Disclaimer:
Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording including sermon title, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these words. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched. All scriptures quoted in these sermons are copies and quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Pastor James May
GOD REWARDS FAITHFULNESS!
Luke 1:5-17, "There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years. And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest’s office before God in the order of his course, According to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense. And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."
Herod “the Great” was assigned the dubious honor to govern the conquered Land of Israel. Somehow, I don’t think that Herod considered this as a great honor because he had ambition and political aspirations to rise to great heights in the government of Rome. But, to get where he wanted to go, Herod knew that he had to succeed in governing this rebellious rabble known as the Jews.
In order to accomplish his goals, Herod is said to have become a proselyte of the Jewish faith by converting from the worship of the idols of Rome to the worship of the Lord God Jehovah. It is most likely that his “conversion” was more of a political move than a spiritual decision. There is no record of Herod having served the God of Israel but there is plenty of evidence to prove otherwise.
When Herod was assigned to rule over Israel from Jerusalem this was a dark day for the people of Israel! This was the first time that a king other than one who was born a Jew would sit upon the Throne of Judah.
Thus it was fulfilled as spoken by JACOB way back in Genesis 49:10, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be."
Truly the Scepter, or Kingship, of Judah had departed from Israel. God had given it over the Iron Fist of Rome because of the idolatry and rebellion of the Nation of Israel!
Later we read in the Book of Micah concerning the prophecy of the coming Messiah, the coming of the Lord that they would reject. The coming of the Messiah would mark the promise that once again, the Scepter of Judah would be from the Land of Israel.
Micah 5:1-2, "Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: he hath laid siege against us: they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek. But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."
Zacharias was a Levite – chosen by God to serve in the temple doing the duty of a priest unto the Lord for the people of Israel.
If you will study the genealogy of both Zacharias and Elisabeth, his wife, you will discover that this couple could be called a “Noble Family” among the people of Israel. Both were distant descendants of a man known as “Amram”.
Numbers 26:59, "And the name of Amram’s wife was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, whom her mother bare to Levi in Egypt: and she bare unto Amram Aaron and Moses, and Miriam their sister."
It was King David, the sweet singer of Israel, who divided the Levites into 24 courses for the performance of their duties as priests of Israel in the maintenance and operations of the Temple and its observance of every ordinance of God.
Each course, in its turn, would serve in the Temple for only 1 week. The course of Abia, the course that Zacharias was a part of, would have been the 8th course in the order of their service.
Jewish history and tradition tell us that there were approximately 18,000 priests of the tribe of Levi who were assigned to perform the duties of the temple at any given time. If we divide 18,000 by 24 we will find that there were 750 priests in each course and it would be impossible to use each priest in a week’s time, therefore many of these priests would only get 1 chance, or maybe never get a chance at all to serve in the Temple and do the job that they committed their entire lives to learn to perform.
Due to the huge number of priests, it was determined by drawing lots which of the priests would be privileged to perform his duty that he had been trained to do.
On the week when the course of Abia was to serve, one representative priest would step forward and each man would draw lots. Those whose lots were chosen would get to serve and everyone else would have to wait for another 2 years minimum before another chance would come. In this drawing Zecharias was blessed and chosen to perform the duty that he had trained for all of his life.
Zecharias’ duty was to burn incense before the Altar of Incense on behalf of the Children of Israel. Incense was burned 2 times daily, once in the morning and once in the evening as a sign of the morning and evening offerings and oblation.
While he performed his duties, burning incense upon the Altar of Incense, representing the prayer and worship of Israel unto God, the people of Israel stood outside in prayer and worship until Zacharias would emerge from behind the veil. The priest and the people went before God “hand-in-hand”. What was being done in symbolism inside the Temple was being done in reality outside the Temple.
We should ever be mindful that everything we do has a counterpart in the Heavenly realm. As we sing praises unto the Lord and play our music to worship Him, the choirs of Heavenly angels are doing the same thing day and night. There is no doubt that the Lord is noticing everything that happens in the course of our service.
Illustration:
I remember a few years ago that there was young boy who had brought his portable tape player to church to tape the worship service and the preaching for that day. The church was very small and there was only an out-of-tune piano and a rhythm guitar for music but the few people who attended worshipped God and sang praise unto Him.
After the service the tape was played back and, in the background, behind the song leader and piano and guitar, you could hear the sounds of a huge choir singing. There was no choir in the church but it was on the tape nonetheless.
After sending the tape into a university for examination it was determined that there really were voices in the background but that the range of high notes that the choir was singing were impossible for the voice of any human being.
It still sends goose bumps over me to think that the Angelic Choir of Heaven had joined in worship that day. I am still awestruck when I consider the fact that the Choir of Heaven still sings with us every time we worship the Lord in Spirit and in Truth.
It is conceivable that this may have been the one and only opportunity for Zacharias to serve in the temple but it seemed, to those standing outside, that Zacharias took an exceptionally long time to perform his duties.
For many years God had not spoken to Israel. For 400 years, God’s voice and presence had not been in the temple due to Israel’s idolatry. For all those years, the work of the Priests had continued. They had done the sacrificial offerings, burned the incense, washed in the laver, kept up the Table of Shewbread and done all the things as commanded by God but He had chosen to let them prove their faithfulness in silence.
HAVE YOU GIVEN UP ON GOD’S ANSWER TO YOUR PRAYER?
DO YOU FEEL AS THOUGH GOD HAS TURNED A DEAF EAR TO YOUR PRAYER AND THAT HE DOES NOT KNOW THE SACRIFICES THAT YOU MAKE FOR HIS SERVICE?
PERHAPS HE IS JUST LETTING YOU PROVE YOUR FAITHFULNESS TO HIM!
Zacharias was an old man and his wife, Elisabeth, was well up in years also. She had born the shame and reproach of being childless all of her married life. This was the greatest shame that a woman could have in those days – to be childless; for children were considered a great blessing from the Lord because a child meant that the people of God would continue to exist and the nation would grow and their name would not be forgotten.
(Not like today when people in our nation consider a child to be nothing more than a curse or a burden to keep them from “enjoying” their own lives.)
Zacharias and Elisabeth were blameless and righteous before God. They had obeyed the Law of Moses and God was well pleased with them. For years upon years they had remained faithful to God. They had placed their trust and confidence in the God of Heaven and prepared for the ministry that God had called them to do.
Even so, Zacharias still had unbelief when the Angel of the Lord announced that their prayer and their faithfulness would be answered.
Gabriel, the Archangel; the same Gabriel that had revealed the truth of Daniel’s vision of the history of the ages to Daniel and the vision of 70 weeks of Israel’s history and the same Gabriel that announced the birth of Jesus to Mary in Nazareth; and the same one, according to many Bible scholars, that will blow the trumpet for the Rapture of the Church in the near future, appeared before Zacharias to announce the birth of John (the Baptist) whose name meant “the grace and mercy of the Lord”.
Zacharias was struck with the inability to speak until the promise of a son would be fulfilled.
Elisabeth was glad to see that God was going to bless her with a son. God was going to answer the prayers that they had given for a lifetime that God would give them a son and that God would also bring repentance to Israel.
God was going to answer their prayers but they could not have known just how God’s answer would come.
HOW LONG ARE WE WILLING TO WAIT UPON THE LORD?
HOW MUCH PATIENCE DOES IT TAKE?
HOW MUCH COMMITMENT TO GOD DOES IT TAKE TO WAIT FOR A LIFETIME SO THAT GOD CAN GIVE US HIS GREATEST BLESSING IN HIS OWN TIME?
HOW QUICKLY WE BECOME DISCOURAGED!
Are we willing to serve God faithfully for a lifetime if necessary to see our prayer answered?
What price will we pay to see God move to save our children, to deliver us from life’s troubles, and to bring us home to Glory?
At what point will your faith waver?
At what point will we be found unfaithful to the work that God has given to us?
At what place will we feel that God doesn’t hear us anymore?
Do you want God’s best, in God’s time, in God’s own way?
Are you willing to wait upon Him?
Or, will you take matters into your own hands because you don’t trust or believe that God will do what He says He will do?
God blessed the faithfulness of Zecharias and Elisabeth by giving them a son in their old age.
The circumstances of the birth of John the Baptist were very similar to that of Isaac to Abraham and Sarah many years before. Since both of these men were to be types and shadows of the coming Messiah, God chose to announce their births with the appearance of an Angel. Angels also announced the birth of Jesus to Mary and Joseph.
God wants to point out that he is not limited by ordinary factors. He chose to bring forth both of His forerunners of Christ under miraculous circumstances so that man would know and be prepared for the coming of Jesus Christ in the same manner.
The son of Zecharias and Elizabeth would be called, by Jesus, “the greatest prophet ever among men” because John was to be the prophet that called Israel to repentance and baptism for the remission of sins and then point them to the coming of Jesus Christ the Messiah, Deliverer and Savior of all mankind.
What a tremendous reward they received for their obedience. All of the years of waiting, learning, practicing, suffering reproach, working and longing for the answer to their prayers was finally realized in such a wonderful way.
God is an on-time, in-time, right-time, God – if we will only have faith and trust in Him and just keep on keeping on until the answer comes.
Don’t give up on your service to God! When it seems that God is nowhere around, He is near! When it seems that your service has been for nothing – God’s best is yet to come!
He will reward you for your faithfulness and belief! God is a Rewarder of those who believe!
REMEMBER – GOD REWARDS FAITHFULNESS!
