Luke 1:11-20
"And then appeared unto him an angel of the Lord 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 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. And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. 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. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. 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. And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years. 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. 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," Luke 1:11-20.
To set the right perspective in our minds, let us bring to remembrance the days in which this is taking place. The days were evil. The rulers of that day hated God, and they hated God's people. They were willing to kill anyone that stood in their way, or threatened them in any way. The religious system was no different. The high priest had turned the house of God into a den of thieves. The elites were getting richer and more powerful, and they viewed the people as a means to fulfill their lustful ends. Yet through all this there were those whom the Lord had saved. We have been looking at two of these people, Zacharias and his wife Elisabeth. The bible clearly states that they were righteous. "And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless," Luke 1:6. They were busy in the ministry where the Lord had them. What kept them going? What kept them from compromising?
In the Old Testament economy, the Lord spoke to His people through the prophets. There would be warnings, promises, blessings, and cursing. It had been four hundred years since the Lord had sent a new prophet to the nation of Israel. It had been four hundred years since the Lord sent an angel to the nation of Israel. There hadn't been a miracle in over five hundred years, and there hadn't been a time of multiple miracles in over eight hundred years. Depending on your sources, the last Old Testament book that was written would either be Malachi or Nehemiah. The books of the bible are not in chronological order. The point here is that God had been silent for four hundred years. No prophets, no visits from angels, no miracles, no new Scripture. What happens when you are expecting prophets, visits from angels, miracles, and new Scripture? If this is what people are expecting, but not getting, they tend to fabricate these things. We see this in our day where people are wanting fresh fire so they make or appoint themselves as prophets; they claim to have angelic encounters, continually; multitudes claim to be able to work miracles; and the amount of people who say God speaks directly to them from heaven today is mindboggling. We know these things and we know how to recognize these things. Since we know the truth, we are able to stay away from these errors.
There are some things that can sneak up on us, even creep in and we not realize it. One of these things is complacency. Picture Zacharias and Elisabeth, and others like them, faithfully serving the Lord. They are doing their priestly duties. They are living a God honoring life. They are expecting the Messiah, and the forerunner of the Messiah, but they did not think it would happen during their time, and surely they would not be directly involved (Luke 1:18). They knew the Scriptures regarding these things (Luke 1:13-17). They were up in age and had heard these Scriptures their whole lives.
We have no doubt that Zacharias was excited about getting to burn the incense and that Elisabeth was excited for him, but had they become complacent in their service for the Lord? Did they find themselves just going through the motions? We cannot be dogmatic with an answer, but we can examine our own lives and our service for the Lord. They were looking for the first advent of the Messiah, we are looking for the second advent of the Messiah. We know Christ came, we know Christ completely finished His work of redemption on the cross, we know Christ ascended back to His Father in heaven, we know Christ ever lives to make intercession for us, and we know Christ is coming back. Do we really think Christ will come back during our lifetime?
Our faith is built upon the Scriptures. We have the Old and New Testaments. We read and learn about the promises God has already fulfilled. We read and learn about the promises God is going to fulfill. When the Lord first saves us we have a hunger and a desire to learn, and we are looking for His return, but if we are not careful, over time we can become complacent and find ourselves just going through the motions. We struggle with the sinfulness and laziness of our flesh. The spirit is truly willing, but the flesh is weak. Add to our flesh this scoffing world (II Peter 3:1-18) and if we are not careful these things can negatively affect our walk with the Lord. We are to be a people who love His appearing. A result of this is we will continue to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and we will continue fighting sin in our lives (I John 3:1-3).
Our God is good and faithful. Think about how good He has been to you. Turn to Psalm 23. God does this for His name's sake. God is good and faithful to us for His name's sake. We have His Word. We are not looking for prophets, angels, miracles, etc., we are living looking for His return. In examining your life, have you become complacent? If you have, then your prayer and bible time will also show it. The words you say is also an indicator of where your heart is. If you know you have grown complacent, confess it as sin, and turn to the Lord. Get back to prayer and bible study. Our God is worthy to serve. What do we do when it seems like heaven is brass and we do not feel spiritual? Remain faithful.
If your life is summed up by saying you are never faithful to the Lord, then more than likely Jesus Christ has not saved your soul. I beg you to trust Christ alone to save your soul and to deliver you from the penalty of your sins, which is God's wrath for eternity.
Please send questions and comments to richardsonbaptistchurch@gmail.com. Soli Deo Gloria.
