There are time periods in human history when the darkness seems to be stronger than the light—when it seems that everyone has strayed from faith, and those who still believe are few and far between.  Some might argue that we are living in such a time today.

          It was, for the nation of Israel, such a time.  Once, they had been a sovereign nation.  But they had been weakened by conquerors, first from the East, and now from the West.  The nation of Israel was occupied by the Roman Empire.

          Not only were they politically weak, but they were also spiritually weak.  Those who were still faithful to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were few in number.  But there was a man named Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth who were among the remnant of the faithful.

          Zechariah and Elizabeth were childless.  The hope of an heir had died in them long ago, but in spite of being childless, in spite of living in a time when many had strayed from their faith, they remained faithful to God.  They held on to the hope of their faith in God. 

          When the time came for God to break into human history by sending his Son as a tiny baby, he invited Zechariah and Elizabeth to be part of the story.  The path of Jesus would be paved by a man who would be known as John the Baptist; the voice crying in the wilderness.  Now, the birth of Jesus would be preceded by the birth of John the Baptist.

          During the past year, many of my sermons have been from the book of Luke.  Today, we go back to the beginning of the book.  Luke is the gospel that includes most of the beloved stories surrounding the birth of Jesus, and for the next few weeks as we approach Christmas, we will enjoy these stories.

          But Luke is not just telling lovely fables for the purpose of entertaining us a Christmas time.  He is giving us a careful account of this extraordinary, impossible, amazing, event that changed the course of human history.  So he begins his book with a brief introduction:

Luke 1:

 ¹Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, ²just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. ³Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, ⁴so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

          Luke knew that after the resurrection of Jesus in the early years of the church, there were some who believed and others who didn’t.  He also knew that some of the stories told and written about Jesus were reliable, and others were not.  So he set about to write a careful, factual account of the life of Jesus. 

          The story of the birth of Jesus begins with the story of the birth of John the Baptist.  And that story begins with John’s parents, Zechariah, the priest, and his wife, Elizabeth.

 ⁵In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. ⁶Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly. ⁷But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well along in years.

 ⁸Once when Zechariah's division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, ⁹he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. ¹⁰And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.

          It will help us to have just a little bit of background on Zechariah’s priestly job.  At that time in history, there were some 18,000 priests in Israel—far more than were needed.  A man became a priest by virtue of being born a descendent of Levi.  They were called Levites.  Zechariah was part of the order of Abijah, and his division only served at the temple for a one-week period twice a year.  Any one priest would only officiate at the sacrifice once in his life, and for many, that opportunity never came at all.  It was a high honor, and Zechariah, now an old man, finally was chosen.

          He would go into the temple alone, where only the priest was allowed, and place the incense on the altar.  It was probably the highlight of Zechariah’s life to have this holy honor to serve God as the priest in the temple that day.  But Zechariah was certainly not prepared for what happened when he went into the temple. Here’s what happened.

 ¹¹Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. ¹²When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. ¹³But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. ¹⁴He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, ¹⁵for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth.¹⁶Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. ¹⁷And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

 ¹⁸Zechariah asked the angel, "How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years."

 ¹⁹The angel answered, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. ²⁰And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time."

          This encounter that Zechariah has with Gabriel is interesting.  To begin with, we don’t know what Gabriel looks like, but we know one thing for sure:  every time an angel appears to someone in the Bible, they are scared to death.  One reason we know this is that the first thing the angel always says to them is not to be afraid.

          Zechariah is not a young man, and he is all alone in the temple when Gabriel appears to him, so it’s not surprising that Zechariah is terrified.

          Then, the message Gabriel brings is pretty crazy.  Zechariah and Elizabeth are old and barren.  To be barren was extremely painful in that day, but after many years, we can assume they have adjusted to this tragedy.  Later, we will hear Elizabeth refer to her barrenness as a disgrace, which apparently she still feels in her old age.  Now, the angel is telling Zechariah that his wife will give birth.

          So to me, it seems quite natural that Zechariah might have some questions.  And he does.  He asks Gabriel, "How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years."

          If I had been Gabriel, I would have expected Zechariah to react this way, and I would have reassured him.  But Gabriel reacts in anger.  Gabriel seems to be insulted that Zechariah questions him.  He says to Zechariah, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time."

          Because he did not believe, Gabriel causes Zechariah to be unable to speak until the child is born.  By this time, Zechariah had been in the temple much longer than was customary.  The people were waiting for him to come out and pronounce a blessing on them.

 ²¹Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. ²²When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.

 ²³When his time of service was completed, he returned home. ²⁴After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. ²⁵"The Lord has done this for me," she said. "In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people."

          Zechariah and Elizabeth lived at a time in history when hope was at an all-time low.  Many people had turned their backs on the faith of their parents.  Probably most of the prophecies of old had been forgotten.  They had given up on the possibility of God doing anything new.  Israel had lost its hope.

          The barrenness of Zechariah and Elizabeth was a symbol of what had happened in Israel.  So many years had passed in their lives that of course they had given up.  They had lost hope.

          Sometimes it seems to us that God waits far too long to take action in the world.  Sometimes we think that because it seems as if God is not doing anything, he doesn’t hear our prayers.  We lose hope.

          The story of Elizabeth and Zechariah reminds us that with God, there is always hope, even when we think we have lost every reason for hoping.  And this is only the beginning of the story.  Because the best part is coming next, when God appears to a young woman named Mary, and tells her she will be the mother of Jesus.

          When we read the scriptures of what God did in the past, hope is born in our hearts, and we realize that God, who has acted in the past, will act again in the future.

          Our hope will never be disappointed if we place it in Jesus Christ, because he will never fail us.  And one day Christ will come again to call us home to be with him in heaven forever.  That is the glorious hope of all who believe in Jesus as Savior and Lord.  Jesus is still the hope of the world.

Prayer:

Gracious Lord Jesus, what a wonderful Savior and Lord you are!  Thank you for this blessed season, when once again we celebrate your coming into the world.  Thank you for the great hope we have in you, that one day we will see you in heaven, and we will be with you for all eternity.                    Amen.