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INTRODUCTION
The God of the Bible is a God who is constantly communicating with his people. But God is holy and resists sin. Whenever mankind gets into a spiral of sin and wickedness, God becomes silent and looks for the appointed time and person, to start talking with man. Have you ever been praying to God and experienced silence?
This is what happened between Judges and Samuel, there was silence from God because of Israel’s sin. God waited for a young Samuel to start talking. When we come to the Gospels, especially the infancy narratives, we find the silence broken from the OT book of Malachi. There have been 400 years of silence from God. Let’s read the narrative:
We are today going to look at the infancy narrative of Jesus. The birth/infancy narratives of Jesus are found in Matthew and Luke. Matthew 1-2 and Luke 1-2 are the infancy narratives of Jesus. Matthew and Luke have never met each other.
Luke 1:1-4 1Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, 2just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. 3With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.
5In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. 6Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. 7But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.
8Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, 9he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.
11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. 13But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. 14He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth,
15for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. 16He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
18Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”
19The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. 20And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”
21Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. 22When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.
23When his time of service was completed, he returned home. 24After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. 25“The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”
About the Author
Author: Luke. He wrote Luke & Acts.
Wrote to: Theophilus.
Luke is about what Jesus began to do. Acts is about what Jesus is continuing to do.
Luke is a co-worker of Paul. He is an eyewitness to the history in the book of Acts.
Luke is the contemporary of eyewitnesses or those who were with Jesus in the book of Luke.
He is a Physician. Luke is a Gentile.
1/3rd of Luke is found in the Gospel of Mark.
Between Malachi to the NT we have 400 years of silence, without any scripture. No written or oral word from God. There were no speaking prophets.
Luke portrays Jesus as the Second David.
Luke is portraying Jesus as the second David, the final king of Israel who was prophesied in the OT.
David is the only king who had an inclusive perspective of the gentiles.
David was a grandson of Ruth, the Moabite. He was not a racist.
David talks about praising God among the nations; David as the head of nations; Ps. 18, 1 Samuel 22, 2 Samuel king over the nations. He is a missionary king. He had 600 Philistines with him who were his closest loyalists.
David represented a king who will rule over the whole world.
Mentions of David in Infancy Narratives
Angel Gabriel says to Mary regarding David (1:27,32). There is the promise to Mary that Jesus will be a David. That is why he was born in Bethlehem as was David.
Zechariah’s song of praise, 1:69.
Narration by Luke regarding Jesus’s birth, 2:4
Angelic Announcements to the shepherds, 2:11
Blind man calls us “Jesus Son of David,” 18:38.
What book in the OT tells us the story of David? 1 & 2 Samuel.
It then should not surprise us that the Gospel of Luke has its controlling outline of 1 & 2 Samuel. Luke wants us to see that these are fulfilments of the things that were promised. Here is the ultimate David.
How does 1 Samuel begin?
Story of an infertile couple.
It begins by telling us the story of an infertile couple, Hannah and Elkanah, a priestly family. In Luke and how the Lord then was merciful and answered their prayer and gave them a little baby, by the name of Samuel who is a prophet just as John the Baptist will be a prophet of the Lord.
What was Samuel’s job? It was to anoint David as the King of Israel.
What was John the Baptist’s job? It was to anoint Jesus as the new David, a supreme escalated David who will be the fulfilment of all the promises of God.
The song that Mary and Zechariah’s sing is taken from the song of Hannah, 1 Samuel 2. You see the parallels that are there. Luke wants us to see that his story is a super story of David, the ultimate David, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Interruption to silence from heaven.
When Samuel was born, he came as a violent interruption to silence from heaven. At the end of Judges, Israel had gone into idolatry and sin. There had been a period of prophetic silence. God said, “If you don’t listen to me, I am not going to talk to you anymore.” This is how 1st Samuel opens up, the word of the Lord was rare. 1 Samuel 3:1
So was when John the Baptist was born. Like Samuel, John the Baptist’s birth interrupts the silence. Now the time has come for the one projected in Malachi, the next prophet. His birth also has 9 months of silence from Zechariah who was unable to speak.
Prophecy on the birth of John
Luke 1:5-7 5In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. 6 Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. 7But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.
V5 HEROD KING OF JUDEA
Timing in history – In the days of Herod. He is known as Herod the Great, married 10 wives, cruel. Herod ruled from 37 B.C. to about 4 B.C. He died about a year after the birth of Christ around 3 B.C. That brings the birth of Jesus to BC 3. Near the end of the reign of Herod this begins, 400 years after the last prophet.
ZECHARIAH
The Centre stage in this section is taken by Zechariah.
Background of Zechariah v5
Zechariah means “God remembers.” God never forgets. We forget. He remembers. God has remembered again. God remembers, and remembers and remembers every promise he has ever made.
On Zechariah and Priesthood
Mark Strauss writes in terms of the priestly lines of this couple that a priesthood of Israel was divided into 24 courses each providing temple service for one week twice a year.(1 Chron 24: 1-19). Abijah is identified as the eighth division of the priesthood in 1 Chronicles 24:10. We are told that that is where Zechariah came from.
He is one of 18000 priests. There were 24 batches/divisions of priests. Zechariah was from the division of Abijah, grandson of Aaron.
QUALITIES OF THIS COUPLE. V6-7
Luke 1:6-7
6Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. 7But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.
1. Both Zechariah and Elizabeth were from a priestly lineage.
Zechariah was a priest and his wife Elizabeth is also from a priestly background. Elizabeth was a descendant of Aaron and she was named after, Aaron’s wife Elizabeth. Elizabeth means “My God is faithful.”
2. They were righteous, law-abiding and blameless.
They were righteous and faithful followers of Yahweh within second temple Judaism. In fact in terms of observance of the law, Luke tells us that they were blameless. They were righteous before God.
3. They were childless.
They had a challenge, they were childless.
Many Jews believed that if God cursed you, you would be barren. Barrenness was a curse and was eligible for divorce then. Psalm 127 Children are a blessing from the Lord.
If you remember the stories of Sarah, Rebecca and Hannah in the Old Testament they suffered reproach from society because though outstanding figures as they are, the prominent character of figure like Zechariah a priest, did not have a child.
There was a potential for them to be accused, that they had done something wrong. That is why Luke tells us, “No don’t even go there.” Verse 6 has been declared they are righteous before God and socially they are blameless.
In other words, Elizabeth was barren not because they had sinned. Elizabeth was barren not because she was suffering punishment from Yahweh. Elizabeth’s barrenness could not be explained in terms of some defect that has come upon her because she sinned, but she was barren anyway. They were probably not righteous in the sight of men but were righteous in the sight of God.
Significance of Temple in the Infancy Narrative
Here Luke is doing something to tell us about these Messianic missions and where it is playing out. Luke is going to locate the origin in the temple, something is going to begin in the temple, in the heart of Judaism. Let me just refresh your memory about the significance of the temple in the first two chapters of Luke alone and then we will continue from here.
1. About 40% of the narrative is situated in the temple
One of the things that you will see is that about 40% of the narrative in the first two chapters of Luke is situated in the temple. The temple is the scene for which a lot of these events are going to be taking place.
2. Temple of God’s dwelling place or abode
The temple we are going to see in the first two chapters will be a place of God’s abode. That is where God dwells and God would encounter people and the Spirit of God will be working through many. Some will be even waiting in the temple expecting the Messiah to show up and things are going to be playing out right there in the temple, the heart of Judaism.
People met God and God met people in the temple. There, characters like Anna is going to encounter the baby Jesus, so many things are going to play out. Simeon is going to encounter the baby Jesus in the temple.
3. Torah instruction is held in the temple
The temple is also the place for instruction and there we are going to see this temple theme developed. Even later on in Luke, baby Jesus is going to be found in a temple.
4. Temple is a place of prayer and purity
The temple we will see in the infancy narrative is a place of prayer and purity. Zechariah himself will be leading prayer and will be told that there will be people in the court praying while he goes in there to perform his duty.
Luke is showing us in the first two chapters that a temple is a place where the end-time prophecies are unfolding. In other words, the whole coming of Jesus Christ into our world and how this story is going to play out in our world is part and parcel of what God is doing with his covenant community called the Jews. The difference is, gentiles will become part of what God is doing in this world.
Luke 1:8 Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God,
Priestly Responsibility of Zechariah
Zechariah was performing his priestly duty
18000 priests were working two different full weeks a year. Their main duty was sacrificing, offering incense and teaching the Torah. We are told by Luke that Zechariah came there to perform his duty. As Zechariah was ministering, something spectacular happened. The angel of the Lord appeared with a message while burning incense.
Luke 1:8-13 8 Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, 9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. 13 But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John.
The custom of the priestly office was this. Every day at the temple, in the morning and in the evening, there was a burnt incense offering given to God. At the time of the sacrifice in the morning and the evening, there was also the offering of incense to God. Not every priest could do that. The priest was chosen to do that by lot. In other words, his name was drawn. It was a great honor if your name was drawn because many priests would never have their name drawn. No non-priest would ever be able to have this privilege and only some priests. It could only happen once in your life. If you had ever done this, offered the burnt incense, you couldn’t do it again. This was then Zacharias’ great moment. This is the pinnacle of his priestly service.
It would bring him from the outer court of the Israelites into the holy place. Remember there was a court of the Gentiles and the women, and then there was the inner court of the Israelites and then there was what’s called the sanctuary or the temple which was divided into two parts, the first part called the holy place, then there was a curtain and behind that was what? The Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant was symbolized the presence of God. And no one could go in there ever except the high priest once a year on the Day of Atonement to sprinkle blood on the Mercy Seat in atonement for the sins of the nation.
So, the priests and the people stayed outside the temple. Only one priest in a day could walk in there and offer that burnt incense and come right back out. This then would take Zacharias from the normal place where he was outside butchering animals by the altar, and it would take him into the holy place. He would be able to do this only once in his lifetime so the privilege was just supreme.
The temple entrance faced east at the far end of the holy place, when you went in, the far west end as you went in was this incense altar. It was golden and it was for incense. It stood just…just barely outside the veil between the holy place and the Holy of Holies. To put it simply, it was as close to the presence of God as anybody could get except the high priest once a year going inside. This was as close as one could get.
Though the golden incense altar stood outside the Holy of Holies, it is associated with the Holy of Holies. Hebrews 9:3-4. The reason for that is that on the Day of Atonement when the high priest went into the Holy of Holies, he not only took blood from the sacrifice on the altar, the brazen altar, but he took incense from the incense altar with him and sprinkled it on the Mercy Seat. So because the incense from this altar was sprinkled on the Mercy Seat once a year, it was associated with the Holy of Holies. Again I say, this is the holiest place that anyone could get but the high priest once a year.
Here’s what he would have done that day, Zacharias, probably in the evening when there was a larger crowd than there would be in the morning because it tells us the whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside at the hour of the incense offering. But it’s likely that the big crowd was at night and this is probably when it happened.
Zechariah using some utensils would be to gather coals off of the altar of the burnt offering, the brazen altar and he would place all these coals in a golden bowl. He would carry that golden bowl with those hot coals and he would go inside the holy place. Never has been there in his life. He would proceed through a place he’d never seen to the far end where he would find the golden altar of incense.
There he would dump the coals and they would be spread around with some utensils. At that point, he would put incense on top of those burning coals and immediately a huge column of smoke would rise up and it would carry both the smoke and the fragrance of that incense wafting everywhere around the temple. The ascending, aromatic cloud was symbolic of the prayers of the people, symbolic of prayers for salvation, repentance, prayers of confession, prayers of thanksgiving, prayers for the peace of Jerusalem, prayers for the coming of Messiah, prayers for blessing, prayers for family, prayers for the nation, prayers that the Savior would come and take away sin, prayers for the kingdom to come.
All those things would be part of the praying of the people, and that’s what was going on outside in verse 10. The whole multitude of the people was in prayer outside at the hour of the incense offering. They were actually doing what the incense symbolized. The incense symbolized their dependence on God, it symbolized their submission to God, it symbolized His sovereignty over them. As it was being symbolized with the incense, it was actually being enacted with the prayers.
That was all his duty was and then he was to leave. It was customary that the priest doing this didn’t stay very long. There was a tremendous fear as they got close to the curtain, close to the Holy of Holies that they might do something to dishonor God, do something blasphemous and it was a dangerous place to be, almost as dangerous as going inside the Holy of Holies.
This heightens the drama of the moment. The people are all praying and praying and praying and the incense is going up. V11 “And an angel of the Lord appeared to him.”
Zechariah’s encounter with God
Zechariah experienced something that was unexpected. He had been in that temple to perform his duty so many times, but nothing like this has happened. There was no precedence to say it happened sometime in history; this is a possibility, and when it happens, this is how you should go about it.
Zacharias was happy? No.
Panic was the right response, sinful man in the midst of a holy visitor from heaven. It says Zechariah was startled and gripped with fear.
First words from the angel: Do not be afraid Lk 1:21
Do not miss the first words from the angel, ‘do not be afraid.’ In the infancy narrative, you will see that God is going to bring extraordinary things to effect. When people encounter him, people are going to come to terms with who they are and they are going to panic in fear and awe and reverence God will speak through his angels, through other means fear not and the breakthrough would unfold.
Fear and Awe when People encounter God.
The whole idea is that when people encounter God they begin to realise that they are nobody. They begin to have this fear. We see that with Isaiah, and we see that with Moses. We saw that with other characters of the Old Testament. Here we see in the temple and as soon as he encounters the angel, fear came upon him.
We see that again and again. Mary is going to experience that when she encounters the angel. We see again when other people encounter the angel they begin to have that sense of fear and the language will always be, fear not. Be courageous.
Zechariah encountered this angel who tells him something that is remarkable. His prayers have been answered. His wife will be pregnant. She will give birth to a child and the child will be called John.
What is the petition? V13b
The Greek implies that this is a long-standing petition. The prayer that maybe you started praying long ago and is still somewhere in the back of your mind has been answered and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son.
They were asking God probably mostly for a son. Why? Because he wanted to pass on the priesthood.
God is the God of small beginnings. No big fanfare of heavenly visitation after 400 years and heaven is answering the prayer of an insignificant couple.
Look at the message the angel gives. Luke 1:13 ‘You are to give him the name John.'”
John means “God is gracious.” And the angel by giving him the name is saying God is about to explode upon the world His grace.
Luke 1:14-17 14He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. 16He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
It is not only going to be a joy for you Zechariah but many will rejoice because of his birth.
Why rejoice at his birth? Luke 1:15-17
See what happens at the birth of John the Baptist. Luke 1:57-58, Joy
But when John grew up and preached, a whole nation rejoiced. And when the Messiah whom he announced came, the whole world rejoiced.
John the Baptist: Isaiah 40:3, John 1:23
Malachi 3:1, 4;5-6
Luke 1:18-20 18Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”
19The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. 20And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”
The angel gave specific information to Zechariah.
5 components of this message:
Elizabeth will bear a son Lk 1:13
Elizabeth the woman who is barren in old age will bear a son.
You should call him John Lk 1:13
No wine or non-grape alcohol Lk 1:15 (He should observe the Nazarite tradition Nm 6:3; Judges 13:2-5)
He will be filled by the Holy Spirit Lk 1:15
Where is the Holy Spirit idea coming from? Run through the old testament and look for the mention of the Holy Spirit and you will be surprised to realize how Luke is bringing the Spirit to the forefront of events. The Spirit will be with John. John will be filled with the Holy Spirit.
He will be in the spirit and power of Elijah, (Is.16:17; Mal. 4:5).
Notice something here in Luke’s narrative construction because Luke does something very interesting when the angel appears for the first time about a great miracle about somebody who is supposed to be born and later on the Messiah himself will be born, he appears to a man, but the angle will appear to a woman too. That is a very interesting observation that one begins to realize that this same angel who appeared to Zechariah and later Gabriel appears to Mary.
The crowd praying, waiting for outside wondered and realized he could not speak
While all this is going on we are told there was a crowd praying, waiting outside, perhaps wondering what is going to with Zechariah on the inside. Ex: Antiochus Epiphanes 169 BC
Zechariah could not speak when he came out.
When he came out they realized he could not speak. Imagine an unfolding event in Jerusalem. Imagine the thoughts of the people praying as they realized the priest came back alive. The priest does not have any particular physical defect, but the priest cannot speak. What is going on? The child will be born and his name will be called John.
Luke 1:21 Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple.
Imagine Zechariah spending time in the temple offering incense. When the priest goes in to offer incense there is a tremendous risk. If you offer incense like Korah, who offered up incense to God. Korah was one of the priests of Israel offering up illegitimate incense. Did the incense work? Yes. God came down and burned with fire and consumed the 250 other worshippers of God who were offering up incense and the earth opened up beneath Korah and swallowed him alive. So Israel took this business of offering incense to God very seriously.
Mishna, the Jewish law says that the priests are to make a quick prayer and come out as quickly as possible. When the priest comes out, the Frist words out of his mouth are, “The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” That is what everyone is waiting for. Will God be gracious or will the earth open up and consume us? In Biblical times, the benediction is the assurance of being forgiven. You don’t leave until the benediction
When Zechariah got late, everyone got nervous. At last, when they saw Zechariah coming out, you can imagine their relief. That is why later the priest was tied with a rope that went out of the most holy place.
Offering incense by the priest – see sons of Korah.
Luke 1:21-25 22When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.
23When his time of service was completed, he returned home. 24After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. 25“The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”
Thank God Zechariah came, but he was silent. He could not pronounce the priestly blessing. God is silent for 400 years, and not even the priest is silent. It means it remains a question of whether God will be merciful. But in fact, the angel told Zechariah, “Name the son John.” The word John comes from that formula of blessing, “The Lord will be gracious.” It is a compressed form of the blessing the priest was to pronounce. John himself will be the blessing. Let’s listen to him and see if God will forgive us. In fact, Luke 1:16 says “He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.”
What is John’s message? Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. John’s job was to bring God’s people to Christ.
Luke 1:21-25 22When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.
23When his time of service was completed, he returned home. 24After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. 25“The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”
God broke the silence. God spoke and send his son Jesus Christ into this world.
Life Application Points
God’s presence is there in the temple, the church and our body.
God’s temple has to be holy.
God speaks to us.
Barrenness Of Any Kind Cannot Be Termed As A Punishment From God.
God’s Word To Broken Mankind Is: Do Not Be Afraid.
God Answers Prayer.
God Never Forgets His Promise. He remembers, and remembers and remembers every promise he has ever made. God never forgets.
