The title of the message this morning is The Parents of a Great Man. This is what our text is about. Parents of a great man. Who is the great man? John the Baptist.

How do we know that he's a great man? Because an angel told his father Zacharias, even before his mother Elizabeth was pregnant with him, will take it on the authority of an angel that these are the parents of a great man. This is how Luke, our gospel writer, chooses to begin his orderly account of all the things that were accomplished in their generation and handed them off to that generation by eye witnesses. So Luke has said, I'm going to give you an orderly account. It's the account of eye witnesses and it's so that you may be certain of the things that you heard in gospel preaching.

This is how he chooses to begin it. He begins with the miraculous birth of a prophet who had himself been foretold to come and prepare the way for the promised Savior. In other words, prophets came and said on behalf of God, God says he's going to send a prophet. And this is really the fulfillment of that. You could go to Isaiah where God through Isaiah prophesies that God is going to send another prophet in time to prepare a way for the Messiah and also in Malachi, that's another prophet who does that, will actually be quoting from Malachi today.

So Luke puts a stake in the ground that God has promised to do things and the things that have happened in their generation are the fulfillment of all those promises. And they start here with the parents of a great man. Let's ask God to help us as we go to our text. God, these are precious things. These are holy moments, particularly special moments when we get to consider the fulfillment of centuries of Old Testament prophecies foretelling of how you would save sinners.

I pray that these would be sweet times to us as we consider that every promise has been kept and that our salvation has been secured so certainly by the things that were fulfilled in that generation. We praise you in Jesus' name and ask you for help in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, we're subdividing. Let's reread Luke chapter one verses five through 10 as the first subsection.

Luke chapter 1 verse 5, follow along as I reread this section. There was in the days of Herod the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron and her name was Elizabeth. They were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. They had no child because Elizabeth was barren and they were both well advanced in years.

So it was that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense. Here in this subsection we have our introduction to Zacharias and Elizabeth. So if you're taking notes on the handout, filling in the blanks, Elizabeth fills in the blank. Our introduction to Zacharias and Elizabeth.

Luke begins by giving us a time marker. The things in today's text happen in the days of Herod, the king of Judea. Judea here is used in the broad sense. Sometimes it means just the tribal territory of Judah. That's the narrow sense.

This is the broad sense, just simply meaning the land of the Jews. Herod during this period of history was essentially the the king over all the land of Israel. Herod is known as Herod the Great. So there are actually a couple of Herod's in Israelite history. This is Herod the Great, the Herod who restored and expanded the second temple.

So the first temple is built by Solomon and then that temple is destroyed and the people are carried into captivity in Babylon. Then God brings them back from Babylon and they rebuild the temple during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. That's the second temple. And then hundreds of years later, King Herod restores and expands the second temple. So it is really actually a very glorious structure during this time.

Herod was appointed by Mark Antony. So if you're a history buff and you know of the history of Mark Antony and Cleopatra, it's really exciting history. We won't get into that today, but you've heard of Mark Antony in Cleopatra. This is the Mark Antony that appointed, along with the Roman Senate, Herod to be the king of Judea, the king of the land of Israel. And he reigned in Israel from 37 to 4 BC.

So this is the time period, 37 BC to 4 BC. Genealogically, Herod was actually an Edomite. So there's Abraham gave birth to Isaac Isaac gave birth to Jacob and Esau Israelites are the children of Jacob the descendants of Jacob and Edomites are the descendants of that that other son Esau. And Herod is actually a descendant of Esau, but Herod's ancestors had converted generations earlier. So Herod was a practicing Jew, even though he's not a descendant of Jacob, but of Esau.

So this is really interesting history. You didn't actually have to be born a descendant of Jacob to be considered a Jew, you could convert then you would have to be circumcised to be a practicing Jew and Herod's family had converted generations before Herod. In 1st Chronicles 24, you homework for later if you want, 1 Chronicles 24, you get the rotations of priestly service. So in 1 Chronicles 24, you have King David and the high priest Zadok dividing Aaron's family line into 24 heads of households So that you would have a rotation for priestly service. So not all priests serving all the time But a rotation by family of priests serving so if you were in one of these 24 households tracing back to Aaron, the first high priest, you would have two one-week rotations during the course of the year where you would come to Israel and serve as a priest in the temple.

You'd have a week and you go back then it would be your turn again so you would go back for a second week and then all the priests from all the families would come for the three feasts per year. So that's how you get to all all 50 weeks. So Zechariah is of the division of Abijah. This is one of these 24 families that trace back to Aaron. If you go to 1 Chronicles 24 verse 10, they, Abijah is eighth in the 24 descendant rotation so they were eighth in the lineup Zechariah says a descendant of Aaron and he married a descendant of Aaron Elizabeth a Priests were often careful to do this, to keep the priestly line distinct.

Although that wasn't mandatory, it was acceptable for a priest to marry any woman from any of the tribes of Israel, but often priests, to keep their line distinct, would marry within their tribe. The text describes Zacharias and Elizabeth this way, verse 6. They were both righteous before God, Walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless wouldn't mind to have that description Righteous before God walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. They were not sinless, but they were righteous before God and blameless. What's the difference?

The Bible is actually really clear on this point both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. None is righteous, no not one. But when you believe in God in the same sense that Abraham did, saving belief, God accounts that faith to you for righteousness. Because you believe, He puts His own righteousness into your account. That's the teaching of the Old Testament.

That's the teaching of the New Testament. That's the argument that Paul makes in Romans chapter 4. In Romans chapter 4 verse 3, he's asked the question, In what sense was Abraham righteous? And he goes back and quotes Genesis, Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. So Zacharias and Elizabeth are righteous before God like Abraham was, by faith.

And they had the evidences of that in their life. They were blameless according to the law and again blameless doesn't mean sinless If you've translated in your mind blameless to sinless, you've done it wrong. Blameless simply means that no serious charge will stick, meaning you charge Zechariah or Elizabeth with a serious Scandalous breach of the law and you won't be able to convict them because there won't be the evidence of of them That's what it means to be blameless. Here's what Matthew Henry says Matthew Henry says though they were not sinless yet. They were blameless Nobody could charge them with any open scandalous sin.

They lived honestly and inoffensively. You know people like this. You know a lot of people like this. They're a million miles away from sinless, but you can't charge them with any open, scandalous sin because they love the Lord, they're walking with the Lord, and they're living honestly and inoffensively blameless. As we work through this gospel, we will encounter many who cultivate an external reputation for righteousness.

We're going to encounter scribes and Pharisees who are very precise outwardly, only they're not blameless because they have hearts that are not actually turned towards the Lord. They're cultivating an external reputation for righteousness but they don't actually have the inward righteousness that comes by actual saving faith in God that works its way out in this blamelessness of life. It's only external reputation that they're carefully cultivating to be known as righteous, even though they don't have the root in their heart of that. So Zacharias and Elizabeth had saving faith in God and their lives reflected it. That's all that this is saying.

They had saving faith in God and Their lives reflected that they had saving faith in God. They walked with God. What else do we know about Zacharias and Elizabeth? They're old and childless. The text is gentle here.

It says, well advanced in years. But in next week's text, the angel will say to Mary in verse 36, Elizabeth, your relative, Elizabeth your relative has conceived in her old age. The angel will be less judicious, less gentle than Luke the Gospel writer is in today's text. Most people who are married Eventually have a child or maybe even many children. But not all people who are married eventually have a child.

Some grow old without ever having a child. The Bible actually teaches God opens the womb, God closes the womb. So now it's one of Zechariah's two weeks. He's a priest. He's of the order of Abijah.

This one of 24 family lines tracing back to the first high priest Aaron. It's one of his two weeks per year. He goes to serve and the lot falls to him to burn incense. So it's his day to burn incense. Now, we're 21st century Americans, so we read right over the top of this.

Let's understand what this actually is. So, you have the temple, you have the outer courts, and if you're an Israelite, you're welcome to go and worship in the outer courts. They would actually be sacrificing in the outer courts, and an Israelite could go in there. Then they have an inner court called the Holy Place. Only priests go in to the Holy Place.

Then within the Holy Place there's a more special place still called the Most Holy Place where the Ark of the Covenant is, the Mercy Seat is, the cherubim that are over the ark in the mercy seat are and only one priest goes into the most holy place once a year. So we're talking about not the outer courts where any Israelite can go where the events of our text are happening in the holy place where only priests can go for very particular functions. And the function that's happening here is the burning of incense. The altar of incense would be right outside the veil, separating the holy place from the most holy place where the Ark of the Covenant is. So if you're the priest burning incense, you're at the altar of incense, this table, this gold-plated table that's feet away but separated by a veil.

You can't see the ark of the covenant, but you know it's only feet away So that's where this is happen Only priests can go there. Exodus 30, more homework if you desire it, Exodus 30 verses 1 through 10 describes the altar of incense in the holy place just outside the veil. And twice a day morning and at twilight coinciding with the morning and evening sacrifice the priests would go in and offer incense while the morning and evening sacrifice a lamb is being offered and bread is being offered and wine is being offered when we get to the Lord's Supper later in the service I'll be reading from Exodus 30 so you can see all this. John MacArthur has this note in his study Bible. MacArthur says, because of the large number of priests, most would never be chosen for such a duty.

And no one was permitted to serve in this capacity twice. So as a 21st century American I had no idea that was so. But when you see Zacharias in our text offering incense, just know he never would have done this before and he would be prohibited from ever doing this again. This is a once in a lifetime event in the life of a priest. This is the climax, the pinnacle, the peak of his priestly ministry.

John MacArthur says, Zacharias no doubt regarded this as the supreme moment in a lifetime of priestly service. So he's serving, serving, serving as a priest, and this is his one opportunity to do this. And many priests would never have this opportunity at all. The lot would not fall to them at all because of the number of priests that they had. I saw an estimate of 18, 000 priests in one of the commentaries that I read this week.

David Garland, who's written the exegetical commentary on the New Testament says this, In the afternoon sacrifice, the incense was last, and the assigned priest and two assistants carried burning coals from the great altar into the chamber of the Holy Place to burn the incense on the altar of incense made of gold plated wood and located in the center of the room before the veil separating the Holy Place from the most Holy Place, Exodus 30. The assistants then withdrew, leaving the priest alone in the sanctuary when he would lay the incense on the coals at the signal of the presiding priest and prostrate himself in prayer so this is what's happening you read the rabbi's describing exactly how this works out from this time period and this is what they say. The assistants bring the coal from the great altar where you have the morning and evening offerings. They bring coals from that altar and they lay it and then this priest whose the lot has fallen to him to do this for the one time in his life is going to put the incense on it and then he's going to prostrate himself in prayer to God.

So that's what's happening inside the Holy Place and outside the Holy Place in the outer courts the multitude has gathered to pray at the hour of incense. In Acts chapter 3 we have a song about it What's the song? Peter and John went to pray. They met a lame man on the way. This is talking about that hour.

This would be 3, 3.30 in the afternoon where Peter and John were going to the temple at the hour of prayer they would be one of the multitude gathering in the outer courts where any Israelite could go so a multitude would gather and they would pray while this one priest whose the lot had fallen to him would go in to burn incense. Under, understand, everything about the temple is symbolic, meaning the temple is an earthly copy of heavenly things. Everything about the temple is a picture pointing forward to and teaching about a greater spiritual reality. In this case, according to Revelation chapter 5 and Revelation chapter 8, the incense is a picture of the prayers of the saints. The incense in Revelation chapter 5 and 8 is called the prayers of the saints, wafting up before God as a pleasing aroma.

Here in our text we have these things joined. The picture, the incense being offered in the temple and the prayers of the saints. A multitude is gathering outside. It is the hour of prayer, the incense is being burned and the saints are praying in the outer courts. So that is our introduction to Zacharias and Elizabeth, the parents of a great man.

Back to Luke chapter 1 let's look at the next section verses 11 through 20. Follow along as I read 11 through 20. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, to Zacharias, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. When Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.

You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth for he will be great in the sight of the Lord And shall drink neither wine nor strong drink He will also 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. He will also go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, And the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready a people prepared for the Lord Zacharias said to the angel how shall I know this for I am an old man and my wife is well advanced in years and The angel answered and said to him I am Gabriel who stands in the presence of God and was sent to speak to you and to bring you these glad tidings. But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their own time. These verses Zacharias and Gabriel interact. If you're taking notes on the handout, filling in the blanks, interact, fills in the blank.

Zacharias and Gabriel interact. Zacharias is performing this once in a lifetime priestly duty. He's supposed to be alone. This is not the honor system. If you read the Old Testament, the law about how temple worship works, you have a whole division of Levites, gatekeepers.

They make sure that people don't go where they're not supposed to go, where Gentiles don't come into the outer courts where only Israelites should be, that non-priests don't come into the holy place, and that no one but the high priest goes into the most holy place, a priest. But Zacharias is not alone. An angel of the Lord, an angel from the Lord, appears to him standing on the right side of the altar of incense. Zacharias sees him and he's troubled and fear falls on him Then the angel speaks and says what angels almost always say what angels in scripture almost always say don't be afraid Why is that Because people are always afraid when angels come. Why?

We don't know. I don't know. I've never seen an angel. But we have the authority of Scripture that if you saw one, you'd be afraid. And the angel would need to say what they're always saying in Scripture.

Don't be afraid you'd be afraid to The angel gives Zacharias amazing words of comfort and encouragement One your prayer is heard Is that comfort and encouragement Zacharias you've been praying God's been hearing your prayers amen to your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son. Your old childless wife is about to be just old. All those times you prayed and you thought you hadn't been heard or the answer was no, the answer was really just not yet. All you prayed all those times, God would give you a baby. And you thought, God, he's either not hearing or the answer is no.

Nope, the answer was just not yet. And now the angel is coming to tell you, you actually have been heard and you are going to have a baby. Three, you shall name him John. John literally means Jehovah is a gracious giver. Wow!

God sends an angel to this man who's probably stopped praying. Okay, my guess is we don't know for sure. These could be recent prayers, but they don't have to have been recent prayers. It's clear that they're past the age of childbearing years. You go all the way through your childbearing years.

You're now past those years. Probably you've stopped praying. Now God sends an angel to say actually all those prayers have been heard and God's answering them and you're gonna have a son and you're going to name that son Jehovah is a gracious giver. To which you'll say amen every time you say his name probably. Four you and many others will rejoice and be glad at his birth and that will be well justified because he will be such a son.

This is not an ordinary son. This is not an ordinary pregnancy because this is not an ordinary Son. God is setting aside this son for himself and to himself. From the womb, God is marking out this little boy is being his own to fulfill his own purposes. You are mine, you are for my purposes." God has marked him out.

The angel says that this son will be quote, great in the sight of the Lord. In Matthew 11, Jesus says this, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist. Think about that, Matthew 11. Jesus himself says, among those born of women, everybody after Adam and Eve were born of women. There has not risen one greater than John the Baptist.

Meaning that Abraham is not greater than John the Baptist. Moses is not greater than John the Baptist. David is not greater than John the Baptist. Moses is not greater than John the Baptist. David is not greater than John the Baptist.

We typically don't think of it that way just because John the Baptist has such a small role to play. It's because of the greatness of Jesus that we don't hear much about John the Baptist. Jesus is God. According to the law, priests were not to drink wine or any kind of strong drink when they were on duty. It wasn't a total prohibition but when you're serving in temple worship no priest was to have been drinking wine or any kind of strong drink.

This son being given to Zacharias and Elizabeth is going to always be on duty in a sense. God is going to fill him with the Holy Spirit even before he's born. During the pregnancy, John the Baptist is filled with the Holy Spirit. In a few weeks, Here, during the sermon, we're going to see that that's true. John the Baptist will leap in Elizabeth's womb when Mary enters with Jesus in her womb.

I read a commentator this week that said, that's John's first prophetic act, okay, in the womb. Jesus comes in in the womb of his mother and John the Baptist prophetically leaps in his own mother's womb. I think there's a sense in which that is true. It really is his first prophetic act. In Ephesians 5 verse 18 Paul says, Do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.

Don't be drunk with wine, be filled with the spirit. Don't be under the influence of something that dolls your senses and Makes your Thinking unclear be under this be filled with the Spirit of God that heightens your senses to the things that matter the most. This is John the Baptist. Never to be drunk with wine, always to be under the influence of the Spirit, filled with the Spirit from his mother's womb. The angel tells Zacharias that his son will have a turning ministry.

What will the son be doing? He'll be turning people. His ministry is to turn people. He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will turn the hearts of fathers to their children.

He will turn the disobedient to the wisdom of the just. And fundamentally this turning will be about making people ready for the Lord. People need to turn around to be ready for the Lord. Of course John's core message will be repent. Okay it just means turn, turn people.

You're going in the wrong direction, turn around, go in a different direction. Turn from idols to the living God. Turn from filth to righteousness. Turn from trusting in self, idolizing self, to walking with God. The angel quotes from Malachi, the final book of the Old Testament, the last revelation given to Israel, followed by 400 years of revelational silence.

Meaning if you look at the history of the books of the Bible, it's revelation being given through time and then Malachi and after Malachi there is no scripture revelation given for 400 years. So he's quoting from the very end of Revelation before these centuries of revelational silence. The quote combines Malachi 3 verse 1, behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And Malachi, verses 4, chapter 4, verses 5 and 6, These are actually the last verses of the Old Testament. Listen to Malachi chapter four verses five and six, the final two verses of the Old Testament before 400 years of no more revelation.

God through Malachi says this, Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers lest I come and strike the earth with a curse so Elijah has been gone for a long time before Malachi writes this and then Malachi writes the words of God where God says I'm gonna send Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. So the angel here clarifies that he's sending one in the spirit and power of Elijah. He's sending one who will be like Elijah. There's a place in Luke that I think is a better place to unpack that.

That's sort of as a topic unto itself. Just know this, This is not reincarnation of Elijah in any sense. It is one raised up in the spirit and power of Elijah to be like Elijah, to have a function very much like Elijah had during his lifetime. That is John the Baptist. Now, we understand people turning to God and the disobedient turning to the wisdom of the just, meaning the disobedient turning from their disobedience and doing what's wise, doing justly.

But what's this about the hearts of fathers turning to the children and the hearts of children turning to their fathers? It's said at the end of Malachi, that's what this prophet will do. He's going to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, the hearts of the children to their fathers. What's that about? I think it's simply this.

When a people aren't reconciled to God, parents don't relate properly to their children. Look at Deuteronomy 6. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength. Teach these things diligently to your children. When you sit in the house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, when you rise up, is that how a people who aren't reconciled to God function with their children?

Living out of love for God in the heart and teaching these things diligently to their children. It never describes the people who are not reconciled to God. When a people are not reconciled to God, children don't honor their parents. When you look at homes that are not reconciled to God, there's all kinds of dishonor towards parents. But when people turn, parents begin to live out Deuteronomy 6 towards their children, living out of love for God and training their children, bringing up their children in his training and admonition of the Lord.

When a home is reconciled or reconciling with God, people are repenting, then children begin to honor their parents. The angel has spoken. How does Zacharias respond? Not well. Zacharias responds with doubt.

Zacharias recites the difficulties to the angel of God. I'm old and so is my wife. We've been married for a long time. Our union has never produced children and now we're past childbearing years Friends when when God speak when God speaks Okay, so the angel has been sent by God to say these things. These are not the words of Gabriel.

These are the words of God through Gabriel. When God speaks, we should say, amen. In next week's text, Mary, also hearing from this same angel, is going to say, Behold the maidservant of the Lord, Let it be to me according to your word. That's the right response. Friends, God never speaks in ignorance of the difficulties.

Never. It's impossible for God to ever be Ignorant of the difficulties. Save the recitation to God of the difficulties. He already knows them and they could never stop Him. Now the angel speaks.

I am Gabriel. Zacharias, I am Gabriel. And what's the significance of that? Zacharias knows Gabriel. Elise knows of Gabriel.

How does Zacharias know of Gabriel? There are two angels named in scripture and Gabriel is one of them. It is Gabriel by name who 490 years earlier comes to Daniel in Daniel chapter 8 and in Daniel chapter 9 and tells Daniel of the 70 weeks until Messiah the Prince comes. Gabriel delivered that to Daniel by name. He's called out by name as Gabriel in Daniel chapter 8.

He's called out by name as Gabriel in Daniel chapter 8 he's called out by name as Gabriel in Daniel chapter 9. He delivers the message about the 70 weeks in which Messiah the Prince will come to save. Now Gabriel has been sent to tell Zacharias these things are about to be fulfilled and your son is playing a role. Zacharias would have instantly recognized all of this or he's not worth his salt as a priest. However many times you've read the book of Daniel, Zacharias has read it 10 times more.

All he had was the Old Testament and it was the priest's job to know the law, to know the Old Testament. They knew the Old Testament. Old Testament. Zacharias has read Daniel a hundred times. He knows of Gabriel.

Zacharias, Zacharias, I am Gabriel. The Gabriel that was sent to Daniel centuries ago, I am him. I stand in the presence of God. He sent me to bring you these glad tidings and you recite to me the difficulties. I brought news of the Messiah to Daniel 500 years ago and you recite to me the difficulties." Gabriel gives Zacharias a sign that all these things will be fulfilled.

And it is simultaneously a sign and a rebuke so it is a sign it's a supernatural sign that he is supernatural he is a supernatural messenger you can't talk and he can't talk he says You can't talk and he can't talk. He says you can't talk and he can't talk indeed. But it's also a rebuke. Matthew Henry says this, his unbelief was silenced and he silenced for it. If that's what you have to say you can you're not saying anything else his unbelief was silenced.

No more reciting to me of the difficulties. You're silenced for the unbelief. And when Gabriel has foretold, when what Gabriel has foretold has been fulfilled, the sign and the sanction will be lifted and Zacharias will regain his ability to speak and then he's going to be a prophet. Zacharias is going to be a wonderful prophecy about his son and about the one who his son will go to make the way straight for the Lord Jesus, as soon as he's able to speak, he's going to be made a prophet. So those are the interactions between Zacharias and Gabriel.

Final subsection in Luke chapter one, verses 21 through 25, follow along. 21 through 25, and the people waited for Zacharias and marveled that he lingered so long in the temple. But when he came out, he could not speak to them. And they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned to them and remained speechless. So it was as soon as the days of his service were completed that he departed to his own house.

After those days his wife Elizabeth conceived and she hid herself five months saying, Thus the Lord has dealt with me in the days when he looked on me to take away my reproach among people. In this final section we have the aftermath of the encounter. Aftermath fills in the blank. The aftermath of the encounter. Again we're 21st century Americans so this can easily be missed.

The rabbis from that time say that the tradition was that the priest, after burning incense, would emerge and pronounce the number six blessing on those who had gathered to pray. So in Numbers chapter six, God tells Aaron and His descendants that they are to put this blessing on the people the Lord bless you and keep you The Lord make his face shine upon you be gracious to you the Lord lift up his countenance Upon you and give you peace so the once in a lifetime you would burn the incense and then your job was to come out after that and pronounce that blessing from Numbers chapter 6 upon the people. But Zacharias doesn't come out. And he doesn't come out. And he doesn't come out.

People are waiting and they begin to marvel that he lingers so long. Finally Zacharias emerges, but he's utterly unable to pronounce the blessing. It's his job to pronounce the blessing from Numbers chapter 6, only he can't say a word because of what's just happened. At some point, somehow they perceive that Zacharias has seen a vision. He's motioning, can't talk.

A few sermon texts from now people will bring him a tablet and he'll write in order to communicate. So maybe that's how it's happened, we just don't know. But they perceive that he's had a vision. Zacharias finishes out his week of service and goes home. Just like Gabriel said, Elizabeth becomes pregnant.

The NASB translates it, she kept herself in seclusion. So we're reading New King James it says she hid herself the NASB I like that translation at this spot where it says she kept herself in seclusion for five months. This goes without comment in the text, but for an unspecified reason, meaning the text doesn't explain it, Elizabeth keeps her pregnancy under wraps for the early months of her pregnancy, for the first five months of her pregnancy. What did Elizabeth say? Thus the Lord has dealt with me in the days when He looked upon me to take away my reproach among people.

Her lifelong childlessness had been a reproach to her among people. In John chapter 9, we encounter a man who was blind from birth. And people come to Jesus and ask Jesus about this man, who's always been blind, he's never been anything but blind, he was born blind, ask Jesus, who sinned, this man or his parents? So there was a prevailing sentiment that if you were blind or if you were deaf or if you were lame or if you were childless, if you were barren, that you ought to be able to track that back and connect the dots of your blindness with either your sin or your parents sin, somebody sin. Same was true of barrenness.

There was a prevailing sentiment that the reason that Elizabeth hadn't had children was something that deserved reproach. I said, now she's pregnant. She's saying, God, you've looked upon me, taken away my reproach among people. Applications, let me give you four. Number one, consider the awesome sovereignty of God.

Listen to Isaiah 46 verses 9 and 10. These are wonderful verses that we should have memorized. Isaiah 46 verses 9 and 10. Here's what God says. Remember the former things of old, for I am God and there is no other.

I am God and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning. From ancient times, things that are not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure think of Daniel 9 Gabriel showing up telling Daniel about the Savior that will be sent in four and in 500 years. Think about the family of Obijah and it being their turn and then one member of this family line drawing the lot to go in and offer incense, the once in a lifetime opportunity for this man, falling to Zechariah's. I make this application every so often. But it's because the Bible sets it before us every so often.

It's pretty frequent that God is proving through how these things work out in Scripture that he's 500 years ahead. He's an eternity ahead really. He's declaring the end from the beginning So Random chance is not happening to you friends God's working out of a carefully considered perfectly wise plan is being worked out. So we can only see our dot of it but it's perfectly connected in a way that's going to bring this to his glory and our good. And so the outcome is predetermined and it's glorious and it's great for you if you're in his son, Jesus Christ.

We just have the awesome sovereignty of God on display in this text. Number two, consider how stubborn unbelief is. Do you think you would have responded better than Zacharias? The text has already described him as righteous before God and blameless according to the law. Do you feel like you deserve that tag?

Do you get that label? I'm not sure I get that label. So be careful about saying, oh, Zacharias, you leaving knucklehead. Unbelief is really stubborn. When God speaks, we should say what Mary is going to say in next week's text.

God your servant, Let it be according to exactly what you said. What you said is good and right and true. Amen. Unbelief is stubborn and we have to be training ourselves to say what Mary said or we'll find ourselves saying what Zachariah said. How can this be?

Don't you know the difficulties, Gabriel? Three. Give this one to Matthew Henry. Matthew Henry says, when sin is made grievous, Christ will become very precious. What does that have to do with this?

So John the Baptist was sent to pave the way for Jesus. How are you going to do that, John? I'm going to tell people to turn. I'm going to tell people, you brood of vipers. Who warned you to flee the wrath to come?

That made people ready for Jesus. John the Baptist had the ministry of the bad news in a sense And he made people ready for Jesus. He made people feel their sins so that Christ would be precious and necessary to them. When sin is made grievous, Christ will become very precious. Isn't that true?

You think little of your sin, you think little of Christ. You think you just need a little push over the line, okay? And you've lost sight of the chasm between you and God. You don't need a little push over the line. When you see the chasm between the sinner and this perfectly righteous God, then Christ becomes precious.

Four, I haven't even mentioned J.C. Ryle's name. I'm going to do it now, and then I'll pray. J.C. Ryle says this.

This is number four. The grace of God exempts no one from trouble. If afflictions drive us nearer to Christ, the Bible and prayer, they are positive blessings. So Elizabeth has lived so much of her life under reproach. She didn't deserve it.

She was righteous. She was blameless according to the law, and she lived under reproach. She wasn't exempted from trouble because she was righteous, because she believed in God and walked with God, didn't exempt her from trouble. In some ways it brought trouble upon her. But what effect did the trouble have on Elizabeth?

This is not an embittered woman. We're going to see her again in the next couple of weeks. This is not an embittered woman. This is a woman who's been brought to trust in God and walk closely with God and be content to be right with God even though she is unjustly under the reproach of others. We need to part ourselves from any sort of notion that the grace of God is going to exempt us from trouble.

You know what? The Bible just doesn't teach that. In fact, the Bible teaches us to expect the contrary. Let's pray. God, thank you for Luke, all the things that are here in this text, thank you for doing exactly the right thing at exactly the right time to bring about your most glorious purposes and for such good for us that in the ages to come you might show the riches of your grace to your people.

As Ephesians 2 says, it's just such an amazing verse that the ages to come are for showing your riches of grace to us. You can see glimpses of that in these texts. Thank you so much, God, in Jesus' name, amen.