?
Would she have to endure her pregnancy and birth alone
' What would the neighbors think and say?
There was plenty to fear
But did you notice Mary's response? "Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word."
Well you know the conjunction of the lives of Zacharias, Elizabeth and Mary
Mary got out of Nazareth
Maybe she went to be helpful to Elizabeth
Probably she got out of town before the gossip could defame her
Mary stayed almost until John's birth then returned to Nazareth
Mary must have been an exceptionally strong, trusting young woman
There is no indication in the gospel accounts that she was anything but obedient and brave
Fear is the natural reaction to another worldly, celestial visitor
But when someone who visits from the presence of God Himself says "fear not" it comes with an assurance that fear is wasted on an accomplished truth
So six months or so after John was born and after Mary had returned to Nazareth she had to head south again for the census and taxing
She and Joseph went to Bethlehem
The sad account of no room in the inn and the stable and manger are well known and you have heard the story in words and song
There is still time to find some radio Christmas hymns or put in your favorite Christmas CD’s or find some Youtube programs of Christmas music.
You will hear the story again
Mary gave birth to Jesus and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths and put him in a manger
Then that night there were shepherds in a field watching their sheep
This account is so well known that maybe you can even quote it from memory in the King James Language But again write this down or find in the Lukes’s Gospel
Luke 2:8-14
Imagine a clear, cool night, maybe a little fire going for warmth or maybe just the brilliant sky to admire. . .
and there is an angel . . . out of nowhere -- or out of everywhere
And the glory of the Lord shone around them.
Not since the prophets had the visible manifestation of the presence of Jehovah been seen by men
This is the same glory that shone as a pillar of fire by night in the wilderness
It covered Mt Sinai when Moses received the Law
It is the cloud and glowing that filled the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle in the wilderness and the temple in Jerusalem
and it enveloped the shepherds when the angel appeared the night of Jesus' birth
They were in the middle of the glory of the Lord
I picture this as no shadows --= light everywhere
They were in on the beginning of a new era, a new system, a whole new life
The shepherds were the first to see a glimpse of what Heaven will be like
Rev 21:23 And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.
Rev 22:5 And there shall no longer be any night; and they shall not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God shall illumine them; NAS
There will be no fear in heaven but in the mean time. . .
This time the shepherds were sore afraid
The Greek words here are mega phobos
Greatly afraid - super scared
It's one thing to fear when a heavenly being appears in a holy place I bet even more in the wide, bright sky over the wide-open space of a pasture.
And the angel told them don't be afraid – fear not
For behold I bring you gospel
For the very word that is the gospel elsewhere in the New Testament is the word the angel used of good tidings—Good News
The gospel is unfolding even before the forerunner was born and even before the Word became flesh
Good news was introduced by "fear not"
And then a multitude of the heavenly host joined the angel and said Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. (Luke 2:14 KJV)
When peace and good will abound there is no reason for fear
That is good news!
We have good news!
"now ye need not fear the grave:
Jesus Christ was born to save!
Calls you one and calls you all
to gain his everlasting hall.
Christ was born to save!
Christ was born to save!"
God loves the world so much that He gave the world the gift we celebrate this season.
And that baby in the manger loves the world so much that He grew to manhood and died on the cross to pay sin's wages and rose again to show His victory over sin and death.
And because of His victory we need not fear.
1 John 4:16-19 God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this, love is perfected with us, that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. 19 We love, because He first loved us. NAS
