Missions Paul

^“When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. ⁵⁸ Her neighbours and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy. ⁵⁹ On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, ⁶⁰ but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.” ⁶¹ They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.” ⁶² Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. ⁶³ He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.” ⁶⁴ Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God. ⁶⁵ All the neighbours were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. ⁶⁶ Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him.” (Luke 1 v 57-66)

For 9 months Zechariah had not been able to speak. Gabriel had silenced him and probably made him deaf because the people had to make signs to communicate to him.

Imagine with me, God placing you into a silent world for 9 months.

It is easy to just see this silence as a punishment from Gabriel to Zechariah for his questioning unbelief. But I think it is so much more than that.

Imagine with me 9 months of no noise, of another world, probably one where he is aware it is just him and God now. A season where there was time to meditate on who God is and what He has done. Realising that God is a covenant keeping God.

Imagine God filling the silence with His presence.

Imagine God filling his unbelief with faith.

Imagine the intimate moments of prayer and worship of his heart towards God. This was a productive silence and I know that because of what would come out of his mouth as soon as his voice came back and his ears were opened. Out of Zechariah came the name of his son, which was given to him by Gabriel and then an amazing song of praise.

The verse in Isaiah 30:15 was certainly true for Zechariah, “in quietness and trust is your strength.”

We are approaching now this fun-filled, loud, festive noise of songs, cheers and anything but silence!! Activity has increased, our minds are flooded with ‘to do’ lists, we have been shopping, planning, discussing, creating and at the same time we are getting more and more fraught, anxious and restless.

But it doesn’t change. We will then go into a new year and we will be doing the same. Our lives are filled with anything but silence. And for us Pentecostals well, silence can appear a dangerous thing, so we fill the gap with a song, a superlative or a story anything but silence!

Maybe someone needs to hear today that they are facing a huge decision, a game-changer for their life, they don’t know what to do but a decision will have to be made and yet the one decision that is of utmost importance is to be silent.

For in the trust of silence there is strength.

Maybe the silence of Zechariah is not a punishment but an invitation. It certainly can be for you and me today. There are things God can only do in the silence. Enter it today.

Mary is immediately welcomed and blessed and prophesied over. It is overwhelming. Out of the depths of her heart come a song. It is a song of God coming to His people. A song of hope and power. A song of courage to believe that His presence is everything. It is often known as the Magnificat which is the Latin translation of the first word ‘magnifies’.

Magnificat anima mea Dominum

Luke 1: 46-55

Forgive this longer than usual devotion but the Magnificat is beautiful and it needs meditation. So choose whichever verse you want or if you have the time the whole and let God speak to you.

⁴⁶ And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord

My soul magnifies the Lord! With all my heart I praise the Lord! My soul exalts the Lord! My soul is ecstatic, overflowing with praises to God! Yes, my soul magnifies the Lord! My enemies may be pressing in, my body may be weak, my mind may be anxious, my circumstances may be impossible, but MY SOUL MAGNIFIES THE LORD!

⁴⁷     and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,

Mary knew she would be known as a law-breaker. She had become a sinner. Mary would be accused of being an adulterer. Hers was a ‘dirty’ miracle. Her divorce was looming even before it had culminated in the marriage ceremony. Mary doesn’t rejoice in God, but God her Saviour! He is not a Saviour, but hers! He is my Saviour. Your Saviour today. He is a saving God!

⁴⁸ for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed,

Mary from now on steps into her blessing and it will be the next 3 decades that remind her constantly of what that blessing means entails.

⁴⁹  for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name.

Mary doesn’t announce her planned strategy for what is now coming through her. Rather she acknowledges what God has already done in her life. She looks back. The God who had always been there for her, watching over her, will continue to make a way.

His holiness calls to any apathy and duty and to return to the significant and all-consuming influence of His presence.

⁵⁰ His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.

This song bursting out of young Mary’s soul now moves from what God has done for her to what He will do for the world to come. She has understood and probably knew that when God moves it is not only for now but for the future.

Mary says in the next generation to come and the ones beyond there must be fear.

⁵¹ He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.

Who were the proud that Mary was thinking of? Was it the neighbourhood gossiping about Elizabeth? Was it the Gentiles? Was it those in power? The Pharisees? Caesar? Herod? Even if it was, would they be concerned of a little unknown girl prophesying from a backwater of Judea?

Who has He strengthened? Mary herself? Elizabeth? The poor all around? I think all those and more.

⁵² He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.

Here is a young teenage girl who may not have been educated but knows her Scripture enough so that when she is pouring out her soul to God she is able to use it to form her own prayers.

Job 5:11 “The lowly he sets on high, and those who mourn are lifted to safety.”

⁵³ He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.

Mary lived at a time when the Herodians taxed the Jews heavily for the building of their own lavish palaces and homes for the gentry, hunger was very familiar to most.

But Mary also lived during a time when the Jews were hungry for God to once again step in and end the suffering of His people which historically was seen to have been caused by their wandering from Him.

Psalm 107: 4-9 “Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.”

Was Mary in fact quoting this Psalm? Probably.

⁵⁴ He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful

Mary had already been told that her son was more than just a child. That it was God coming to the world for a throne, to reign and to build a kingdom. She understands that He is firstly coming to her nation and she chooses descriptive words that are used by the earlier prophets: “But you, Israel, my servant … from its farthest corners I called you. I said, ‘You are my servant’; … I will strengthen you and help you.” (Isaiah 41:8-10)

He is coming to help in remembrance of His mercy.

Mercy is more than sympathy, pity and forgiveness. It is that but it rushes past and out of those expressions. Mercy needs an act for it to be mercy.

Those who show mercy look weaker in our aggressive culture. Mary knew this is what was inside her. She was hosting His presence and this was mercy. This was the help coming to Israel and to the world.

⁵⁵ to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.”

After 400 years of no prophets bringing any messages from God, all they had were fading promises and many would have forgotten them completely.

Mary says, “These are the days of the Abrahamic promises coming to fulfilment.”

She will later see (and suffer) that God who spared Abraham’s Isaac will not spare her own son – His Son. But what does it mean if everything is fulfilled, all the Law and the Prophets is found in Christ? If all the Abrahamic promises are now in Jesus do we just study them? No.

We live like the Mary generation, but even better.

The Magnificat, how has it blessed you today?

“At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favoured, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfil his promises to her!” (Luke 1 v 39-45)

See the timeline: “After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion”v24. “In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee” v26. “Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home” v56.

Mary found someone who was also a carrier.

Mary had been told Elizabeth had also received a miracle promise and she only had 3 months left of her own pregnancy. Do you have someone who is ahead of you in the faith path? Be with them.

When carrying His presence or His promise in your life don’t sit with the mockers. Don’t fellowship with the bitter and the cynical they will abort your dream. Wisdom is knowing who to leave behind.

Mary chooses Elizabeth before Joseph. She leaves her future husband to God.

Mary was focused.

The translators use the words hurried and in haste she travelled to Elizabeth. She is eager and enthusiastic and in her excitement I can visualise her running the 100 mile journey to Judea! Less haste more speed is common sense but not here. When you are waiting for your miracle and when you are carrying His promise you cannot afford the luxury of taking it easy. You have to be focused continually. You have to become fanatical and everything else falls into insignificance. Other responsibilities take a back-seat to what you know you have to do. You have a ‘baby’ inside you and everything surrenders to this. What you have to do and where you have to go must happen.

Mary was available for God to use her.

The presence of Jesus in Mary moved the presence of John in Elizabeth and she also was filled with the Holy Spirit. His presence and the promise you are carrying can powerfully impact the miracles that are laying inside others and can bring an encounter of the Holy Spirit to them.

Mary understands the power of blessing

Elizabeth blesses Mary’s miracle. Filled with the Spirit she prophecies about ‘my Lord’. Mary receives her first confirmation of what Gabriel had said to her. To bless is to protect the miracle in another person’s life. How many have lost their dreams through someone’s words!

If today you have experienced a fresh experience of His presence in your life or maybe you are carrying a promise of God for a situation, for you or for others: Choose carefully who you walk with, be focused, be available and hold on to words of blessing for your life.

“But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.” (Matthew 1 v 20-24)

Joseph take Mary as your wife, into your home.

Joseph believe what Mary has told you.

Joseph this son is not yours, it is of the Holy Spirit.

Joseph you must act like his father and name him as any parent would.

Joseph you need to believe in this son’s destiny of salvation.

Then Matthew inserts a link back to the prophecy of Isaiah.

“All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).” (Matthew 1 v 22-23)

For Matthew’s Jewish readers they know instantly the context of that prophecy. It is set in a tough time. The nation of Judah is under threat. This is the nation that held to the royal line of David, the Messianic line. The threat to Judah was from the northern kingdom, Israel and its ally, Syria. This was an anxious time for everyone in Judah. The prophet Isaiah encourages King Ahaz to remain strong and not be afraid. God will give Ahaz a sign. “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14 NRSV) The Hebrew word describes a young woman who is assumed to be a virgin and the Greek word used to describe Mary means virgin.

Isaiah says that before the son, Immanuel, grows up those that oppose King Ahaz, the kings of Israel and Syria will be dead. Who was the young woman? Who was the Immanuel that Isaiah was speaking about? Some suggest it might have been his wife and his own son. But was it also Jesus?

All prophetic fulfilment happens in the life of the prophet, or in the future, or in both.

Within Joseph’s dream Matthew is describing to his readers that what happened in the year 740BC when God told Ahaz not to be afraid for God will step into the messy world is now happening again. The Immanuel born in 740BC would die but the one born to Mary is different. The previous Immanuel would save Judah but this Immanuel would save the whole world.

These are definitely tough times that we live in. For many Christmas will be tough this year more than at any other. Seven hundred years before the first Christmas Isaiah saw something which would have a greater fulfilment in Christ. God with us, Immanuel, will come and Matthew’s gospel will tell us he came to save the world through his death but he never stayed dead and he is very much alive today.

Your Christmas may be difficult this year but during these tough days remember Immanuel has come, God’s rescue act, God with us. God is with you.

“This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about^[d]: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.” (Matthew 1 v 18-19)

This is how it all came about. What? The most amazing happening God ever did, the incarnation of Christ, happened because of a set of circumstances that were unpleasant, challenging, offensive and dangerous. God took hold of these circumstances of life and used them as tools in his hand. Don’t ignore or rubbish your circumstances. It may look so wrong but it can be so right.

It can look to others like God is no-where near and not involved with what He has in fact actually caused.

Mary was so available to Him that she was willing for God to seriously mess up her future? Are you? …

It can be difficult when the natural evidence is convincing.

Sometimes the wrong thing in people’s eyes who don’t know the full story is actually the right thing.

In these 2 verses we see Joseph has a long mental and spiritual journey to make in a short time.

Have you ever decided to do something that was wrong, incorrect or inappropriate knowing that actually it was the right thing to do in the circumstance?

Joseph was faithful to the Law of Moses and yet … think about these words for a moment.

He decided to break the Law of Moses and divorce Mary quietly. This was wrong. Every Jew would say so. Whatever interpretation of the Law the rabbi’s would hold to at the time of Joseph, one thing was sure, judgment on Mary was needed.

Other translations use the word ‘Just’ to describe Joseph’s faithfulness to the Law. But justice for Joseph was more than keeping the Law of Moses.

In one of the four Suffering Servant songs in Isaiah 42 the words are, “A bruised reed he will not break and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.”

In the song, justice is not retributive or keeping the rules but it is compassion for the weak and the exhausted, the downtrodden and the outcast.

His decision to divorce her quietly reveals that His righteousness according the Law of Moses (the rules) would not become a stumbling block to what was the right action.

This ‘justice’ embedded in Joseph’s mind was instrumental to the miracle.

How do we develop such justice?

Joseph made decisions based upon grace. The divorce was the gracious door out of this terrible situation. Grace is the safest place to be. We need more grace.

Joseph’s wisdom knew what to fight for. What he could not understand or accept (miracle conception or a man involved?) he was prepared to dismiss rather than contend. We need more wisdom.

Let’s make sure our rules for life don’t trap us from doing the right thing.

“Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favour with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.” “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.” (Luke 1 v 29-38)

Most women would be delighted to hear news they are pregnant, but not Mary.

I think I have spent the majority of my life listening to people believing God will use them mightily, praying that God will take them and do great things and announcing that they are stepping out into God’s great plans with a great awesome future in faith to do great exploits, sometimes leaving me wondering which character is the great one.

I don’t blame them because I have preached many a good sermon from that stance.

But what if being chosen isn’t like that at all?

What if being chosen actually sounds perplexing, anxious and leaving you greatly troubled?

What if being highly favoured means you need an angel to tell you ‘Don’t be afraid’?

What if the reason why you are being instructed not to be afraid is that what you are being chosen for would scare the life out of most people?

What if being chosen is the worst thing that could have happened to you?

What if being highly favoured means that you cannot see how you will be the most blessed of women but the most scorned, insulted and slandered?

It can look to others like God is nowhere near and not involved with what He in fact actually caused. Don’t expect everyone to be thrilled with the miracle that is inside you. They do not know that the miracle was planted in you. They do not know your encounter with the Divine Presence. Keep your eyes off people and their reactions and responses will not hinder you.

If you know all the answers then maybe what God is about to do isn’t God after all? God acts and blows our minds. That’s how it is.

It is easier to believe in miracles when you don’t need one.

To step into all He has purposed for your life will mean that at various stages you have to change. You will need to leave the person you was behind. You will have to change what you believed perhaps. You will need to ask, ‘do I want to become this new person that I am going to have to become?’ Others will have to embrace that change also as they relate to what God is doing in your life. There may be a need to lose some precious things to you:-

• Your reputation: If reputation is more important than His plan then all you will have to talk about is the past.
• The battle. How is she ever going to explain virgin and pregnant? There are times when you need to silence your mouth and lose the argument. It will be another 30 years when people will realise that this child is the Son of God and for some they will never believe it anyway.
• The desire for vindication. God’s plan may seem unfair full stop.

God is waiting for your submission to the miracles He has for you.

Have you ever prayed this prayer? “I will adjust to what you want for my life God.” Mary did.

Have you ever prayed this prayer? “I am yours. My mind understands. My heart receives. My body is ready, use me.” Mary did.

Have you ever prayed this prayer? “YES I agree with that. I believe that to be true. I want that to be so.” Mary did.

Finally, see what happens after Mary submitted to her miracle.

Heaven leaves. The angels work is done. Mary is left alone.

The conference is over. The event has finished. The intercessors, worshippers and followers dispersed. And it is you left on centre stage with the hope of a miracle.

What will you do now?

It takes courage to remain when everyone has left.

It is a little easier to believe when Gabriel is in front of you.

Surrounded by the divine we can all submit to the plans of God.

When all you have is you then it is not so easy.

If this had happened in other times or places Mary was definitely holding her own death warrant. Maybe she feared of the possibility of a stoning returning. She knew at least she would be slandered, scorned and maligned. But she definitely held the divorce papers. Gabriel had said nothing about Joseph. She had tried to raise the issue when saying she was a virgin but she surrendered without knowing how Gabriel thought Joseph would be with this. “Why didn’t I ask?” “I should have got that sorted!”

Gabriel leaves. But actually we read it wrong. It is an assumption that Mary is alone. Just because we cannot see any more characters doesn’t mean there isn’t the important one there with Mary. Gabriel had spoken of the Holy Spirit coming upon Mary and the power of the Most High overshadowing her. That’s all we need when the angel leaves.

“In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.” (Luke 1 v 26-28)

The most surprised girl in history was Mary. An ordinary girl who was visited by a mighty angel who had been sent by an extraordinary God.

The Bible is a history of God taking ordinary people and doing miracles through them. They weren’t special but they became special through what God did through them.

God will use people who say YES to Him despite their circumstances saying NO.

Everything around you can be saying NO, but it is what you say that matters.

Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph. It was a 2 year journey leading to the consummation of the marriage. The first year was as important as the second and the woman could only get out of it by a divorce. It was a fixed position. This announcement of a child would leave the circumstance saying NO.

God will use people who are chosen by Him. “…highly favoured” or uniquely privileged. No one in all of history is called or privileged to receive God’s grace except Mary.

Except …

“Highly favoured” in the original written language is used in the Bible one more time, in Ephesians 1: 4 “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” ‘Chose us’ is ‘highly favoured’. So the special greeting to Mary is the same that Paul uses for you and me.

You who are reading this devotion today are uniquely privileged, highly favoured and incredible chosen.

So today wherever you are and whatever you do God can and will use you, He just needs your YES. It doesn’t matter about the circumstance you are in, YES use me God is the answer, I am chosen by you!

“Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak. When his time of service was completed, he returned home. After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favour and taken away my disgrace among the people.” (Luke 1 v 21-25)

At the same time as you are doing what you are doing, whether you are in success or struggling when perhaps the centre stage is the whole stage and you see no one else or nothing changing, remember this word: Meanwhile.

Meanwhile … the people were wondering … and Elizabeth was waiting and in her waiting she was being prepared for Zechariah. God was working in her womb, making her fertile for the very first time, waiting for her now dumb husband to come home to her.

You don’t see it all.

You are only part of God’s story not the other way round.

In His story He has many people and He moves them into place.

There are things happening right now that you do not even see or could possibly imagine.

Things are shifting, circumstances are changing for other people, preparations are taking place, do not give up hope.

One man was having an experience and meanwhile the people were waiting.

One couple had prayed for years and meanwhile God was waiting till they were past all possibility.

One man had forgotten about the prayers of old and meanwhile God was choosing him miraculously to enter the Holy of Holies.

One man performed his duty as all the previous priests had done and meanwhile God was sending Gabriel to him.

Which part of the meanwhile are you in? Where are you?

In the meanwhile you may feel isolated.

Elizabeth carried a miracle for 5 months in seclusion. Why?

Surely it was because she didn’t know how people would react. What would they say?

Perhaps it was herself who wondered whether she was able to carry the miracle to the fulfilment. Maybe she thought it would be best to not let people know, just in case.

So not only was her husband now silent, Elizabeth was now not seen. They were well and truly hidden.

In the meanwhile you may feel it is imperfect.

This may last the whole time of carrying the miracle.

Her husband was still mute, a sign to the miracle that unbelief and weakness needs to be silenced.

In the meanwhile you will be inspired.

The month after a young teenage family member came to see her. Her name was Mary and she had some news also! God will always have people in the latter stages of your miracle who will come to strengthen you.

Meanwhile is not just a waiting period. God is still moving.

“Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” The angel said to him, “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 appointed time.” (Luke 1 v 18-20)

His presence is everything.

Zechariah was standing in the holiest symbolic place of the presence of God but he wasn’t standing in His presence and it showed.

We can gather at many altars and perform a variety of liturgies. We can arrange our artefacts around us. We can position our Temple furniture and we can perform our duty of worship. Yet in all of that we can have let go of the old dreams, the prayers that are now not prayed and the hope that has disappeared.

You see, the answer is always the presence of God.

The presence keeps dreams new, prayers fresh and hope alive.

We need visitations from angels or people who have been standing in the presence of God.

Surround yourself with the presence of God. His presence is everything.

His presence is to be learnt and as we do it can lead us to miracles we long for.

Zechariah asks for a sign that this amazingly great news and answer to a very old prayer of theirs would actually come true. Wouldn’t we? Yes we would.

So the sign is given. Where is the sign? Zechariah wasn’t expecting that he would be the sign! It isn’t a punishment, it is a grace. “You will be silent”.

Some miracles need silence.

Maybe we also need to shut up and stop thinking of all the reasons why something cannot happen and be prepared to be part of an amazing story.

Zechariah had to complete his duty in the Temple and then go outside to meet the worshippers. He then had to go home and sleep with his wife Elizabeth. This was not the Immaculate Conception. He would then have to wait the 9 month period. In all of this he needed to be silent. If he had kept voicing his concerns then it would have affected the story.

Shut up and do what you have to do. Be a sign for your miracle.

Recognise His presence today, speak less perhaps not at all and be obedient.

 “Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, ⁹ he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshippers were praying outside. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1: 8-17)

Zechariah was chosen that day to burn incense. In the temple he would sprinkle frankincense on the fiery coals and a fragrant cloud would rise. He would prostrate himself on the floor and pray for the peace of Israel and give thanks for previous blessings. He had studied how to do this though this was most probably his first time.

It was a special day for him. He was just a priest, not a High Priest, just an ordinary one and yet the dice rolled in his favour apparently because out of at least 20,000 other priests he had been chosen. Luck? Miracle? Or indeed chosen?

Zechariah is chosen to go into the most privileged place, the presence of God. He is alone in the place of sacrifice. He longs for the Messiah to come but he doesn’t realise how close Jesus is. He pours the incense on the altar. The place is filled with a beautiful fragrance.

The incense was not for the enjoyment of the people it was for God. But the beautiful smell was the signal that God was there meeting with them and it was then that they would pray. Maybe they thought the incense attracted God to them, a sign for Him to come?

Outside everyone is praying, the fragrance of the incense has reached them. Inside, alone, is a man chosen by God having the experience of sacrifice.

Symbolism is all around him. He has prayed and so have the people outside for the protection of Israel and for the coming Messiah. What he doesn’t realise is that all the artefacts around him have their central meaning in Christ, the whole of the Temple was a picture of Jesus.

Zechariah was before the altar of incense. The place symbolic of the prayers of people rising to God.

Where did he come from? I am not sure, he just appeared! Zechariah was clear that an angel had appeared, he even knew where he was standing for the detail will never be forgotten.

The message was simple and for all time.

Have faith, don’t be afraid.

The angel told Zechariah to stop. He wouldn’t command that if it wasn’t possible to do. Fear needs to be stopped because it paralyses us from moving. Zechariah would have to begin to move because God was already moving.

To stop being afraid Zechariah learnt what we must learn.

1. Our prayers are heard. The prayers of old and the forgotten prayers perhaps “your prayer has been heard”.
2. He can still do the impossible “Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son.”
3. His ways need to be His ways. Zechariah would not follow custom but call his son John for his son would follow a new path and purpose for God “and you are to call him John.”
4.  What I ask for is always less than what He can give “Many will rejoice because of his birth”
5. When God answers my prayer the blessing will go beyond me “For he will be great in the sight of the Lord”
6. Whatever God gives to me belongs to Him “He is never to take wine or other fermented drink” (the Nazirite vow which consecrated Him to God)
7. God is always bigger than what I think I know and understand often leaving me wondering “He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born”
8. When God gives it is more about presence than protection or provision “He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God”
9. God never forgets the people of the past and the anointing of the present can be even greater than that of yesterday “And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah”
10. The purpose of God is to prepare for Him coming. It is all about presence “To make ready a people prepared for the Lord”

Let us get into the temple today and wait on His presence for anything can happen when He is here.