No-one believes in “now”.
Everyone seems comfortable in “someday”.
But to believe that someday is here, seems to much for any of us to
accept. When the time comes, it is time
to stand. But there is the catch, when
does “when” truly arrive. As Christians
we await the second coming, we await the end of all things. 2000+ years ago, an
oppressed people awaited the first coming, the coming of the Messiah. The World was around 2000 years old when Noah
and his family were saved. It had been
another 2000 years past that when the Messiah would finally arrive. Abraham was dust by then. David was dust. The prophets mostly in their tombs. Yet alas, not all the prophets were
gone. In fact, prophets were constantly
with Israel through the entire passage of time.
They acted as a communication line between Jesus and us. They were inspired to say, to preach, to
warn, to encourage – whatever the Lord our God told them to say. And while they were not all accepted in their
own times; after they died their manuscripts were venerated and became what we
now call the Old Testament part of our Bibles.
If you were a Jew, living in the age of Roman supremacy, you
longed for the Messiah as well. But who
would believe it was here? Ask yourself,
how soon do you really think the second coming of the Lord will be? You can perhaps accept it is coming. But to think it will be next week, tomorrow,
today – most of us just say no, we do not believe in “now”, we believe only in “someday”,
perhaps someday soon. So is it any
wonder, that the people who lived right up the birth of Jesus Christ, likely
looked at time the same way we do? They
longed for it, but “when”; that is an entirely different matter. The Messiah was believed to solve a number of
problems, escape from oppression being number one. That was then. The second coming is believed to solve a
number of different problems. Escape from
the oppression of sin and our addiction to sin being number one. We look exactly the same, then and now. They doubted the timeline, we do too. We use the excuse they invented – that our
grandparents, and parents, all thought it was soon, and they were all dust in
the ground with no event to show for it.
There comes the time, when “now”, means now. No more waiting. Just now.
Does that idea spark fear or joy in your heart? Luke gives us an account of a human response
to the idea of now. And there are many
parallels for us to discover. He picks
up with the backstory in his gospel letter in verse 5 saying … “There was in
the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the
course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was
Elisabeth. [verse 6] And they were both righteous before God, walking in all
the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.” Is righteous and blameless the same thing as
perfect? Can you achieve these things by
the power of will, or must it take the power of His love completely ruling you,
in order for it to occur? Those
ordinances that Zacharias the priest and his wife Elisabeth observed included
the rights of sacrifice, repentance, and forgiveness. Observing those forgiveness rituals would
have made them blameless before the Lord, even if they were not perfected
yet.
The question becomes, how often did they need
forgiveness? The measure of love you
hold in your heart for others (and the lack of it for yourself) will give you a
pretty good indication of how often you need repentance and forgiveness. But just because 2 servants of God, did what
God asked, does not mean they had a perfect life. They were not blessed in all things, even
though they were blessed in many things. This was not punishment, it was
preparation. Might it be so with you as
well. What you see as punishment, might
only be preparation for something far greater.
Can we open our eyes through trust, and find ourselves part of something
much larger than the tiny timelines of our own lives? It was to be so for Zachariah, and Elisabeth,
even though their entire youth would pass by barren and without the blessing of
children.
Luke continues in verse 7 saying … “And they had no child,
because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in
years.” First you will note, that Zachariah
did not abandon his wife, because she was unable to conceive. Nor did he pull an “Abraham” and simply add
another wife to the equation. Part of
perfection, or rather blamelessness, is to love whether things go our way or
not. He remained a dedicated husband
despite her inability to conceive.
Frankly, had Luke not specifically named Elisabeth as the cause it just
as easily could have been him.
Inspiration clears that up for us.
But having no heir, was considered a curse in Israel at the time. That curse then was a reflection of how you
were living your life. It was thought
that God withheld His blessings of family from those who carried secret evil in
their hearts. So as usual, the church,
and the local people and neighborhood gossips, held a field day at Elisabeths’s
expense. She later refers to this as
“her reproach”.
Luke continues in verse 8 saying … “And it came to pass,
that while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his
course, [verse 9] According to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was
to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. [verse 10] And the
whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense.” The burning of incense was not just done on
the day of atonement, but it was a solemn duty none the less. And the Temple was a Holy Place none the
less. While Zachariah went about this
ritual, the people gathered outside the front door of the Temple and prayed and
sang hymns to themselves of the love and mercy of God. You can bet many of those prayers were for
the Messiah. Need drives prayer. The Romans certainly created plenty of
need. I wonder, do we see our sins in
the same light? Do we see a full and
final escape from our sins, from who we are, as a great need that drives us to
pray for relief, not just forgiveness?
Luke continues in
verse 11 saying … “And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on
the right side of the altar of incense. [verse 12] And when Zacharias saw him,
he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.”
Here is our humanity shining through.
Forgiven is not enough to keep us from fear. Only a full lack of sin can do that. While there is still sin in us, there is still
fear in us. When there is only love in us,
fear will leave the building. Zacharias
adheres to all the ordinances and traditions.
Yet when confronted with an angel of the Lord, his humanity shines
through, and he becomes afraid. All the
sudden, the texts of Old become alive.
All of the sudden, the supernatural becomes very real, very
present. And if it is present, then the
presence of the Lord in that Temple becomes even more real as well. Our minds instantly gravitate back to the
last sin we committed. Did we repent of
it? Do we really wish to be rid of
it? Or do we just want forgiveness
number 547 until the next time we commit it again requiring forgiveness number
548. And when does God run out of
patience with us, perhaps on number 549?
And so enters fear as we examine ourselves.
Luke continues in verse 13 saying … “But the angel said unto
him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall
bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. [verse 14] And thou shalt
have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. [verse 15] For he
shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor
strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his
mother's womb. [verse 16] And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to
the Lord their God. [verse 17] And he shall go before him in the spirit and
power of Elias, 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.” Wow! That was a mouthful. So first things first, the fact that this
couple was barren, was not something they just ignored. They did what all of us should do. They took their sorrow to the Lord and prayed
for His intervention, for Him to do, what science cannot do. This angel’s first declaration is fear not,
for their prayer has been answered.
Now every parent is always happy to know that junior is
coming. But long before ultra-sounds,
and chemical testing, the angel tells Zachariah the sex of the child (what dad
does not want a boy, at least once). And
the angel names him John. More good
news. But it gets much better
quickly. Anyone can have a boy, but what
if that boy turns out to be Saddam Hussein, or Adolph Hitler? Not an appealing prospect. But the angel is saying don’t worry, many
people are going to be happy this boy was born.
This child is going to be great in the sight of the Lord. Talk about an accomplishment there. So the angel gives the new parents a precaution,
we want this kids brain as good as it can be, so ditch anything with alcohol in
it. Nothing, nada, ever. And the even better upside is that the Holy
Spirit is going to be in this kid, even while he is still in momma’s womb. Maybe not all babies are destined to be
babies, but this one certainly was. Hard
to argue with this.
And the last bit of good news was perhaps the best. This child was going to turn the hearts of
the people towards God, in the spirit and power of Elias (just like the prophet
of old in other words). To turn the
disobedient back to the wisdom of the just, this is just awesome stuff. And it would be driven by the Holy Spirit
from birth forwards. The angel has
effectively said – time is up, or rather the time is “now”. Zachariah is being confronted with a message
of the “now”. The reality is that
Zachariah is old, and has never seen anything like this. How old are you? Better said, are you so old, that you refuse
to be confronted with the “now” even though the angels of God would love to
give you just that message? Could you
accept it? Could you believe it, because
it comes from the mouth of an angel?
As blameless as Zachariah is, as used to following all the
right rituals as he is, this guy is a priest by occupation after all – all of
that is not a recipe for lack of doubt. Luke
continues in verse 18 saying … “And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby
shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years.” This is the danger of religion based on so
many rituals. We begin to think that the
performance of rituals somehow depends on us, instead of being designed for our
benefit. Zachariah is used to being
active in his religion. So when the
angel tells him he is going to have this miracle baby boy, Zachariah
immediately assumes he is supposed to get it done. And he knows Elisabeth can’t, or he can’t. Zachariah knows that his humanity is now old
and tired. There was no Viagra back
then. And Elisabeth is long past
menopause. If this is meant for humanity
to solve, it will not happen. So
Zachariah wants a sign to insure he can believe what he is hearing – all the
while forgetting where he is, and who he is talking to.
Luke continues in verse 19 saying … “And the angel answering
said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to
speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings. [verse 20] And, behold,
thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things
shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be
fulfilled in their season.” Yikes. Gabriel that stands in the presence of God,
that is not just an inconsequential position.
It is the replacement for the fallen Lucifer. This is the chief angel coming personally to
tell Zachariah these things, and yet Zachariah relies upon his own ideas about
how to get them done, knows he cannot, and so doubts. Zachariah wants another sign, and he will get
one. Not a good one, but a sign none the
less. Zachariah will no longer be able
to speak until this is all accomplished.
Time to run to Walmart and pick up a chalk board and a ton of chalk and
good eraser. No wait, they did not have
Walmart back then. Oops.
This conversation has taken way longer than burning incense
is supposed to take. The people are
getting a little nervous. Luke concludes
this segment in verse 21 saying … “And the people waited for Zacharias, and
marvelled that he tarried so long in the temple. [verse 22] And when he came
out, he could not speak unto them: and they perceived that he had seen a vision
in the temple: for he beckoned unto them, and remained speechless. [verse 23] And
it came to pass, that, as soon as the days of his ministration were accomplished,
he departed to his own house.” Despite
being unable to speak, Zachariah still had duties at the Temple that had to be
fulfilled. When all of them were done,
he went home, still speechless.
What happens when the angel of the Lord tells us – it is time. What happens when someday is converted to “now”? What happens when what you read becomes real
to you in a way you never imagined. This
issue is not just one in the pending pile, it is in the coming pile. We may not be blessed with the birth of another
John the Baptist (who otherwise would have been called John Ben Zachariah as
was the custom – his work earned him the more famous title). But we will face the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit. We will be given our own message
to carry. For me, it was – it is time to
wake up. I have known that message since
I was in college, and it has never changed.
For me the now, is still now, even though what I long for, is not now
yet. But if there is a lesson in the 5
foolish virgins and the 5 wise, I interpret the now, as the time to prepare and
secure oil in our lamps. Because one
day, perhaps more soon than any of us can imagine, that final midnight cry will
go out. And whatever we have secured of
His oil, and His love in our hearts, will be all there will ever be. Perhaps for you, your someday is becoming now
right in front of your eyes. Are you
listening for the word of an angel, or discerning it in the scriptures right
there in that Bible on the shelf?
Elias has already come.
It was as sure as the word of the angel of the Lord who stands in the
presence of God. But this was not the
only back story Luke needed to share with us …
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