John's Baptism (Luke 3:1-22).

John's Baptism of Repentance

¹ Tiberius Caesar was the Roman Emperor and he was even worshipped as a ‘god’ in parts of the Empire.  Israel was in their land but they were forced to live under Roman rule. Rome had put Pontius Pilate in charge in Judea. ‘Herod the Great’ who was appointed by Rome as King in Israel was dead and his territory was divided among four rulers. Herod and his sons were illegitimate Jews and Roman collaborators. Herod Antipas oversaw Galilee and his brother, Philip, was in charge of Iturea and Traconitis. ² Annas and Caiaphas were from the same priestly family and were the High Priests appointed by Rome.

Into a world entrenched with Roman oppressors and Jewish collaborators with Rome came God’s word. The word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness around the Jordan River. John’s message is symbolically connected to Israel’s wilderness wandering and their crossing the Jordan River. These symbols depict Israel’s need for a new beginning or a ‘New Exodus’ in order to take possession of their ‘Promised Land’.

So Israel comes out to the wilderness around the Jordan River to hear John preach his ‘baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins’ ⁴ in preparation for the coming Lord. The quoting of Isaiah 40 indicates that a total upheaval of the present landscape was needed to make straight paths for the coming return of the Lord. ⁵ Valleys were to be filled in and mountains were to be leveled. The crooked and rough roads were to be made straight and smooth ⁶ and all people would see God’s salvation. This was consistent with Simeon’s vision of the infant Jesus as ‘God’s salvation for all people’.  

⁷ John calls for baptism depicting the need for the forgiveness of sins and the need for genuine repentance. Moreover, John warns those coming to him for hypocritical reasons by calling them snakes and questioning why they were fleeing the coming wrath. ⁸ Preparation for the coming Lord would require fruit consistent with ‘true repentance’ and no mere claim to being a physical descent of Abraham. Claiming to be a child of Abraham would not protect one from God’s judgment. God was able to raise up from the stones ‘children for Abraham’.

⁹ From John’s perspective the axe was already at the roots; so that those not producing fruit would be cut down and thrown in the fire. In other words, the judgment of God is near, and John’s was an urgent call to life transformation. ¹⁰ The crowds asked John what they were to do and he said those with extra clothes and food were to share it with those in need. Those common poor people living in relative poverty where to pool their resources and care for one another.  

² Those tax collectors who were considered Roman collaborators where not to use their positions to exploit their fellow Jews. John did not say forsake their occupations, but he did say do not collect more than was required. They were not take advantage of vulnerable people. They were no to benefit at the expense of the poor oppressed Israelites.  In the same way ¹⁴ soldiers were not to force people to give them money or falsely accuse people. Rather the soldiers were to be content with their pay.

¹⁵ People wondered if the bold prophet was the Christ. However, John humbly confessed that that the Christ was coming after him adn that that he was not fit to untie his sandals. John’s baptism symbolized cleansing, but the one coming would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷ He would bring the repentant into union with God and gather the wheat and burn the chaff with unquenchable fire. ¹⁸ John preached the ‘good news’ to the people, but he spoke out against Herod for taking his brother’s wife. ²⁰ Herod was no genuine king of the Jews and he added to his lawlessness by having John locked up in prison.

John Baptizes Jesus

John the Baptist message was ‘good news’ of  the return of God. The word of God breaks into a world under Roman dominion. The sons of Herod the Great’s were ruling under Rome and they were neither benevolent nor faithful Jews. The high priests were also appointed by Rome and weren’t much better. John brought a ‘word from God’ telling people to gather in wilderness by the Jordan for a ‘New Exodus’. This would require a radical reorientation of the present order; a genuine turning to God from the heart. ‘Return to me, and I will return to you’ (Malachi 3:7). Isaiah had talked about preparing the way for the Lord and John’s was a prepatory baptism of cleansing. Yet, John was calling Israel to a change of heart. 

This was no mere confession that one was one of Abraham’s children. In the coming kingdom people would care for one another and share what they had. Tax-collectors were not to take more than was required and soldiers (Herod’s troops) were not to abuse their power.and take advantage of people. John was pointing to the coming Messianic king of the Jews, who would bring God’s blessing and justice to the world. This was ‘good news’ for the people, but correction for Herod. By contrast to both Caesar and Herod Antipas, this coming king would restore God’s presence among God’s repentant people. He would baptize with the Spirit, gather his wheat and burn up the chaff. Ironically, this coming king identified with those needing John’s baptism, and he was ‘anointed’ by the Spirit and confirmed to be the ‘Son of God’ by the voice from heaven; King Jesus our Lord! 

The Boy in the Temple (Lk 2:41-52)

The Backstory: God had promised Abraham multiple descendants and a homeland to bless the world (Genesis 12:1-3, 15, 17). His descendants ended up enslaved in Egypt, but God rescued them through Moses and they began their conquest of their 'promised land' under Joshua and they took full possession of it under Israel’s king, David. They were to be God’s ‘holy nation’ (Exodus 19:4-6) and yet, instead of being a ‘light to the nations’ they became idolatrous like the other nations. The nation was divided, the North was scattered and the Southern kingdom were taken into Babylonian captivity for 70 years. Because God was determined to bless the world through Abraham and make a ‘Son of David’ king over God’s people forever (2 Samuel 7:12-14) they returned to their land under the Persians. However, they remained dominated in their own land and at the time of the Roman Empire they were longing for God to send a ‘conquering king’ to liberate them (Isaiah 42:1-9, 61:1-3)! 

The Boy Jesus in the Temple (LK  2:41-52)

⁴¹ We next find Jesus attending the Passover festival in Jerusalem with his parents when he’s 12 years old. Mary and Joseph were faithful to the law and they raised Jesus to be a faithful Jew. ⁴³ After the feast, they set out with their group of friends and family to return to Galilee. Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents didn’t realize it until had traveled for a day.  They would have been among a large group friends and relatives and felt that Jesus was safely among them without having Jesus next to them.

⁴⁵ Once they realize Jesus wasn’t among them, they return to Jerusalem without their extended group. They frantically search Jerusalem and they were unable to find him for three days. ⁴⁶ Finally, they look in the temple where they find Jesus in the temple asking the teachers various questions. ⁴⁷ Those listening to the exchange were amazed at his understanding.

⁴⁸ They’re probably worried and scared so when they see him in the temple among the teachers, his mother says, “Son, why have you treated us like this? We’ve been looking for you.” ⁴⁹ Jesus is surprised that they didn’t know that he had to be in his Father’s house. ⁵⁰ They fail to understand him, ⁵¹ but Mary treasured these things up in her heart.  ⁵² Then they return to Nazareth and Jesus grew in wisdom and in favor with God and people.

Jewish men were required to attend all three annual festivals in Jerusalem, but only the Passover was strictly observed. Joseph took his wife annually, and they brought Jesus when he was twelve years of old. At 12  a Jewish boy would normally be instructed and could entry the religious community. After they celebrated the feast, Mary and Joseph left with their group of extended family and friends. Yet, Jesus had stayed behind, so they return to Jerusalem without their group.

At Passover time, the city of 25,000 would swell with up to a 100,000 visitors. Jerusalem would become a potentially scary place with plenty of soldiers, traders and other strangers there. Mary and Joseph’s three day search ends with Jesus among the teachers in the temple. Mary blames Jesus, but Jesus gently rebukes his mother saying, ‘I had to be in my father’s house.’ Even at that early age Jesus’ relationship with God  was his priority. They didn’t understand him, but Jesus was careful to obey his parents. His comments were beyond their understanding, but ary treasured it up in her heart.

In Luke's gospel the Temple is central. Zechariah had his vision in the temple. Simeon and Anna, find Jesus in the temple and here Jesus is in the temple discussing things with the teachers of the law. Moreover, Luke's travel narrative will progress towards the Jerusalem Temple (9:51-19:48). Then, after Jesus' resurrection and ascencion Luke’s gospel will end with the disciples in the Temple praising God at the dawn of a new age (24:50-53). 

The Infant in the Temple (LK 2:22-40)

The Backstory: God had promised Abraham multiple descendants and a homeland to bless the world (Genesis 12:1-3, 15, 17). His descendants ended up enslaved in Egypt, but God rescued them through Moses. They took full possession of their land under Israel’s king, David. They were to be God’s ‘holy nation’ (Exodus 19:4-6) and yet, instead of being a ‘light to the nations’ they became idolatrous like the other nations. The nation was divided, the North was scattered and the Southern kingdom were taken into Babylonian captivity for 70 years. Because God was determined to bless the world through Abraham and make a ‘Son of David’ king over God’s people forever (2 Samuel 7:12-14) they returned to their land under the Persians. However, they remained dominated in their own land and at the time of the Roman Empire they were longing for God to send a ‘conquering king’ to liberate them (Isaiah 42:1-9, 61:1-3)! 

The Infant Jesus in the Temple (LK  2:22-40)

²¹ Jesus’ parents were faithful to circumcise Jesus on the eighth day. They follow the purification procedure as stated in the Law. They are faithful to name their child, Jesus, the name given them by the angel Gabriel. Jesus is the Greek version of Joshua. In a sense, Jesus is the new version of Joshua, who will lead ‘true Israel’ into the fulfillment of God’s promises. Mary and Joseph’s obedience to ‘the Law’ led them to the Jerusalem temple, the dwelling-place of God among his people. They dedicated their firstborn at the temple according to the Law and they offered a sacrifice acceptable for poor people. 

²⁵ Then we find the elderly Simeon, who has been led by the Spirit into the temple courtyard and to Mary and Joseph. Simeon was waiting for the ‘consolation of Israel’. The Spirit was upon Simeon and had told him that he would see the Lord’s Christ before he died. So the Spirit led Simeon to the temple and to Jesus. ²⁸ Simeon takes the infant Jesus in his arms and sees in Jesus, the ‘Lord’s salvation’ which has been prepared by God in the sight of all people. Now Simeon says he can pass away in peace for he sees Jesus as the savior ³¹ of all people; ³² and a ‘light to Gentiles’ and ‘glory of Israel’.”

³³ Mary and Joseph knew what Gabriel had told them about Jesus, but here they’re amazed that Simeon has this knowledge. ³⁴Simeon blesses the family and tells Mary directly that the child will cause the ‘rise and fall’ of many in Israel and that many will speak against the child. ³⁵ Mary’s child will ‘reveal the thoughts of many’ and a sword will pierce Mary’s soul as well. 

³⁶ Then an extremely elderly prophetess, Anna, approaches the couple. Anna worships in the temple continually. ³⁸ Seeing the child see thanks God and speaks about the child to those in the temple court who were waiting for Jerusalem to be liberated. ³⁹ Joseph and Mary do what ‘the Law’ requires and return home to Nazareth in Galilee. ⁴⁰ The child Jesus grew, became strong and was blessed by God’s grace.

"Outside the Box" (Luke 1, Gen.15)

As a kid I can remember driving around the neighbourhood looking at the Christmas decorations and singing Christmas songs with my family. We sang about ‘Santa Claus making his list and checking twice to find out who’s ‘naughty or nice’. The implication was good behaviour merited ‘good gifts’. Unfortunately,  the ‘Little Town of Bethlehem’ and the ‘Little Lord Jesus’ weren’t central to my understanding of Christmas.

What did a Jewish baby born 2000 years ago who would be executed on a ‘Roman cross’ have to do with me? However, for me, the message of the ‘life, death and resurrection of Jesus was meaningless. Then, in my mid-20s, God gave me a ‘new heart and put a new spirit’ in me. He ‘removed my heart of stone and gave me a heart of flesh’ (Ezekiel 36:25-27). Ironically, lyrics like, “Remember, Christ, our Saviour was born on Christmas day, To save us all from Satan's power, When we were gone astray… meant something to me for the first time.  

Lyrics such as…”Offspring of a Virgin's womb, Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; Hail the incarnate Deity, Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus, our Emmanuel” from “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” stretched my mind and opened my imagination. (See John 1:14)

Later, as a seminary student I was asked, ‘where was Jesus when he was born?’ My answer was in ‘a manger in Bethlehem of Judea, in ancient Israel’.  “And anywhere else”, I was asked.  I and the others with me were confused. Then our Professor explained that the ‘second person of the Trinity’ did not lose His divine attributes and become less than God by changing into a man. The incarnation was an act of addition, in which God added to himself a fully human body and soul. He did this without ceasing to be God. So Jesus Christ was fully God and fully man at the same time, and that was true even in the manger.

So while Jesus was lying in the manger, ‘heaven and earth could not contain him’. Mary could hold the ‘baby Jesus’, while he was holding the world together by the word of his power. He could cry for comfort, while being adored by ‘all the heavenly hosts’. John Calvin put it like this, ‘Christ left heaven without ever leaving heaven’. This is the meaning in the song: Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, Hail the incarnate Deity.

But why would God do this? Why would God take humanity upon himself? An important answer to this question is contained in the very first Christmas SONGS. In the ‘Magnificat’, which Mary sang a song of praise after being given the promise of a child who would be the ‘Son of the Most High (Luke 1:32) At the heart of Mary’s song is the promise that God made to their ancestors, to Abraham and his children. Then, Zechariah, after naming his son John, as instructed by the angel Gabriel, praises the Lord who had remembered his holy covenant, the oath he swore to Abraham. So to understand Christmas and the incarnation, then we’ll need to know something of God’s covenant with Abraham.

Mary’s Song (Luke 1:54–55 NLT) ⁵⁴ He has helped his servant Israel and remembered to be merciful. ⁵⁵ For he made this promise to our ancestors, to Abraham and his children forever.”

Zechariah’s Song: Luke 1:72–73 (NIV84) ⁷² to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, ⁷³ the oath he swore to our father Abraham. (God's Covenant with Abraham Gen. 15)

¹ The Lord speaks to Abraham roughly 10 years after he first arrived in Canaan. God had promised to make Abraham into a great nation, but Abraham childless and his servant was his heir. ³ The Lord promises Abraham that a son from his own body would be his heir. ⁵ He shows Abraham the stars telling him, “So shall your offspring be”. ⁶ Abraham believes and the Lord counts it to Abraham as righteousness. ⁷ Then the LORD reminds Abraham of the promise of the ‘land’ ⁸ and Abraham wants assurance. ⁹ So the Lord has Abraham cut some animals in half and he arranges the pieces across from one another. ¹² Then as the sun set, God tells Abraham that after being ‘enslaved in a foreign country’ in the fourth generation Abraham’s descendants would possess their land ¹⁵ and Abraham would rest with fathers in his old age. Then ¹⁷ a ‘smoking firepot with a blazing torch’ appeared and passed through the pieces. ¹⁸ We are told that the Lord “made or cut a covenant with Abraham” promising Abraham’s descendants the ‘land, from the river of Egypt to the  river, Euphrates’.

The ceremony bound the parties together and the animal carcasses depicted the ‘curse upon the party who breaks the covenant’. What ironic is that ‘Abram falls into some kind of a deep dream-like trance and only the manifestation of God who passes through the pieces’. If God fails to keep the covenant, then God would have to die? This point being that God would fulfill the covenant or He would have to cease being God. The curse of the covenant is symbolically represented at the inauguration of the ‘covenant bond’. Ironically, to bear the curse God would have to become a man. This is exactly what God did in the incarnation of Jesus.  He became a man to bear the curse of covenant. Moreover, in the ‘better new covenant in Christ’ at the inauguration of the covenant we have, not a symbolic death, but the actual death of Christ. In other words, the curse of the ‘covenant breaker’ came upon Christ at the ‘inauguration of the better new covenant’. 

This is the heart of Christmas. The Apostle Paul tells us to ‘consider how Abraham believed God’ and he tells us that ‘those who believe in Jesus are children of Abraham.’ ⁸ Moreover, Paul sees the promises to Abraham as the “gospel in advance to Abraham: All nations will be blessed through you” (Gen. 15, Galatians 3:6–8). Paul tells us that “those who belong to Christ are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:29)

God's Anointed is Born (Luke 2:1-21).

Backstory: God had promised Abraham multiple descendants and a homeland to bless the world (Genesis 12:1-3, 15, 17). His descendants ended up enslaved in Egypt, but God rescued them through Moses. They took full possession of their land under Israel’s king, David. They were to be God’s ‘holy nation’ (Exodus 19:4-6) and yet, instead of being a ‘light to the nations’ they became idolatrous like the other nations. The nation was divided, the North was scattered and the Southern kingdom were taken into Babylonian captivity for 70 years. Because God was determined to bless the world through Abraham and make a ‘Son of David’ king over God’s people forever (2 Samuel 7:12-14) they returned to their land under the Persians. However, they remained dominated in their own land and at the time of the Roman Empire they were longing for God to send a ‘conquering king’ to liberate them (Isaiah 42:1-9, 61:1-3)! 

What does this story tell us about Caesar Augustus? ¹ We are told that Caesar Augustus, the Roman Emperor, issued a census be taken of the entire Roman Empire. Caesar Augustus simply issued a decree and everyone’s life was radically disrupted. Everyone had to return to their ancestral homelands in order to be registered in order to build Caesar’s empire by taxing the common folk under Caesar’s reign.

What so we learn about Joseph and Mary and Mary’s son? ⁴ Joseph's life was altered by the census so that he had to travel from Nazareth in Galilee to the Judean town of Bethlehem. Joseph went to Bethlehem, because he was from the line and town of Israel’s King David. Joseph took Mary to whom he was pledged to marry and who was expecting a child. The visitation of an angel had convinced Joseph to marry her since the child was from the Holy Spirit (Mt.1:20). So Joseph took Mary to Bethlehem to be registered and ⁶ while they were in Bethlehem of Judea, Mary gave birth to her firstborn, a son (Luke 8:19-20, Acts 1:14). Mary, a common peasant woman, wrapped this 'royal baby of supernatural origin' in cloth and laid him in an ‘animal feeding trough’ because there was no special guest room available for him.

⁸Now there were shepherds nearby Bethlehem who were watching over their flocks at night when an angel appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them. The angel reassured the terrified shepherds that he was bringing good news of great joy for all people. The ‘good news’ was that in the town of David a Savior, Christ the Lord, had been born. This child was God's promised anointed king; the Son of David’. This newborn child was in fact the ‘Savior and the Lord' and the arrival of Israel’s Messianic King was ‘good news for all people (2 Sam.7:12-14).  

¹² The angel said that the sign for shepherds was that they would find a baby wrapped in cloth and lying in a manger. Then a great company of angelic being appeared saying, ¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth on those on whom his favor rests.” ¹⁵ Then when the angels left, the shepherds went off to Bethlehem to see what the Lord had told them about. There they found Mary and Joseph, and the baby wrapped in cloth and lying in a manger. ¹⁷ This was the sign told them by the angel and therefore the shepherds spread the news they had been told about the child. Now everyone who heard this was amazed, ¹⁹ and Mary treasured this in her heart. Then the shepherds returned to their fields, glorifying and praising God!

The story contrasts God’s Messiah, God’s savior and Lord, with the Roman emperor, Augustus Caesar, at the height of his power. Augustus, the adopted son of Julius Caesar, was the first and greatest Roman ruler who took control after a great and bloody civil war. After Augustus conquered his rivals he claimed to have brought justice and peace to the world. Augustus declared his dead adoptive father to be divine making Augustus the ‘son of god’. In the Roman Empire story it is Augustus who is considered the ‘lord of the world’.  

Now, by contrast, this story tells us of a baby born to a ‘lowly couple’ in an insignificant Israelite town. However, according to scripture, this child was the promised ‘Son of God’. While Augustus was building his empire at the expense of the ‘common people’ and yet God used these circumstances to reveal the world’s true ‘Savior’ and ‘Lord’. It is this child that brings true justice and lasting peace into the world. Augustus issues a decree and the empire is rearranged so that Jesus ends up being born in the ancestral town of Israel king David. This child is the beginning of a confrontation between God’s kingdom and the kingdoms of this world. The story challenges us to align ourselves with one of two different ways of being king and two alternative kingdoms. The story presents this ‘vulnerable child wrapped in cloth and laying in a manger’ as ‘God’ King’ whose kingdom is in direct opposition with the kingdoms of this world.  

Gabriel's Gospel to Mary (Lk 1:26-56)

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). His descendant ended up in Egypt for 400 years and became enslaved. God rescued them through Moses and brought into their homeland under Joshua, though they didn’t fully possess it until God made David Israel’s king. They were to be God’s ‘treasured possession’ and be God’s ‘holy nation’ (Exodus 19:4-6). However, instead of being a ‘light to the nations’ they became idolatrous like the other nations. The Northern kingdom was defeated and scattered by the Assyrians and later the Southern kingdom was taken into Babylonian captivity. God restored them to their land after 70 years because God was determined to bless the world through Abraham and make a ‘Son of David’ king over God’s people forever (2 Samuel 7:12-14). They returned to their land under the Persians, but they remained dominated in their own land. Then at the time of the Roman Empire they were longing for God to send a ‘conquering king’ to liberate them and God sent them Jesus (Isaiah 42:1-9, 61:1-3)!  

²⁶ We are told that in Elizabeth’s sixth month of pregnant, the Lord sends the angel Gabriel, who had told Zechariah that he would have a ‘great son’ who would go before the Lord and prepare a people for the Lord’. Now Gabriel is sent to Nazareth of all places; an insignificant place and of ‘poor reputation’ (John 1:46). Moreover, Gabriel goes ²⁷ to an ‘unknown girl from this insignificant village’ and she’s a virgin somewhere between 12-14 years old and her name is Mary.²⁸ The angel greets Mary calling her ‘highly favored’ and telling her that the ‘Lord is with her’. ²⁹ This troubled Mary and she wondered about the meaning since she’s not used to thinking of herself in such ‘blessed’ terms. ³⁰ The angel assures Mary’s that need not be afraid for she had ‘found favor with God’. ³¹ Then Gabriel tells her that she would have a son, to be named Jesus, and that her ³² great son would be called the ‘Son of the Most High’. In addition the Lord God would give him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over Jacob’s house forever with no end to his kingdom. 

Now Mary responds with faith, but she wants to know how this is going to happen since she is a virgin. ³⁵ The angel says this will be the work of God’s Holy Spirit and that this would come about when the ‘power of the Most High’ would overshadow Mary. As a result, the ‘holy child’ to be born to Mary would be the very ‘Son of God’. ³⁶ Mary wanted to know how this was going to happen. She didn’t ‘doubt’ and she wasn’t asking for a ‘sign’ or ‘for proof’, but Gabriel gives her something to follow-up on. Gabriel tells Mary that her elderly and ‘barren’ relative, Elizabeth, would have a child in her old age. She could check it out because Elizabeth was already in her sixth month of pregnancy. The inevitable explanation or conclusion to all this was that ³⁷ ‘nothing is impossible with God’.

³⁸ This makes Mary the ideal example of New Testament faith! She sees herself as the ‘Lord’s servant’ and she wants God’s will done in her life. She embraces God’s will and she does so knowing that others would doubt her story and would consider the child to have been conceived out of wedlock. She answers Gabriel saying, “May it be to me as you have said!” Mary’s reaction to Gabriel’s announcement is very different than Zechariah reaction to his ‘good news’ about his son through Elizabeth. Zechariah wanted to be assured since he and Elizabeth were elderly. However, Zechariah as a priest and he would have known scripture well. God had the womb of Samson’s mother and had also opened Hannah’s womb. Also Hannah’s son, Samuel, was a prophet who ‘anointed David King of Israel’ which in a way prefigured what John would do for Jesus. Moreover, Israel had come into existence through the barren Sarah, who gave birth to Isaac when Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90. Zechariah should have none that this was ‘not impossible for God’.

On the other hand, Mary was an illiterate girl from the village. She would have heard these stories in the Synagogue, and she believed the angel’s announcement. However, nothing like a ‘virgin’ birth had ever happened or would ever happen again. She believed, but she needed addition explanation and once she received it she accepted as God’s will for her life, no matter what hardship may have resulted. So after Gabriel’s explanation she headed off to find Elizabeth. ⁴¹ Upon arrival Mary greets Elizabeth, and at the sound of Mary’s voice the baby in Elizabeth’s womb leaps for joy. Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit and she goes into ecstatic praise of God.

We are given this incredible picture of John, in Elizabeth’s womb, jumping for joy. We also see the Spirit of God filling Elizabeth and producing joy in the child in her womb. Ironically, her husband’s mouth had been closed but the Spirit fills Elizabeth enabling her to proclaim in a loud voice that ‘Mary was blessed’ and that Mary’s ‘child was blessed’. But even more amazing is Elizabeth’s question as to why she is so favored that the mother of Elizabeth’s Lord would come to her? There is this amazing picture of the ‘Spirit-filled’ baby John in Elizabeth’s womb worshiping the ‘Messiah Jesus’ who is in his Mother’s womb as well. With Zechariah’s unbelief in the background Elizabeth tells Mary, ⁴⁵ “Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said will be accomplished!”

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.”

God's Covenant with Abram (Gen.15)

Backstory: God called Abram to leave his country, his people and his father’s household and set out for his ‘promised land’. God would bless Abram making him into a great nation with a great name. Moreover, God would eventually bless the whole world through Abram (Genesis 12:1-3). Originally God called Adam to multiply God’s images throughout the earth (1:28), and later God restated that responsibility to Noah (9:1-2). Now God calls Abram out of idolatry in Ur and promised him multiple descendants and homeland to bless ‘all peoples or nations of the earth’. However, it’s now a decade or so later and Abram remains childless and he still has no property. 

Genesis 15 (NIV)

^1-6 In a vision the Lord tells Abram not to fear for the Lord was Abram’s shield, and great reward. Abram is elderly and he’s been waiting on God for several years. The Lord had promised Abram would be a ‘great nation’ through whom God would bless the world. But, Abram was childless and his servant was his heir. Now Abram’s in his 80’s having set out for Canaan when he was 75 years old. Abram has no son, no land and now the Lord tells Abram that ‘a son coming from Abram’s own body’ would be his heir. The Lord shows Abram the night sky and says “count the stars if you can—so shall your offspring be.”  Abram sees countless stars; beyond number and he believes the promise and the Lord counts it to Abram as righteousness.

^7-21 The Lord reminds Abram how He brought Abram out of Ur of the Chaldeans and having promised him the ‘Land of Canaan’. It’s been a number years now, so Abram wants to know how he can be sure that he would possess the land. So the Lord tells Abram to bring a heifer, a goat, a ram, with a dove and a pigeon.  Without any further instruction, Abram knows to cuts the animals in two and arranges the halves opposite each other. When the ‘birds of prey’ come down on the carcasses, Abram drives them away. Then at sunset Abram falls asleep, and a ‘dreadful darkness’ came over Abram.  The Lord tells Abram how Abram’s descendants would occupy their ‘promised land’ 400 years in the future.

So in this story God formalizes the covenant he initiated with Abram in Genesis 12. The Lord confirms his ‘promises’ to give Abram multiple descendants and a homeland. However, Abram’s descendants would go down to country not their own for 400 years and be enslaved (Gen.15:13-14). Abram would rest with his ancestors and God would judge their oppressors. Abram's descendants would possess Canaan, but the Amorites would face God’s judgment.

Now we know that Isaac, Abraham's promised son, would have a son, Jacob. Jacob would be the father of the 12 tribes of Israel. Jacob’s gifted son, Joseph, through a series of providential events would become a ruler in Egypt and would preserve the Israelites through a time of famine. However, after Joseph dies the Israelites become enslaved in Egypt. Then God would call Moses to deliver them out of Egypt. Moses aid, Joshua, would lead them in their conquest of Canaan when the sin of the Canaanites tribes was ‘complete’ (after 400 years). So Abram's descendants would possess the ‘Land of Canaan’ after a long delay because the sin of the Amorites was not yet full (Gen.15:16).

The story depicts the long range purposed of God. We see God’s long-suffering as He patiently waits over 400 years before judging the ‘ungodly Canaanite tribes’. The various Canaanite tribes defiled Canaan with their ‘idolatry and sexual deviant behaviors’. Therefore God justly expelled them from Canaan (Leviticus 18, 18:25). Moreover, God gave them ample time to turn from their ‘wicked ways’ but to no avail.  Eventually, God told Joshua to “completely destroy” them (Deuteronomy 20:17, Joshua 24:8). However, we must take note that God said that what applied to the Canaanites would apply to the Israelites as well.

Leviticus 18:24–29 (NIV84) ²⁴ “ ‘Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. ²⁵ Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. ²⁶ But you must keep my decrees and my laws. The native-born and the aliens living among you must not do any of these detestable things, ²⁷ for all these things were done by the people who lived in the land before you, and the land became defiled. ²⁸ And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you. ²⁹ “ ‘Everyone who does any of these detestable things—such persons must be cut off from their people.

God Calls Abram (Genesis 12:1-9)

Backstory: God called Abram to leave his country, his people and his father’s household and to go to a land the Lord would show him. God would bless Abram making him into a great nation and making his name great. Moreover, God would bless the all people through Abram and those who blessed Abram would be blessed and those who cursed Abram God would curse (12:1-3). Originally God had called Adam to multiply God’s images throughout the earth (1:28), but Adam opposed God’s will and they were expelled from God’s presence. Man deteriorated outside the Garden, and God judged the world by a flood. The responsibility to fill the world with ‘images of God’ was restated to Noah (9:1-2). Again, man opposed God’s will and sought to build and city and a tower to the Heavens to ‘make a name for themselves’. In contrast to this God calls Abram out of a culture that worshiped the moon in Ur and promised to Abram multiple descendants and ‘all peoples or nations of the earth should be blessed through Abram. God chose Abram to be means through which God would fulfill His kingdom expanding purpose.

Genesis 12:1–9: ¹ The Lord calls Abram out of Paganism in Ur. He tells Abram to leave his country, his people and his father’s household. Abram is to leave and go, though the Lord doesn’t tell where. But Abram goes with some ‘big promises’. The Lord tells Abram that the Lord will make Abram into a ‘great nation’ and bless Abram. The Lord will make Abram’s name great and the Lord will be a blessing. It is the Lord, the alternative God to the ‘moon god’ of the Chaldeans, who ‘will make’ Abram into a great nation, who will bless Abram, who will make Abram’s name great, who will make Abram a blessing. In addition, the Lord will bless those who bless Abram, and  curse those who curse Abram. As a result, these promises culminate in the grand promise or ‘end’ that ‘all people or nations’ on earth would be blessed through Abram. In the New Testament Paul tells us that this was the gospel announced in advance to Abram: “All nations will be blessed through you.” (Gal. 3:8).

The Lord didn’t suggest, rather He commanded Abram  ‘leave’ where he was  and ‘go’ to a place the Lord would show him  (Gen 12:1). Originally Adam was to exercise his God-given authority to create a world wholly consecrated to God. Adam was to fill the world with ‘images of God’ and create a God-glorifying culture but Adam aligned himself with the ‘Serpent’ and choice to rebel against God’s purpose. In a sense God is starting over with Abram; who was to leave Ur and go to his ‘promised land’. The Lord speaks of the blessing he would give to Abram of a ‘great nation’ and ‘great name’. Then we are told of the God’s blessings through so that those who bless Abram would blessed and those who curse Abram would be cursed. All this would be to the end that ‘all people or all nations’ would be blessed through Abram.

⁴ Abram at the age of 75 years old sets out from Haran with his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, their possessions and the followers he accumulated in Haran for the land. They arrive in the land, which we are told is Canaan, ⁶ and they travel through the land until they come to the ‘great tree of Moreh at Shechem’. The Canaanites were in the land at that time, and yet the Lord appears to Abram and promises to give this land to Abram’s offspring (12:7). So builds an altar to the Lord there where the Lord had appeared to Abram.  ⁸ Then made proceeded toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent between Bethel and Ai. There Abram builds an altar to the Lord where Abram called on the ‘name of the Lord’. We find Abram beginning to stake out the land the Lord would give him with the altars he builds to the Lord.

'The Tower' (Genesis 11:1-9)

Backstory: As God’s images, Adam and Eve were to be God's representatives on the earth. They were to extend God’s reign on earth by filling the earth with images of God. However, Adam and Eve rebelled against God and were expelled from Eden. Eve gave birth to two sons, Cain and Abel. Yet, Cain murdered Abel and the descendants of Cain built cultures that stood in opposition to God. The record shows that mankind opposed God’s reign and the world was full of violence. As a result, God judged the world by means of a universal flood. All mankind had become corrupt but Noah found favor with God. God warned Noah of the flood and Noah built an Ark to preserve Noah, his family and two of every animal. God made a covenant with Noah to preserve mankind and the earth in order to redeem it. God also promised a stable environment in order for His image to do God’s will on the earth. God blessed Noah and his sons telling them to multiply and fill the earth.

 Genesis 11:1–9: Man moved eastward and sought to build a city on the plain of Shinar with a tower reaching to the heavens. They sought to ‘make a name for themselves’ and not be scattered over the whole earth as God intended. They failed to submit their gifts, talents and abilities before God in submission to God’s purposes and instead they worked together in opposition to God’s will. They used their God-given ingenuity to glorify themselves and so God confused their common language and scattered over the face of the whole earth.

Speaking one common language enabled mankind to collaborate together to build a city with a tower reaching to the heavens. We are told that they did this to ‘make a name for themselves’. Adam and Eve were to fill the earth with images of God (Gen.1:28).  After the flood, Noah and his sons were ‘to be fruitful and increase in number, and fill the earth’ (Gen.9:1-2). However, mankind was unified but they were working together in opposition to God’s purpose of filling the earth with ‘images of God’. The question for us today is essentially the same. Will we submit ourselves to God and do His will or will we seek to do our own will in order to make a name for ourselves?

The Lord ‘came down’ just to see the futility of their building a city with a tower to the heavens. They opposed God’s will and sought to do their own will in order to make a name for themselves. The Lord concluded that their common language enabled them to be unified in their opposition to God’s purpose. Moreover, if this is how they were to use their God-given abilities then all manner of evil would be possible for them. Men working together are capable of tremendous achievement, but here the achievement is driven by the desire to exalt their own reputations. Fame, reputation, and selfish-ambition are driving them to use their talents and abilities to glorify themselves and defy God’s will.

They opposed God, so God opposes them. They determined to work against God’s purpose so God determined to work against their purpose. God confused their language so that they couldn’t communicate which stopped the construction. The Lord confused their language and scattered them over the face of the whole earth. God wanted the earth full of images of God doing His will but they settled together to build a city to ‘make a name for themselves’. But, there God stopped them by confusing their language and this is why the city was called Babel.