LOC 003:Life of Christ: The
Forerunner’s Family
In the Ancient Near East, it was customary for a king to have a
messenger or a herald who would announce his appearance. The crown prince’s birth would be heralded
throughout the land and to other allies.
A new King’s coronation would also be announced. It was a time of great pomp and
circumstance. Luke, writing to show how
the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled God’s ancient purposes towards
the Gentiles, tells us of the announcement of the one who would announce the
coming of the King of Kings.
For 400 years there had been no prophetic word from God. No prophet, no king, no faithfulness to the
covenant in Judaism. There were only a
few who sought to be a faithful remnant before GOD to be his witness on the
earth.
It was this little band of faithful followers who would have
expected something great to happen, when the time was right. The would have
looked for the royal herald pointing to God’s way of salvation. Malachi, that last prophet who spoke for God,
said, MAL 3:1 "Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way
before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even
the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,"
Says the LORD of hosts.
400 years before God said it. He would send his messenger to
prepare his way. Then the Lord will
suddenly appear. The messenger would come to point to the one with the message
of GOOD NEWS for men.
It was not an accident of timing.
The messenger would be sent in God’s good and perfect timing. God didn’t just choose the best man available
in the circumstances with some sort of supernatural ability to adapt to all
contingencies--God sent forth his choice messenger at the perfect time. If the Lord Jesus Christ was sent forth in
the fullness of time (Gal 4:4), shouldn’t we understand the same to be true of
his forerunner? We certainly
should! God does things by design, not
by adaptation. He is not a divine
chameleon, he is the sovereign God of all things.
All of Israel should have been looking for the messenger. He had
to come before the Messiah, God’s Deliverer, could come. He is significant.
Turn to Luke 1:5ff. This narrative is going to sound
familiar. That’s okay! We looked at this passage a month ago with
special reference to Angels, the fierce warrior messengers of God. Today we are looking at it with reference to
John the Baptist, the forerunner of God’s Messiah. It’s amazing how a different
focus allows the text to say so much to many issues.
Luke 1:5 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. 6 And they were both righteous
before God, walking in all the
commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
7 But they had no
child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years. 8 So it was, that while he was serving as
priest before God in the order of his division, 9 according to the custom of
the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense
when he went into the temple of the Lord. 10 And the whole multitude of the
people was praying outside at the hour of incense. 11 Then an angel of the Lord
appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 12 And
when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.
13 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. 14 "And you will have joy and gladness, and
many will rejoice at his birth.
Without even addressing the direct significance of John the
Baptist, let’s first look at the profound godliness of the family into which
God sent him. There are at least three
important points to be made:
1. They were righteous before God
2. Zacharias was faithful in his work
3. They were persevering in prayer
1. They were righteous before God
Given the natural leanings of men’s hearts and mnds, this is an amazing thing to be said of anyone. The
text says, “6 And they were both righteous
before God, walking in all the
commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.”
In the Scriptures there are three kinds of righteousness to be
found true of or in people:
A. Self-righteousness
B. Imputed Righteousness
C. Righteousness as a work of the Holy Spirit
A. Self-righteousness is
not really righteousness at all. It is
always condemned in strong terms. ISA 64:6 But we are all like an unclean
thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away. This isn’t the
righteousness of Zacharias.
B. Imputed Righteousness
This is where the righteousness of another is placed on another’s
account. It is external or alien
righteousness. It comes to our account or credit from outside of us. This is
the sort of righteousness which was found in Abraham in GEN 15:6 And he believed in the LORD, and
[the Lord] accounted it to him for righteousness.
This is a true righteousness given by God without respect to
things we do. It is by God’s declaration
alone. It is his pronouncement to make
as judge of all.
ROM 4:6 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to
whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:
Speaking of Abraham’s righteousness, Paul adds, ROM 4:24 “but also
for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our
Lord from the dead.”
This is how men are justified before God. He places the righteousness of another on
their account in the heavenly record books.
Yet, this doesn’t fit the language of the text that tells us of
Zacharias. Remember it said, Luke 1:6
And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and
ordinances of the Lord blameless. This
is a righteousness before God based on the way they carried themselves,
apparently. It is not
self-righteousness, it is not imputed righteousness, it must be the third form,
C. Righteousness as a work of the Holy Spirit in God’s people
This is the type of true righteousness unbelieving people try to
mimic. This work of God’s Spirit unto
righteousness or holiness is not based on man’s works alone, but on the work of
the Holy Spirit in those who believe.
There is a working of God in those who are his that is to produce
what the Apostle Paul calls the obedience of Faith.
Writing about the apostles and their ministry we said, ROM 1:5
Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith
among all nations for His name,
And writing about all who believe he also says, ROM 16:26 but now
has been made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures has been made known to
all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience
to the faith--
One of the purposes of God in giving salvation is bring believers
to obey the commandment of God unto obedience to the faith. God works his grace in men to save them and
to sanctify them. Sanctify id the fancy
word for working righteousness and holiness in them.
The book of Romans is built upon over 75 OT references. It is demonstrating the power of God in the
Gospel based upon the Jewish Scriptures.
In chapter 8, the Apostle deals with this this third form of righteousness.
Righteousness as a work of God by his spirit in his people.
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are
in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the
Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free
from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was
weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of
sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the
righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk
according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live
according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those
who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
God’s work in us, by his Spirit, is so the righteous requirements
of the LAW might be fulfilled in us...who live in accord with the Spirit and the
things of the Spirit. The primary thing
of the Spirit is of course the Word of God which he breathed out to man.
Remember, the third form of righteousness is never to be separated
from the second. We can distinguish
between the types, but we must not separate them in reality. Without the imputation of Christ’s
righteousness there can be no work of inner holiness. All there will be is a perception of
self-righteousness--people defining themselves not by what they are by virtue
of God’s grace, but by what they do outwardly.
Self-righteousness is the greatest problem in Evangelical circles next
to Pride.
This is the internal work of the Holy Spirit that was at work in
Zacharias and his wife. This is the only
basis for Luke to say, Luke 1:6 And they were both righteous before God,
walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
Zacharias was commended for his obedience to God. A whole-souled desire to walk before God
blamelessly. I think he puts us to
shame.
2. Zacharias was faithful in his work
In Israel, one did not choose to be a priest, one was born to
serve. Even is Zacharias had designs to
be a chariot racer as a child, the reality was that he was born into a priestly
family and God’s people would be served.
The text tells us two important things, (1) he was an old man and (2) he
was given a special opportunity that day.
Luke 1:7 But they had
no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and (1) they were both well advanced in
years.
8 So it was, that
while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, 9
according to the custom of the priesthood, (2) his lot fell to burn incense
when he went into the temple of the Lord. 10 And the whole multitude of the
people was praying outside at the hour of incense.
For all of his lifetime he had served God and God’s people at the
Temple in Jerusalem. During his six-month tour of duty, there was a lot drawn
to see who would get the once in a lifetime opportunity to go into the inner
room and burn insence as an offering to God.
The lot fell to Zacharias.
Was Zacharias just lucky that day?
Who controlled even the casting of the lot in order to accomplish his
purpose in sending the Messiah? It is
amazing. God is in the minute details as
as well as the one behind the big picture.
It was during this time when Zacharias was in the inner room with
the insence that he felt another presence.
An angel of the Lord came to announce to the father of the one who would
announce the coming of the Messiah that John would be born. Zacharias lived a life of radically faithful
obedience and obscurity for the sake of serving God and God’s people. For many
years he gave himself to the work of service.
We have seen how Zacharias and his wife were righteous before God
and hos Zacharias was faithful to his calling in obscurity for many years. The thirs point we need to see is that ...
3. They were persevering in prayer
The text says, Luke 1:13 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.
14 "And you will
have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.
Zacharias, the prayer you have perpetually offered for a great
while is heard and soon you shall have the answer. Your wife, Elizabeth will have a son named
John.
Zacharias was a priest, but also a man of prayer. For decades he and his wife must have prayed
for a child, just one perhaps. In Jewish society there was a stigma placed on
childless couples. This was their reproach mentioned in verse 7 “But they had
no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in
years.” Luke is showing God as one who
works in and through the details of life.
What a time for God to open her womb.
It was God’s purpose. God used
the prayers of his righteous son and daughter for many years in order to
accomplish a redemptive purpose--the sending of John who would Luke 1:16
"And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their
God.” What a remarkable God, what an
amazing grace he has to dispense.
There are three parallel applications that need to be made:
1. The need for righteous parents
2. The need for men to be faithful in their work
3. They need to be perservering in prayer
1. The need for righteous parents
What a blessing it is to have at least one righteous parent. Two is even better, but only one is still a
blessing from God. Children, when your
parents correct you with the Scriptures it is meant to be for your good--even
though you don’t like it. God often
works through parents to bring children to faith in Christ. Don’t think they are boring or backwards
because they tell you of God and his ways.
It is the most loving thing that they can do for you.
Parents, don’t be content to rest on the notion of imputed
righteousness. Seek the Spirit’s work in
you that you might do less by the flesh and more in line with the things of the
Spirit. If you don’t, you’ll stifle your children frustrating them to no end
and they will be the first to see you as a hypocrite--one who says one thing
only to do another.
Our children need not just parents, but righteous parents who are
“walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.” What a calling! What a vocation! Even when you sin, you can handle it in a
righteous way. Do you admit and
apologize to your children when you have wronged them? Have you made promises and not carried
through on them. Have you given your
children reason to doubt your truthfulness and to consider your words as
unreliable. If so, you need to seek
their forgiveness. In this they will see
your desire to live righteously and godly in this present age.
2. The need for men to be faithful in their work
Christian fathers have three fultime occupations. First they are heads of the home as fathers
and husbands. Secondly, they are to be
gainfully employed to the glory of God in order to provide for their first
occupation. Thirdly, they are to be
priests serving God.
As husbands they are to love their wives in the same way that he
cares for himself and as Christ loved the Church, --
EPH 5:28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own
bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself.
EPH 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the
church and gave Himself for her,
As fathers they are to love and nurture their children -- EPH 6:4 And you, fathers, do not provoke
your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the
Lord.
As priests, now wait a minute.......what is this priest stuff?
1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you
may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His
marvelous light;
There is no special class of priests within Christendom. The Bible in 1 Peter and in Revelation
implies that all believers are priests.
Isn’t the priesthood of believers a sacrosanct doctrine.
Premise 1:Every one in the holy nation is a priest.
Premise 2: By God’s grace I am in the Holy Nation.
Therefore: I am a priest,
If all Christians are priests, it surely follows that all
Christian men are priests. You might say
yes and still be uncomfortable because of how this idea is usually used. It is usually a justification for any
believer to do and believe whatever they want to do based on their conscience
alone. Or, those of you from a more
liturgical and hierarchical background remember that priesthood is used to
justify a special class of men given over to the church. The real priesthood encompasses all who are
God’s children by virtue of the new birth.
Looking just at Zacharias as an example of a righteous priest, how
are priests supposed to act? They set
the pattern for serving the needs of God and his people. God’s priests give
themselves to serve God by serving one another.
They give sacrificially for the good of others. They are men of persevering prayer.
If someone wants to assert the doctrine of the preisthhood of each
and every believer to justify things that are unscriptural at that point they
become an unfaithful priest. Serving God
and his people is in accord with righteousness unto holiness. Not for what we get out of itm, but that
God’s glory would be found in the Church as much as it was in the temple of
old.
3. They need to be persevering in prayer
For many years, Zacharias and Elizabeth prayed for a child. In God’s sovereign purpose the persevered in
life and in prayer. They did not become
discouraged when their prayers were not answered immediately. They kept praying. Prayer to God was as natural to them as breathing.
They continued to pray no matter what.
Do you endure in praying for others, your church, your family,
your neighbors, your co-workers? Do you give up when answers don’t come
immediately in line with what you thought should happen? Sometimes God needs to teach us a lesson, so
that we rely upon him and his timing for all things.
God uses pray to accomplish his good purposes in remarkable and
mysterious ways. We can’t always figure
out what God is doing. The common cliche
says, Prayer changes things.” The major
thing prayer ought to change is us--to persevere for God to do what we really
need and what will glorify him most. We
are so selfish in the way we pray.
May God work these things in us who are human and weak, just like
Zacharias and Elizabeth. May he use us
to point to the Lord Jesus Christ and to raise children who will do likewise in
the future. It is about Him, the Lord
Jesus Christ, and not about ourselves.
Let us live pointing to him and the message of salvation while showing
others the way to life everlasting.
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