“Zechariah’s Question” (Luke 1:5-20) - Hope Is on the Way I –

“Zechariah’s Question” (Luke 1:5-20)

- Hope Is on the Way I –

“I Was Still Eating Sugar”

There is a story told about Mahatma Gandhi. One day a lady brought her son and said to Gandhi, "Sir, my son eats too much sugar. Would you please tell him to stop?" Gandhi answered, "Please, bring your child back next week." So, the next week she brought the child again. Gandhi said to her son, “Stop eating sugar child.” And the child did. A month later the mother came back and asked Gandhi, “My child has done what you asked, but why could you not have spoken to him the first time I came?” Gandhi answered to the woman, “A week earlier I was still eating sugar." Gandhi needed at least a week to prepare himself.

Advent: A Time of Preparation

Advent is a time of preparation. Today we meet a man who needed nine months to prepare his heart. His name is Zechariah. He was a priest. He was upright and blameless before God and observed all God's laws. In today's terms, he was a good Christian. But, there was one great concern for him. He and his wife had no child through old age. That brought great disappointment and disgrace in their lives (v.25). So, Zechariah prayed hard to have a baby for a long time. One day an angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, "Your prayer has been heard. You will have a child." His prayer is heard. This is great news. Zechariah’s proper response should be, "Amen! Thank for hearing my prayer. Praise the Lord!” But in reality it was not. He doubted and said, "How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years" (v.18). This good news was too much for him to accept as the truth. This good news uncovered his reality, his lack of faith. When God calls, we should respond. God’s call always invites us to reorganize our former way of life. But, Zachariah was not ready. He was not ready to bring up a prophet. He was not ready to bring up a martyr. Many faithful believers are in the same boat. We know God's will is always good, pleasing, and perfect. But we often forget his call is also radical and beyond understanding. When God reveals his will, many of us say, "Lord, please slow down. I know what you mean. But, it is too much for me. I am happy with where I am spiritually, so I will follow you at my own pace." This is exactly what Zechariah said to the angel. He needed more time to be prepared. God graciously gave a special time for him to reflect. For about nine months Zechariah became mute. For nine months he had a quiet time with God alone. For nine months he set aside himself to study, mediate, and pray to see if the Scriptures really supported what the angel said.

Advent: A Time of Transformation 

Advent is a time of preparation. It is also a time of transformation. After nine months had passed, Zachariah’s wife, Elizabeth gave birth to a son. On the eighth day the relatives and neighbors came to celebrate and circumcise the baby, and according to the Jewish tradition they were going to name the baby after his father's name. But, his mother said, "No! He is to be called John!" So, they asked his father. Zechariah wrote on a tablet, "His name is John!" Then, immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak and praise God. His attitude totally changed. He became a different person. So, something must have happened in the meantime. What happened to Zechariah? The answer is, Zechariah found the “Incomparable Christ.” As he believed and received this Christ, it became a life-transforming experience. In the same way, as we receive the same incomparable Christ, Advent can be a time of life-transformation. In particular, we meet the Christ whom Zachariah found in his prophetical praise written in vv. 68-75.

Jesus Christ, the Savior (vv.68-75)

Zechariah found the Christ who was Savior – his personal Savior and the Savior of the world. For nine months Zechariah was able to see a desperate and hopeless state of his soul and Israel. In the past he thought he was ok, but when God came to him and opened his spiritual eyes, he was then able to see the truth. The truth was that Israel and he himself were living in darkness and in the shadow of death. Then, he saw the light, the rising sun, who was Jesus Christ, the Savior, would come to shine upon them and to guide them to the path of peace. The strategy of the enemy is always to keep us from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ (2Co 4:4). In particular, the strategy of the enemy in our culture is to dilute the gospel with many other virtues and make the gospel powerless and lifeless. But salvation comes no other way; no other name has been or will be given to us by which we can be saved, only Jesus Christ our Lord (Acts 4:12).

There are countless people who accept Jesus as Savior and surrender their lives to him. All of them have one thing in common. They acknowledge Jesus Christ to be at the center of their conversion experience. Sundar Singh is one of many examples. He was born in 1889 into a rich family in India, and he grew up to hate Christianity as a foreign religion. He even expressed his hostility at the age of fifteen. He publicly burned a Gospel book. But three days later he was converted through a vision of Christ, and in his late teens, he determined to become an itinerary preacher. On one occasion Sundar Singh visited a Hindu college, and a professor accosted him aggressively and asked, “What have you found in Christianity that you don’t have in your old religion?” Sundar Singh replied, “I have Christ.” The professor continued impatiently, “Yes, I know, but what particular principle or doctrine have you found that you did not have before?” Sundar Singh replied, “The particular thing I have found is Christ.” What we must have is Christ, not institution or doctrine. What we must preach is good news of salvation through Christ, nothing more nothing less.

My Child, the Voice of One Calling in the Desert (vv.76-79)

Zechariah found the incomparable Christ, and it transformed his life. Probably, for Zechariah the child used to be the first priority in his life. But, when he found the Christ, he surrendered his child, his precious, to the Lord. In verse 80 the Bible says, “And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel.” How would any parents want their child to live in the desert? But, when Zechariah found the Christ, he was willingly able to reorganize his former way of life and to surrender his child without reserve.

Two Questions

We can learn important spiritual lessons from the story of Zechariah. Sometimes righteous people do have disappointments in life. Sometimes the answer to their disappointment is not clear. Whether it be the absence of a child, a financial collapse, a fatal disease, or an unfortunate accident, the hard times are not always self-explanatory. We must not see struggles in life as evidence of the consequences of sin. God never guarantees that life will come without pain and disappointment. The central issue is how we handle it. God gave Zechariah nine months to reflect on his lack of faith. Zechariah did not take this period of time as a punishment but as a honeymoon period with God. In spite of his personal disappointment, he faithfully served God and waited patiently on him. And finally in God’s time, his eyes saw God’s salvation.

It is well known that professional mountain climbers climb high mountains around or after midnight. It is obviously against our common sense. Around midnight our physical condition is worst. But for high mountain climbing midnight is the prime time because snow is frozen hard and it reduces the risk of avalanches the most. Perhaps you are going through the valley of disappointment in life. Perhaps you are getting weary and tired of enduring life. But in God’s eyes this hard time might be a golden opportunity for you to find the Christ in special ways. Advent begins today. It is a special time to check our relationship with Christ. It is a time of preparation. And it is also a time of transformation. As we wait on Christ and receive him, Advent can be a life-transforming experience. As we enter this Advent season, I would like to ask you two questions. (1) Have you received Jesus Christ as your personal Savior? If you have not, wouldn’t you like to receive Him into your life, to make a transforming difference for you? (2) If you have received Christ, how would you renew your commitment to Him? When Christ comes to our lives, we cannot remain the same. My prayer is that all of us in this room may find this incomparable Christ and experience transformation of life in this season of Advent. Amen.