Luke 1:57-80
Please turn in your copy of the
word of God to Luke’s gospel. Our reading today is Luke’s gospel
chapter one, verses 57 through 80. This is the story of the
birth of John the baptizer. This is also the story of Zachariah
who had been, was stricken mute when Gabriel announced to him
that he would have a son in his old age. And we will see what
Zachariah says when he’s unable to speak. He gives what is commonly,
some say the second song of the New Testament, or Luke’s gospel,
I say it’s the third, and it’s very often called the Benedictus.
It’s the very song we sang as our opening hymn this day. So
let us give our attention to God’s holy and inspired word,
Luke’s gospel, the first chapter, beginning at verse 57. Now the
time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. And her neighbors and relatives
heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they
rejoiced with her. And on the eighth day, they came
to circumcise the child, and they would have called him Zechariah
after his father. But his mother answered, No,
he shall be called John. And they said to her, None of
your relatives is called by this name. And they made signs to
his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. And
he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, his name is John. And they all wondered. And immediately
his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed and he spoke, blessing
God. And fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked
about through all the hill country of Judea. And all who heard them
laid them up in their hearts saying, what then will this child
be? for the hand of the Lord was
on him. And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit.
And he prophesied saying, blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel.
For he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up
a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant, David,
as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that
we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who
hate us to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember
his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham,
to grant us that we being delivered from the hand of our enemies
might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness
before him all our days. And you, child, will be called
the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord
to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his
people and the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender
mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on
high, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the
shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace. And the child grew and became
strong in spirit. And he was in the wilderness
until the day of his public appearance to Israel. Amen. This is God’s word. Pray with
me. Lord, we do ask that our eyes would see and that our ears
would hear and that our hearts would understand. And that like
the people in this glorious story, that we would leave this place
this day and go and talk about the wondrous gospel amongst the
region around us and that we would lay up these things in
our heart and treasure them for they are indeed the work of the
Lord. Lord, let it be so through Jesus we pray. Amen. What would you do for nine months
if you were unable to speak? What would you do for nine months
if you were unable to speak and possibly, possibly unable to
hear? We have to wonder if Zechariah
was unable to hear for the people did not ask him, what shall this
child’s name be? They had to gesture to him. What
would you do though for nine months? And I’m talking about
in the case of Zechariah, nine months of Unable to speak, and
this 2000 years ago, because I know some of you smarty pants
would say, well, I would text message. And some of you smarty
pants would say, I would email or do something digital. Okay,
now we’re gonna limit ourselves to Zechariah’s problem. What would you do though, for
nine months? Well, if you were Zechariah,
you would change your tune. If you were Zechariah, you would
have something to learn. Remember nine months back in
the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth, nine months back, the angel Gabriel
visited him when he was in the temple of the Lord, when he was
offering incense, when he was in the most holy place on the
most holy day. And the angel told him, you and
your old age will have a son. And Zechariah did not believe.
And so for his unbelief, God struck him mute. What would you do for nine months? What would you do for nine months
with your silence? What would you do for nine months
under the Lord’s chastisement for your unbelief or your lack
of faith? Well, my guess is you would do
a whole lot of thinking. You would do a whole lot of thinking
about your spiritual condition. And if you knew anything about
the Lord at all, you would say, oh, Lord, this this mute period
of my life is a is a chastisement for my unbelief. Teach me something.
Make it useful. Make me fruitful. Nine months of the Lord’s hand,
you would think that Zechariah, you would think that we would
learn our lessons. You would think that under the
Lord’s heavy hand of his fatherly care, that we would learn the
hard way. And maybe like Zechariah, we
would say, I will never again doubt the Lord and his promises. I will never again listen to
the word of God and say, nope, can’t be true. I will never again
hear the word and the promise of God and say, impossible. You know, the Lord uses hardships. to teach us. And no doubt he
used these nine months of silence to teach and to train Zachariah
in the ways of the Lord. We sing a song, how firm a foundation. When through fiery trials your
pathway shall lie, my grace all sufficient shall be your supply. The flame shall not hurt you,
I only design thy dross to consume and your gold to refine. You can imagine these were nine
long months for Zechariah. But we’re going to see that he
learns his lesson. We’re going to see that he changes
his tune. But let me stop there for a moment and encourage you,
if you are in the midst of a hardship and a trial, ask the Lord to
teach you many and mighty great things about him. For it’s often
in the darkness we can best see light. It’s often in the hardship
that God grabs our attention and says, dear child, this is
what I’m trying to teach you. And we’ll see that Zachariah
has learned something from this hardship. It’s been nine long
months for Zachariah, but some of you, particularly our ladies
are thinking it’s been nine long months for Elizabeth. She’s no
spring chicken, as we may say. This is, remember we say a geriatric
pregnancy. She’s no doubt over the age of
35, according to our American standards, but this is an older
woman who has carried a child for nine months. And the passage
simply says, I love how it opens. Now the time came. for Elizabeth
to give birth. And she bore a son. Don’t you
have in your mind and in your heart that this is the exact
time that God, the creator of the universe, the founder of
human history has said, John will be born. You know, we love to say that
a baby takes nine months. It takes 40 weeks. And we live
in a day and time where if you’re a busy woman with child, you
can schedule your birth. You can say, I’m going in on
this and such a day to be induced. And we all know the Lord has
a sense of humor. We all know that in the course of time, babies
come when babies come. We see it on the news every day,
baby delivered on the freeway. We hear of some heroic EMS workers
who delivered a child or a father even who delivered their child
on the way to the hospital. The time came for Elizabeth to
give birth and she bore a son. And in that very moment, a particular
moment in time, God’s hand in salvation history, God’s hand
in redemptive history was at work, bringing a savior into
this world. Now remember it had been 4,000
years since Abraham had been promised. that out of you, out
of your loins, out of your own body will come a nation. It had
been 400 years since the last prophet of Israel, Malachi, had
spoken to the people of God. And now the time came and a son
was born to Elizabeth as the angel Gabriel had foretold and
God had promised. And now the 400 years of silence
was over, a new prophet, A new prophet, John the baptizer, was
born. And the passage says that she
bore a son and the Lord had shown her great mercy. She who was
barren, she who was empty, she who is childless, was now giving
birth to the great child who would herald or prepare the way
for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s been a long nine
months for Zechariah. It’s been a long nine months
for Elizabeth. Now, as it happens, the baby
is born and all the neighbors come and wouldn’t you know it
that a naming committee springs up. I mean, what’s the thing
we want to know when somebody is going to have a baby? Is it
a boy or is it a girl? And of course, back in this time,
they wouldn’t know. But since Gabriel told him, that’s
the only way they would know it was a boy. But you know, this
little naming committee springs up and They want to name the
baby. The father still can’t speak.
And maybe tradition was that you always named your first born
boy after the father. And so very obviously his name
would be Zechariah. But the Lord had told them differently,
his name will be John, which means Yahweh has shown favor. And in the birth of John the
baptizer, we’re going to see that God is showing favor to
his people, Israel. But this naming committee, as
it were, they pop up, they rejoice, and they show up to the circumcision
on the eighth day. His name’s gonna be Zechariah. The mama says no, and the father
is asked. And he jots it on a piece of
paper, still can’t speak. And at that very moment, the
Lord opens his mouth. He loosens his tongue. And what
is the first thing that he does? He gives praise to almighty God. Now I want you to back up for
just a moment in this wonderful story. And I want you to think
with me for a moment, if you will. Notice who’s really in
the background. It’s Elizabeth. And some of you
are probably thinking as I thought when I read through this passage
and studied it this week, she’s the one doing all the work. She’s
the one bringing this child into the world. She’s the one that
had sleepless nights and pregnancy pains and cravings and morning
sickness. She’s the one that went through
everything. But you know, this passage really focuses on Zechariah,
but it also focuses on their neighbors and their relatives. And you’ll notice as you read
through this passage, they did several significant things. They
rejoiced at the birth of this child. They wondered at the birth
of this child. They feared at the birth of this
child. They talked about the birth of
this child. What will this child be? And then they laid up, they
laid up in their hearts. the birth of this child. And
it brings this question to our mind, when we see God at work
in this world, when we see the Lord at work in the life of our
church and the lives of our families, when we see the Lord at work
in the lives of people we know and love, what is our response? Do we rejoice? Do we give thanks? Do we see the hand of God at
work in this world? And do we give great thanksgiving
that the kingdom of God is at hand and that when we have prayed
thy kingdom come, the Lord is answering our prayers? What is
our response to God when we see him at work in this world? Well,
I think these friends and these neighbors. And they’re rejoicing
in their wonder and their fear, and they’re talking about this
and they’re laying it up in their hearts. are doing something that
we could take example in. You know, recently Sinclair Ferguson
has been saying in various places, I’ve heard it through Ligonier,
I heard it through a pastor’s conference I attended and maybe
in another place or two, he has said this, and it’s a very interesting
observation. He says, what your people do
when church is over is very telling of how much they’re aware of
what God has done. He said, for most of us, when
church is over, we get up and we run to the next thing. And
we understand there’s lunch. We understand there’s pills to
take. We understand there’s things
we have to do, but listen to what he has to say and take it
to heart in the right sense. If you have to get up and leave,
don’t feel bad today because of what I’m about to say, but
I think it’s very insightful. He says that when church is over,
we should sit in stunned silence because we have been in the presence
of God Almighty. and that he has met with us,
his people, and that he has saved us in Jesus and that he through
the voice of the minister has spoken to us. And yet we get
up and we go home and watch the NFL. We go home and do the next
thing, maybe cut the grass, whatever it is. And maybe within a 15
minute time period, we’ve forgotten that we have met with the Lord
of the universe. Not so these people. Do you notice the chitter
chatter that you can kind of see and feel and experience?
The hill country of Judea was abuzz with the fact that God
was at work in this world. And friends, there’s something
about the afterglow after church where we should say, we have
met with the Lord. We have seen his strong right
hand. We have seen his mighty arm.
We have seen that God loves his people and we have been in his
presence. Then there’s Zechariah’s response. And don’t you imagine his response
is rather stunning. For nine months, he has been
unable to speak. Now, I know on some days we wish
we could press the mute button, right? Where’s the off button
on this person in our life? But nine months is a little bit
too long, wouldn’t you think? His mouth has been shut in unbelief,
and as soon as it is opened, he is filled with the Holy Spirit,
and he speaks. In fact, it says he prophesies.
He speaks for God, and he gives what is called in the history
of the church the benedictus, bene, good, word, Diction, sort
of like the benediction at the end of the service, the Lord
bless you and keep you. He gives a good word. He gives a prophecy
and he gives this prophecy and it’s a twofold one. And to put
it simply, the first five or six verses, verses 68 through
75, he says, God has been good to Israel and tells how. And
then the second part of his Benedictus versus 76 through 80, he says,
my son is going to be a spectacular kid. That’s what he says. God has been good to Israel.
And then my kid is going to be an amazing one. Notice in verses
68 through 75, in Zechariah’s response, he says, God is a covenant. making God. And God is a covenant
fulfilling God. And he uses some very interesting
words. He’s going to visit his people.
He’s going to redeem his people. He’s going to raise up a horn
for the people of God’s salvation. He’s going to save and deliver
them so that what? His people might fear him all
the days of their lives. And so the first part of Zechariah’s
praise when he opens his mouth is God has kept his promises
of old. He promised them all the way
back in Abraham’s time. And here some close to 3000 years
later, here we see God keeping his promises. He’s gonna visit,
he’s gonna redeem, he’s gonna save, he’s gonna give a deliverer. And then you get to the second
part of his benedictus, his song, and he says, and my boy is gonna
be special. Now you ride around the community
and you see my kid as an honor student at thus and such school,
my kid, maybe you see one of the funny ones, my kid can beat
up your honor student. You see those kinds of things?
He’s got bragging rights. So what your kid makes straight
A’s. So what your kid can win a Lego contest or a chess tournament.
I mean, that’s all great. But your kids know John the baptizer. Your kid is not going to go into
all of Israel and say to the people, repent for the king is
coming. Open wide your hearts and let
him in. For you see, the ministry of
John the baptizer is a special one. He will be one like Elijah,
one like the great prophet who will prepare the way of the Lord. We sing at Christmas, a little
Christmas tune. Open your hearts and prepare
him room. Let earth receive her king. That’s the message. That’s the
ministry of John, the baptizer. It’s salvation through repentance
and forgiveness granted by almighty God. You see, John, the baptizer,
is going to be the prophet who connects the new covenant people
with the old covenant promises. He’s going to say, yes, God has
promised to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all of Israel.
And now in the coming of Jesus, the baby who will be born shortly
after me You come to faith in him and to rest in him alone
for your salvation. Oh, dear friends, do you see
the wonder of Zechariah when he sees and holds this little
child? He is aware that God is doing
something great. Let me simply ask you this. Are you aware that God is at
work in the world through another special child? And that’s through
his only son, the Lord Jesus. He alone can forgive you of your
sins. He alone can rescue you from your darkness. And our passage
even gives a hint of his future ministry. Verse 79. Verse 78,
it says, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the
sunrise shall visit us. That’s Jesus from on high. He will give light to those who
sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. And he will guide our
feet in to the way of peace. Jesus is going to come. And one
of the things he will say in his ministry is this. I am the way and the truth. and the life and no one comes
to the father except through me. Pray with me. Our Lord and
God, we thank you for this wonderful passage that teaches us about
ourselves. We need to be quiet. We need
to listen and we need to see what you are doing at work in
this world. Lord, if we’re too busy, we’ll
forget who Jesus is. We’ll forget to worship him.
We’ll forget to rest in him. We’ll forget to receive him by
faith. And so help us in this busy time. Help us in this world that is
so full of many other options to see Jesus and to see him so
clearly as the one who alone can save us from our sins. The
day spring from on high. The one who has been sent by
you, our merciful father, help us to see it. Help us to speak
of it and help us to lay it up in our hearts, even for the rest
of our lives. This we ask and pray in Jesus
name. Amen.