Elias Has Come
Advent 2022 • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction
Introduction
Open to Luke Chapter 1 we will look at verse 5-25 today.
Advent, remembering every year
There is no such things as hearing it to many times
The point of advent
Sluggish humanss being that are prone to fall into a rut
Discipline mind and body
Tonight we will start where Luke starts
It would seem like if you are going to talk about the birth of Jesus you would start with Jesus, but that is not where Luke starts and for good reason.
When we get to verse 16 and 17 we will see it is the birth of John that ties the two testaments together.
The last words of the old are the events of the new.
One of the great marvels of the scriptures that leaves those who challenge it looking like fools is this consistent fulfillment of prophesies
Let’s Read
5 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. 6 And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. 7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years. 8 Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, 9 according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. 11 And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 12 And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. 13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. 14 And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. 16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, 17 and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” 18 And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” 19 And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 20 And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.” 21 And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. 22 And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute. 23 And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home. 24 After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, 25 “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”
May God Bless the Reading of His Holy and Infallible Word
Transition
Transition
The gospels are a unique genre in the Bible, they are biographical, historical and in the case of Luke scholarly works, but at their core the authors are making a case for the Christness, of Jesus. Many other schalars believe that Luke is using the term Θεόφιλε, (Theophilus) from verse 3 to say a thank you to the astute and careful reader. Weather there was a certain Θεόφιλε or the term meant generally the name is Greek, and therefore we surmise that Luke’s intended audience was Greek readers. If the readers were Greek the question is why start with a man in a distinctly Jewish setting and a fulfillment of a distinctly Jewish Prophecy. The astute reader is lead to understand that Luke starts here because this point is not only historically accurate but, necessary to the demonstration of Jesus as the Christ, anointed one, indeed.
With this in mind we embark with verse 5 -15. of Luke 1.
Body
Body
Birth Foretold
Birth Foretold
5 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. 6 And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. 7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years. 8 Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, 9 according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. 11 And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 12 And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. 13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. 14 And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.
The careful scholarly date setting here that Luke does with “Herod, king of Judea” sets his account apart, Matthew all mentions Herod but he does not start the account with that.
Zechariah, Elizabeth, God sent the message first sign of the coming through the Aaronic line.
There is a rabbit trail here, with the difference between the Melchizedek and Aaronic lines.
The propose of the Aaronic was to point to Christ, we covered a lot of that when we were in Duet.
They were blameless, concerning the law “And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.”
No one could bring a charge against them that they had not lived after the Law.
God Chose the unlikely
verse 7 “But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.”
No one could wonder if this story was made up, these two were not having a child except by miracle.
We have been talking about Christian suffering, think about it, these had suffered all there lives wanting Children, praying for children, God has a purpose in what he was doing..
The angel appears to Zechariah
Your wife is going to have a son and you will call him John,
Calvin commented that John was given this name to “ … heighten the authority of his office. [because the name means] the grace of the Lord.”[1]
John was appointed to usher in Grace himself.
Verse 15 “he must not drink wine or strong drink”
Because of this Job he was set apart, like Nazirites
When were were in Numbers we talked about how the Nazirite vow was for those especially set apart.
Verse 15 “he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb”
This the is mark of a Prophet,
“The LORD called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name.” (Is 49:1, ESV)
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” (Je 1:5, ESV)
The Apostle Paul claimed this as well, “… he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace. “ (Ga 1:15, ESV)
Transition
Transition
But John the Baptist was not just any Prophet, Jesus called him the greatest born of women.
John the Baptist was a foretold prophet and he shares this distinction with Christ.
Lets look at verse 16-17
Without Excuse
Without Excuse
16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, 17 and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”
The Angel goes on to quote the Old Testament,
“5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” (Mal 4:5–6, ESV)
Malachi 4:5–6 is most likely one of if not the last thing written or spoken in the Old Testament
So set the scene in your mind, the Angel is speaking to Zechariah and he says, “go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”
Zechariah knows his Scriptures, he knows what the angel means, and all those that see John being born know this is the herald of the Messiah, the day of the LORD is has come and the 400, years of silence are over.
I have been asked the question by well meaning but unstudied Christians, how could the Jews (as the Gospel of John calls them) not know Jesus was the Messiah. They did, they knew, they had no excuse.
Much the same silliness goes on today with minimalist decisionalist, Christianity that unhooks from the Old Testament. The Apostles didn't do that, and Luke grounds his understanding of Christ as the one prophesied from the Old Testament.
That is why Luke starts here, John the Baptist, is the one sent to herald the “great and awesome day of the LORD.” (Mal 4:5, ESV)
We need to have the same grounding in scripture as Luke here, and Christ who responded to every enemy with “it is written.”
You will be ridiculed for such a stance and unfortunately many those who ridicule will call them selves Christians.
Its not new, the ones that killed the one they knew to be the messiah called them selves Children of Abraham.
But Jesus was clear, you are of your father the devil Jesus said (John 8:44, ESV) and make no mistake, those who deny of the necessity, authority, and sufficiency are doing the devils work.
The Bible is not, mythical, multi-vocal, or a human response to God.
The Bible is the all sufficient, authoritative word of God
This might be a news flash to our culture but what God calls abomination is actually abomination and God will destroy those who practice and codify abomination.
Transition
Transition
Back to the story.. Zechariah seemed not to fully believe what he is seeing and hearing. Lets look at verse 18-25
It happened
It happened
18 And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” 19 And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 20 And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.” 21 And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. 22 And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute. 23 And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home. 24 After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, 25 “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”
God does amazing things here,
Think about how Zechariah’s disbelief is for ordained by God as a means for God to show the world that Zechariah was true.
“And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple.” (Luke 1:22, ESV)
Zechariah praises God for all of it,
Verse 64 here of chapter 1 says. “And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God.” (Lk 1:64, ESV)
This is a mind set we need to cultivate.
Verse 24 and 25 says, “24 After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, 25 “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”
The suffering we spoke about earlier, Elizabeth says, God took away her reproach.
Calvin Comments here, “Let parents learn to be thankful to God for the children which he has given them, and let those who have no offspring acknowledge that God has humbled them in this matter. Elisabeth speaks of it exclusively as a reproach among men: for it is a temporal chastisement, from which we will suffer no loss in the kingdom of heaven. [1]
Conclusion
Conclusion
And that is the message of Luke and the Gospels. The Kingdom of Heaven is opened to those atoned for my the Work of Jesus.
This is not the only New Testament Jesus, but the one that promised from the beginning.
This is the Jesus who’s birth we remember and celibate this season, it will be good to return to this meditation every season God give us, until we are called home or he returns.
Benediction
Benediction
24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
References
References
[1] John Calvin and William Pringle, Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke, vol. 1 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), 15.
[2] Ibid, 31
Bibliography
Bibliography
Calvin, John, and William Pringle. Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010.