Dr. Kevin DeYoung | A People Prepared

Sunday Morning, November 30, 2025
Given by Dr. Kevin DeYoung | Senior Pastor, Christ Covenant Church

A People Prepared

Luke 1:5-25

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Transcript

Let's come to the Lord in prayer once more. 

Gracious heavenly Father, what good news we have just sung. Remind us, now and throughout these next weeks, when we think about these sweet, often familiar scenes – perhaps see around town, or in our own homes, a nativity set. We think of the precious baby Jesus, and precious he is. May we also remember that the one born to the Virgin Mary was and is the son of God, the second person of the Trinity, very and eternal God, equal with the Father, of the same essence of the Father, who came down to take on man's nature in the fullness of time. So, help us that we may be a remembering people, a worshiping people, and a believing people. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Please turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 1. We’ll be reading verses 5-25. So, we spend these several weeks leading up to Christmas in the beginning of Luke's gospel. Some of these familiar scenes of the Christmas story are actually leading up to the Christmas story itself. Remember last week in the opening paragraph where Luke explains that he has endeavored to give an orderly account. Yes, he's superintended by the Holy Spirit so that what he writes down is from God, inspired, without error. But at the same time, he's using his intellect, his personality, his skill as a historian, as a thinker, and he's pulling together all of these bits of information. You can almost imagine him with scraps of notes or ideas in his head, as he has listened and contacted eyewitnesses, and he has all of this material together, and you think, “What does he start the story with?” There are four gospels, and they all start in a different way. John starts with that magnificent prologue – “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God” – and then moves right into the ministry. Mark's gospel does a little introduction of John the Baptist and then Jesus’ baptism. Matthew tells the Christmas story, but he starts with the genealogy for his own purposes. So, it's striking that Luke begins this story not with Jesus (we know that's coming), not even with Mary and Joseph (we'll get to that), not even with John the Baptist (though he's going to show up here in a few verses). But rather, unique to Luke's gospel, he starts not with Jesus or his parents or John who will prepare for Jesus, but with John's mother and father. There's good reason that he does so, introducing to us not only the Christmas story, but really the purpose of this whole gospel. Beginning at verse 5, we read:

"In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah of the division of Abijah, and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years. Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been 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 before the Lord, and he must not drink wine or strong drink. And he will 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. And he will 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 for the Lord a people prepared.’ And Zechariah said to the angel, ‘How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.’ And the angel answered him, ‘I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.’ And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them. And they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute. And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home. After these days, his wife, Elizabeth, conceived. And for five months, she kept herself hidden, saying, ‘Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.’”

We can look at this story on two levels. The personal level – we have many familiar elements for many of us and familiar names as the Christmas story unfolds. I like to think of it as just find the DeYoung children somewhere in the Christmas story. We thought about Joseph for one of our later boys, but we already had a Mary and an Elizabeth, and Ian is just Scottish for John, and his middle name is Zechariah. So, it seemed a little presumptuous to throw in a Gabriel or any more children into the Christmas story. Many of you know this story, and one way to understand it is on a personal level. It's a personally moving story for this couple and their new child. 

But we can also look at it on the epochal level. That's the word epoch – epic, epoch – epochal. So, we can look at this on a personal level, dealing with the people in the story, and then at the level of one epoch to another – a new day dawning in Israel, a page turning in the history of the world. So, I want us to look at this story on those two levels, and then at the end, we'll see how they intersect. 

So first, then, the personal level. We can look at this through four different scenes. First paragraph: we find a masterful introduction. Luke is really good at what he's doing. He's very smart. He's a very good, careful, precise writer, and he has crammed a lot into this opening paragraph. He reminds us again that he is giving us an orderly account. He notes out these historical geographic markers – “in the days of Herod, king of Judea.” So we are in a real place that everyone would have recognized – Judea – it's there on the map, they know where it is. Herod – everyone knew who Herod was. They call him king of the Jews. He wasn't really a king. He was sort of a vassal servant of the Roman Empire. Different Herods ruled throughout this time in Israel's history. So, we're here, not in myth, not in legend, but in fact, in history, and he introduces to us the two main characters at the beginning of this story. First, there was a priest named Zechariah. His name, Zechariah, means Yahweh. That's the ending part – Yah – when you see that at the end of Jewish names, that's short for Yahweh. Yahweh has remembered again. And we're not drawing attention to the meaning of his name, but surely there's some significance, because this whole story is about God once again remembering his people. Bless the Lord, oh my soul. Forget not all his benefits. We are a forgetting people. You could summarize the Christian life in remembering what we ought to remember and knowing what God has forgotten. He forgets, as it were, our sins – removes them as far as the east is from the west. He remembers his covenant promises. 

Here's Zechariah, a priest. He's from the ancient priestly clan of Abijah. And he's married to a woman who also comes from a priestly line – Elizabeth, one of the daughters of Aaron. Recall that Aaron's wife, Exodus 6:23, was named Elisheba, just another version of Elizabeth, Aaron, Moses' brother, the first high priest – his wife was Elizabeth, a common name in the first century, and a common name among the Jews. So, we have these two people, Zechariah and Elizabeth. They both come from a noble, priestly lineage, and they're godly. Look at verse 6: “They were righteous before God.” Now, this is not a reference to the righteousness that comes by God counting to us the righteousness of Christ. This is not justification. This is simply saying, “This was an obedient couple.” In fact, look at the next description: “walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.” Some of us get tripped up with language like this. But this is common enough throughout the Bible. Blameless here does not mean flawless, sinless, perfection – we're going to see that Zechariah has unbelief in his heart – but rather blameless as marking out their character. Think about the requirement for an elder or deacon, that he must be above reproach. Doesn't mean that there's no sin in his life, but it means that you could look and see that here is an example of godly obedience, and when there is sin, there is quickly turning to the Lord and repentance and knowing forgiveness – blameless in walking in the statutes of the Lord. 

Just a little parentheses here: sometimes we describe the Christian life in such a way that all we can look forward to is unrelenting failure. Day after day, all you ever do is fail God. Now, praise God, he still sort of covers his eyes and looks at Jesus, and then you get to heaven, but he looks at you and he doesn't much care for you. That's not the story that we're told. This couple, there's nothing here to suggest that they've merited the Lord's favor, but God can look upon them. Remember Job? “Have you considered my servant Job? He's blameless in all his ways” – it's a way of describing, just as most of you would know, perhaps your spouse or a parent or a grandparent or some friend in the church, you would say, "Now, there's an example of what it means to be a Christian. There's someone who follows the Lord. There's someone who is sincere in their obedience." Let's not be more “spiritual” than the Bible is and act as if it is impossible to live a life – under God's grace, saved by his grace – that is then pleasing to him. The great commission: “Go into all the world, make disciples, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded them.” Some of us hear the great commission as if there were a little footnote that says, at the very bottom and squint print, “But of course, you can't obey anything.” No, Paul says in Romans that their obedience is known throughout the whole world, so here we have an exemplary, godly couple. You could hardly, in the span of two verses, present a more positive description of husband and wife than we have here with Zechariah, the priest from this priestly clan, who married Elizabeth, one of the daughters of Aaron, given the name of Aaron's wife, that ancient high priest, and they are righteous before God, and they walk in all of his ways. This is a godly, exemplary couple with a noble lineage and an exemplary faith. 

However, “but,” verse 7. Sometimes we encounter that adversative – that “but” – which then leads us to God's grace. Here, it leads us to a problem: “But they had no child.” In fact, you notice in quick succession three things that seemed to be wrong with this godly, great couple. They had no child. Elizabeth was barren, and to make matters worse, they were both advanced in years. We'll see at the very end that to be without children was considered a reproach, especially in that culture. Now, careful here. It doesn't mean that they had done anything wrong. In fact, Luke is making it abundantly clear: this is a godly, blameless couple. So, you can't say, "Well, they didn't have kids. I guess they're being punished for something." Obviously, they're not. They are exemplary in every way, and yet – as some of you have known this pain – they could not conceive. They could not have a child. And it is true in our day, and it would have been especially true in that day – for a godly couple like Zechariah and Elizabeth to go throughout life with countless prayers, and yet, after all of these years, now into old age, without a child must have been for them a sense of great grief and pain. And so, we're meeting, by Jewish standards, what should be this absolute success story of a family – priest, married to a descendant of a priest, righteous and blameless, but here's the problem. It didn't seem that they could have any kids. 

Now, as painful as that is, if you know your Bible, and the people who were first reading the Gospel of Luke, if they would have known their Hebrew scriptures, even with that pain, they would have had their interest piqued. Now, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Something big may be about to happen, because it seems that whenever we encounter a couple like this, and she can't have a child, there is something big on the horizon. Sarah couldn't have a child. Leah had kids. Rachel, at first unable to have a child. Hannah, who gave birth to Samuel. Samson's mother. So many times in the Old Testament, we read, “and the woman was unable to conceive and have a child,” and yet, it's preparing us for something extraordinary. Luke is masterfully setting the stage with this introduction. 

Next paragraph: second scene is a surprising visitation. He's a priest, and he serves – twice a year would have the opportunity to serve around the temple. We can piece things together pretty well from the Old Testament, from the Jewish first-century historian Josephus, and then from the Mishnah, which is a later Jewish source – a couple of centuries after the New Testament, but it often reflects practices during the New Testament. We can use all of that and piece together pretty well what this is talking about. 1 Corinthians – or rather, 1 Chronicles 24 – David organized the priesthood into 24 divisions. Aaron had four sons: Nadab and Abihu, and they were killed for offering unauthorized fire, and that left two sons of Aaron, Eleazar and Ithamar. And during David's day, they divided the priesthood into 16 clans from Eleazar, eight from the sons of Ithamar – so 24 divisions total. And you can read in 1 Chronicles 24, they cast lots to get the order, and sure enough, there's Abijah. He's eighth in the order. Well, each of these divisions would come to Jerusalem, or some families of the division would come to Jerusalem twice a year. You would be on duty for one week at two different periods – for 48 weeks out of the year, as they would have, with the lunar calendar, put things together. So twice a year, your division has to attend to the priestly duties. Wherever you are in Israel, you have to come. But everyone doesn't have to come. Those ancient sources tell us that there were about 750 priests in each of those 24 divisions. So 18,000 priests scattered throughout Israel. And your division comes up, and you have your week, and each of those divisions would consist of various priestly families that would serve a daily rotation. So you got your two weeks, and then your group has got a day, and you would go up and you would attend to the work of the temple. There are morning and evening sacrifices, and at those sacrifices in the temple – so, a lot of the work takes place outside in the courtyard where you offer the sacrifice, but you go in and inside the temple that holy place would be the table with the showbread, and then the lampstand, the seven lipped menorah, and then an altar of incense. And the offering of sacrifice inside the temple was to mirror the offering of the sacrifice outside the temple. So, to go in and be the priest – the morning sacrifice or the evening sacrifice – to go in and sprinkle the incense. Incense represents the prayers of the people. We see that in Revelation. We see that in the Old Testament. That's why we have the people, the multitude gathering here. We can guess that this is probably the early evening slash late afternoon, rather than the morning, because people throughout the history of the world like to sleep in in the morning. So, the bigger crowd was probably here, this one in the evening sacrifice. 

So your division is on the hook twice a year, and then your particular family or group of families would be there, and then you would get a lot to see who would have the inestimable privilege of going into the temple, sprinkling the sacrifice, the incense, on the altar. This was literally a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You could only receive this once, and it was chosen by lots because this was the Lord's way of saying, "I will determine." This was not a beauty contest. This was not a righteousness contest. This was not based on seniority or money, but by lots. And sure enough, it's his division, his family, his day. And there's the lot: Zachchariah, it's your turn. This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to enter into the holy place at the hour of incense and sprinkle there, as the people were praying outside, and offer a prayer for the nation. And there, on this greatest day of his life, it's about to get even better, but more fearful. There, on the right side of the altar of incense, we read, there's an angel. Now, we don't know for sure, but I think it's a pretty safe bet that Zechariah had never seen an angel before. Never even watched It's a Wonderful Life. He didn't – he hadn't seen an angel, at least not one he was aware of. Most of you, I think, have never seen an angel that you knew of. Hebrews says we might visit with angels unawares, but an angel revealed in its full glory. Standing right there is an angel. And just as people do throughout the Bible, when they encounter God or hear a messenger of God, he trembles. He's afraid. And the angel responds. He says, "Do not be afraid." 

And notice what he says in verse 13: “Zechariah, your prayer has been heard and your wife will bear you a son.” Now, we don't know exactly what prayer he has in mind. We know that Zechariah offered a prayer on behalf of the people. Later Jewish sources tell us that the people outside prayed this prayer: “May the merciful God enter the holy place and accept with favor the offering of his people.” So perhaps Zechariah prayed something like that. It was only a short prayer, maybe something from Psalm 4 or 5. It was just a couple of sentences, and as a righteous, devout, blameless priest, surely he stayed on script, and he prayed what he meant – what he was supposed to pray for the people. So when it says, “this prayer has been heard and your wife will bear a son,” almost certainly the angel means the prayers that you have been praying for years. All of those times, just as any couple would pray, “God, could you give us a child?” And all of those years, the answer was no. And sometimes the answer is no. And sometimes after no, no, no, there is a surprising yes. The angel says, "Your prayers have been heard, and you will have a son, and you shall call his name John. Now that's surprising, because it's not a family name. We'll come to that in the weeks ahead. But it also is striking, because it was normally the responsibility of the parents, just as it is today – or in particular, in that culture, the father – to name the child. And when God interrupts that normal process, it's usually because that child has some special purpose. Adam, in the garden, was given the right to name the animals. It was representative of his authority. And so, when God says, "Alright, you're going to have a child, but time out – you don't have to get the baby book – I'm telling you his name." It's because I have this one chosen for a special purpose, and you shall call his name John. 

And truly, this was no ordinary child. Look at what the angel announces, heaping up all of these special events and occupations and occurrences for this baby. Many will rejoice at his coming. He will be great before the Lord. He will be set apart as an ascetic. That's what it means when it says no wine or strong drink. Those are not the same things, but strong drink means some fermented alcoholic beverage that doesn't come from the vine – so wine was the lesser strong alcohol, and this would be barley beer or something. No wine or beer for this child. Now, it's not exactly a Nazirite vow, but it's a way of saying he's going to be an ascetic, he's going to be a prophet, he is going to come from the wilderness. “He will be filled with the Holy Spirit” – do you see that, verse 15? – “even from his mother's womb.” It may be that you were given that seed of regeneration even before you were born. Who's to say that's not what happened to you? Who's to say that God is not at work? Many of us will grow up, and this is what I say when there's a baptism, and we want to never know a day when we didn't know Jesus. And many of us cannot pinpoint and say, you know, that's the day I think I was born again. It may have even happened that the Holy Spirit began working in your life before you ever saw the light of this world and you were there in your mother's womb. And doesn't this tell us something, also, about the preciousness of life in the womb? That this child is already the object of the Holy Spirit's work, lest any would be tempted to snuff out the life of an unborn child or allow and provide legislation that would give the right to snuff out the life of one who may be the object of the Holy Spirit's work. This is a full human person from the womb. John was gifted with the Holy Spirit. The angel says he will come in the spirit and the power of Elijah. Jesus will later say, of those born of women in the normal way, no one has been greater than John the Baptist. That's how significant the birth of this child is. 

The next paragraph, we come to scene three: an incredulous priest. Now, you look at verse 18, you can sympathize with Zechariah. I'm sympathetic to this question. How shall I know this? Think about it. This is a pretty big day for Zechariah. I can understand the question uppermost in his mind. First of all, it's our day, my family's day, to attend to the service of the temple, and then my once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go and offer the incense in the holy place. Man, this is a day. And then, when I get in there, I see an angel. And then the angel talks to me, and he tells me that my wife is going to have a child. And then that's not all, but this child is blowing my mind, is coming in the power and the spirit of Elijah. Yeah, you would have some questions, too. So he says, just like so many throughout the Bible, how? I mean, Abraham asked for a sign. Gideon asked for a sign. Hezekiah, Ahaz, they all asked for a sign. How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and – how can I put this delicately? – my wife, she's advanced. Advanced in years is my wife. I'm old. She's gifted in the number of years that she's been given. I don't know how many years, but she’s advanced in years. And look at what the angel says: “I am Gabriel.” You notice how Zechariah introduced himself: “I am old.” The angel says, "So? I'm Gabriel." In fact, he says three things: I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you this good news. You know what we do with God's word? We don't, most of us, immediately say, "Well, I, no, I don't like God's word." You take it, but so many of us take God's word, and we put it in the balance, on the scale, and we say, "Okay, that's – I get it. That's weighty to me. I'm a Christian. I believe God's word. I'm going to look at that, but you know what? I got some other things to put in the scale. I've not seen miracles. I've not seen angels before.” 

So here, Zechariah, for all of his godliness, he gets the word, and then he has, in this side of the scale, I'm old, and my wife is advanced in years. Gabriel says, "So? I'm not even just an angel. I'm an archangel." One of two named angels in the Bible. Michael is the angel who's depicted in Daniel and in Revelation as the one who fights for God's people. He sort of does the heavenly fight, mirroring the earthly fight. And then Gabriel is the announcing angel. I was sent to bring you this good news, but you did not have ears to hear it, so no one shall hear from you until it's fulfilled. See, the punishment fits the crime. There's a grace to it. He doesn't strike him dead like God did with Nadab and Abihu in the Old Testament. He just says, "You didn't have ears to hear it, so no one will have ears to hear from you until this thing is fulfilled." Meanwhile, outside, verse 21, there's a delay. People were waiting, and you can understand there's probably hundreds of people gathered here, wondering what's happened. Later Jewish sources, again, suggest, and this may have been the practice, that four priests would attend that priest to make sure that he made it out of the holy place alive. Tells us that he was to offer a short prayer, lest the people begin to worry, because as he goes into the holy place and this lasts more than 30 seconds, a minute, two minutes, people are – well, they don't have watches, but they would look at the tan line and say, "What?" And look at this. So, what's going on? Where is he? You can get the sense the crowd is starting to talk, starting to murmur. Where is he? What's happened? Where did Zechariah go? And he comes out, and he tries to say something. Speak up! He's trying to do something. 

Do you see again how the Bible is – this is a public event? I'm reading this biography of Joseph Smith, who, according to the Mormon faith, found the golden plates and never, ever showed them to anyone, and they have revelations of how to interpret them. No, this is not some just private revelation that happens somewhere. This is a public event. Luke has compiled these things. There were, no doubt, hundreds of people who could have said, "Oh, yeah. I remember that day. Craziest day of my life. See, we were in the temple. We went to the evening sacrifice. We thought it'd be fun. You know, get the kids, let's go to the evening sacrifice. And, you know, Zechariah goes in, and then all of a sudden, we're waiting, we're waiting, and he comes out, and he's a mime. And he can't speak. Oh, I'll never forget that day. This was a public event, this dramatic delay. 

A surprising encounter, an incredulous priest, and then a grateful wife. Fourth scene in this last paragraph: “After these days, his wife Elizabeth conceived.” Surely Zechariah found some way to communicate and wrote something down or acted it out, and she understood what was happening. They conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden. We don't know for sure why she kept herself hidden, except it's connected there to what she says in verse 25: “The Lord has looked upon me to take away my reproach among people.” I think she's waiting until she has some visible proof. Can you imagine that this priestly couple, this priest and his wife, this godly couple – they had no doubt asked their friends many times, their family members. Zechariah, Elizabeth, how's it going? Could you pray for us? We really want to have a baby. Could you pray for us? Who knows that there might have been close calls. Maybe there was a miscarriage – I'm just speculating. Maybe there was a time where she told her friends, you know, I'm delayed this month. I think something might be happening. And it never did. And all of those months and all of those years and all of those prayers, that unique and exquisite pain, which some of you know too well, to celebrate with those who were with child and yet bear a sense of grief herself. No, no, no. She’s going to keep this hidden until she can finally emerge. She doesn't have to explain. Well, she will have to explain, but there's proof. Are you sure? No, I'm sure now. So, she keeps herself hidden for five months until what was impossible has become possible. 

You can understand, at one level, this is a poignant personal story. I picture that first paragraph like an opening musical montage in a movie. You know, the movie Up does this so well. It's so poignant, and it's makes you smile, then it makes you cry, where they tell the whole story of the couple falling in love and getting married and their ups and downs, and a child that didn't come, and then the wife died. It's beautifully done. That's this first paragraph. Luke's pulling all the strands. Let me introduce you to Zechariah and Elizabeth, of noble lineage and a godly couple, but they can't have a child. And then to the big day with Zechariah, the clan of Abijah, his family, the casting of lots, the dramatic encounter. He meets the angel. He gets this word. It's too good to be true. And so he doesn't quite believe it. He's chastised. And then maybe there's a scene of Zechariah returning home and he and Elizabeth holding hands, and they look into each other's eyes, and there's a believing smile and anticipation, and then a tiny baby bump and some tears of joy. This unexpected child would be a gift to his father and mother. It is a poignant personal story. But of course, it doesn't begin to explain the world-changing significance of this story. 

I said I had two points. Rest assured, the first point was 80% – 85. The personal level, but now finally the epochal – the level of epoch or epic or era or age. Because this is more than just an answered prayer. It's the answered prayer of a husband and a wife. And it's the answered prayer, though they didn't know it at the time, of an entire nation. The scene that Luke tells us very deliberately: “the whole multitude,” verse 10, “of the people were praying.” The nation is praying at the hour of incense. What are they praying for? They're praying for the Lord's blessing upon the nation. Would God's presence come into the temple? Would he bestow upon us all of the blessed promises of the Mosaic covenant? Yes and amen to those promises. A new period of blessing is beginning with this surprising act of grace for a couple whose fertility options seemed as good as dead. Yes, we're meant to think a new kind of Abraham and Sarah. And the prayers have been heard, not only from Zechariah and Elizabeth, but the prayers of the nation for centuries and centuries. Think of Malachi chapter 3, the last prophet in the Old Testament: “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, and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.” The very end of Malachi chapter 4: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” This is the fulfillment of that expectation, and it will be met with joy by many. 

It's also a parable enacted. Think of where this announcement comes – when he's in the temple, he's in the holy place among God's holy people. And yet, what do we know from Jesus’ ministry about the religion of Israel in the first century? Remember, he curses the fig tree, and that's a symbol of clearing out the temple, because Israelite religion had become, to so many of them, dead legalism. It had become just perfunctory ritual. It was like a fig tree that bore no figs. And so, here is a picture of the barrenness of Israel's religion to match the barrenness of Zechariah’s wife. And maybe even verse 23 is hinting at something: “When the time of service was ended, he went home.” Because we know from the rest of the New Testament that time of the priestly service is coming to an end. There will only be one priest, and that is the high priest, Jesus Christ, after the order of Melchizedek. And his priestly intercession will continue. But this whole priestly system is coming to an end, just like Zechariah's day came to an end, and he returned home. And surely you can see the connection between the silence of Zechariah and the silence that had befallen the nation of Israel for 400 years. Not since Malachi in the 400s BC had a prophet come, an inspired prophet to give the will of God to the people. 400 years. Think about – a lot has happened in the world since 1625. That's even before the Westminster Confession, on the cusp of the English Civil War. 400 years – all of that history, they had not heard. It had been a time of silence. And so the angel says, as it were, to Zechariah, "You shall be silent until the voice is born." Because in Luke chapter 3, when John announces his ministry, he quotes from Isaiah chapter 40 and declares that he is the voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Prepare ye the way for the Lord.” 

Silence in Israel. Silence in Zechariah until the voice is born. And the voice speaks of what? The word. From the silence to the voice who will announce and point to the word made flesh. He is going to be a unique prophet. Other prophets, for sure, announced good news, and they foretold the coming of the Messiah, but to John it would be given the privilege of saying, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Not just looking to the future, but declaring in the present, “It is he.” You notice in verses 16 and 17 what John's ministry is? Going, turning, preparing. He goes before the Lord. He turns. He turns – you think of John's message when he bursts on the scene is “repent.” He turns many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. We read, "He turns the hearts of the father to the children," which is a summary from Malachi, which also says, "He turns the hearts of the children to the fathers, and he will turn the disobedient to the wisdom of the just.” So he goes before, and then he turns, and he prepares. He makes ready. He announces. He preaches the good news and points to the one whose life, death, and resurrection will mean the forgiveness of our sins. 

So, we ought to end with this question, connecting the two: what does it mean that you and I would be a people prepared? That's the point, verse 17, “to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” How can we be prepared to receive the Christmas story in this Advent season? How can we be prepared for his second advent? Well, surely part of it is this turning – to turn to the true God, to turn from your sins. Notice there to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. Malachi says, "And the children to the fathers." You know what one of the signs – people talk about, are we having revival? Well, let's pray for it. Here's one of the signs from Spirit-wrought revivals. Families are reconciled. Fathers and children, husbands and wives. It's more than an emotive worship service. It's more than a vague spirituality. Children and fathers, parents and children, husbands and wives who were at each other's throats turn to each other. And it says the disobedient turn to the wisdom of the just. The foolish are turning aside from their foolishness, saying, "We've been believing the wrong things. We've been turning from the people who have wisdom, from God's messengers, from the aged, from the wise,” and they turn to them. That's what it looks like to be ready. 

And it means, as Luke's gospel will tell us, blessed are the poor. Matthew's gospel: blessed are the poor in spirit. Luke chapter 4: Jesus’ first day of ministry, he preached good news to the poor, which is not so much an economic designation as it is a spiritual designation, that you are brokenhearted enough to believe it. You can be brokenhearted and yet not believe. Zechariah and Elizabeth, no doubt they were brokenhearted. This was probably the singular pain in their life. And when the angel announced the good news, it was still too good to be true, and he could not immediately believe it. To be prepared, in this Christmas season, for this Advent and for the Advent to come, is to have the humility to receive the good news with joy and gladness. Gabriel was not very impressed with Zechariah's reasons, just like God is not impressed with your reasons for not believing in the good news. Yeah, but you don't understand what's happened to me. You don't understand the hurt in my life. But I'm old. But – no, no, no, no, no. “I'm Gabriel.” And Jesus can say, "I'm the son of God.” Don't you want to believe the good news? The good news that there is a way for your sins to be forgiven. The good news that the end of this life is not the end of your life. The good news that everything in history has changed. Whatever pain you encounter, whether God will answer the prayer in this life or in the next, there is a light shining in the midst of the darkness. This is glad tidings, found only in Christ. May we have hearts to receive it humbly and gladly. Let's pray. 

Father in heaven, help us to be a prepared people, that we may welcome this Emmanuel, this God with us, this one announced by the prophet John, a voice breaking the silence to announce to us the word made flesh. Make us ready. In his name we pray. Amen.