Luke chapter 1 and the place where we're going to
be kind of today starts in verse 57, but we're going to back all
the way up to the beginning of the chapter to kind of get some scope on it. So, let me read the portion that
we're gonna talk about today in Luke chapter one, verse 57. And now Elizabeth full-time came
that she should be delivered and she brought forth a son.
That'd be John, John the Baptist, and her neighbors and her cousins.
heard how the Lord had showed great mercy upon her. Can you
imagine that? Probably was a topic of conversation. She's old and
well stricken in years, and now she's been pregnant for nine
months, and then she has a baby, and they're going, wow. And you
think that she might have said, well, I had a visitor. I had
a visitor that said this is what's going to happen. You think she
spread that gospel tale. So her neighbors and Her cousins
heard how the Lord had showed great mercy upon her and rejoiced
with her. And it came to pass that on the
eighth day they came to circumcise the child. That was the law,
that was the custom. On the eighth day they came together and they
had a blessing over the child, circumcised him and gave them,
as custom was, they announced their name and kind of a public
display. They came to circumcise the child
and They, that would be the neighbors and the cousins, they called
him Zacharias after the name of his father, and his mother
answered and said, not so, but he shall be called John. And
I think that was revealed to her by the angel, the same one
that revealed it to Zacharias, her husband. And they said unto
her, there is none of thy kindred that's called by this name. Why
are you calling him John? Who's that? Johanan. Johanan, gracious. One that would come and prepare
the way of the Lord. He should be called John. And
they said, under there's none of you like kindred that's called
by this name. And they made signs to his father how he would have
him called. And he asked for a writing table
or a tablet was what this word means. And they wrote and wrote
saying, his name is John. And they all marveled. And his
mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he
spake and praised God. And fear came on all that dwelled
around about them, and all these sayings were noised about abroad
through all the hill country of Judea. And all they that heard
them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child
shall this be? And the hand of the Lord was
with him. Originally, I had planned to
go a little bit further today, but it was not to be. So back
up with me a little bit. We're going to back up, clear back a little ways to the beginning
of the chapter. And we'll be looking at a couple
of things. We'll look at in chapter 1 verse 11. And remember back when we studied
this at the time that Zacharias was a priest, and they had lots
to decide what duty they would have in the temple. And his lot
was to light incense at the altar of incense in the temple. And he was in there doing that
when This was what happened, and there appeared unto him an
angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of
incense. Now, when he was in there, there
was not supposed to be anybody else really in there doing much,
and so you can imagine he might have been a little bit surprised
when there was suddenly an angel of the Lord standing on the right
side of the altar of incense that he was going to light. And
remember that incense was symbolic of the prayers of the saints
going up, praying for the Messiah to come. And all the people were
outside the temple in the courtyard praying at the time that he lit
the incense. And they're all praying for thing,
but mostly praying that the Messiah would come because he'd been
promised. That was the whole purpose of the temple, was to
proclaim the coming of the Messiah, the Lord. When Zacharias saw
him, he was troubled and fear fell upon him, as we might well
imagine. That's a shock. The angel said unto him, Fear
not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard, and thy wife, Elizabeth,
shall bear thee a son, and shall call his name John. And thou
shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his
birth." He says, this is just going to be wonderful. You're
going to be so happy with him. And 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 and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers
to the children. and the disobedient to the wisdom
of the just, and to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."
Remember, he was going to go forth in the spirit and power
of Elijah, and we discovered that name Tishbite. Elijah the
Tishbite was Elijah the Turner. Remember that. And John was going
to turn many the same way. He was going to go out and announce
the gospel. And the angel there appeared
to Zacharias and told him these things. And Zacharias in verse
18 said unto the angel, Where shall I know this? Whereby shall
I know this? Isn't that just the case? An
angel of the Lord appears to him and says, here's what's going
to happen. And he says, I need some proof or something. I don't,
I don't see how this is going to happen at all. I don't believe
it. And yet we, we found back in,
in verse six that said him and his wife, they were both righteous
and blameless before the Lord. There's only one way that happens.
not because they led moral lives or they were good people or they
had their church duty assigned to them and they did that every
day. That didn't make them righteous. That didn't make them blameless
before the Lord. The only way that happened was through regeneration
from the Lord. But he says, I don't see how
this is gonna happen. I'm an old man. And my wife,
she's well stricken in years. She's past the time of being
able to have a baby. And the angel answering and said
unto him, I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God and am
sent to speak unto thee and to show these things, these glad
tidings. Angel Gabriel. 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 when he came out,
he couldn't speak. And they perceived that he'd
seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned unto them and
remained speechless. There was something about him
that caused them to say, whoa, something's different here. And it came to pass, as soon
as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed
to his own house. And so the angel said, you're going
to be dumb and without speech. And then we have this same angel
Gabriel that appears later to Mary. Fear not, Mary, in verse 30,
for thou hast found favor with God, and behold, thou shalt conceive
in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name
Jesus. And he shall be great, and shall
be called the Son of the Highest. The Lord God shall give him the
throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house
of Jacob forever, and his kingdom shall, there shall be no end.
And Mary said unto the angel, How shall this be? Saying, I
know not a man. And the angel answered and said unto her, The
Holy Ghost shall come upon thee in the power of the highest,
shall overshadow thee, and therefore that holy thing which shall be
born of thee shall be called the Son of God. So this angel,
he's been sent about It said in verse 26, in the sixth
month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of
Galilee and named Nazareth to a virgin, the spouse to Joseph
of the house of David. And all these things come, they
kind of congeal at this point in time. This angel bringing
the glad tidings that Emmanuel, a virgin shall conceive, and
thou shalt call his name Immanuel. In Matthew, it tells us, Matthew
1.23, thou shalt call his name Immanuel, being interpreted as
God with us. Not only God, our pastor brought
out in John chapter 1, in the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God, and He came and dwelt
among us. Took on flesh, came and dwelt
among us. But that God with us, The enormity
of that, the immensity of that statement is so much more than
just, oh God just came down and took up residence here for a
while. At the time John was being born, Mary, this God with us was in
the womb of Mary. He was here. And God with us, just the enormity
of that statement. You know, the Apostle Paul in
Romans 8, I brought that out. We always love that 8th chapter
of Romans among a lot of others. He declares this truth regarding
God and His being with us from eternity and working all things
for good to those who love Him because He first loved us. In
predestinating and calling and justifying and glorifying them
it says in Romans 8.31, what should we say to these things?
If he's predestined, not only that, he predestined, not only
that, but he called us, not only that, he justified us, not only
that, he glorified us. Then he says, what should we
say to these things then? If God has done all that, if
God is with us, what should we say to these things? And he says,
if God before us, If God is with us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all. And at that very moment that
Zacharias is announcing the name of his son, he was here. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall we not with him also
freely give us all things? I lay down my life for the sheep.
In John 10, 15. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God elect? It's God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of
God, who maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us
from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
There's nothing in this world that can separate us from the
love of Christ. As it is written, for thy sake
we're killed all the day long. We're counted as sheep for the
slaughter. A lot of things happen to us because of being in this
world, a world that's so impacted by the fall. But yet, none of
those things separates us from the love of God in Christ. Nay,
in all these things we're more than conquerors through him that
loved us. A virgin shall conceive and His
name is Immanuel. God with us. And so we go back
to Zacharias here and a little bit later in the chapter. Elizabeth
has given birth. They bring this baby forth to
be circumcised. Zacharias has had nine months.
to think about things. If we look back in verse 20 of
chapter 1, thou shalt be dumb and not able to speak. In my Greek inner linear, these
are two separate things. It says, and behold, thou shalt
be being silent, and thou shalt be being unable to speak. So it kind of gives you two separate
things here. And we know that's true because
what we just read in The later in the chapter, in verse 62,
when they bring that baby forth, and they said, can I call him
Zacharias? And they said, no, his name is
John. And so they go to the father, who's the ultimate decider on
what the name is going to be. And it says in verse 62, and
they made signs to his father. Now that word signs means they
gestured at him with their hands. They made signs to him. For the sermon audio, I'm making
the signs. If he could hear, they would
have said, Zacharias, what are you going to name that baby? And when I was looking into this
a little bit, There's three Greek words for
this dumb. It's variously translated dumb,
deaf, and various things in the New Testament. There's copay, which means involuntary
stillness or inability to speak, which he kind of had that symptom.
And there's CJ, which is a I'm not going
to talk and you can't make me kind of a word. I'm clamming
up. And then there's kophos, which
means blunted of hearing or speech. It means that ability has been
taken away from him. And Hawker and Matthew Henry
believe that's the word that's used here. And in my strongs,
it shows a different word. But when I look it up in my Greek
interlinear, it's a different word than what strong used. Maybe
one of them comes from one Septuagint, one of them comes from somewhere
else, I don't know. But anyway, this Kophos seems to be the more
appropriate term here because they wouldn't have made signs
to him if he could hear. And this same word is translated
in Luke chapter 7 verse 22. The same word dumb is translated
as deaf. Luke 7 22 then Jesus answering
and said unto them go your way and tell John what things you
have seen and heard and how the blind see and the lame walk and
the lepers are cleansed the deaf here that's the same word as
as dumb in some places the dead are raised to the poor the gospel
is preached so it seems like Zacharias suffered
two chastisements for his unbelief. According to the purpose of God,
he had nine months to contemplate the last words that he heard
from Gabriel. And this Gabriel I think our
pastor brought a little bit on that some time ago. But the name Gabriel means man. And they put this of God in there. Man of God. But I think that
of is superfluous. I think it just means man God. And the man part of it, the Gabe,
Geber is from a Hebrew word meaning gibber or gobbler as it would
be pronounced. And it means a valiant man, a
man who prevails. And the El part is El as in God
Almighty. And when you put those together, You have the man, the valiant
man, the valiant God-man that prevails. The Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ. Who stands
in the presence of God. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God. The Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. And he was sent to speak and
to show, it says there in the beginning part of his discourse
with Zacharias. I am sent to speak unto you and
to show you these glad tidings. Well, what glad tidings would
that be? The Messiah is coming and your son is going to be the
man that prepares the way that was declared in Malachi chapter
3. Behold I send my messenger and
he shall prepare the way of the Lord. He'll get out there ahead
of time and preach the gospel and declare that the kingdom
of God is at hand and turn many to the Lord. Elisha the Turner. Sent to speak and to show. Hebrews,
remember when our good buddy Lance was here and he brought
that wonderful lesson from Hebrews chapter 6. God who sundry times
and diverse manners spake in time passed unto the fathers
by the prophets. Those same prophets that he mentions
in the beginning of Luke here. hath in these last times spoken
unto us by his Son. And I think that's who is speaking
unto Zacharias, and that's who is speaking unto Elizabeth, and
that's who is speaking unto Mary. And he said unto them, These
words which I spake unto you, these are the words which I spake
unto you, while I was with you, that all things must be fulfilled
which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets,
and in the Psalms concerning me." And boy, we've spent some
time just while we've been in the book of Luke going back to
Psalm 22 and various places and looking at These scriptures that
describe just exactly what was going to happen. A virgin shall
conceive from Isaiah chapter 7. Malachi, we just read chapter
3. Behold I send my messenger. Then opened he their understanding. This is from Luke chapter 24,
44, where he's talking to those folks that he was with after
his resurrection. And he opened their understanding
that they might understand the scriptures. And said unto them,
thus it is written, and thus it behove Christ to suffer and
to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and
remission of sin should be preached in his name among all nations,
beginning at Jerusalem. You remember, even though they
knew the Scriptures, they sort of just couldn't go there. He said, I have to go to Jerusalem
and be killed. And they said, no, no, no. And he says, if I
don't do that, then this is all useless. If I don't go and be killed,
to pay the sins. If I don't lay down my life for
the ransom of the sheep, they're doomed. he opened their understanding
about the scriptures concerning himself. And the more, it's kind
of like turning the page in the book and once you have the translation
key, oh, oh, there he is, there he is, there he is. He's everywhere.
Every scripture tells something about him. A little bit later,
as we go through here, In this first chapter, there's just such
an immense amount of things about the Lord from the Old Testament.
He's going to raise up a horn of David, a salvation. Well,
what's that about? We learn about the... There's
a lot about horns in the Old Testament. The altar was held
up by things called horns. This altar was made out of wood,
and these horns were made out of wood, and they were covered
with brass to protect them so they wouldn't burn up in the
judgment fire of the acceptance of the sacrifice that they were
making. He's come to be a light, a light
to the Gentiles. We find all these things come
out here in this book of Luke. And you know, this Gabriel, this
man of God, this valiant man, we could find the same thing
back in Daniel chapter 8. Verse 15, It came to pass, when
I, Daniel, had seen a vision, and sought for meaning. Then
behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man. And
I heard a man's voice between the banks of Uli, which called
and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision. God's spoken to us by His Son. He's told His Son, make them
understand. And so we find, as we said in
Luke chapter 24, He caused them, He opened their understanding
so they could understand the Scriptures. And I like those
guys on the road to Emmaus, and maybe you've had this experience,
but sometimes when the Lord reveals something to you, You can hardly
contain it and you can hardly explain it. And those guys, they
said, didn't our hearts burn within us? And if you've experienced that
kind of thing happening, you know just what they're talking
about. And you can hardly talk about
it. It just takes your breath away. Didn't our hearts burn
within us when He opened to us the Scriptures? Told us of electing
eternal love from before the foundation of the world. Before the world was even made,
He made a covenant and agreed to come down here. take on himself
the form of a man, be born, be confined in that womb for nine
months, grow up, and then offer himself a sacrifice
that we might be redeemed. So in the case of Zacharias,
even though he was declared to be righteous and blameless before
the Lord, it's just a picture that the flesh is still a problem. And God was merciful to him. He didn't just deal with him maybe as he deserved,
but he caused him to be in silence And just imagine the last words
he heard. I don't know, if you were suddenly
struck blind, maybe the last thing you saw would be what stuck
in your mind. And you would think about that the whole time you were blind.
And Zacharias, he heard the words of the man-god. And for nine months, he thought
about that. Nine months and eight days. He said, his name is John. He is
going to declare the coming of the Lord. He's going to prepare
the people. So these things that Gabriel
told him just before he removed his ability to hear that he'd
have a son that would be great in the sight of the Lord, would
go forth in the spirit and power of Elijah. He would prepare the
way, make ready a people prepared for the Lord. From verse 16,
the Lord Emmanuel, God with us, sent to save his people from
their sins. And his reaction was, I don't see how that can happen.
I don't believe that. He didn't believe Malachi. Behold
I send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me. He didn't believe Gabriel who
stands in the presence of God. God gave him some time to contemplate. The first thing that he does,
his mouth was opened immediately as soon as he wrote, his name
is John. His mouth was opened immediately
in verse 64, chapter 1. and his tongue was loosed, and
he spake and praised God." It kind of reminded me of Nebuchadnezzar,
back from Daniel, if you remember back in Daniel chapter 4, I believe
that is. He says, when I got my senses
back, I praised and extolled the King and the Lord and the
God of heaven, and he can do what he wants, and nothing can
say unto him, what doest thou? And on and on he went. He had a different view of God
after God gave him a little time to think about it. He spoke and praised God, and
fear came on all that dwelt about them, and all those sayings were
noised about through all the hill country of Judea. And they
that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, man
or a child. This is going to be this John
who is prophesied of. Zechariah said, my son, he's
from Malachi 3. He's going to prepare the way
of the Lord. He's going to prepare the people. He's going to declare
the coming of the Messiah. The thing that we've all been
waiting for, the thing that you people have been standing outside
the temple praying for, it's here. Right as we speak, he's
over there with Mary. As we speak, he's God with us. He's Emmanuel. Imagine that. And his father was filled with
the Holy Ghost and prophesied saying, blessed be the Lord God
of Israel for he hath visited his people and redeemed his people. Now I think there's a double
meaning there because surely God had visited him, Gabriel,
the man God. And he was there as he spoke
in the womb of Mary taking on the form of a man, in the fullness
of time, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the
law, to redeem them that were all their life in bondage to
the law. All their lives slaves to sin.
All their life in the prison of darkness. And he has raised up a horn of
salvation for us in the house of his servant, David. And so
that's where we're going to be next time, the horn of salvation. And there's just a lot about
horns. They're a symbol of strength. They're a symbol of power. They blew the ram's horns and
the walls fell down. And he said, as he spake by the
mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began.
Imagine in nine months, all those came back to him by the Holy
Spirit. And he says, I have understanding
now that I didn't have before. And so we're going to stop there,
pick this up again next time. It just gets better. Thank you and be free.