WWUTT 2248 Announcing the Birth of John the Baptist (Luke 1:8-17)

An angel came to Jerusalem and appeared to a priest, and said his wife was going to be with child, and that child would be

John the Baptist, who would prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah. He still points us to Jesus.

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Here once again is Pastor Gabe. Thank you Becky. And our study of the gospel of Luke, we're picking up where we left off yesterday, with a priest named

Zechariah burning incense in the temple, when an angel of the Lord appeared to him and said that his wife would be with child, and that child would be

John the Baptist. I'm going to pick up reading in verse 8, we'll go through verse 17. Hear the word of the

Lord. Now, while he was serving as priest before God, when his division was on duty, 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.

And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing on the right side of the altar of incense, and 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, 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. And there you go. There is the announcement from the angel

Gabriel concerning the birth of John the Baptist. Gabriel will reveal his own name here coming up in a couple of verses.

This is the same angel that had appeared to Daniel, and it had given Daniel the explanation of the vision that he had hundreds of years before.

We also know this is the same angel that a few months from now will appear to Mary and tell her that she is going to be pregnant with the

Savior of the world. In this section that we're looking at today, we have a narrative that kind of sets this up, sets the stage for the announcement that is coming.

And then the angel appears to Zechariah and says that his prayer has been answered and his wife will be with child.

And then the angel explains what that child will accomplish when he grows up and fulfills the mission that God has in store for him.

And all of this is setting the stage for the coming of the Messiah. He is preparing the way of the

Lord, fulfilling that which had been spoken about by the prophets. And indeed, an incredible event that is happening right here in Jerusalem at this time.

And even the people will be amazed when Zechariah emerges from this place burning incense and he can't speak.

They know that he's seen a vision. And we'll get to that section later next week. So coming back to verse eight, now while he was serving as priest before God, when his division was on duty.

So a recap from yesterday, remember it was said that Zechariah was of the division of Abijah and it's in Chronicles where it talks about how

David had separated the priests into 24 divisions and each one of those divisions would fulfill the religious duties of a priest in the temple for one week, twice a year.

So that way all of the duties doesn't fall on one order or on one priest. It would be divided among them equally.

And so this is at a time when the order of Abijah is serving the priestly duties in the temple.

They cast lots and in case you don't know, that's it's kind of like rolling dice where you take a stone tablet and each little tiny tablet would represent a different priest and they would put it in a jar or a basin of some kind, shake it up, toss it out.

The first lot that comes out is the priest that has been chosen. And all of this is by the sovereign hand of God, that it would be

Zechariah and that the angel would appear to him as he is burning incense. Proverbs 16 .33

says the lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the Lord.

And it was by God's hand that Zechariah would be chosen so that this announcement would come to him at this time.

So he's serving as a priest before God when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood.

He was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. Now it's called the temple of the

Lord, commonly referred to at this time as the temple of Herod because this was the temple that Herod built.

And this was a massive structure. It's it's really quite a shame that Herod's temple was not regarded as one of the wonders of the ancient world because it was indeed a a massive building.

Remember that when we read about the Olivet discourse after Jesus had issued the seven woes to the

Pharisees in Matthew chapter 23, Jesus and the disciples are leaving Jerusalem and they're amazed at the temple structures and they're all looking at the buildings and pointing them out and just how magnificent these constructions are.

And Jesus says to them, you see all of these. I tell you, not one of these stones will be left upon another.

And Jesus was referring to the destruction of the temple that would come a generation from now in the

Jewish Roman War in 80, 70, when the temple would be destroyed. So it was a huge structure.

The temple building itself, that building where there would be the holy place and the most holy place, and there would be that huge curtain that would separate the two.

That building itself was 20 stories tall. I mean, the whole temple structure was even bigger than what

Solomon had built. And this was Herod the Great's temple. The construction began in 20

BC, and it took about 10 years, took about a decade to finish it. So at the time when

Zechariah is in the temple burning incense, this temple has only been around for a few years.

It's not very old at all. I don't know what a new temple smell would be like. But but that's probably what would have been in the air, the smell of the incense that just accented that new temple smell that everybody was still enjoying with the construction of the

Lord's house still called the Lord's temple, of course, here in Luke chapter one. But it was the temple that Herod built.

Now, the place where incense was burned was not in the most in the most holy place.

Even at this time, a priest would enter into the most holy place only once a year.

And that was on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, to give sacrifice for the people of Israel.

Now, the way that the Day of Atonement is detailed in the law, the sacrifice, the blood would be sprinkled on the top of the

Ark of the Covenant. But the Ark of the Covenant is not in the temple at this time. Josephus, the

Jewish historian, when he was writing about Herod's temple, he said that the most holy place was empty.

There was no Ark of the Covenant inside. There are different scholars that will say different things about that.

There's a minority view out there that will claim that the Ark of the Covenant was there. But really, the Ark of the

Covenant had been destroyed after the Babylonian exile. God's presence was no longer with the

Ark, so it was not a curse upon the Babylonians for them to take it and melt it down and do whatever they wanted to do with it.

So the Ark had been seized. It didn't exist anymore. The Ark of the Covenant did not come into the second temple, and it did not exist in Herod's temple.

There would have been a place, there was kind of like an indentation in the stone where the

Ark of the Covenant would have been expected to be, and it would have been over that indentation in the rock.

That's where the priest would have sprinkled the blood on Yom Kippur. But again, that's in the most holy place, and that's not where Zechariah is.

Zechariah is on the outside of the curtain in the holy place. It's still a very sacred place.

Not just anybody could walk in there, but the one who was chosen by Lot to go in and burn incense.

And that's what Zechariah is doing. The altar of incense was in the center. It would have been in the middle, just like we might picture the

Ark of the Covenant as being in the center of the most holy place. The altar of incense was in the middle, a little bit to the back, close to the curtain, so that when incense is burned on the altar of incense, it not only fills the holy place, but the smoke of the incense would enter into the most holy place and make that a fragrant dwelling as well.

So Zechariah is walking up to the altar of incense. He's probably right there burning the incense.

When an angel appears right next to him, and that would have been surely terrifying because no one else is supposed to be in that room but Zechariah.

And there's another man there. There's the angel, Gabriel, standing there talking to him.

And the scripture does explain to us that he was afraid. Now, in verse 10, it says that the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense.

We don't really know how many people this would have been. It was more than just the other priests. There were other people that came into the temple at the hour of incense to lift up prayers to God.

So as the incense is being burned and the fragrant offering is lifting up into the air, the people would pray, hoping that their prayers are going up with the incense and the

Lord would listen to their prayers. So they're outside praying at the hour of incense, and they're expecting that Zechariah is going to come out because you'll notice if you remember the narrative from yesterday that Zechariah takes his time and when he doesn't come out right away, they begin to become concerned.

What has happened to Zechariah? He's having a conversation with an angel in there. So the people are praying outside and verse 12,

Zechariah was troubled when he saw him or I'm sorry, I skipped verse 11. And there appeared to him an angel of the

Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. You just got to love Luke's detail. He's so detailed about this.

He's even going to tell you on what side of the altar that the angel appeared.

Now, I still have questions, though, on the right side of the altar. Was that on the right side as the angel was facing

Zechariah? Which would have been to Zechariah's left, or was it

Zechariah's right? That's the right side of the altar. And that's probably the answer. It was to Zechariah's right.

And that's where the angel appeared. So the angel startles

Zechariah, verse 12, he was troubled when he saw him and fear fell upon him.

That is the kind of response that we see to angelic appearances throughout the

Bible. They're terrifying figures. And even if you were just talking about a man, even if this was not a bright, shining light or a terrifying appearance, whatever an angel would have looked like, even if you're just talking about a man appearing right there next to Zechariah, that still would have been quite startling because no one else is supposed to be in here.

Zechariah is going last time I checked, I was the only one in here. And all of a sudden there's an angel right here next to me. So he is filled with fear.

But I think there's another aspect to the reason why angels are so terrifying whenever they appear.

It's because they're holy. And we are not. And so angels can be pretty startling whenever they appear to to somebody because of these holy angelic beings that dwell in the presence of God.

That's exactly what Gabriel says about himself in verse 19. I am Gabriel.

I stand in the presence of God, someone who has been in God's company because the angel is holy enough to be there in God's presence that he may appear before men.

That would be terrifying to us as well because angels are holy, angelic beings, holy messengers when we are not holy.

And as Isaiah said, not only are we of unclean lips, but we dwell among people with unclean lips, whereas this angel dwells in the very presence of God.

So something that holy can be that terrifying to us. And that's another reason why angels tend to be so startling.

And and the people who see them are filled with fear. But the angel says to Zechariah, now we have the actual address of the angel who's going to tell

Zechariah that his prayer has been answered. 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. So the angel is not just showing up to announce the pregnancy of Elizabeth with John the

Baptist. He's telling him that your prayer has been answered. Zechariah and Elizabeth would have been praying for a child.

And the angel is saying the Lord has heard your prayer. And here is the son that God has for you and says this is the name that you're going to give him, you're going to give him the name

John. Now, there's some controversy about that name, even among his family. We'll see that later when we get to the end of chapter one.

The angel goes on to say in verse 14, 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.

So the birth of John the Baptist is going to be it's going to be a great thing, not just for Zechariah and Elizabeth, but even for a lot of people will rejoice at the birth of this child and the child will be filled with the

Holy Spirit, not just in his ministry, but even from the womb, he will be filled with the

Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb. Now, we'll see that later on in chapter one, when

Mary comes to visit Elizabeth, Mary is pregnant with the Savior. Elizabeth is six months pregnant with John the

Baptist. And as Mary approaches Elizabeth, John the Baptist leaps in Elizabeth's womb because he knows the presence that he is in.

John the Baptist in the womb, filled with the Holy Spirit, knows that he is in the presence of the mother of the

Savior and so therefore leaps with joy at knowing that his Savior, his cousin, but also his

Savior is nearby. So an amazing thing that Luke details for us in this particular narrative.

So the angel says, you will have joy and gladness. John the Baptist is not going to be a disappointment to his parents.

All kinds of weird things are said about John the Baptist in various different narratives and television and movie depictions and things like that.

The Chosen, which I hate, I've said this many, many times, but The Chosen even had a kind of a running joke where they called him

John the Weird or something like that. John the Crazy, I can't remember. Wasn't John the Baptist.

It was just something about him being Crazy John, Weird John or whatever it was. That was not the way that people regarded him.

Yes, he was somewhat strange. How do you live out here in the wilderness like this? But that was part of the mystique.

That was what drew people to him. We've got a man out here prophesying in the desert, and he's talking about the

Messiah coming. This is something we ought to be paying attention to. So John the Baptist was not somebody that people ignored.

The scripture tells us that he was baptizing all of Judea who were coming out to him.

So he would fill many people with joy and gladness. He would be a his parents would be proud of him.

Zechariah and Elizabeth were not embarrassed by this child. He brought joy and gladness to them, and many would rejoice at his birth, for he would be great before the

Lord. And Jesus even says to his disciples of all who have been born of woman, there is no one greater than John the

Baptist. For his entire life, he had devoted to the service and the ministry of the

Lord. We get more details about his ministry coming up in the introduction to Luke, which are these first three chapters that we are reading through.

So the angel continues in verse 16, and then we'll talk about what it is that John will accomplish in this ministry that God has for him to do.

And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord, their

God, the things that John will proclaim out in the wilderness will cut people to the heart.

And there are people from all different kinds of walks of life who are going to be convicted of sin and will want to be baptized by John.

They'll want to be cleansed of their sins to be prepared for the coming of the Lord who is on his way.

The Messiah is about to arrive, and John is preparing the people for his coming.

So they're going to come to John. Many of the children of Israel will turn to the

Lord, their God, because of the things that John the Baptist will preach. Verse 17, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah.

He, small H, will go before him, capital H, referring to Jesus in the spirit and power of Elijah.

Now, as we've seen previously in Matthew and in Mark, Jesus explaining to his disciples that John is the fulfillment of the prophecy that was made in Malachi concerning Elijah, who would arrive as a forerunner to the

Messiah. Malachi 4, 5, So that very statement that's made there in Malachi 4, 6, is what the angel says to Zechariah here.

So going on in verse 17, he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children.

Yep, just like Malachi 4. And the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, convicting the hearts of the people, those who have disobeyed, those who have gone their own way.

Instead of obeying the law, they will turn to the wisdom of the just, those who have spoken wisely concerning the law and commands of God.

And they will listen to the instruction of the Lord, their hearts being prepared by the one who would come in advance of the

Christ to make ready for the Lord a people prepared. And that was the purpose of John's baptism, that the people would be cleansed so that they would be a prepared people for the arrival of the

Messiah. This is the announcement that the angel makes concerning the birth of John the

Baptist to his father, Zechariah. Now, we're going to pick up there on Monday.

We'll come back to this section of Luke chapter one with Zechariah's response to the angel.

The angel then saying to Zechariah, well, because you didn't believe my words, you're going to be mute until the birth of John.

And then we have the word of Elizabeth rejoicing in God because she indeed was given child.

That is the that's the section that we will be studying on Monday, Luke one, verses 18 to 25.

Tomorrow we come back to our study in Hosea. But here, as we see, as I had mentioned once again, this was all in the providence of God that he would be working out in his good time exactly when these things were going to take place for the arrival of the

Messiah who would come, who would live a perfect life, who would die on the cross for our sins, who would rise again from the dead for our justification, as said in Romans 4, 25, so that all who believe in him will not perish under the judgment of God.

That was said in Malachi 4, 6, the people will be turned back to the way of God, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.

Well, the Lord has had mercy on the people and by his grace, he has sent the Savior so that all who believe in him will not perish under the judgment of God that will still come.

But in Christ, we have everlasting life. Let's finish there with prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we have read, and I pray that this illuminates to us the gospel all the more, how

God was ordaining and setting all of these pieces in their particular time and order for the arrival of the son who would come and take away the sin of the world.

May we continue to marvel at the gospel and share the gospel message with others, for it is only by faith in Jesus that a person can be forgiven their sins and have eternal life.