Hope Through an Answered Prayer
Luke 1: 5-25 (ESV):
5In 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.
6And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.
7But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years. 8Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty,
9according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.
10And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. 11And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side ofthe altar of incense. 12And 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.
14And 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.
16And 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 chil dren, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”
18And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”19And 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.
20And 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.”
21And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. 22And 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.
23And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home.
24After 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.”
During the Thirty Years' War in the 17th century, German pastor Paul Gerhardt and his family were forced to flee from their home. One night, as they stayed in a small village inn, homeless and afraid, his wife broke down and cried openly in despair. To comfort her, Gerhardt reminded her of the promises in the Bible about God's provision and keeping. Then, going out to the garden to be alone, he too broke down and wept. He felt he had come to his darkest hour.
Soon afterward, Gerhardt felt the burden was lifted from him and a renewed
sense of the Lord's presence. Taking his pen, he wrote a hymn that has brought comfort to many.
"Give to the winds thy fears; hope and be undismayed; God hears thy sighs and
counts thy tears; God shall lift up thy head. Through waves and clouds and
storms He gently clears the way. Wait thou His time, so shall the night soon end in joyous day."
More often, God uses our troubles and darkest times to reveal Himself to us and show us that He is our only source of strength. In times like these, we certainly receive a renewed sense of hope in life. How many of you are facing some tough trials nowadays? Just as Pastor Gerhardt's exhortation, we need to give our fears to the wind and receive a renewed sense of hope in the Lord.
As we enter the season of Christmas celebration this year, our sermon emphasis this month will re volve around this essential theme that Christ’s incarnation to earth carries this critical message of hope that we should not take for granted. Even during the first Christmas, Jesus was born in the midst of the darkest and most painful times in the history of Israel, politically and spiritually. Let me expand on this historical con text. As you know, hope is most appreciated in our lives when we are in our most difficult times. So, let me highlight these two very difficult conditions:
1. The Political Condition
When Jesus was born in Israel, the nation was ruled by the tyrant Herod the Great. Matthew referred to him as the “king of Judea.” But in reality, he was also the King over Galilee, Samaria, and the territory east of Jordan. So, practically, he ruled over all Israel. The problem was that he was not really a Jew. He was an Edomite, which means a descendant of Esau. For sure, this fact was unacceptable to most of the people in Israel, but they were forced to accept him because he was the appointed king of the Roman government. With the backing of the Roman government, as the king of the Jews, he tormented and oppressed all the people in Israel.
2. The Spiritual Condition
The spiritual condition of Israel as a nation when Jesus Christ was born was also very dark. Although they had priests who led them in their religion, their priests were big hypocrites and were very corrupt be cause they were controlled by King Herod. In fact, when Jesus started His public ministry, His harshest words were spoken against these religious leaders whom He often regarded as false teachers.
Added to this dark spiritual condition was that for the past 400 years, the Lord did not send the nation of Israel any prophet. The last prophet whom God used to speak to the nation was Malachi. After him, God remained silent and hid Himself from His people.
Again, when Jesus came to the world more than two thousand years ago, the people needed to hear a message of hope, a message that despite their very difficult conditions, they could look forward to a better future. No doubt, this message of hope is found in the person of Jesus. Amy Carmichael beautifully declares it when she wrote:
“Life in Christ is an endless hope, without Him a hopeless end.”
I believe this is the same message that people today need to hear. This is what we will declare throughout our Christmas celebrations here at church. To start our series, our text will cover the prophetic announcement regarding the birth of John the Baptist, the designated forerunner of the Messiah. Let’s exam ine this story by dividing our text into three major scenarios:
I THE REPROACH THAT BROUGHT THE ANSWERED PRAYER
To establish further that Christ’s coming to earth will bring a message of hope, we will specifically see
it more clearly in the lives of Elizabeth and Zechariah. As we begin to read verses 5 to 7, we are introduced to Zechariah and Elizabeth, who both came from the family of Moses’ brother Aaron. So, both came from the priestly line. By the way, both of their names are
really significant, especially to Israel as a nation and their lives as a couple. Zechariah's name literally means “remembered of Jehovah,” while Elizabeth’s name means “oath of God.” For Israel as a nation, the combination of their names would suggest that when He sent Jesus during the first Christmas, it was God remembering His covenant to His people to care for them and deliver them from their destruction through the Messiah He was to give them. And for Zechariah and Elizabeth, it was more personal- to care for them and remove their source of reproach. Here’s how it is es tablished in the text - In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the divi sion of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. 7But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.
If there is a struggle for any couple to face, the most painful would definitely be to long for a child and not having one. It is painful today and so much more during the time of Zechariah and Elizabeth. Do you know why? It is because barrenness during those days was perceived as a divine curse. In other words, since children were regarded as parents' inheritance from the Lord (Psalm 127:3), couples who don’t have any children can be misinterpreted as God withholding His riches from them because something is wrong with their lives.
Can you imagine how painful it was for Zechariah and Elizabeth to know that they were being re proached or looked down upon by their friends and loved ones because they didn’t have children? For so many people today, they know exactly the pain of being judged by ignorant people.
I call them ignorant people who judge couples like them because if you read verse 6, it says - And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. God carefully allowed Dr. Luke to write these words so there would be no misinterpretation. This verse testifies that the couple was righteous in God’s sight and blameless in their obedience to God before their community. Now, the words righteous and blameless never suggest that they were perfect. It simply means that no one would be able to accuse them openly of any immoral behavior because they did their best to obey God’s laws.
Now, this is really an important doctrine because this can also happen today in our context: if a be liever is sick or having troubles in life, others would quickly jump to the conclusion that God is simply pun ishing them for their hidden sins. Of course, there are times this is true, but not all the time. Zechariah and Elizabeth can remind us that righteous people can also go through difficult and dark times in life. Listen to King David affirm this truth:
Psalm 34:19 (ESV):
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
Listen, righteous people can suffer many afflictions, but God can deliver them from them. I trust you hear this message and realize that Jesus came into our lives to deliver us from our real troubles in life. He said:
John 16:33 (ESV):
33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
I hope and pray that this upcoming Christmas, we will discover afresh this hope that we have in Jesus Christ. But this won’t happen until we fully entrust our lives to Him. So, go rest in Him!
II THE REVELATION OF THE ANSWERED PRAYER
The second scenario is just amazing. While Zechariah was ministering in the tem
ple, inside the Holy place, burning incense, surprisingly, he was met by the angel Gabriel. Of course, Angel Gabriel is prominent in the Christmas story because of his role in bring ing a special message from God to Zechariah, Mary, and possibly also to Joseph.
Now, to establish the fact that this was not a random encounter, it is critical that we enumerate sev eral details of the event. First, Zechariah was fulfilling his duty as a priest in the temple, as noted in verse 8. Here’s a little background: First, Zechariah, as a priest, served during those times when there were approxi mately twenty thousand priests from the tribe of Aaron serving in the temple. These twenty thousand priests
were divided into 24 groups who rotated to fulfill temple duties. It has been said that when their group’s turn came to serve, they had to draw lots to determine who got to do temple duties for a week. Many priests don’t even get to serve inside the temple in their lifetime. So, when Zechariah’s name was picked out, it was a rare, perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime privilege. God met Him while he was serving and not when he was idle. Often, God reveals Himself more to His people while they are actively serving Him. So, don’t stop serving!
Second, Zechariah was burning incense in the Temple. This act of the priest was always used to signify that God’s people’s prayers were being offered to God.
Psalm 141:2 (ESV):
2 Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!
Indeed, the sweet fragrance of incense rising up to the throne of God allows us to get the impression that our prayers going to Him are never distasteful or offensive. Instead, they are pleasant to God, and He delights in them. The Bible declares it clearly:
Proverbs 15:8 (ESV):
8The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him.
In other Bible translations, the word “acceptable” is translated as “delight.” In other words, they bring pleasure to God. How many of you would like to make God happy? One way is when we trust Him with our prayers requests!
Third, when the angel Gabriel appeared to reveal to Zechariah that their prayer request had been heard, the answer came when both Zechariah and Elizabeth had already stopped praying to have a child. This is implied when verse 7 says, “both were advanced in years.” It is possible that when they were younger and could still bear a child, they diligently prayed for a child until they were past child-bearing age. But there is an important message here that I hope we won’t miss – for our prayer requests, there are no expiration dates. God, in His sovereignty, can still decide to answer our prayers, defying all the odds. Some things we pray to day are never set aside and forgotten by God. The issue is when He would answer. So, continue to wait on the Lord. Our resolve should be that of the prophet Micah when he said:
Micah 7:7 (ESV):
7 But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.
Do you trust God enough that you would wait on Him? He will never put to shame those who trust in Him!
When God finally answered their prayer, God gave them not just an ordinary boy; they were given John the Baptist. The Bible Knowledge Commentary from Dallas Theological Seminary enumerated the six special revelations of Gabriel to Zechariah concerning the life of their future son, John the Baptist:
A. He will be a joy and delight to you (v. 14).
B. He will be great in the sight of the Lord (v. 15a).
C. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink (v. 15b).
D. D.. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth (15c).
E. Many of the people of Israel would he bring back to... God (v. 16).
F. He will go on before the Lord . . . (v. 17) - John the Baptist was the Lord's forerunner, announcing His coming in the spirit and power of Elijah. Luke here referred to two passages in Malachi that speak of a messenger was to be sent to clear the way before the Lord (Mal. 3:1, 5-6),
With God answering their prayers, Zechariah and Elizabeth’s lives will never be the same after God gave them John the Baptist. God's answers to our prayers are always special. He always has our best inter ests in His heart!
III THE RESERVATION ABOUT THE ANSWERED PRAYER
Lastly, our text would end on a sad note because Zechariah would have reservations about trusting the words of God to him. Let’s read verses 18- 20: 18And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”19And 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. 20And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, be cause you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.”
For Zechariah, the message of Gabriel was hard for him to believe for the simple reason that at this point in life, at their age, he already had given up all hope of having children. So, he doubted God’s words (v18). Of course, it is not hard for us to understand why Zechariah struggled to believe God’s words. The rev elation seems impossible to happen. But God, in order to be God, must be capable of doing the impossible things. Jesus himself would clearly make the distinction:
Matthew 19:26 (ESV):
26 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Indeed, all things are possible for God to do, especially when He said He would do it. For Zechariah to doubt God’s promise was unacceptable, so he would lose his power to speak during the entire time of Eliza beth’s pregnancy until John was born. William MacDonald, a Bible commentator, appropriately wrote:
“Unbelief seals the lips, and they remain sealed until faith returns and bursts forth in praise and witness.”
This truth is very significant in our discussion of our hope. Our hope as believers are always attached to our faith in Jesus Christ. John Calvin affirms this truth by saying:
“The word hope I take for faith, and indeed hope is nothing else but the constancy of faith.”
My prayer for all of us is that God will continue to grow our faith in Him. The reality is that with our sinful hearts, it is easier to doubt than believe. In the Gospels, I love the story of the father of a demon possessed son who came to Jesus Christ, asking Him to have compassion on his son and cast out the demons from him. This was the culmination of their encounter:
Mark 9:23-24 (ESV):
23And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.”24 Immediately the fa ther of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
Notice, the confession of the father is something that you and I should not be afraid to say to the
Lord. And just as Jesus responded to the request of the father, I can guarantee you Jesus will never deny our confession of needing more faith.
There is no denying that Christmastime is truly special because of the message of
hope that Jesus Christ brought to our lives. He is our ultimate source of hope.
♦ In Him, we have the hope that even though sin and death still rule the world, Jesus con quered them, so we, too, can conquer them.
♦ In Him, we have the hope that even though we are in the depths of despair and life’s overwhelming challenges, Jesus can take our hands into a better future.
♦ In Him, we have the hope that even though we see so much brokenness around us because of sin, Jesus has already started His good work of restoring peace and prosperity in this world.
May God give us the grace to never lose sight of this hope we have in Jesus Christ, especially during this Christmas celebration. Surrender your life to Him and believe that a better future awaits you!