When God Broke His Silence

1) “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard.” Luke 1:13

2) “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.” Luke 1:30

3) And to the Shepherds: “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” Luke 2:10

It is only right that we should fear God. He is all-powerful. He is our creator and giver of all life. But God’s purpose is never to terrify us. His purpose is always to bring us hope.

God’s message to you and me is the same message he gave to Zechariah, Mary, and the shepherds: “Do not be afraid. I have heard your prayers. I hold you in great favor. I bring you a message of great joy!”

Once God calmed their fears, these folks also responded the same way you and I would respond. They responded with doubts and questions.

 They responded with doubts and questions

1) Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this?” Luke 1:18

2) Mary asked the very understandable question, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” Luke 11:34

3) And after the finale of the angel concert, the shepherds simply had to check this out for themselves. “Let’s go to Bethlehem!” they said.

The main thing we see here is that these people were normal human beings. They didn’t try to pretend they had no doubts or worries. In the same way, we can be completely honest with God. It’s actually good to express the concerns and questions. In fact, we’re better off to express our doubts than to suppress them.

When these folks brought their questions to God, the Angel gave them the answers they needed … not everything they wanted to know, maybe … but enough that they could move on to the next step.

God will always answer genuine questions with exactly the amount of assurance we need to move forward in obedience. And that is what happened in each case … they responded with obedience.

 They responded with obedience

1) Zechariah went home and spent quality time with his wife … (if you get my drift.) Luke 1:23-24 When His promised son was born, all the friends and neighbors expected him to name the boy Zechariah Junior. Instead, Zechariah obeyed the Angel and named the boy John. Luke 1:63

2) Mary gave a beautiful response to the Angel: “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.” Luke 1:38

I want to mention that God also had a message for Joseph. God spoke to Joseph in a dream, assuring him that he should take Mary as his wife because the child born to her truly was from God. Joseph also responded with obedience when he received a word from the Lord.

And this shows how much God values marriage. Jesus could have been born without Joseph’s involvement, but God saw to it that His Son was born into a family where both Mom and the Dad were committed … not only to each other, but also to living in obedience to God’s word.

3) The Shepherds hurried off and “found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.” Luke 2:16