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Luke 1:1-25 "How Can We be Sure"
Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed. (Luke 1:1-4)
Have you ever wondered why there are four versions of
the Gospel in the Bible? Isn't the Bible the strangest book you ever
read -- because just when you finish reading about the life of Jesus
in Matthew, you get to read it all over again in Mark. And then just
when you think you know everything about the subject along comes Luke.
And yet Luke isn't quite enough, John also goes over the same material
in a totally different way.
Luke tells us why he wrote his version of the gospel in the very first
chapter. You see Luke is a doctor, and as a doctor he is well organized
and precise. So he gives us, or really Theophilus, the recipient, a
brief explanation of his purpose for writing.
Luke was a Gentile convert of Paul, who heard the gospel from Paul and
other apostles. But as the gospel spread they realized that not every
church was going to have an eyewitness teaching there. Many churches
would be led by men who had only heard the story second-hand. So they
decided to write down the details so that everyone would know what had
really happened. Perhaps you have never heard of some of the other "Gospels"
that are not in the Bible? Other writers, pretending to be an Apostle
such as Thomas or Peter, also wrote stories about Jesus. Some of these
stories are really fantastic with Jesus as a child doing miracles, but
they are not in the Bible.
Why is Luke's version in the Bible while some of the others are not?
Why do we read almost the same stuff in Luke as in other gospels, and
not have the new material in some of these other versions? The reason
why is that Luke was inspired by the Holy Spirit. Luke says that he
had perfect understanding of all things from the very first. But Luke
didn't even meet Jesus! He wasn't one of the twelve disciples! True,
but the Holy Spirit gave him the insight to dig up all the facts regarding
Jesus and write them out in an "orderly account".
Luke's purpose for writing the gospel was to establish the facts of
the gospel, so that people who had never met Jesus Christ, people who
had never heard the preaching of the apostles, could know the truth
of Jesus. He says to Theophilus, "that you may know the certainty
of the things in which you were instructed." How about us 2,000
years later. Somebody walks up to you and says, "You gotta hear
this, Jesus is the Son of God and He loved me so much that He died for
me. And now I am forgiven and free because Jesus loves me. And you know
what? He loves you too." You think, "Gee, He looks pretty
happy, and I sure would like to be free too. But how can I be sure?"
You can be sure because it is written in the word of God, the Bible.
And God always keeps His Word. He never goes back on His promises. If
you want to be sure about the stuff that we are saying about Jesus,
then read this book. The Gospel of Luke.
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. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. But 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. (Luke 1:5-10)
Luke starts, as he told us, at the very beginning. Which,
is not the birth of Jesus, but the birth of John the Baptist. He introduces
us to John's parents, an old priest named Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth.
However their story is also miraculous because like many famous women
of the Bible, Elizabeth was barren. Let's look at this a little because
I think that it is very important for God. Remember Sarah, Rebekah and
Rachel? Remember Samson's mother (who we don't have a name for) and
Hannah the mother of Samuel? All of these women were barren. And in
the Jewish culture as in many cultures around the world women proved
their value by bearing children. The culture was set up in such a way
to give women who bore children status and power. And so those women
who did not bear children were rejected, oppressed and placed under
those who did.
So this couple, had been praying for years for a child. And they, especially
Elizabeth, had suffered the pains of dissapointment, anxiously waiting
each month only to have negative results. Each year, more and more of
her friends would tell her of their joyous news, but she could never
tell them hers. She would be isolated from the other women, as they
chatted about little Joseph and little Martha, and she would have nothing
to add to the conversation. Perhaps when Elizabeth would walk over there
would be an awkward pause as they tried to spare her feelings by shifting
the topic to something else. But sooner or later Elizabeth would no
longer walk over to talk with them, rather she would just bear her shame
by herself.
I think the reason why barreness comes up so often in the Bible is because
it is very similar to our heart's situation before God. All of these
women must have cried out to God, "Why me, what have I done wrong?"
But it wasn't as if there was any great evil that they had done. There
wasn't some great mistake that they had made. There just simply wasn't
any life growing in them. This is how most people consider their situation.
They don't think of themselves as evil. They don't feel as if they deserve
to be punished. It is just that they are empty inside. There is no life
growing inside of them. And like the woman who desires to be pregnant,
after doing everything that is humanly possible, it is finally up to
God to give life.
It is the same for us as well. If you would have everlasting life. If
you would fill the emptiness inside. There is only one way. Receive
it as a gift from God. You can do all the right things, go to church,
pray, read the Bible, sing the praise songs, volunteer to help the poor,
but none of these things will give you life.
But look at the story of Sarah with Abraham. God gave her Isaac. Look
at the stories of Rebekah and Rachel. God gave them children as well.
In each case, there is a gift from God, usually when all hope has been
lost. And look at the children who were born! These were not ordinary
children, but men of faith, prophets of God! God wants to give you a
gift as well. He wants to give you the gift of Jesus in your heart.
He wants to fill that empty place with abundant life .
Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And 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. And 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." (Luke 1:11-17)
It was Zacharias' turn to burn the incense in the temple.
He went in to perform the solemn ritual that he had done many times
before, but this time something happened to trouble him and make him
afraid. For this time Zacharias was not all alone in the temple. The
angel of the Lord was with him.
It can be scary to pray to the living God. Because He just might answer
back. Zacharias went to burn incense, and that incense symbolized the
prayers of all the people that were praying outside. Why didn't the
people just come in and pray to God themselves? Why did they need Zacharias
to do it for them. Because they were scared. Ever since Moses went up
on the mountain to meet God because the people were too afraid to go
themselves, there were always priests between men and God.
Why are we afraid of God? Two reasons. First, we are afraid of punishment.
We are afraid that God will judge us for our sins, punish us for wrongdoing.
We are afraid that God will take one look at us and reject us, expose
us for the sinners that we are. Second, we are afraid that God will
require us to change. I am really chicken when it comes to going to
the doctor. I often have trouble with my stomach and the doctors here
have something they call an "Ii kamera", which is basicly
a camera on a long tube that they stick down your throat all the way
to your intestines. And to be honest with you I would rather suffer
a little intestinal pain, than have some doctor stick that thing down
my throat. I am afraid because I know that in his efforts to heal me
there is going to be some pain involved. We are afraid to go directly
to God because He might have the spiritual equivalent of the "Ii
Kamera". We know that if we are to get out of the sinful state
that we are in God will need to do some surgery.
So we like to put somebody between us and God. We want to sit in the
back of church on Sunday morning and hope that our prayers kind of get
lost in the middle of everybody elses. We pray for vague, macro things
like "God, bless everybody" and "God, bring peace to
the world." because these prayers are safe, when what we really
need to pray is "God, heal my sister" and "God, bring
peace into my relationship with my wife". This is the kind of prayer
that Zacharias prayed. He didn't just pray "God, hear all the prayers
of those outside and bless them." Instead he prayed again, "God
give us a child", even though he had prayed it before and it had
never been answered. Zacharias prayed directly to God and God answered
his prayer.
And the angel said to Zacharias, "Do not be afraid. For your prayer
is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son.
And Zacarias 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 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." 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. Now 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." (Luke 18-25)
Zacharias prayed with faith but he was understandably
a little surprised when the angel told him the news. After all he and
his wife were getting old. I like the response of the angel Gabriel
here. He says, "I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God"
It is like he is thinking, "I am an angel, do you think I am going
to lie to you!" And just so you will know for sure you won't be
able to talk until these things all take place." So we see in this
story both the love of God, granting a child to this faithful couple
and also the power of God, making a man dumb at will. There is a reason
why we are afraid of God. He is the omnipotent, creator and sustainer
of the universe who holds our very breath in His hands. But by faith
and prayer we learn that this fearsome God is also merciful and listens
to us. 1 John 4:18 tells us that "perfect love casts out all fear."
After Zacharias and Elizabeth gave birth to John the Baptist, another
child would be born. And this child would be the expression of the perfect
love of God to the world. Jesus Christ is God's perfect love. And in
Jesus we are able to cast out all fear of God and pray boldly. Knowing
that God will work all things together for good.
Luke 1b 1:26-56 "Blessings in Disguise"
Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, "Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!" But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end." Then Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I do not know a man?" And the angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible." then Mary said, "Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:26-38)
Blessings in Disguise
Some people look at Luke and say, "Who can believe
all this talk about angels and virgin's giving birth? I thought you
said he was going to give a factual account!" Luke does write a
"scientific" gospel, his plan is to write an orderly account
so that all of the stories of Jesus will be based on fact. However,
for Luke getting to the truth of the matter doesn't mean cutting out
the miracles. Luke is "scientific" in the greek sense of the
word. He has inherited from Plato and Aristotle, his countrymen, a love
of truth. But Luke is not "enlightened". That is a much later
development in philosophy that happened when men started to think that
everything could be explained in terms of natural laws.
Before our modern era, many things in nature were not understood by
men and so people explained things like typhoons and eclipses as acts
of God. But as we came to understand the mechanics of these events,
some people concluded that now we do not need God at all. They considered
themselves "enlightened" and rejected God, rejected miracles,
and sought to find out how everything worked. And those who did not
feel comfortable with rejecting God completely, put Him far, far above
anything that happens on earth, and not really involved with people's
lives.
However this kind of thinking is very immature. It reminds me of the
child who when he is small thinks that his daddy is the strongest man
in the world and his mommy is the most beautiful. The child thinks that
his parents are perfect and trusts them completely to meet his every
need. This was the view of those who explained every natural event by
calling it an act of God. But as the child grows and experiences more
of the world, he stops getting every explanation from his parents. He
starts to see more and more of his parents flaws and become more independant
from them. Often during this stage the child (teenager) rejects his
parents and thinks that they are at best a nuisance and at worst a curse.
When I went through this stage I was amazed at how stupid my parents
were and how smart I was compared to them. I felt that I was "enlightened"
and they were holdovers from the dark ages. However as I grew older,
got married, became a parent of my own child, I was amazed again, this
time at how wise they had suddenly become. Maturity is the ability to
see the truth, not the rose colored shine of childhood, not the sceptical
criticism of adolesence, but the balanced truth of adulthood. Applied
to miracles, here is the balance.
First what is a miracle? Some people have defined it as anytime God
works supernaturally in this world. But we have found that God is constantly
working in this world. The world is not a wind-up toy that God started
and then forgot about. The Bible teaches us that God is constantly sustaining
this world by His word. He is maintaining the world daily so that it
doesn't collapse into chaos. So what is a miracle? George MacDonald
has said that miracles are the normal, everyday work of God wrought
small and swift so that we mortals can take it in. So a healing that
might of occured over a period of years is done in a day so that we
can realize the power and love of God.
So a miracle is actually a message from God. It is like me bringing
home flowers for my wife. (She might be thinking, "that really
is a miracle".) Now I love her every day. And I am constantly doing
many things that express that love to her; bringing home my salary,
spending my free time with the family, taking out the garbage or choosing
to watch her favorite show instead of changing to another channel. But
these are kind of dull, everyday things. So once in a while I do something
special to send her a message. This is the purpose behind miracles as
well and gives us balance. You see God can heal someone just as easily
through the doctors over a period of years or through a "miracle"
in a few seconds. The only difference is that we don't as readily recognize
God's goodness and love when it happens over a long time.
Sometimes God uses His own special messengers. The word for angel in
the Bible means "messenger". These supernatural beings, just
like other supernatural events, are messages from God. Luke tells of
the messenger Gabriel who bore the glad tidings to Mary. And at first
Mary was confused. I mean what kind of person walks into your house
and tells you "Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you;
blessed are you among women!" Actually Hebrews 13 tells us, "Do
not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly
entertained angels." (Heb. 13:2) Oftentimes we are helped, protected,
encouraged and guided by angels that we do not recognize as such. God's
messengers do not usually reveal who they are, they are blessings in
disguise. But when they do show themselves to be angels you can bet
it is because they have a message to deliver. In this case Gabriel's
message was that Mary would conceive in her womb and bring forth a Son,
and shall call His name Jesus.
With Luke, be mature regarding the supernatural. Don't be a child, rejecting
all of science, assuming that there are angels behind every tree. Don't
think that every problem will be solved with a miracle or try to read
miracles into situations where there is none. Some Christians talk miracles
so much that they miss the real ones when they come.
Don't throw out all the supernatural as fairy tales either though. Don't
become a rebellious teenager rejecting everything. Don't close your
eyes to what God wants to do in your life. Science has never succeeded
in anything more than breaking down the large works of God into their
smaller components. We can now see that life is made of cells and cells
are made up of proteins and the proteins are arranged by DNA, but although
we know more of the pieces we still don't understand how they got arranged
the way they are, how they are "alive", or who decided it
all to begin with.
Be mature, know that God works in mysterious ways, at His own pace,
with His own plan. There will be times when He wants to give us a message
and then the miracles will occur. And when that happens we must look
past the miracle, past the messengers, to the Lord and what He would
say to us.
Overshadowed
This is what Mary did. You see it would have been easy
for her to focus on the angel, the messenger. But instead she says,
"Behold, the maidservant of the Lord." She does not submit
herself to the miracle, to the messenger, but to the Lord. There is
a good reason why God does not perform more of the "small and swift"
miracles. It is because we would much rather put our faith in something
that we can see than in God whom we cannot see. The danger with miracles
is that somehow the miracle always gets the attention and God is pushed
to the back. We start wanting more and more miracles, we start thinking
that miracles are the true sign that God is present when really we have
made the miracles into an idol, substituting the miracle for God.
But miracles are not what we need. We need God. You see, God is doing
the miracles slow and steady for us all the time. He has promised to
provide for us, guide us, comfort us, protect us, and He is true to
His word. If your eyes are open to this then the spectacular miracles
are just another part of God's consistent love. What we want much more
than healings, or prophecies, or miracles is to be what Gabriel called
being "overshadowed". He says to Mary in verse 35, "The
Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow
you; therefore, also that Holy One who is to be born will be called
the Son of God."
The word "overshadow" comes from a cloud passing overhead
and the shadow it makes on the ground. Except when we look in the Old
Testament, God often covers Himself with a cloud so that His glory is
not too much for people to take. Later in the gospels when Jesus goes
up on the mountain with Peter and James and John, they are all overshadowed
by the glory of God and the voice comes from heaven, "This is My
beloved Son. Hear Him!" You see we want to be so close to the presence
of God that we are literally walking in His shadow. My son and I play
this game sometimes, I walk and he tries to stay in my shadow. I take
big steps and little steps and duck this way and that and he has to
stick really close to me to stay in that shadow that I am casting. God
is not interested in creating stars. He does not shine a spotlight on
Mary. She doesn't walk around Nazareth glowing and doing miracles right
and left. Instead she humbly submits herself to the Lord and says "Let
it be to me according to your word."
This is our desire too. We want to submit to the Lord and let Him have
His will in our lives. Maybe you are praying for a miracle today. Maybe
you have been praying for that miracle for a long time. Take your eyes
off of the miracle and put them on the Lord. Can you say with Mary today,
"Let it be to me according to your word." Can you trust yourself
to the care of God? Pray to God, "You are the Lord, You are the
Star, You know what is right for me and I am content to be overshadowed
by You.""Actually Lord I am more than content, I know that
to be overshadowed by You is the absolutely best place for me to be."
My first priority is to be in that shadow, following You, sticking close
to You and I know that according to Your word, "Seek ye first the
kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added
unto you." (Matthew 6:33)
Luke 1:39-80 "Miracle Birth"
Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfilment of those things which were told her from the Lord." And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty. He has helped His servant Israel, in rembembrance of His mercy, as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever." And Mary remained with her about three months, and returned to her house. (Luke 1:39-56)
Blessed is She who Believed
As soon as the angelic visitation was over, Mary hurried
to find her cousin Elizabeth in the hill country of Judea. What a normal
reaction for a young girl who has just experienced God in a new way.
The angel had told her of what had happened to Elizabeth in her old
age and so Mary had to go and see for herself. She needed to be with
someone else who knew something of the mercy and power of God. I think
one of the biggest misconceptions about Christianity is that it is a
personal thing. It is somehow between me and God and doesn't concern
anybody else. Are you going through something? Is God dealing with you
in a way that you have never experienced before? You don't have to go
through it alone. Look at Mary. If there was ever a unique case, this
is it. Nobody else had ever given birth as a virgin before, nobody else
had ever given birth to the Son of God. But God did not leave her without
comfort and counsel. In His wisdom God prepared Elizabeth to be there
for Mary. We all know that John the Baptist came to prepare men's heart
for the coming of Jesus, but actually Elizabeth his mother, helped prepare
Mary's heart for the coming of the Christ child.
When Mary showed up at the house of Elizabeth, something wonderful happened.
When Elizabeth heard Mary call out, "Shalom", the baby in
her womb leaped and she was filled with the Holy Spirit. And she spoke
out the word of God, confirming to Mary that the child that she was
carrying was from the Lord. And then she said to Mary,
"Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfilment of
those things which were told her from the Lord." I think it is
significant that Elizabeth doesn't say "Blessed are you who believed."
Everything before this has been spoken to Mary. But this part is spoken
not to Mary or only about Mary, but Elizabeth is including herself in
the words. She is saying in effect, "We are so blessed, you and
I, because we believed that God would do what He has promised to us."
This is a beautiful picture of Christian fellowship. Fellowship is not
just tea and cookies after service, it is not a potluck or a party.
The word in Greek for fellowship is "koinonia" and its most
basic meaning is "to have in common". Elizabeth and Mary had
pregnancy in common, a child growing in their wombs. I know that this
is a strong bond between women. The other mothers at my son's kindergarden
tell me that they can just look at my wife's face (as she suffers from
morning sickness) and they start to feel sick! But more importantly
Elizabeth and Mary also had in common their belief in God, the God who
would fulfill all the things that He had promised. So for three months,
it says in verse 56, Mary and Elizabeth encouraged each other and enjoyed
"koinonia", fellowship, sharing the burden and joys of pregnancy
and faith in common.
My Soul Magnifies the Lord
My favorite spot for prayer is a ridge back behind our
old house in Ome. There is a bench on that ridge where the sunlight
breaks through the trees so that it warms me as I pray. And when I look
up I can see Mt. Fuji majestically towering over the smaller hills,
peeking through the branches of the cedars I am sitting under. It is
beautiful. In the summertime though, when the leaves in the trees are
full, it can be hard to find a spot on the bench where both the sunlight
hits me and I can still see Fuji. I often have a similar problem with
my Christian life, with so many distractions, it can be frustratingly
difficult to find God. It seems amazing that something as small as a
leaf, could block out something as large a mountain, but it happens
all the time. Any little thing can take our eyes off of Jesus Christ.
I don't want to, I believe with all my heart that He is the Lord, the
Son of God, the Creator of the Universe, My Savior, but then my attention
is distracted by the problem of the moment and I forget just how big
my God is.
Mary says, "My soul magifies the Lord." Her song is a simply
a list of the attributes of God. She is going down the list and reminding
herself who this God is who made the promise to her. Mary had some pretty
big problems facing her. Young and pregnant without a husband. Her fiance
Joseph surely would never understand. She could be cast out of her family,
alone and desperate. With Elizabeth she needed to remind herself who
God was. She needed to pick up the binoculars and realize once again
that Mt. Fuji is huge, and the leaf that is blocking the view is easily
gotten around. Mary says, "God my Savior. For He has regarded the
lowly state of His maidservant; He who is mighty has done great things
for me, and holy is His name." His mercy, His strength. As Mary
looks through her magnifying glass she realizes just how big and powerful
and strong God is, and not only that, she sees His love. She knows that
He is on her side, He cares for her. This magnifying glass is praise.
As we praise God, God gets bigger. Not in a physical sense, but in our
minds. What we are doing as we praise, is reminding ourselves that God
despite all the things that block our vision, the problems that distract
us, God is more than able to deliver us, and more than willing. Praise
puts everything back into the right perspective.
Now Elizabeth's full time came for her to be delivered, and she brought forth a son. When her neighbors and relatives heard how the Lord had shown great mercy unto her, they rejoiced with her. So it was, on the eighth day, that they came to circumcise the child; and they would have called him by the name of his father, Zacharias. His mother answered and said, "No; he shall be called John." But they said to her, "There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name." So they made signs to his father-- what he would have him called. And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, saying, "His name is John." So they all marveled. Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, praising God. Then fear came on all who dwelt around them and all these sayings were discussed throughout all the hill country of Judea. And all those who heard them kept them in their hearts, saying, "What kind of child will this be?" And the hand of the Lord was with him. Now his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying: "Blessed is 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, who have been since the world began, That we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, to perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant, The oath which 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 the days of our life. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God, with which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." So the child grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his manifestation to Israel. (Luke 1:57-80)
What Kind of a Child Will This Be?
A reoccuring theme in the Bible is that of the miraculous
birth. We often see wonderful things being birthed out of unusual circumstances.
We talked a few weeks back about barrenness in the Bible. But really
that is just a smaller issue, a part of the larger topic of how life
begins. The birth of John the Baptist sets the whole region to talking.
"Did you hear about old Elizabeth?" "Yes, and did you
know that her husband was struck mute?" "Oh, I heard that
too and they say that as soon as they named him, "John" the
old man could talk." "What kind of child will this be?"
The most incredible birth story that I have ever heard took place on
an airline flying from New York down to Disneyworld in Florida. An expectant
mother suddenly went into labor in the air 2 months premature. The only
doctor onboard was a dermitologist who was assisted by two paramedics.
They stretched the woman out in first class on a row of seats but the
birth was not easy. The pilot radioed the nearest airport, Dulles in
Washington D.C. but before they could bring the plane down the time
arrived. However the babies umbilical cord was wrapped around its neck
and by the time they got it out there was trouble with breathing. The
doctor had to do an emergency surgery to restore a breathing passage
to the child. But with no materials on hand they ended up using a plastic
straw from a juice box for a breathing tube and shoelaces to hold it
in place. The baby lived and the plane touched down at Dulles Airport.
Birth is usually looked back upon fondly, but the process itself is
almost always traumatic. It is the same for new things in our Christian
life as well. New ministries that are started, new stages in our walk
with God. They almost never begin without trouble. Usually, when trouble
begins we shift into the emergency mode. Our adrenalin kicks in and
we prepare to fight or flee. But after the adrenalin rush is over and
we settle in to live with the aftermath of the event, we tend to replay
the vcr in our minds over and over again. Like the news shows that show
the same clip of Princess Diana's burnt out car day after day. We play
the instant replay in our minds and ask questions like "why me?"
We try to understand the why the trouble happened and what it means.
But this is a very limited way of looking at things because it ignores
the most important part of the process. For you see, at the end of the
traumatic event there is new birth and new birth means that there is
new life that we must care for and nurture. For the expectant mother
the birth is not just the painful end of a long pregnancy, it is the
joyous beginning of a new relationship. She does not have time to dwell
on the pain. We must look at the pain in our lives the same way. We
must be intent on discovering what has been birthed in us through the
pain. We must dwell on the new life that God has begun in us, rather
than the trauma that we have been through.
The first words of Zacharias after he could speak again were praise
to God. And he prophecied that God would send a Savior and that his
son John, would be called prophet of the Highest, that he would prepare
the way for the Lord. He says "And you, child will be called the
prophet of the Highest; for you will go before the face of the Lord
to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people by
the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God, with
which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; to give light to those
who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into
the way of peace."
Jesus is the Dayspring, the beginning of the dawn. In Japan many people
like to climb mountains on New Years eve so that they can see the first
rays of sun of the beginning of the New Year. But Jesus
doesn't shine first to those who have climbed to some spiritual heigth.
He comes first to those who are sitting in darkness, who are stuck in
the valley of the shadow of death. The darkest times of our lives are
really chances for God to do miraculous births in our hearts. It is
during those times when we are overwhelmed by the darkness, that we
give up and sit down in despair, that we are most susceptible to seeing
that faint light of dawn that lights the way of peace. Jesus would guide
our feet into the way of peace, but usually we are so busy and distracted
that even though we are "allright", we are nowhere near the
way of peace. But when the trouble comes, when we have fought and lost,
flown but not escaped, when we are overwhelmed and despair of finding
our way out again, that is when Jesus can do the miracle in our hearts.
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