Stories from the Bible - Ep 15 The Beginning of the Dawn (Luke 1-2)

Episode Date: December 24, 2021

After King David's son Solomon, things went downhill for Israel. During those years prophets tell the people to keep waiting for God to keep the blessings promised to Abraham... They point the people to wait for God to rescue them from the oppression of sin and evil. They point the people to wait a time when God will forget their sins forever and will live permanently with them in a covenant of peace that can never be broken. And they remind the people to wait for the descendent of David who will secure these blessings for them, and become their King forever. The prophets didn’t know exactly how or when God would send this deliverer. But they were given many little hints and clues. Isaiah prophesied the deliverer would be born to a virgin. Now how was that possible? Another said he would be born in the tiny insignificant town of Bethlehem where King David had come from. The Jews waited and waited and hundred of years passed. During that time empires rose and fell, and eventually the Roman Empire came to be. As the Jews waited, and suffered under the oppression of foreign armies, expectations grew. They longed for God to send his King marching in and give the Romans the boot and restore Israel to prominence and glory. No-one had any idea what God actually had planned. The Scriptures quoted are from the NET Bible® http://netbible.com copyright ©1996, 2019 used with permission from Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved

Beauty, perfection, desire, deception, rebellion, judgment, hope. You're listening to Stories from the Bible. Bible stories told in order, using the words of the Bible, with introductions to give a recap and provide context. At the end of each story, you might want to pause and take a moment to reflect on what you noticed in the story. Things you liked or didn't like. Something the story showed you about God or about people. Don't worry if not everything makes sense. Keep listening to each episode and sit with the journey. I'm stoked to have you on the ride. All right, welcome to Story 15. In case you got a bit lost in the last episode, here is where things have got to.

In episode 13, we heard how God made a promise to King David. He promised that one of David's descendants would become king forever. His rule would never end. Now, shortly after David received that promise, we heard that David took another man's wife for himself and then had her husband murdered. Later on, when God sent the prophet to confront him, David realized his awful sin and cried to God for forgiveness. God forgave David, and David's sin didn't take away God's promise of a forever king. However, David faced many dire consequences of his actions. Well, David and Bathsheba had another son after the one who died, and he was called Solomon. Solomon became king after David. He was famous for his wisdom. It was he who built

a grand and beautiful temple to replace the fabric tabernacle which the Israelites had used in their desert wanderings and up to that point. Under Solomon's rule, Israel became very wealthy and enjoyed peace with all its neighbors. The blessings that God had made to Abraham so long ago appeared to all have come true. The descendants of Abraham were very numerous. They lived in a land of their own, and they were prosperous, which looked like blessing. But were they truly blessed? Remember, we've heard before that true blessing is to live with God and enjoy His eternal friendship. Living with God and enjoying His friendship means listening to Him and keeping His commands. But how did Solomon go at this? Well, Solomon began well. In fact, we can read in the

Bible much of the wisdom that he wrote about following God. Sadly, however, Solomon's political wisdom led him to marry many foreign princesses. We're told he actually had 700 wives. And we're also told that he was deeply attached to them. It wasn't just political. The result of this was that in his old age, Solomon started following the foreign gods of his wives by doing things like sacrificing and burning incense to them. This was in direct disobedience to God's command to trust only in him. As a result, God tells Solomon that he will split the kingdom of Israel into two kingdoms, a northern and a southern. And this split happens in the lifetime of Solomon's son. And from then on, the nation of Israel has two kings.

Do the kings lead the people in trusting the one true God? Well, occasionally. However, the majority of the kings who come after Solomon also follow in his worship of foreign idols. So God sends prophet after prophet to speak to the kings and the people, to warn them of the consequences of continuing to ignore him. But their rejection of God continues for the next 400 years. Finally, because of their persistent rejection of him, God uses foreign armies to remove the Israelites from the land which he gave them. The Israelites are taken captive

to live in the lands of Assyria and Babylon. This time is called the exile. It lasts for 70 years, and then a small remnant from the Israelite tribe of Judah is allowed by the king of Persia to return to the land. That's when they become known as the Jews, because they were from the tribe of Judah, I suppose. As we heard in episode 14, during that time prophets continue to speak God's words to the people. The prophets tell the people to keep waiting for God to keep the blessings promised to Abraham. They point the people to wait for God to rescue them from the oppression of sin and evil. They point the people to wait for a time when God will forget their sins forever

and will live permanently with them in a covenant of peace that can never be broken. And they remind the people to wait for the descendant of David who will secure these blessings for them and become their king forever. The prophets didn't know exactly how or when God would send this deliverer, but they were given many little hints and clues. Isaiah prophesied the deliverer would be born to a virgin. How was that possible? Another said he would be born in the tiny, insignificant town of Bethlehem,

where King David had come from. The Jews waited and waited, and hundreds of years passed. During that time, empires rose and fell, and eventually the Roman Empire came to be. As the Jews waited and suffered under the oppression of foreign armies, expectations grew. They longed for God to send his king marching in and give the Romans the boot and restore Israel to prominence and glory. No one had any idea what God actually had planned. The story starts here. During the reign of Herod, king of Judea, there lived a priest named Zechariah, and he had a wife named Elizabeth, who was a descendant of Aaron.

They were both righteous in the sight of God, following all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly. But they did not have a child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both very old. Now, while Zechariah was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the holy place of the Lord and burn incense. Now, the whole crowd of people were praying outside the hour of the incense offering. An angel of the Lord, standing on the right side of the altar of incense, appeared to him. And Zechariah, visibly shaken when he saw the angel, was seized with fear.

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. You will name him John. Joy and gladness will come to you, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before his birth. He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go as a forerunner before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared for him. Zechariah said to the angel,

The angel answered him, I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will be silent, unable to speak until the day these things take place. Now the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they began to wonder why he was delayed in the holy place. When he came out, he was not able to speak to them. They realised that he had seen a vision in the holy place because he was making signs to them and remained unable to speak. When his time of service was over, he went to his home.

After some time, his wife Elizabeth became pregnant, and for five months she kept herself in seclusion. She said, This is what the Lord has done for me at the time when he has been gracious to me, to take away my disgrace among the people. In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, a descendant of David,

and the virgin's name was Mary. The angel came to her and said, Greetings, favored one, the Lord is with you. But she was greatly troubled by his words and began to wonder about the meaning of this greeting. So the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Listen, you will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.

He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will never end. Mary said to the angel, How will this be, since I have not been intimate with a man? The angel replied, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be holy. He will be called the Son of God. And look, your relative Elizabeth has also become pregnant with a son in her old age. Although she was called barren, she is now in her sixth month, for nothing will be impossible with

God. So Mary said, Yes, I am a servant of the Lord. Let this happen to me according to your word. Then the angel departed from her. In those days Mary got up and went hurriedly into the hill country, to a town of Judah, and entered Zechariah's house and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She exclaimed with a loud voice, Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child in your womb. And who am I that the mother of my Lord should come and visit me?

For the instant the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that what was spoken to her by the Lord would be fulfilled. And Mary said, My soul exalts in the Lord, and my spirit has begun to rejoice in God my Saviour, because he has looked upon the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, because he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. From generation to generation, he is merciful to those who fear him. He has demonstrated power with his arm. He has scattered those whose pride wells up from the sheer arrogance of their hearts. He has brought down the mighty from their thrones

and has lifted up those of lowly position. He has filled the hungry with good things and has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering his mercy as he promised to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever. So Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months and then returned to her home. Now the time came for Elizabeth to have her baby and she gave birth to a son. Her neighbours and

relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. On the eighth day, when they came to circumcise the child, and they wanted to name him Zechariah after his father, but his mother replied, No, he must be named John. They said to her, But none of your relatives bears this name. So they made signs to the baby's father, inquiring what he wanted to name his son. He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, His name is John.

And they were all amazed. Immediately, Zechariah's mouth was opened and his tongue released, and he spoke, Blessing God. All their neighbours were filled with fear, and throughout the entire hill country of Judea, all these things were talked about. All who heard these things kept them in their hearts, saying, What then will this child be? For the Lord's hand was indeed with him. Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, because he has come to help and he has redeemed his people.

For he has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from long ago, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. He has done this to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham. This oath grants that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies, may serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him for as long as we live. 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 his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins. Because of our God's tender mercy, the dawn will break upon us from on high,

to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. And the child kept growing and becoming strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day he was revealed to Israel. Now in those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus to register all the empire for taxes. This was the first registration, taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone went to his own town to be registered. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family line of David.

He went to be registered with Mary, who was promised in marriage to him, and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn. Now there were shepherds nearby living out in the field, keeping guard over their flock at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were absolutely terrified. But the angel said to them, that brings great joy to all the people. Today, your Saviour is born in the city of David.

He is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger. Suddenly, a vast heavenly army appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among people with whom he is pleased. When the angels left them and went back to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place,

that the Lord has made known to us. So they hurried off and located Mary and Joseph and found the baby lying in a manger. When they saw him, they related what they had been told about this child, and all who heard it were astonished at what the shepherds said. But Mary treasured up all these words, pondering in her heart what they might mean. So the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. Everything was just as they had been told. At the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was named Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

The story ends here. Thank you for joining us for today's story. Merry Christmas. You might like to take a moment to pause and think about what you noticed. Things you liked. Things you didn't like. Something the story showed you about God. Perhaps you might have thoughts about how this story fits into the bigger narrative of the Bible. Well, finally, the hero of our story has arrived. Not dressed in

shining armour though. I'm looking forward to seeing what he does next. You've been listening to Stories from the Bible. I'm Jen, and I look forward to sharing more stories with you.