The 'Gospel to Zechariah' (Luke 1:5-25)

Backstory: God had called Abraham and had promised him multiple descendants and a homeland to bless the world (Genesis 12:1-3, 15, and 17). Then went down into Egypt for 400 years and became enslaved. God rescued them through Moses and brought into their homeland under Joshua, but they didn’t take full possession of it until God made David king over Israel. They were to obey God’s covenant and they would be God’s ‘treasured possession’ and God’s ‘holy nation’ (Exodus 19:4-6). But instead of being a ‘light to the nations’ they became idolatrous like the other nations. They were divided and the Northern kingdom was defeated and scattered by the Assyrians (722). Later, Southern kingdom was taken into Babylonian captivity for 70 years (586). God preserved them due to His promise to bless the world through Abraham and His promise to David of a perpetual kingship over God’s people (2 Samuel 7:12-14). They returned to the their land under Persian rule but their return from Exile never lived up to the glory prophesied by Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. They remained dominated in their land by first the Persians, then the Greeks and at the time of the Roman Empire they were longing for God to send a ‘conquering king’ liberate them from Roman rule and God sent them Jesus (Isaiah 42:1-9, 61:1-3)!  

Luke 1:5–25

⁵ Herod was king of Judea and he was known as ‘Herod the Great’. Herod was ‘great’ in the sense that he was a ‘great builder’ and his greatest project was his renovation of the Jerusalem Temple. Herod did this to validate his ‘kingship’, but Herod was an Idumean (descendant of Esau) and he wasn’t really even a ‘Jew’. Herod was a ‘great builder’ and a ‘great tyrant’, but Herod was not faithful to YHWH. He may have been called ‘Herod the great’ but he was not ‘great before the Lord’.

So Herod was no valid ‘King of the Jews’ for he was a descendant of Esau and not Jacob (Malachi 1:2-3). So Herod was a great builder, a great tyrant, and great impostor; and great friend of Rome, and of course he rebuilt the Jerusalem Temple (which was a great achievement) but that did not legitimize his ‘Kingship’ for he was not great before God.

At that time, there was a priest named Zechariah. Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth, were both from the ‘line of Aaron’ and so Zechariah was a genuine priest. Aaron was Israel’s first High Priest and Aaron was the brother of Moses. Moses, of course, was God’s great deliverer of Israel who rescued Abraham’s descendants out of Egyptian after being in that foreign land for 400 years.

Zechariah was genuine and ‘upright before the Lord’. In fact, both Zechariah and Elizabeth were and they were ‘blameless’ in their observance of the Lord’s commandments. They weren’t ‘sinless’ but they were dedicated to observing the ‘Law of Moses’ and they weren’t compromisers or hypocrites. They are said to be ‘blameless’ which doesn’t mean ‘sinless’ but this is reminiscent of God’s call upon Abraham’s life (Genesis 17:1). So they represent the ‘faithful remnant’ of Israel and yet they were childless, Elizabeth was barren and they were beyond childbearing years. Zechariah and Elizabeth were representatives of the ‘faithful remnant’ and their bareness depicted Israel’s condition.

Israel was supposed to be living in their land under God’s reign, and they and their land was to be wholly dedicated to the worship of YHWH. They were to faithfully observe the Mosaic covenant and they would be ‘God’s treasured possession’ and ‘God’s holy nation’. Consequently, as God’s ‘holy nation’ they were to be a ‘light to the nations’ (Exodus 19:5-6, Isaiah 42:6). They were to be a ‘kingdom of priests’ to the nations so that the other nations desire to go up to Jerusalem and learn the ways of the God of Jacob (Isaiah 2:3).

They returned to their land under the Persians but in a sense they were still in ‘Exile’ for they were living under Roman rule. They were a colonized, oppressed people living under Pagan domination and they were longing for God to send a rescuer to deliverer them from Rome and establish God’s reign. Their temple had been rebuilt by Herod and while it was a ‘magnificent structure’ but there was no evidence that God was really returned to that ‘Temple’. There was no manifestation of God’s presence like when Moses built the tabernacle (Exodus 40:34-35) or when Solomon dedicated the Temple (1 Kings 8:10-11). In a sense, Zechariah and the other priests were just going through the motions and much of Israel’s formal leadership were ‘compromised collaborators’ with Rome.

⁸ As a genuine Priest, Zechariah was privileged to serve at the temple which was designed to be the ‘special place of God’s dwelling’ among his people. However, was God really in the temple? Had they grown accustom to God being absent? In the providence of God, Zechariah had been chosen by lot to burn the incense at the altar while the people were assembled outside praying (Proverbs 16:33). They would have or should have been praying for the restoration of Israel, the coming of the Messiah and the internal transformation of heart that only God could produce. 

Much to Zechariah’s surprise, when he went into the temple ¹¹ an angel of the Lord appeared to him. ¹² Zechariah saw him, and he must have been awesome because Zechariah was gripped with fear! ¹³ This angel couldn’t be mistaken for a man (Lot, Sarah); his appearance must have been overwhelming (Judges 13:6-19). The angel tells Zechariah: “Don’t be afraid, your prayers have been heard. But what prayer had been heard? Was Zechariah praying for a son, a child to take away the shame of Zechariah’s barrenness or was he praying for the restoration of Israel and the coming of Messiah?

¹³ Was Zechariah in his old age praying persistently by bringing his request for a child before God? Was he praying expectantly for God to open Elizabeth’s womb and take away the cultural shame of not having a child? If so, then why was it so hard for him to believe this ‘gospel’ when he received the news that Elizabeth would bear him a son?  Even when the magnificent Angel Gabriel appeared to him it was so hard to believe that he asked for assurance. Hadn’t God opened the womb of a barren mother to deliver Israel from the Philistines through the ‘Judge Samson’? When God was going to raise-up Israel’s king David didn’t God open Hannah’s womb to give birth to the ‘king-maker’ Samuel? Even more so, hadn’t Abraham and Sarah been given their ‘child of promise’ Isaac when they were both over 90?  Was anything impossible for God?

Wouldn’t Zechariah have been praying, as a faithful priest and as the other faithful remnant of Israel, for the ‘coming of Messiah and the ‘consolation of Israel’ (See Luke 2; Simeon, Anna)? Wouldn’t he have been praying that God would send His Messiah, to liberate Israel, to restore the temple and return to the land to restore the kingdom to Israel? Perhaps Zechariah was believing God for the fulfillment of His covenant promises, but he just couldn’t believe that he would have a son in his old age that would ‘come in the spirit and power of Elijah’ who would prepare a people for the coming of the Lord.

The angel tells Zechariah, your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son and you are to name him John. ¹⁴ John will be a joy to you, and many in Israel and ¹⁵ he will be ‘great before the Lord’. He is never to drink wine or fermented drink. He would be ‘Nazarite (Numbers 6) as Samson was supposed to be anyway. Rather, this John would be exceptional in that he would be ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’ from birth. ¹⁶ This work of the Spirit in John would enable him to restore many in Israel to the Lord ¹⁷ and he will go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah to prepare a people for the Lord. Zechariah’s son would be great and his greatness is seen in the greatness of his God given task so that John would be ‘great before the Lord’.

Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure? I am an old man and my wife is elderly.”

¹⁸ Zechariah wanted to know ‘how he can be sure of this’ since Zechariah and Elizabeth are both elderly. ¹⁹ The angel tells Zechariah that he is Gabriel and that he stands in God’s presence. In addition, Gabriel had been sent from God’s presence to bring Zechariah this good news. ²⁰ Consequently, Zechariah would not be able to speak until the day the child is born because Zechariah didn’t believe the ‘good news’ message Gabriel had been sent from God’s presence to bring to Israel through Zechariah. ²¹ The worshippers assembled outside were wondering what was taking Zechariah so long in the temple. ²² When Zechariah did come out he was waving his hands and because he couldn’t speak, the people realized that he must have seen a vision in the temple.

²³ Zechariah finished his service in the temple, and he returned home. ²⁴ Lo and behold, Zechariah’s wife, Elizabeth, became pregnant! Then for five months Elizabeth remained in seclusion. ²⁵ Then Elizabeth concluded that the Lord has done this for her. ²⁵ She exclaimed, “The Lord has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”