The Church of Eleven22 - Lent Devo Episode 1: The Miracle of Zechariah

Episode Date: March 2, 2020

Luke 1

What is it? Some of the miracles of Jesus has all your. The Church of 1122 is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Welcome to our Lent podcast. Hey, church. Welcome to the Lent Podcast Week 1. This is Pastor Joby here. And I am excited that you are going to be joining me and several others on this journey towards resurrection Sunday.

Lent is just a time in our lives where we turn. down the noise of this world by prayer and fasting and Bible study so that we can prepare ourselves for resurrection Sunday. And I hope that you will be praying and I hope that you will be fasting. And this podcast will be our attempt to help you with the Bible study portion. Today we're going to be in Luke chapter one, beginning in verse five. The Bible says, in the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zachariah of the division of Abidja. 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 statues of the Lord, but they

had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years. Now, one thing just to point out is that oftentimes we think that following Jesus can equal a pain-free life. And in fact, Some churches may even teach that, but as we see here and all throughout scriptures, that's just not so. In fact, the opposite is true. Jesus says, if you follow after him, there will be trouble. And Lent is a time to remind us of what it means to be a follower of Jesus, that Jesus suffered on our behalf. And a part of what Lent is and a part of what fasting is, it's causing our flesh to suffer. to be reminded that Jesus suffered on our behalf.

And be reminded that God is faithful. And that God's faithfulness to his children is not measured by our temporary circumstantial blessing, but it's demonstrated at the cross. Now back to the text, verse 8. Now while he was serving as a priest before God, when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by law to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. Now this is just his regular everyday job, and right in the midst of what would be ordinary for him. Verse 10. 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 Zachariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, do not be afraid, Zachariah, 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 with a spirit and power of Elijah and turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the

just to make ready for the Lord of people prepared. I mean, what a message. This is what Zachariah has been told. First of all, Zachariah, your prayers have been heard by God. Now, maybe at this point in his life, he was doubting that God would even be. hear his prayer. I'm sure that he had been praying for a child and particularly a son for years and years and years and just at the moment maybe when he had given up on God, God had not given up on him. And now he is assured that his prayers have been answered. Maybe some of you doubt that God is hearing your prayers. Maybe you have been praying over and over and over for the same thing that God would heal your marriage or God would heal your finances or God might bring home that prodigal son or prodigal daughter.

We'll know this. Not only does God hear our prayers through the blood of Jesus, but the Bible teaches us very specifically that if you are a believer, that Jesus is at the right hand of God the Father in this moment right now interceding for you. Also, Zachariah hears that not only did God hear his prayers, but he is going to answer his prayer. He says that you will bear a son, that your greatest desire has been granted, and not only that, you will have joy and gladness. And this isn't going to be any just regular son, though every son and

every daughter is a blessing from God. But Zachariah, your son has been planned for a long, long time. That your son, that you are to name John, is going to be a part of God's plan for the redemption of His people. You see, your son is the one that Malachi prophesied about in the very last page of the Old Testament. Between the old and the New Testament, one of the last things that we hear from God is this prophecy through the prophet Malachi that there will come one that will come in the spirit of Elijah and that will turn the hearts of sons to their fathers and the disobedient

to wisdom. and the angel is showing up to Zachariah, who would have known that prophecy very, very well and said, you are a part of God's plan for the redemption of his people. So what do you think, Zachariah? Are you elated? Are you gracious? Are you humbled? Are you overwhelmed with gladness and joy?

Now, before we go forward in the life of Zachariah, take just a minute and consider God's blessing in your life. In Christ, he has heard your prayer. If you are a believer, he has not just given you a son, but he has given you his son. You should have, we should have great joy and great gladness. So let me ask you, do you? Are you grateful? Well, if not, quite honestly, you're in good company.

Because even after hearing all of this good news, Zachariah was not filled with joy. In fact, Zachariah is filled with fear and doubt. Verse 18 says, and Zachariah said to the angel, how shall I know this? For I am old and my wife is advanced in years. Not thank you, but I doubt it. He's not saying with God anything is possible. He's saying with me, this must be impossible. And the angel Gabriel is not pleased.

And the angel answered him, I am Gavis. Gabriel, I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent. Notice that language. Gabriel is saying this was not my idea, Zachariah. This is straight from God. To question this message is to question God. He said, I was sent to speak to you and to 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 for. fulfilled in their time. You see, the opposite of faith is not doubt. It's fear. And we've already been told that Zachariah was filled with fear. You see, what fear causes us to do is to take our faith and put it in our circumstances. Zachariah was an old man. What faith causes us to do is take our trust and put it in the sovereign king of the universe. You see, in fact, in the very same chapter, when Mary is approached by an angel and told that she is pregnant with child, she asked her a similar question, she says, how can this be? For I am a virgin. And yet she is blessed. You see, apparently, God obviously can see behind the words, and he understands that her question is asked in

humility, and his question is asked in distrust or unbelief. In verse 21, and the people were waiting for Zachariah, 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, and he kept making signs to them and remained mute. And when his time of service ended, he went home. You see, God essentially puts Zachariah in timeout. The reality is this, you will be humbled. Either you choose it, or you won't have a choice. You will bow or you will bow. So my prayer for you is during this season of Lent is that you would choose to turn down the noise of your world. Because trust me, church, if you don't, God will get your attention.

He does not mind disrupting everything in order to focus all of your attention on him. Verse 24, and 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 people. And 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 Zachariah 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 to be called. And he asked for a writing tablet, and he wrote, his name is John. And they all wondered, and immediately his mouth was open and his tongue loosed, and he spoke blessings to God. You see, by fear, he questioned God, and he was silence.

And now, by faith, he trusts God, he obeys God, and his mouth is open. verse 65 and fear came on all the neighbors and all these things were talked about through all the hill country in judea and all who heard them laid them up in their heart saying what then will this child be for the hand of the lord was with him and his father zachariah was filled with the holy spirit and prophesied you see immediately zachariah uses his recovered voice not to be pessimistic anymore but to praise god and he said, blessed be the Lord 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 old, that we should be saved from our enemies 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 in 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 to guide our feet,

into the way of peace. Church of 1122, may God use this Lent season richly in your life. May you turn down the noise of this world through fasting, saying no to your flesh so that you can have ears to hear what God is saying to you. May you continuously say no to your doubts and fears and say yes to Jesus. And may you prepare your voice to give God praise as we prepare ourselves to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. Amen. Thanks for listening. Our prayer is that this podcast will help you deepen your relationship with Jesus. For more resources, go to c-o-e-22.com forward slash lent.