68"Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. 69He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David 70(as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), 71salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us— 72to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, 73the oath he swore to our father Abraham: 74to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear 75in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. 76And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, 77to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, 78because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven 79to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace."
How do you feel about singing in the rain? Do you think it’s odd when creepy men haunt a theatre and sing to a girl named Christine? Maybe it’s fun to go back to high school and watch teens get their heads in the game. Personally I enjoy raindrops on rose and whiskers on kittens. At this point all of us would like it if silver white winters would melt into spring.
What I want to point you to today is the musical that is the first couple chapters of the Gospel of Luke. There are some folks who compare Luke to Andrew Lloyd Webber because of the songs in these first two chapters. One of them you just sang – the song of the angels over the plains of Bethlehem. The first song was that of Mary after she meets her cousin Elizabeth who was pregnant with John the Baptist. Finally the song of Zechariah is our text.
This morning I want to look at why Zechariah could sing and why we can sing too. The immediate context was that he was holding his first-born son! That’s a pretty good reason to sing, but there was more to this story. In fact I want to tell you the rest of the story...
Zechariah was a priest who had served faithfully at the Lord’s altar slaughtering animals for the daily sacrifices. At this point of Zechariah’s life he was just offering incense inside the temple. He was chosen by lot to do so. While he was in the temple he saw a vision. The angel Gabriel appeared to him. He said, ”Zechariah, you are going to have son.” At this point Zechariah thought that the angel could double as a comedian. “My wife and I have wanted children our whole marriage, but we could never have any. (Elizabeth was barren.) So why NOW after we are both old will we have a child?! You could call Elizabeth a spring chicken, but look at her! No, Gabe, that’s a good one. Have a child...” And the angel said to him in verses 19 and 20 "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time."
For Zechariah’s doubt – why not call it what was – unbelief. What happened? He was struck dumb. He would not be able to speak. I don’t know if you think that was harsh or not. I seem to think that he got off pretty easy. If an angel stands before you and tells you a message from God that is worthy of sending an angel and you say... “No. That’s not going to happen.” Usually you wouldn’t stand there and argue, but Zechariah did.
But enough about Zechariah, what about us? I know that I’m not close to being angelic, but I do bear a message from God. Or you can find it yourself on the pages of Scripture. Do you find it ridiculous when God makes you a promise? I will take care of you – even in this economy. All things will work out for your good. What do we do when we can’t meet our budget? Times are tough. There is a church in California that has a shortfall of $900,000. Times are tough all over. Is it laughable that God could love you after the 2009 you have just had? What is it that you are disillusioned about? Pastor Fred – I have hard facts, I have proof. I have good reason to not believe – evidence to the contrary of what God says. All God can offer me is promises. And at this point do they sound empty? Christians doubt, but again I think you should call it what it is – unbelief. What should God do to us? Strike us dumb!? I know what I would do if I promised something to another person and they refused to believe that I would do it. All right – that’s fine; I don’t have to do it for you. Have it your way.
Consider what God did for Zechariah even though he didn’t believe it. He gave him a son anyway, in spite of his unbelief. What did God do for us, in spite of our unbelief? Before I answer that how many Christmas movies have you seen that say you just have to believe? If you just have the Christmas spirit miracles can happen. God never makes such promises to us. God says, “Look, I did it! My son is in a manger in a little town called Bethlehem. Don’t want to believe? Doesn’t matter. I did it anyway.” God acts in spite of what you may or may not do. By the power of his Spirit he calls you to believe.
Go back to Zechariah’s song. Zechariah’s song is worth singing about. The baby is born and the eighth day comes when Jewish babies were circumcised. That’s when they entered the covenant with God and that’s also when they were named. Elizabeth tells everyone that his name is John. The people don’t say what a nice name – he sure looks like a John. They say, “Are you serious!? That’s a dumb name. No one in your family is named John. Let’s ask Zechariah.” He backs up his wife and says his name will be John. Then what happens? Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak, praising God. Then you have recorded his song.
What was he singing about? This wasn’t just Zechariah’s song. This was God’s song too! Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied. Look at some of the phrases in the song. God had remembered "his holy covenant, the oath he swore to... Abraham." You can go back to the Old Testament lesson from 2 Samuel. We have 71salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us— Micah wrote in 7:20,"You will be true to Jacob, and show mercy to Abraham, as you pledged on oath to our fathers in days long ago." One part after another...
Consider the tense of this song. John the Baptist is born, but notice who isn’t. Jesus isn’t born yet. But if you listen to Zechariah he believes with all his heart that what God has said will happen. 68"Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. 69He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David 70(as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), He believes all this because he finally had a son. He saw one promise fulfilled and now everything makes sense.
You could say, Zechariah that’s good for you, but that’s not enough for me. I do not have any promises from the angel Gabriel. When I have a promise from Gabe that I’ll have my mortgage paid off, then I’ll believe all the other promises that go along with the Christ child. When he promises that he’ll take care of your family, he doesn’t exactly say how. Do I need to wait until God pays off my mortgage? Does that mean that there won’t be any disease? No. What is means that there are things far worse than poverty, far worse than sickness and disease – far worse than even death! God has saved you from the worst of those things – your sin is gone because of the death of his son. Then to a lesser or greater degree God will take care of our needs; it’s just not always so obvious to us.
Zechariah in his unbelief was struck dumb; what might God do to us? And so if there are hardships and troubles waiting for you in 2010, I don’t want you to think that God is punishing you. God can only bless you because he punished Jesus in your place. Romans 8:2 There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. God’s stated goal is to get you to heaven. Nowhere is it written that your life will be fun, or easy. Your life could be miserable. Still he promises, All things will work out for the good of those who love him. I pray not, but could God use misery in your life with the end result that you still end up close to him and consequently eternally with him in heaven, is that good? I think so. If you are so focused on the good things that may be coming in 2010, might God allow something bad to refocus you on him? Nothing in this world will refocus you bad to your God. When you see a trouble coming can you sing with Zechariah? Can you sing to your kids Jesus loves me? You can. Can you sing a hymn of repentance like – Now the light has gone away – Father listen while I pray. Asking you to watch and keep and to send us quiet sleep. God will do this for you. Take home a hymnal one weekend and teach one of your favorite hymns to your child! They have so many reasons to sing. Teach them how.
How many couples starry eyed on the way home back from a movie, hear a sappy song on the radio. I want you to hear the doctrinal content of Zechariah’s song and make it your own. Listen once more to verse 69 – he has raised up a horn of salvation – that’s a oxymoron. The horn was an object of power – often war. God’s going to come through with a sledgehammer and save us? Yes, God pummeled sin, death, and the devil so that we might be saved.
I wont’ try and sing any more musicals for you, but I hope that when you come to Luke chapter 2 next year, you’ll flip back to Luke chapter 1 and read again these wonderful songs recorded by a famous playwright named Luke. That’s something worth singing about. Amen.