God Moves In Mysterious Ways - [Luke 1:5-25]

Luke’s Purpose: Certainty in the Gospel of Luke

Followed by its sequel, the book of Acts, and we are in the position of the starting block in Luke chapter 1 verse 5. It's almost like you ride a bicycle up a hill for 45 minutes and then it's downhill all the way to the beach and we start riding in chapter 1 verse 5 and it's all the way quickly traversing up to the resurrection and the ascension.

As you know Luke the physician is the one who most likely wrote Luke. Technically it's anonymous and we know it was directed by the Spirit of God anyway, his writing and so we have the introduction of the Gospel of Luke found in verses 1, 2, 3, and 4 and really every time you read anything in the Gospel of Luke you should probably remember these four verses.

You should remember that he writes how? In an orderly fashion like a physician would and he writes with a purpose and that purpose is so that your faith might be strengthened and if you're not a believer that you might have saving faith in the Lord Jesus.

So everything he writes is underneath this theme, this umbrella of the first four verses structure, investigative reporter type, historian type that's how he will write with the purpose that you have certainty and that you'll have a steadfast faith in Christ Jesus because as we've heard even from the testimonies things go on in our life and we're thinking can I still trust the Lord even as a Christian?

To review verses 1 through 4, in as much as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses, remember that's where we get the word autopsy and ministers of the word, they're not over the word, they're under the word serving have delivered them to us.

It seemed good to me also, Luke says having followed all things closely for some time past to write an orderly account for you most excellent Theophilus. What's the purpose? That you, Theophilus, and of course everybody else who reads this including you, dear congregation may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.

It's almost like Luke is writing, what are some of the investigative shows now, crime shows, 2020 or Dateline, does anybody watch those? How could you? He's writing in such a fashion so that it's like a lawyer writing, it's case upon case to show you the brilliance of who the Lord Jesus is and of course if you want to summarize the Lord's work, it's found in Luke, is it not?

He comes to seek and save the lost. I would imagine as a doctor has concern over his patients, so too Dr. Luke has concern not for his physical patients but his spiritual patients. He wants them to get better, he wants them to be strengthened.

I mean, isn't that the goal? At least for good doctors, they want them to be better. We're looking for a cure, we're looking for help. So this book is written so that you can be certain. It's to give you strength and it's to give you joy.

Well, let's start in verses five and following. We're going to go a little bit faster. It's the kind of book, now it's a narrative, it's a story, so we don't need to go two verses at a time or one verse at a time.

We're going to cover, Lord willing today, Luke 1, 5 through 25. I'm going to teach through the section and then we're going to ask some questions at the end. Simple outline, teach the section, questions at the end.

That's almost the way you should study your own Bible, right? You work through it, understand it and then ask yourself some reflective questions. This is the living and abiding Word of God. Teach through verses 5 through 25 and then ask some questions.

The Setting in Herod’s Day

First, let's look at the setting. Verses 5 through 7. I'm just going to call it the setting because that's exactly what it is. Sorry, no alliteration today. That was last week. In the days of Herod, king of Judea, this is verse 5, 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.

And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord, but they had no child because Elizabeth was barren and both were advanced in years. You see what Luke is doing, don't you?

It's almost like you've got this comparison. We've got historical markers. Herod, he was a real man. Herod the Great. Herod the Great and Evil. Some call him Herod the heinous. Yes, he could build well, but he was one wicked man.

And you can see what Luke is doing. Here's going to be the wicked man Herod and here's going to be the righteous man Zechariah. These were dark days for Israel. 400 years since God has spoken. Roman oppression.

Herod himself oppressing the people. I mean, Herod killed, I think, all nine of his wives. Not all at once, but over time. And he kills his sons. And he wants to kill all the children, does he not? And he did kill many of the children in Matthew chapter 1 because he doesn't want another king.

This Herod the Great was great and evil and now where's God? Where's his word? God has been silent for 400 years. By the way, when was the last time God said anything? And if you get this, you're going to get chapter 1.

Turn your Bibles to the last book of the Old Testament. And if you have a Jewish Bible, I don't want you to turn to 2 Chronicles. I want you to talk to Malachi. What's the last thing that was ever said?

400 years. I mean, we're getting oppressed by the Romans. Things are difficult. We're living in Israel. Where's the Messiah? God, do you talk? God, do you understand? God, are you listening? 400 years.

I mean, our nation hasn't even been around for that long. And God regularly spoken. He hasn't spoken. Look at the very end of Malachi. What were the last words spoken to show us the setting in the Gospel of Luke?

Verse 5 and 6 of Malachi 4. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers.

What's the last word in the Old Testament? Lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction. It ends with a curse. It ends with a ban. It ends with destruction. And now, not 100 years, not 200 years, not 300 years, not 400 years.

Silence. And even to reread this one more time, there's going to be Elijah the prophet who's going to come to turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. And so we, with these listeners, are thinking, what's going to happen next?

Herod, oppression, Romans, where's God? Is the Messiah going to come? We know the Messiah has been prophesied. We heard about Isaiah 53 even today. And we could read Psalm 2 and Psalm 110 and Psalm 22, Genesis chapter 3.

We could be thinking, where's that Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, that ultimate Passover Lamb? When is He going to show up? Well, He's not going to show up until Elijah shows up. And so here, we just have this setting.

You have a very wicked man, Herod. We have a very righteous man and his wife, Zechariah and Elizabeth. What's going to happen in the middle of all this? I mean, Zechariah means God has remembered. Has he remembered?

He's silent. Verse 6, it says right there, both were righteous before God. This is not talking about what we say in theology, imputed righteousness, righteousness credited to our account. Trusting in Jesus, we get His righteousness.

This is daily living. They just lived honorable lives. Sinful, yes, but they were righteous. And it explains itself in the end of the verse. Walking blamelessly. What does righteous mean before God in this context?

Walking blamelessly and all the commandments and statues of the Lord. They were godly people. They were like Job. They were like Daniel. And one writer said, and I thought this was insightful, there have been some good people who have lived in very bad times.

Never was there a worse reign than that of Herod. Seldom are never a better man or woman than Zechariah and Elizabeth. Spurgeon said then, let no man excuse himself for sinning because of the times in which he lives.

Godly people, blessing, not in sin. And verse 7 says they have no child. What? I mean, this is Rachel. Can you remember Rachel saying, give me children lest I die. It's difficult if you can't have children in general, let alone the Old Testament where people thought it was a curse.

It was a disgrace. People thought you were in sin somehow if you didn't have children. But that's not the case here. What's the Lord doing? He's silent. What's He working on? It seems to me every time you read the Bible and the Bible talks about a woman being barren, something's going to happen.

God's going to do something. This can't be God's disfavor. This has to be God's ultimate plan. And she, Elizabeth, is married to a priest. Can you imagine all the things that priests do and the liturgy in the temple and the incense and arranging things and slaying animals?

He was godly. She's barren. The Bible, if you read the Old Testament, should be saying this to you. Something's going to happen. What's going to happen? His word and plan are going to come to fruition very soon.

Gabriel’s Announcement to Zechariah

So that's the setting. Now let's look at the encounter. The encounter. Will God fulfill His promises? Is God asleep? Remember Elijah on top of Mount Carmel when he was talking about all the gods of Baal?

Where are your gods? Are they taking a nap? Are they occupied? Are they busy? Where are your gods? Are they doing anything? Is God really alive or is He like this dead idol? Well, here comes the unexpected encounter.

Now, while he, Zechariah, was serving as a priest before God, when his division was on duty, he got a lot of priests, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.

And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. I mean, can you imagine? You're a priest. That's a blessing. And now you're chosen by lot to go do something very special.

Not all of the priests got to do this. You get to go inside the temple. I mean, can you imagine? I'm going to put on the priestly robes. Walking through the temple courts. Walking into the temple. Going to do this great work for the Lord.

Going inside to the holy place. Seeing all the furniture that's in the temple. Lampstand flickering. Table of bread on the right. And a golden altar of incense. Right before we get to the Holy of Holies.

What would you be thinking? Here's what I would be thinking. Oh God, don't kill me. And you laugh, but what happened to Nahab and Abihu? When they go into the temple, the holiness of God. Holy, holy, holy.

I would be thinking, Lord, please don't kill me. I know I have sin in my life. And it's interesting because it says verse 10, the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense.

I mean, they were probably praying too. Don't kill him, God. Receive his incense. Receive his prayers. They were certainly praying, Lord, send the Messiah. We have the Roman government. We have Herod.

Please send the Lord. Not just to get us from this yoke of Rome, but also we want the Messiah to come, Hosanna. It's said in tradition that they were outside praying this. God of mercy, come into your holy sanctuary and receive with pleasure the offering of your people.

I mean, he's walking in, it's dark, the light, holiness. This is a once in a lifetime honor. Verse 11,. And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing at the right side of the altar of incense.

I mean, I don't know what you would be thinking, but I would already be thrilled that I got to do this, terrified knowing that I'm a sinner going into the presence of the thrice holy God. And you can imagine the incense is going up, kind of not fog, but just the smoke, right?

And the incense is to signify as the smoke goes up to heaven, so God receives our prayers. And all of a sudden, you know how sometimes you just think, there's somebody next to me that I didn't really notice, but they're there, you can kind of feel the presence.

And there's an angel next to him. Verse 12, Zechariah was troubled when he saw him and fear fell upon him, 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.

And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 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.

And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. Sound familiar, Malachi? 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.

I'm wondering if he does the proverbial rubbing his eyes to think, am I seeing anything? This dazzling creature, you know what happens when angels show up? And even though they're not God, they're dazzling, they're bright, they've been in the presence of God, and most people are either afraid or they get down and worship the angel.

And this angel comes from God, he's not his own messenger, so we have divine legitimacy with the message. And it's not like Zechariah was some terrorist. He's walking blamelessly, and he is still intimidated by the holiness of even the messenger of the angel.

And he's afraid, fear falls upon him. What's the angel say? Don't be afraid. Your prayer has been heard. What prayer is that? I would imagine if you're married and you can't have children, that that would have been a regular prayer.

Lord, would you grant us a child? I also think that he's praying on behalf of the people, is he not? And what should he be praying for on behalf of the people? The ultimate prayer, may your kingdom come.

Lord, send the Messiah. We're waiting for the anointed one to come. We're waiting for that prophet, priest, and king. Oh, Lord, send your Messiah. But what if it's both? What if the son that he has always prayed for is the one that ushers in the kingdom because he, the son, is going to be the forerunner?

It's almost like it's the same prayer. I'm praying for a son, I'm praying for the Messiah to come. And for the Messiah to come, you have to have a forerunner, you have to have somebody show up to town before the Messiah comes.

I think that it's related, and they are joined. Your prayer has been heard. Hundreds of times, he's prayed for a child. Many times, he's prayed as a priest for the nation. And he's going to have a child, look at verse 14, go back there.

Joy and gladness you will have. I know you'll have joy and gladness. Of course, every father knows that. And many will rejoice, for he will be great before the Lord. I mean, the Messiah is gonna come through your son.

He's the forerunner of the Messiah. I love Isaiah 25, and it will be said on that day when the Messiah comes, returns, behold, this is our God for whom we've waited that he might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited.

Let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation. Your prayer has been heard, the Messiah is going to come, and he's gonna come because your son is gonna be the forerunner of the Messiah. Joy and shouting and gladness.

Sadly, what does this text say? Not everyone will be happy, but many will rejoice. Many will, but not all, sadly. And he's going to be a special set-apart kind of son. What does the text say here about this son who's going to be named John?

Verse 15, he won't drink strong drink nor drink wine, and he'll be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb. Now, there was something in the Old Testament called a Nazirite vow. And you would, for a time, set yourself apart by not having wine, by not putting a razor to your face.

I always thought to myself, what kind of razor would you put to your face back in those days? What does an Old Testament razor look like? But that's another point. So this isn't exactly a Nazirite vow, because Nazirite vows were short-term, set-apart for work.

This is the whole life. His whole life is gonna be set-apart. And of course, I think I should make just a comment on the side. He'll be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb. Are those children in the womb children?

The answer is obviously yes. And what is this son going to do? He's going to be the forerunner. He's going to go first. He's going to make the pathway for the Messiah, and he will one day say, Jesus must increase, but I must decrease.

The Messiah is going to come back, but first you have to have a forerunner. Even now, if the president goes, if the president goes to a city, they send out all their secret service people to that city to make sure it's all safe.

And if you're gonna have a king come to your town back in those days, you'd send the whole group of people making rough places flat, smooth, and get them ready. What's going on big picture? The writer Luke says, I'm gonna start from the beginning.

Remember he says that in chapter one, verses one through four? Here's the beginning. And what's the beginning? 400 years of silence. Now oppression, now Herod, now Rome, and all of a sudden this priest walks in and everything's on fire from here on out.

The starting gun goes. And this young man is going to be coming in the spirit and power of Elijah with courage, with boldness, like a prophet. And he, by his preaching, is gonna make people ready for the Messiah.

He, by his preaching, the law and the nature and character of God is going to get people ready for the Messiah. Listen to what John says about John the Baptist. The Gospel of John about John the Baptist.

He came as a witness to testify about the light so that all might believe through him. John testified about him and cried out saying, this was he of whom I said, he who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for he existed before me.

He said, I'm a voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord as Isaiah the prophet said. The setting is, it's a bad time for Israel. The encounter, Gabriel shows up and talks to Zechariah.

Zechariah’s Unbelief and Silence

Now let's see thirdly, the wrong response. And Zechariah said to the angel, verse 18, hallelujah, how shall I know this? For I'm an old man and my wife is advanced in years. And the angel said, by answering him, I am Gabriel, I stand in the presence of God.

I was sent to speak to you and bring you this good news. 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.

And the people were waiting for Zechariah and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them. And they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple.

But he kept making signs to them and remained mute. And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home. After these days, his wife, Elizabeth, conceived. And for five months, she kept herself hidden, saying, thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me to take away my reproach among my people.

How is this going to happen? You know what he's saying? He's a priest. He's been picked by law to go in and offer incense. He's righteous. He walks blamelessly. And he basically says, I don't believe it.

I don't believe you. One writer said, a good subtitle for this section should be, How Not to Talk to an Angel. I like that. It should be, as Pradeep read Hosea 14, I take you at your word. I believe it.

He's got a divine message. Here's the angel. By the way, what has he just been praying for? Hasn't he been praying for a son? Hasn't he been praying for the son that would be the forerunner to the Messiah?

Hasn't he been praying for the Messiah to come? This reminds me of that story that I have to laugh at, but then I have to laugh at myself, or then I'm convicting myself. Peter's in jail, Peter's in jail, Peter's in jail.

Let's pray, let's pray, let's pray, let's pray, pray. Who's at the door? Oh, it can't be Peter. Let's get back to praying again. He's praying for a son. He's praying for the Messiah to come. And the angel says, yes, it's going to be true.

He should have said, I know. Instead he says, I don't believe. And shouldn't a priest have known there are Old Testament examples of Sarah who's barren, and now God opens her womb when she's 90-ish? He should have known supernatural births with Samson.

And you can see a comparison here. You have Zechariah's skepticism and doubt and unbelief, and Gabriel's sure word. Gabriel knows it's going to happen. If I could just have a sign. Okay, here's your sign, you can't talk, how about that?

What you should have said with your mouth is, I believe, and you won't say it, and now you're going to be mute. Dear Christian friends, there are really only two religions in the world, as Machen said.

The religion of naturalism. You have to explain everything without a God existing. And above nature, supernaturalism. And that's what we believe, and a supernatural God who does supernatural things at his own good pleasure.

Zechariah is confronted by Gabriel. You're going to have a son. And he should have said, I can trust the God who created the universe. I can trust the God who has kept his word in the Old Testament. Instead, he looks to himself.

I don't know if he had gray hair, but he probably did. I know he thought to himself, the way this works is I'm with my wife, and she becomes pregnant, and she can't become pregnant because she's never become pregnant.

He's in the holy place worshiping, praying for a son and a savior, and now the angel says your prayers are answered. He should have believed. Now, by the way, I'm great at looking at other people saying, you should do this, you should do that, and I can't believe you did that.

And J .C. Ryle says to me and to you, let's not be too hard on Zacharias. Quote, the holiest actions of the holiest saint that ever lived are all more full or less full of defects and imperfections. They are either wrong in their motive or defective in their performance, and in themselves are nothing more than splendid sins deserving God's condemnation.

One of the writers said, this side of heaven we're a pretty sorry lot, but that's where God's grace comes in. He should have used his tongue to say, I believe, and now that tongue is going to be silent.

But here's the grace of God coming in. There's a key word there that should make you think, grace, grace, grace. He's going to be mute. He's not gonna be able to talk, but will it last forever? We have that little word until.

Until the day when these things take place. You see in verse 20, you'll be silent, unable to speak until the day that these things take place. And you just see in the midst of man's sin, in the midst of a priest's sin, of a holy man's sin, the grace of God.

This young man is going to come from you and your wife, and he's going to come in the spirit and power of Elijah, and he's going to be the forerunner. What's going on outside? What would you be thinking?

You're outside praying, the priest is in there, it's taking too long. You were told, by the way, if you were a priest, go in, do your duty to light the incense, and get out. Because if you don't get out quickly, you might do something profane and then die.

In my notes I just wrote down, do your job and get out so you don't do anything stupid. But he's in there for a long time because he's listening to this angel. I wonder the people outside thought, well, maybe he's dead, maybe he did do something profane.

We're waiting for him to come out. He's supposed to come out, and then he's supposed to pray over us and give the Aaronic blessing in Numbers 6. The Lord bless you and the Lord keep you, the Lord make His face shine upon you.

But he's still in there. He's supposed to say, the Lord bless you, and we're supposed to respond with, blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting. And now he finally comes out.

What do you think they're thinking? Verse 22, he's unable to speak. He's seen the vision. He kept making signs. I don't know how many commentators said, this is where charades started. And I just thought, I'm not going to say it.

But I just did. Luke wants you to be certain of your faith. And so he says, I'm going to start at the beginning. And so he starts at the beginning. And what's the beginning? 400 years of silence, oppression.

God isn't speaking. Does he keep his word? Where's the Messiah? Oh, Lord, come. You've made a promise. You've kept every other promise. Where are you? And now it begins. The gun is fired. Things are going to happen very quickly now.

And he goes home. Verse 23, and after he went home, it's interesting, his wife becomes pregnant. Angel said, you're not going to be able to talk. And that promise of judgment came true. And similarly, his promise that the Messiah is going to come because the forerunner is now here is also true.

And Mary conceived. God's promise, excuse me. Mary will conceive next week. By the way, there's two parallel things happening here. John the Baptist being born, Jesus born, right? You just see both are kind of just playing themselves out.

Elizabeth conceives and God's promises never fail. So that's kind of just what's going on here in the passage. Let me ask you some questions now. We've seen the setting, the encounter, and the wrong response.

Why the Old Testament Matters for Christians

Let me just ask you some questions. As we're learning about the Bible, we want to know what it says and means. And then I'm asking myself questions this week. So I ask them to you. Question number one, why is the Old Testament important for a Christian?

In other words, why should you read the Old Testament? Why should you be familiar with the Old Testament? Is Bible knowledge important? And the answer is, of course, I mean, you hear Bethlehem Bible Church teaching the Bible verse by verse.

One of the things that will help you with if you study the Old Testament is understanding the New Testament. This is what's going on. Malachi, the last word's written. There's going to be someone who comes.

Elijah's going to come. And we think, oh, I see it all now. I look back and I go, I understand. The things prophesied in the Old Testament will come to be fulfilled in the plan of God. Why do we read through books of the Bible for Old Testament scripture reading?

Well, because we want you to know your Bible. We want you to know Hosea. Can you imagine that verse, Hosea 14, for when Pardeep read it? God said, I will love you freely. Not because you are anything or do anything, or I look down the quarters of time.

Why does God love? Because I love. I love you freely. So I'm thankful, dear congregation, your men and women and children of the Old Testament and its promises and predictions, so that when it talks about fulfillment, you know what's being fulfilled.

More pressing, though, and maybe more convicting. At least it was to me. By the way, don't you know that's what pastors do? If I get convicted, sometimes I bristle against the Lord and sometimes I think, okay.

And then finally I say, uncle, forgive me, I repent. And then I think, if I'm so convicted, I'm gonna make sure the congregation is too. You preach to yourself first and then you preach to other people.

The Messiah is going to come because the forerunner's promised. The forerunner comes, the Messiah comes. It's like a domino. We're waiting for the Lord. We're waiting for the Lord. We're waiting for the Lord.

So said Zachariah and the people outside of the temple. We're waiting. Herod is over us. Rome is over us. We're waiting, we're waiting, we're waiting. And this angel wants us to know God will fulfill his plan.

Now let me ask you the question. Here's the convicting part. What about the second coming? Shouldn't your thinking about the second coming and the surety of the Lord's return, shouldn't it be commensurate with what Gabriel is saying?

Or could it be that maybe you're thinking, I don't know if Jesus will ever return and you're acting more like Zachariah. Turn your Bibles to 2 Peter 3. And I want to remind you that your view of the second coming of Christ should mirror the first coming of Christ, the people that were joyfully expecting the first coming, waiting, longing, praying.

I could ask you the question, when's the last time you prayed, Oh Lord, please send your son back. Could have been one of the most heartwarming stories I've ever read. And it was about a place called the shepherd's home.

And the shepherd's home was for children that had disabilities and they had developmental learning problems. But they were taught that one day Jesus would come back and save them and heal all their disabilities, and that was the shepherd's house.

The story is recited this way. The director said that his biggest problem was dirty windows, because the disabled children would press their hands, noses and lips against the windows, always looking to see if today might be the day that Jesus would return for them and take them home where they would be healed of all their disabilities.

I mean, I know I'm not supposed to use emotion to try to manipulate you. But that's not my point. Longing, waiting, Jesus will come back. And we see, oh, I don't want to be like Zachariah. I want to take God at his word.

We're going to see next week, Mary, in fact, believed. As Zachariah said, I don't believe. No, essentially, Mary's going to believe. And you start seeing this path of these themes in early books, in early chapters of Luke.

I would like personally to have the same enthusiasm, enthusiasm, enthusiasm, enthusiastic, joyful expectation that Jesus is going to come back any time and mirror Gabriel's words. So I just want to read this and make sure we all realize that the Lord Jesus is going to come back and we can, with healthy, joyful anticipation, look forward to that great day.

2 Peter 3, 1. This is the second letter that I'm writing to you, beloved. And both of them, I'm stirring up your sincere mind of, sincere mind by way of reminder that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets, Old Testament, and commandment of the Lord and Savior through your prophets or your apostles.

New Testament, knowing first of all, here's what we need to know first of all. What's at the top of the list? Scoffers will come in the last days with their scoffing, following their own sinful desires.

And they'll say about the Lord's return, where's the promise of his coming ever since the fathers fell asleep? All things are continuing as they were from the beginning. Same old, same old. He's never coming back.

He's never coming back. He didn't come back yesterday. He didn't come back a thousand years ago. He's not coming back. That's what a scoffer does. He mocks. But verse five is insightful. Peter says, they deliberately.