This morning, as I mentioned, we’re going to be starting a four-week series dealing with the birth of Christ. And I want to begin by looking at Luke’s gospel in chapter 1. So if you have your Bibles, will turn with me to Luke chapter 1. I want to begin reading at verse 5, and we’re going to go through verse 25. There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judah, a certain priest named Zacharias.
And his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. And they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years.
And it came to pass that while he executed the priest’s office before God in the order of his course, according to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense. And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.
When Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. And the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard, and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth.
For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink, and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother’s womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit of power of Elias to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby will I know it? Know this, for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years. And the angel answered and said unto him, I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God, and I am sent to speak unto thee, and to show thee these glad tidings. And behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season.
And the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he carried so long in the temple. And when he came out, he could not speak unto them, and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned unto them and remained speechless. And it came to pass, as soon as the days of ministration were accomplished, he departed to his house.
And after these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying, Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me, to take away my reproach among men. And I’ll just continue reading a few more verses. And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent to God into a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin as spouse to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary.
And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail thou that art highly favored, and the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast her mind at what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God.
And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. And he shall be great, and shall be called the son of the highest, and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom there shall be no end.
And then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know no man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also, that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And behold, thy cousin Elizabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.
Let’s just bow and pray. Dear Heavenly Father, as I come before you this morning, I pray that you would speak to us through your word. Help us to understand that you orchestrated the events of your son’s birth.
That before the foundations of the world it was established that the second person of the Trinity should take on the form of a man. And pay the penalty for our rebellion and our sin that we could have eternal life. And could be once again adopted back into your family.
Reconciled unto you and be called your children. Lord, I pray that you would just help us and focus on us and see that you are the God who is in control. And as much as our world seems out of control at the present day, Lord, your hand is still in control.
And your word has told us. This is foretold of Jesus’ first coming. It’s foretold of his second coming as well.
Lord, help us not to fear. And help us to see your word being fulfilled in the lives of the people that we looked at this morning in your word. This we ask in Jesus’ name.
It’s interesting as you look at chapter 1 of Luke. Luke starts his gospel out different than Matthew. Different than Mark and different than John.
Luke brings into our knowledge and understanding the promises given in the Old Testament dealing with the forerunner of Jesus Christ. It was foretold that there would be a prophet that would come in the spirit of Elijah. Now for those of you who have been studying with us as we’ve been going through 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles looking at the kings of Israel.
We also saw during those texts and read about the life of Elijah. And Elijah was a fearless man who stood against the ungodliness of his day to uphold the name of God and to call the people to repentance and to turn from the idolatry that they had followed Ahab and Jezebel into. Elijah stood against the powers of his day and called them for what they were.
Those who were rebellious against their creator and God and those who stood ready to receive his judgment unless they repented. This man who would come to perceive Jesus would be of that spirit. When you look at the gospels you see that the one that came is referred to as we saw here, his name was going to be called John.
And his name would partake and tell of his ministry and he would go out and call people to repentance and prepare their way for the Lord was coming. People, for the large part, weren’t prepared. Even though everything that was Jewish in their worship all pointed to the Messiah.
The prophets of their scriptures foretold of his coming. As a matter of fact, they even foretold the time and the conditions of what would be happening. And they told that they should be prepared.
This morning I just want to look at a few different things surrounding John’s birth. First I want us to look at two verses in the Old Testament which foretold of his coming. The first is found in Isaiah chapter 40.
Isaiah was a prophet that was called to Israel in the midst of the rebellion and Isaiah was calling them to repentance. In Isaiah chapter 40, verse 3, we read the following as he’s talking about the events that will come when their Messiah and Deliverer comes. Isaiah chapter 40, and beginning in reading verse 3. Now the Lord hath brought it and done according as he hath said.
I got the wrong verse. Let’s turn to Malachi 3. Malachi was the last prophet that was recorded in what we refer to as the Old Testament. Malachi as well talked about the coming Messiah and the one who would come before him.
Behold, I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple. Even the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in, behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. So there would come a messenger first before the Lord.
Isaiah talks about that he’d be a voice that would be crying in the wilderness. This one who would be the messenger that would come before the Lord. Now the nation of Israel was looking for a Messiah.
They’ve always looked for a Deliverer. Even today, if you go to Israel, and even though Israel today is for the most part secular, and there are those that are studying the Old Testament, but they look for a Messiah and they have said various rabbis are the Messiah. Remember the last time we were in Israel.
We got in a cab and there was a picture of a rabbi on the dashboard of the cab. Later I asked one of the guys that was leading the tour what the picture was about. He says, oh, they worship that man as the Messiah.
They say that he’s the Messiah that’s come for Israel. The only problem with that Messiah is that he died. He never rose from the dead.
He’s still in his grave. There are other rabbis that Jewish people have viewed as being the Messiah, but none of them fulfilled the promises given that God gave dealing with Jesus. The first being that there would come a forerunner that would proclaim him to the nation because the nation wouldn’t recognize him without this.
And what John did is when he came, he called the people to repentance. But I want to look at just a few things surrounding John’s birth, and that as it was foretold in the Old Testament, both in Isaiah and Malachi, that John’s birth was supernatural in the sense that it should not have occurred. I want us to look just a little bit at his parents, and then I want us to look at his coming, and I want us to look at some significant things that deal with the time that he came.
First of all, it says in verse 3, In the days of Herod, the king of Judah. Herod was Herod the Great. He was the king of Judah at this time.
The Herodian family would rule Judah. So in Scripture you will see various Herods throughout Scripture. Agrippa was a Herod.
He was a descendant of Herod the Great. There’s another Herod that was another descendant of Herod the Great, and at the time of the apostle Paul, Agrippa oversaw the southern portion of Israel. The other Herod oversaw the northern portion of Israel, and they were both appointed by Rome.
This Herod was appointed by Rome as well. He had no rights to the throne of Israel. He was not a descendant of David, and he was not a descendant of Judah.
He was not even a Jew. As a matter of fact, Herod the Great was an Edomite. Edomites were the descendants of Esau, and were a group of people that were always in conflict with Israel.
From the time of Esau and Jacob growing up in their parents’ home to the time that Herod was on the throne when Jesus came, there was always conflict between Edom and Israel. But Herod had a unique position in that at the time that he was a young man, he had a position of authority that allowed him to be trained in the same schools that some other names that you would recognize. Cleopatra, Mark Antony, various of the men that became the Caesars of Rome.
They were all trained in Rome at the same time with Herod the Great. Herod the Great was an amazing man in the sense that he was an extremely intelligent man. He did some architectural wonders in Israel.
He rebuilt the temple. He built Masada, which was his summer place, which is south along the Dead Sea. He built that because he was afraid of Cleopatra and wanted a place to hide.
But the thing is, if you look at Herod the Great, he was also a man who was extremely paranoid, who was hungry for power and authority, and was afraid of anyone that could be a challenge or threat to his power. This was Herod the Great. He is the Herod that was alive when Jesus was born.
And later on, we’re going to be looking at, at the time of Jesus’ birth, some more facts about Herod the Great. But we see from the Gospel of Luke that it was in the days of Herod and that he was the king of Judah, appointed. It doesn’t say here, but he was appointed by Rome.
Not elected by the people, nor given it by birth or inheritance. He was appointed, but he was the acting king of Judah. At that time, there was a priest by the name of Zacharias.
And if you don’t understand and haven’t studied, back at the time when Moses set up the tabernacle and Aaron became the high priest, and then God established the order of what the priests and who the Levites were that would be in charge of the worship. And then if you didn’t study and see that during the time of David, that when David brought the tabernacle back to Jerusalem, the priesthood had really fallen into disarray and the priestly worship was not what it should be. And so when David brought the tabernacle back, he established a various number of orders of the descendants of Aaron and these were grouped.
At that particular time, I believe it was 30,000 descendants of Aaron that were priests and that had a right that God wanted and appointed to hold various responsibilities in the temple. David at that time established various orders of these priests. He put them according to their forefathers, their children of Aaron and the children’s children of Aaron and they were grouped according to those and that’s how the orders were established.
Zacharias was in the order of Abioth. Now, that order had certain responsibilities in the temple and at certain times, members of that order would carry out those responsibilities. It is now hundreds of years later, because it’s just about at the time of Jesus’ birth, so it is right around 3 B.C., and the number has grown exponentially of priests that are in these various orders.
And I want you to understand, God foretold John the Baptist would be coming and be the forerunner of Christ. Zacharias and Elizabeth are going to be his parents and it’s interesting, the text tells us that first of all, they were incapable of having children and it was Elizabeth that had the problem. The Scriptures tell us she was barren.
She couldn’t bear children. Now, I want you to see that also they were going up in the age. It doesn’t tell us their exact age, but Zacharias says, well, I am an old man and my wife is an old woman.
She’s beyond what should be the age of bearing children. And she’s never born any children. I want you to understand something about this as well.
This was a great, not just embarrassment, but it brought this dispute upon the house of Zacharias because he had no children. Their character was outstanding. Their character, it says, they only did that which was right in the eyes of God.
Now, they were sinners and needed to be saved by God’s grace just like you and I. But the thing is, when they sinned, they confessed it. They lived their lives honorably and righteously before the Lord. They did everything that was pleasing to Him.
Yet they found themselves in old age with no children. And the text indicates that Zacharias had been praying to God, give us a child. Now, I want you to understand what’s happening the day Zacharias goes into the temple to do the incense.
This is not something that Zacharias would do every other year that he would do maybe every fourth year. No, this is a once-in-a-lifetime event for Zacharias. There are so many men in the order that he had been established by David to carry out the responsibilities of the temple, one of which was to start the incense.
This was his day. And as he goes into the temple, he’s supposed to be inside the temple, in this area of the temple by himself. And all of a sudden, there’s someone there.
And he immediately realizes that this is an angelic being. And the angel is bringing him news. Zacharias, you’re going to have a son.
And the thing is, it’s not just any son. This will be the one that is coming in the spirit of Elijah that should be the forerunner of the Messiah, Jesus. And there are certain qualifications about your boy.
He is never to touch wine. That’s the fruit of the grape that’s fermented. He’s never to touch hard drink.
That is grains that have been fermented. He is going to be set apart. He will be what would be referred to as a Nazarite.
And later on in the Gospels, you realize when you’re introduced to John the man, that he dressed different from other people. His food was different from other people. He lived his life totally different from other people.
But it says that multitudes came out into the desert to listen to him. And what was the message that he proclaimed? The message that John proclaimed was repent, for the day of the Lord is at hand. And he called the people to examine their lives and to get right with God, for God was coming.
And Zacharias was being told those. Now there are some other things that are revealed. Later on, as we get closer to December 25th, we celebrate Jesus’ birth.
The Scriptures never say Jesus was born on the 25th of December. You will not find it anywhere in Scripture. The exact birth date of Christ is not revealed, but there are indications as to the time of the year and when Jesus was born and the approximate date.
It was not December 25th. It wasn’t even December. And some of the clues that are given to us are in this text.
It says that Elizabeth became pregnant when Zacharias’ responsibilities at the temple were done. And then we read that later on she went to visit Mary, but Mary had already been told that her cousin Elizabeth, and people say, well, Elizabeth was of the descendants of Aaron and Mary was of the descendants of Judah and David, but they’re two parents. And evidently one of Mary’s parents was related to Elizabeth’s parents because they were cousins.
Even though their descendants in lines came one through Aaron and one through David, the mothers probably were related. But Mary is told an interesting thing. Your cousin Elizabeth is six months pregnant.
This is when Mary is told by the same angel Gabriel that she is going to be bearing the Messiah. So we know from this that Jesus is six months younger than John. We also know the time of the year when Zacharias was doing his responsibilities.
The time of the year that Zacharias would have been doing this would have been during the priestly cycle and it would have been in mid-May to mid-June. So if you look at nine months after that, you’ll find that John’s birth was probably somewhere in March to April.
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.)
Zacharias was doing his responsibilities. The time of the year that Zacharias would have been doing this would have been during the priestly cycle and it would have been in mid-May to mid-June. So if you look at nine months after that, you’ll find that John’s birth was probably somewhere in March to April.
It’s interesting that John was conceived at the time of a temple event. Jesus also would have been born at the time of a temple event. John’s birth in March or April would have been at the time of Passover.
Passover is a spring festival. Passover is when the lambs were brought to be sacrificed and it was one of the main worship times when all the people would come to the temple. That would have been about the time that John would have been born.
Jesus would have been born six months later and he would have been born during the fall, probably in the month of September or October. This is also during a fall festival. And it’s interesting, the festival that is celebrated by the nation of Israel in September and October is a three-phased festival and it consists of Yom Kippur or Sukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles.
Just as the spring festival is a three-phased festival and consists of Passover and Pentecost and Shabbat. To kick off the fall festival you have Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah is an event that occurs in Israel.
They celebrate Rosh Hashanah. They celebrated it this year. It is the beginning of the new year.
There’s significance in what these festivals represent to the people. Rosh Hashanah is a time where they’re starting the new year and the moon has been dark and now it comes out in its fullness and light is given. And part of the celebration is that they’re to examine their hearts during Rosh Hashanah, that they would prepare their hearts for what comes next, which is Yom Kippur.
When Yom Kippur comes, the priest goes into the holy place and offers a sacrifice on behalf of the people as well as himself. And then following Yom Kippur comes the Tabernacles. And the Feast of the Tabernacles is when God comes and dwells with us.
John came as the forerunner of the Messiah who has two comings. The first coming would deal with taking away the sins of the nation of Israel as well as the sins of the world. The second coming would come when he would come to tabernacle with his people and judge those that were not his.
John was called to be the messenger before the first coming. He was called that the people of Israel would prepare their hearts to be ready for the Messiah that had been promised to them that was coming. The only problem is Jesus said and he wept over Jerusalem.
Remember when he was at the end of his ministry, he’s going into the city of Jerusalem and he’s weeping. One of the two times in scripture you see Jesus wept. And he’s weeping because he said, oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem if you’d only known the hour.
They had not recognized him as Messiah. They had not seen the significance and importance of the cross. And instead, the vast majority of the Jewish people that as he entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday were praising him and calling him out as Messiah.
Many of them were there cursing him and crying for his crucifixion later that week. Jesus had to come the first time to lay down his life. John the Baptist was born and it’s interesting he was born during the spring of the year during the Passover because his message was going to be one of repentance and turning to Christ and acknowledging that people had to give their heart to Jesus, confess their sins, and repent of them.
And ultimately, as he pointed to the Messiah, the Lamb of God, that is where the forgiveness would come from. So we see that from the text you understand that Elizabeth was six months pregnant when she went to visit Mary. We understand that the baby was born in the first part of the year given when Zacharias was in the temple.
Now it’s interesting also to look at Zacharias and see his response. You go back in the text that we read earlier this morning. Zacharias’ response initially is one of unbelief.
He can’t believe that this could possibly be happening to him. And so the angel says, I’m going to give you a sign. You’re not going to be able to speak until the event occurs.
In verse 8, it says, And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well stricken in years. And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel that stand before the presence of God and am sent to speak unto thee and to show thee the glad tidings. And behold, thou shalt be dumb and not able to speak until the day that these things shall be performed.
In other words, until the baby is born, you’re not going to be able to speak. And it’s interesting. It’s a very similar thing to what happened to Abraham and Sarah when the Lord came to them and told them that Sarah was going to have a child.
And you remember, they had longed for a child, too. As a matter of fact, Abraham and Sarah had tried to take things into their own hands, do it the way the world had. Let’s have a surrogate mother in Hagar, because that’s what the world did in those days.
And then when they were both well stricken in years, the Lord came and told them, you’re going to bear a son. They called his name Isaac, which means laughter, because Sarah laughed when she heard. Abraham didn’t necessarily believe right away.
But I want you to see who’s in control of the situations and fulfilling his promises, us or God. And as you look at the text this evening, you need to understand that the Lord foretold there would be a forerunner before the Messiah. He didn’t tell how long, but they were just about the same age.
They were contemporaries. Jesus and John were contemporaries. And John was that forerunner, just as God foretold.
All the events were orchestrated by the Lord so that they would happen just as he foretold they would happen, both in Isaiah and Malachi. Why do I say that? And what’s the significance of that? First of all, those people that want to doubt that Jesus is the Son of God need to examine historical facts surrounding the birth of not only Jesus, but also John. And look at prophecies made not days before the events occurred, but hundreds of years before the events occurred.
One of the major things that proves that the Bible is real is it is the only book that contains prophecies that are 100% accurate. Everything dealing with Jesus’ first coming is 100% accurate. And what that means is everything dealing with his second coming is going to be 100% accurate.
Why is that important for us in the day in which we live? We say, well, I’m a believer in Jesus. Why do I need to know this? Well, first of all, we need to know that the world wants to continually infuse its ideas and ideologies into our lives so that we take our eyes off of the supernatural power of God and his ability to fulfill his word exactly like he says. And when we do that, we begin to place it on men that can somehow be our deliverer or our own selves that can somehow deliver us out of our problems and needs.
And I want you to understand that just as Zechariah had no ability to have a son until God supernaturally gave him one, and just as Mary would be impossible for her to conceive because she never had a relationship with a man until God placed Jesus in her womb, these are the power of God. And I want you to understand the day in which we live, you live in a very special day. It’s a day which men live for and that study scriptures thought was coming but never could see it this close.
Today you see events orchestrated in the world which are all pointing to the second coming of Christ just as the scriptures foretold. The day in which we live is a day in which you could wake up tomorrow and you would not be able to access your money because of the ability that we have with technology, where nefarious people will gain control, they could gain control of your checking and banking account and you would have no ability to spend money. As a matter of fact, there’s talk of doing that, making our banking system all hooked up to computer systems and you no longer have cash.
The Bible foretold that in the last days there would come a man who would be so powerful that he would have control over the world’s economy that you could not buy or sell without his permission. They’re talking about that. Looking at the events that are transpiring in the Middle East today, never before have things been orchestrated in such a manner that it’s all pointing to events that are being foretold in Ezekiel and are going to be foretold in the book of Revelation.
In Ezekiel it’s a dog-magog war. Today, did you know that Russia’s got soldiers on the borders of Israel? Did you know that Russia and Iran are exchanging weapons? Never before in the history of the world has that happened. That Turkey, although they just signed some treaties with Russia and now there’s little problems that have risen up, but never before had Turkey and Iran and Russia even been on the same table.
Events are happening just like the Bible said. The Bible also said in the book of Daniel that things in the last days would increase, knowledge would increase exponentially. You would not even be able to keep up with it.
I challenge you to go buy a computer and ask them how long will this be the latest and greatest model of computer. And they won’t even give you a date because the technology is moving so fast. Microchips are growing exponentially in what they can do and how small they can be.
Today in your cell phone you have more power than when I went to NDSU in 1970 in a computer that took up the whole building in the computer department. Your cell phone’s got way more power than that computer and it’s only growing faster. It happened at the time Jesus came the first time.
As God came, He laid out the plan. He told what was going to happen. Then He came to a man and a woman that shouldn’t have had a child.
At the only time this man would be in the temple and send his angel to tell him, you’re the man for the hour that will be the father of the coming prophet, John the Baptist is coming in the spirit of Elijah. And only as the events of Herod being the king of Israel at this time appointed by the emperor of Rome would certain other events be able to transpire that had been foretold that we’ll be examining. This is an amazing book.
You serve an amazing God. A God who knows and can deliver on His word and knows your needs. You know the amazing thing about the scriptures is that just as this event really happened, the Bible is really true too when it comes to the Jeremiah where it says that the Lord knows the very thoughts and intents of every one of our hearts.
I can look out across the audience this morning and I can try and read your faces and try and read your body language. Are they bored to death with what I’m saying? Are they interested in what I’m saying? Have they heard this a thousand times? I have no idea because I could be totally wrong with what I see. But you know that as you’re thinking, God knows every one of those thoughts.
And as He knows our thoughts and the intents of our heart, He desires to come and meditate with us that we can have fellowship with Him. And He says, come let us reason together that you will think as I think and that you will do as I do. This is the same God.
I trust that you’ll enjoy looking at the other events that are going to be surrounding the birth of Christ. I’m going to try and bring in some things that you probably haven’t thought of before. Have you thought about the significance and importance of Herod? Have you thought about the significance of shepherds? Of where Jesus was born? What does that all mean? Of how Mary and Joseph could have ended up in Jerusalem at that time and ended up in Bethlehem at that time when she gave birth? There’s a whole bunch of… the chances of it just happening by chance can’t happen.
And I trust to challenge you to take a new look at the advent of Christ and put it in light of the second coming of Christ that we are prepared. Let’s just close in prayer. Lord, I pray that you just help us to understand the truths that we’re looking at.
Lord, help us to realize the call that you’ve placed on our lives if we’re a believer today. And help us to be prepared for your second coming. And Lord, help us to realize everything that you said would happen, happened at your first coming.
Lord, help us to seek to share with others that don’t know you the hope we have in Jesus. I ask this in Jesus’ name.