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Luke 1:5-37, Genesis 18:1-15
5 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah,1 of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. 7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.
8 Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, 9 according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. 11 And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 12 And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. 13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. 14 And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. 16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, 17 and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”
18 And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” 19 And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 20 And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.” 21 And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. 22 And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute. 23 And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home.
24 After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, 25 “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed2 to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”3 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”4
35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born5 will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.”
[1] 1:5
[2] 1:27
[3] 1:28
[4] 1:34
[5] 1:35
(ESV)
18:1 And the LORD appeared to him by the oaks1 of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. 2 He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth 3 and said, “O Lord,2 if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. 4 Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, 5 while I bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” 6 And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quick! Three seahs3 of fine flour! Knead it, and make cakes.” 7 And Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to a young man, who prepared it quickly. 8 Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree while they ate.
9 They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “She is in the tent.” 10 The LORD said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” 13 The LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ 14 Is anything too hard4 for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” 15 But Sarah denied it,5 saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”
[1] 18:1
[2] 18:3
[3] 18:6
[4] 18:14
[5] 18:15
(ESV)
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
If you have a Bible, I invite you to turn to Luke chapter 1. I hope you had a good Thanksgiving. The best part of our Thanksgiving was when my family left. I I only say that in partial jest. No.
Joel Brooks:It was it was a, mostly good Thanksgiving. The Sunday after Thanksgiving is the Sunday that every preacher dreads. Okay? Because you guys are tired from traveling. You are full of stuffing and pie.
Joel Brooks:You have come into this place sleepy, and not only that, for many of you, you've come in here heartbroken after yesterday. There's a lot of things that are working against us this morning. Alright? It would make sense for me to preach kind of a light topical easily digestible sermon. I'm not gonna do that.
Joel Brooks:Alright? We're actually gonna dig into God's word together looking at both Luke 1 and Genesis 18. We're transitioning away from Genesis, into some more Advent texts, but this morning we're gonna look at both Genesis and Luke, because it's 2 very similar texts. Actually as we read through Luke, you're gonna see a lot of the same themes and it's gonna it's gonna bring to remembrance a lot of what we have been talking about concerning Abraham and Sarah. And so Luke chapter 1, we'll begin reading in verse 5, and we'll read all the way to verse 37.
Joel Brooks:In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years. Now while he was serving as priest before God, when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.
Joel Brooks:And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense, and there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. And your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord.
Joel Brooks:And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit of and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared. And Zechariah said to the angel, how shall I know this? For I am old. I'm an old man and my wife is advanced in years.
Joel Brooks:And the angel answered him, 'I am Gabriel I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time. And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute.
Joel Brooks:And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home. After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for 5 months she kept herself hidden, saying, 'Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among the people.' In the 6th month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, 'Greetings, oh favored one the Lord is with you.' But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
Joel Brooks:And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and he will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom there will be no end. Mary said to the angel, how will this be, since I am a virgin?' And the angel answered her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And, behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son. And this is the 6th month with her who was called barren, for nothing will be impossible with God.
Joel Brooks:This is the word of the Lord. Pray with me. Father, we do believe that nothing will be impossible with you. That's what we celebrate this Christmas, is that you came as a baby in flesh. And that through Jesus your Son you have saved us.
Joel Brooks:You've given us new life. And Lord, we thank you for that. We thank you for your Word that teaches us about you, and we ask that through your Holy Spirit you would open it up to us. May my words fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But Lord, may your words remain and may they change us.
Joel Brooks:We pray this in the strong name of Jesus, amen. So I've noticed a strange phenomenon happens as you get older. Time seems to move more quickly as you get older. I mean, you often hear, you know, old people like myself, you know, I'm 46, but say things like, it seems like only yesterday you were this high. And and sure enough, like with my own daughters, it feels like, it was only yesterday that I was holding them like a football in my arms, and now that they are all grown up, just a blink of the eye and they have become, grown young ladies.
Joel Brooks:I find myself often saying things like, but didn't we just do that? And our girls will say, yes. A year ago, dad. I'm like, oh, okay. Time just goes by so quickly.
Joel Brooks:Over the Thanksgiving break, one of our girls asked, when are we going to Disney again? And I said, well, didn't we just do that? And I said, dad, that was 4 years ago with granna. I was like, yeah. Didn't we just do that?
Joel Brooks:I mean, 4 years seems like nothing, seems like a blink of the eye. I mean, it seems like just once again, yesterday, I used to have to get my girls dressed to go to school. Now, if I were to even buy them anything for them to wear, there is no way they would do it. They're grown. They don't need me anymore.
Joel Brooks:But where did that time go so fast? Now when you're younger, you have the exact opposite experience with time. It doesn't go really fast, it goes super slow. Class will never end. Summer will never come.
Joel Brooks:And the slowest time of all is December. I mean, you hit December and it seems like it is always 2 weeks until Christmas. And you're forever waiting for Christmas to come, but it never really arrives. This makes children, in some way, more prepared for the Advent season than adults. Because there's this anticipation.
Joel Brooks:There's this this waiting with hopeful anticipation and it seems like that waiting is never gonna end as you're longing for Christmas day to arrive. That's really what the advent season is about, waiting with anticipation for that day. I found that when we give adjectives to God, when we're describing God, we usually use words like, you know, he's all knowing, he's he's all seeing, he's, omnipresent, he's he's, of course, kind and compassionate and merciful, and we use all of these adjectives. But perhaps an adjective that we should add to our description of God is that he is slow. God is slow.
Joel Brooks:Now to God, he's not slow, because once again, he's a lot older than us. For him, that that he's not slow at all, but for us, we're like kids. We're like kids. We seem to be forever waiting for him to actually do something. Forever waiting for him to answer his promises.
Joel Brooks:I I see some kids out here. You know when your parents say they'll be ready in 2 minutes? Alright? You know, just just give me 2 minutes. I'll be ready in 2 minutes.
Joel Brooks:That's like when God says he's about to do something soon. And that's what we find throughout scripture when God says, I'm about to do something soon. That is your parents' 2 minutes. It's it's really almost an eternity. It just you keep waiting and waiting for when are you finally going to keep your word.
Joel Brooks:As we come to this story in Luke 1, people have been waiting on God for a long time to keep his word. The last prophet we have in the old testament was Malachi. And he actually prophesied about John the Baptist. So it's this direct connection from Malachi's prophecy to John the Baptist. But they had to wait 400 years.
Joel Brooks:There was 400 years of silence before God kept his Word. It had been about 700 years before God had told Isaiah, the virgin shall be with child. It had been about a 1000 years before he had told David that one of his sons would sit on the throne forever. It's about 1400 years since he told Moses that he was going to raise up another prophet that would be like him. And you have to go back all the way 2000 years before you get to Abraham, in which he said, From your seed all of the earth will be blessed.
Joel Brooks:That is a long time. 2000 years, a long time to wait for God to keep his word. We've now been 2000 years. I mean, Abraham had to wait 2000 years for that first coming of Jesus. We have already been waiting 2000 years for Christ to come again.
Joel Brooks:God seems slow, really slow when keeping His word. He's in no rush. He's not on our time timetable. And we feel this as we come to Luke chapter 1. People are thinking at this time, Christmas will never come.
Joel Brooks:The Messiah never is going to come. But, finally, God comes and he sends Gabriel and he says, he's coming soon. I'm sending my forerunner, John the Baptist. And he'll be born within the year. So finally things are in motion.
Joel Brooks:The wait is over. We don't know that much about Zechariah, but we do know this. For one, he's not in many Christmas stories for some reason. People usually jump straight to Mary and Joseph, but Luke has this story in here for a reason because it uniquely prepares us for the Advent season. Zechariah, he was a priest.
Joel Brooks:He was married to Elizabeth. And just like Sarah, the description we have of Elizabeth is that she was old and she was barren, and that she was way past the years for having kids. Zechariah, because he was a priest, he would have to serve in the temple. There were way too many priests for them to serve at the temple year round, so they had to do 2 weeks out of the year. 2 weeks out of the year the priests would go and they would serve in the temple.
Joel Brooks:And so this is what Zechariah is doing. It's his turn, But on this occasion, he actually got chosen to light the altar of incense. You're like, big deal. For him, this was a once in a lifetime moment. You would you would draw lots to see who got to do this, And your name can never be drawn more than once in your entire life.
Joel Brooks:So this is the moment of a lifetime for Zechariah. It's it's the highlight of his life. There's no greater honor than being able to do this. And so this is what he would do when he would have rehearsed this over and over. He was to go into the temple and go into the holy place and he would go and he would light the, the incense at the altar of incense and while it was lit he would offer up a prayer on behalf of the people.
Joel Brooks:And other priests would go in there with him on this occasion, but then 1 by 1, they would leave until he was all alone. And then when he finally after all of them left him, he was all alone, he realized he wasn't alone. And he looked and he saw an angel in front of him, an angel standing right next to the altar of incense. And then we read in verse 12 that he was troubled and that fear fell on him. He's responding exactly how you would respond if you saw an angel in front of you.
Joel Brooks:This is just the biblical way of saying he is terrified. He's trying to keep it together. There's a reason that almost every time an angel appears to somebody, the first thing they have to say is don't be afraid. I mean, that's just don't be afraid. Things are gonna be alright.
Joel Brooks:But Zechariah, he can't help himself. He's scared to death. And the angel tells him that he has heard his prayer. I've heard your prayer. But what prayer was it?
Joel Brooks:I mean, what was Zechariah praying at this moment? I don't think it was prayer for a child. I think he had long since given up on praying that they would have a child because he in no way expects that prayer to have been heard. I think the prayer that he was praying was about the redemption of Israel. God, when will you send the messiah?
Joel Brooks:When will you redeem us? That's the prayer that's been heard. But God was actually, in answering that prayer, also gonna answer his old prayer of having a baby. He tells Zechariah, your wife, she's gonna have a child, and you're gonna name that child John. He's gonna be the one that Malachi prophesied about.
Joel Brooks:He is going to prepare the way for the Messiah. And Zechariah, upon hearing this amazing news, he does not respond with faith. He responds with questions. Does that sound familiar? Does this whole story kind of have, like, haven't we heard this before?
Joel Brooks:Very similar to what we've been looking at as we've been going through Genesis and the lives of Abraham and Sarah. So the angel says, your wife is gonna have a baby and he has these questions. He says, okay I hear you but how can I know? How can I actually know that you are going to do this? Once again sounds very much like Genesis 15.
Joel Brooks:How could I know you're gonna do this? He says, I'm old. He goes, my wife is advanced, which I love. That's a tactful husband right there. He's like, I'm old.
Joel Brooks:My wife, she's advanced. So great. It's like he knows we're gonna be reading this 2000 years later. Here's the thing, Zechariah should have known better because he grew up hearing these stories. He grew up hearing stories of Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and Rebekah.
Joel Brooks:He grew up in Sunday school. He, you know, I'm sure a Sunday school teacher used the equivalent of the felt board. He probably had whatever the first century version of father Abraham was. He he probably sang that over and over. He was steeped in these stories.
Joel Brooks:They shaped his entire life. He knew because you saw it over and over in the bible. God opened the barren wounds. He knew it. And maybe he had a glimmer of hope.
Joel Brooks:Maybe, God, you've done this could this be me? Could this actually happen to me? But he wasn't willing to give himself to it out of fear of being disappointed. And this is really what I think Zechariah and Elizabeth represent here. 2 good, faithful God fearing people who've become used to disappointment.
Joel Brooks:They're gonna keep on serving the lord, but honestly they don't expect things to ever get better. I mean, it's not that their faith in God is is in any way diminished or in question here. They absolutely believe in God. They love God, but honestly they just don't see their situation improving. Certainly over the years, Zechariah had offered many prayers on other people's behalf.
Joel Brooks:I mean, that's what you do as a priest. You listen to people say, would you talk to God for me? And you're like, okay, I will. I'll pick up the red phone, you know, and call up God and and Zechariah has been doing this just offering prayers on behalf of other people. And over the years, I'm sure he saw many of them answered, but God didn't answer his prayer.
Joel Brooks:And do you know what that does to a person over the years? It gets you really used to disappointment. Really used to, okay. God's just not gonna do this in my life. They're good, faithful, God loving, God fearing people, but they don't at all think God's gonna do something new with them.
Joel Brooks:That's who they represent. But what Zechariah does not realize at this time is that God was actually answering his prayer in a far better way than he could ever imagine. God's silence does not mean that God did not hear. God's silence does not mean he is not working. God's silence here says that he's actually working on something extraordinary, way beyond what Zechariah and Elizabeth could have hoped or imagined.
Joel Brooks:He just hasn't revealed that to them yet, and he's working it out according to his timetable. He's gonna both answer their prayer for a child and answer their prayer for the messiah. Zechariah should have believed, but he didn't. He knew the stories, but they didn't convince him. And once again, god was so slow.
Joel Brooks:So slow. So he responds with questions. What happens next is a little comical to me. Actually, this whole story, I think it's fine to read this with a little bit of sense of humor. It's kind of written this way.
Joel Brooks:But you get verse 19. And, basically, Zechariah is like, how can I know? And the angel answered him, I'm Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God. I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.
Joel Brooks:Gabriel actually seemed surprised that Zechariah would not believe him. I mean beforehand, I mean he's, Zechariah is scared to death of the angel and he comes and he says this and Zechariah doesn't believe him and Gabriel's just stunned. He's like, but but I'm Gabriel. I mean you just offer prayers with incense. I actually talked to the man himself.
Joel Brooks:God sent me to you. How could you not believe this? But Zechariah would not believe. He wanted proof. Gabriel says that because Zechariah doubted, he would be mute.
Joel Brooks:He wouldn't be able to speak until John was born. That word that we have there that's used to describe not being able to speak that we translate as mute can also mean deaf. It can be translated either as mute or as being deaf. And what you actually see here is both. He cannot speak and he cannot hear.
Joel Brooks:We know this later because if people want to talk to Zechariah, they have to actually write it down for him to read because Zechariah cannot hear them. So he cannot speak, and he cannot hear. And he won't be able to do this for 9 or 10 months. And this punishment seems pretty severe here for a little bit of doubt. But I'm not actually sure it's a punishment.
Joel Brooks:It's a sign. Make no mistake and they see it as a sign. It, you know, when he comes out and he can't speak, he can't hear, they're like, something extraordinary has happened. People see it as a sign, but I'm not so sure it's a punishment. I think it's you could actually see this as a gift.
Joel Brooks:It's a severe gift but it's a gift nevertheless. Because for the next 9 to 10 months, Zechariah is gonna be in a world of total silence. Which for some of you might be an absolute nightmare. I'm I'm a severe introvert. To me this is heaven.
Joel Brooks:Okay? And, I will go sometimes, I'm in Montana a week by myself, and I will literally not say a word for a week for a week. And Lauren will say, how could you do that? I was like, it was glorious. It actually came quite natural, you know, to just not say anything, to just be in your own head.
Joel Brooks:Zechariah was given this gift for 9 to 10 months. The only thing that he could do was think and pray and read and remember how God has worked in the past. He's had a long time. He's given this time to to meditate over the scriptures, to pour over them. He's given the gift of space.
Joel Brooks:Space to wonder again at what God has done in the past and how God might move in the future. And that's why Zechariah really becomes a picture for us of Advent, what Advent should be. It's not a time of running around like crazy, going to endless parties, never slowing down, shopping shopping shopping, never even having a moment to think. How many of you find yourself saying this every Christmas? It just flew by.
Joel Brooks:It's just like, oh, I'm just so busy. I never had time to slow down. Next year's gonna be different. And it never is. We never slow down.
Joel Brooks:We never really take a moment to think and to be still and to just wonder. But worship requires stillness. So yes, I guess you could say here that Gabriel is punishing Zechariah, but I think it was more like this: Do you doubt me? You you you doubt my word? You doubt that God's gonna do this?
Joel Brooks:Well, let me just give you some time to where you can slow down and you can just think about it for a while. Because if you don't believe God can do this, how in the world are you gonna believe your cousin Mary is pregnant with the child of God who's gonna grow up to save the world of their sins? If you don't believe your wife can become pregnant in her old age, how in the world will you ever believe in God made flesh? And so he gives him this gift of time. And I think there's this is the reason why Luke begins his Christmas story here.
Joel Brooks:He doesn't begin it with Mary and Joseph. He begins it with Zechariah and Elizabeth. Because there is something about this story that prepares us for the birth of Jesus. Something about the silence and the waiting and the seeing the way that God works prepares us. And it didn't just prepare us.
Joel Brooks:It prepared Mary. The story of Zechariah and Elizabeth prepared Mary for what God was going to do with her. When Gabriel came to Mary and told her about what he was gonna do, he reminded her and said, hey, you don't know this, but this is what I'm doing with your cousin Elizabeth, that even Elizabeth in her old age can be pregnant, for nothing will be impossible for God. We read that one phrase in verse 37. Look there.
Joel Brooks:It's underlined in my Bible, probably should be in yours. For nothing will be impossible with God. When Gabriel says these words, For nothing will be impossible to God, what he is doing is answering a question that was raised with Abraham and Sarah. It's it's almost identical to to another verse we find in the story of Abraham and Sarah. But he's really he's answering a question that was first raised there.
Joel Brooks:And so I'd like for us to go there. Go to Genesis chapter 18. We're really picking up where we left off last week in Genesis. If you remember last week, we looked at the story of Hagar. It's now been 13 years since Hagar had Ishmael.
Joel Brooks:And now the lord comes again to Abraham and Sarah. And once again, it's the angel of the Lord coming. And it's talking to Abraham and this time saying, the wait is over. Next year you'll have a child. It's finally after 24 years of waiting, it's over.
Joel Brooks:Next year, you will have a child. And Sarah, the ever nosy wife, is on the other side of this tent flap just listening in. Acting like she's working, but she's not. She's just listening in to the conversation. And that's what happens here in Genesis 18.
Joel Brooks:We'll begin reading in verse 10. Or verse 9. They said to him, Where is Sarah your wife? And he said, She's in the tent. The Lord said, 'I will surely return to you about this time next year.
Joel Brooks:And Sarah your wife shall have a son.' And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. Sound familiar? The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, 'After I am worn out and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?' The Lord said to Abraham, why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Shall I indeed bear a child now that I am old?
Joel Brooks:Is anything too hard for the Lord? There are so many overlaps between the story of Abraham and Sarah and Zechariah and Elizabeth. Once again, you have an angel coming and proclaiming that the barren woman shall be with child. Child within a year. When Sarah hears this, she laughs.
Joel Brooks:There has been so much written about the laugh of Sarah. It's Everybody interprets it a different way. It's kinda like how you interpret a Mona Lisa smile. When when people see Mona Lisa, the painting, they see the smile, everybody sees something a little different in it. And everybody, certain parts of this laugh, it resonates with people different way and some people are like, oh, that was a laugh of rejoicing.
Joel Brooks:And some of it's a laugh of doubting or maybe a laugh of wonder. And I think it's kind of a combination of all of these things. I think it's Sarah going, Right. Boy, I wish that one could be true, but but of course it can't. That would be amazing, but don't be ridiculous.
Joel Brooks:It's probably a combination of all of those things. And then the lord calls her out on it and says, why did he laugh? She actually goes, I didn't laugh. He goes, oh, yes, you did. Yes, you did.
Joel Brooks:Is anything too hard for the Lord? Is anything too hard for the Lord? Both Sarah and Zechariah no longer believed that God would step into their lives and do the impossible. They had both given up on the idea that God would answer prayers and that God could bring laughter to them. The question is, anything too hard for God?
Joel Brooks:Is a question. Hear me. Every person in here needs to answer. And I'm not talking about answer vaguely. You know, like, every of course, if I ever say, is anything too hard for God?
Joel Brooks:He'd be like, no. Okay. I'm talking about your life. Your life. Is anything too hard for God to do in your life?
Joel Brooks:Is your marriage too hard for God to fix? Is your addiction too hard for God to free you from? Is your financial situation too hard for God to deliver you from? Is there anything in your life, is your loneliness too deep for him to cure? Is there anything too hard for God in your life?
Joel Brooks:Do you think God can do the impossible, or are you just used to disappointment? You've grown up hearing the stories. You believe that God could do that, but when it comes to you personally, God will never break in and do something new. Is anything too hard for God is a question that all of us need to answer. Because if you think that there's an area that's too hard in your life for God to do, how in the world are you gonna believe that God Himself became flesh as a baby?
Joel Brooks:To grow up to be the Savior of the world. Well, spoiler alert for you here. We'll get to this after Christmas, but Sarah has a child. Alright? She does have a child.
Joel Brooks:She names the child Isaac, which means laughter. I love that. It's almost like she can't stop rejoicing. And she even names her child Laughter. Because God brings such joy into her life.
Joel Brooks:And as for Zechariah, well after 9 months of living living in total silence, not hearing anything or not being able to say anything, and watching Elizabeth's tummy just get bigger and bigger and bigger, John is finally born and he erupts in laughter and rejoicing. And also erupts in praise and in blessing. Literally just this prophetical blessing just bursts from his mouth after the birth of John. Luke as he records it, he actually shows us that this prophetical blessing, it's longer than Mary's Magnificat. This is something we need to be looking at and savoring.
Joel Brooks:He doesn't just, when when John's born, just say I'm just so happy. What you see bursting forth from him is something that needed chewing on for 9 months. Read with me, if you will. We'll just take time to to close with this, actually. Zechariah's prophetic word had the birth of John.
Joel Brooks:Luke, chapter 1, verse 67. And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, to show the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant. The oath that he swore to our father Abraham to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear and holiness and righteousness before him all our days. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the most high.
Joel Brooks:For you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people and the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace. I read this, and what I hear is not the vague, generic rambling prayers that our generation has become so numb to. What I hear here is a prophetic blessing and praise that comes from a man who was given time to deeply ponder the Scriptures. He was given time to think. This is something that only bubbles up after having experienced a long time in silence before God, pondering how God has worked in the past and how God is going to work in the future.
Joel Brooks:And here once again we see a picture of Advent. I want to encourage you this Advent season to take time to ponder, to read, to pray, to think about who God is and how God has worked in the past, how God is working in the present, and to remember that nothing is impossible for God, even coming as a baby in human flesh. The seed of Eve promised long ago has come. The blessing of Abraham has arrived. The branch from the king of David has burst forth.
Joel Brooks:The virgin has a child. Jesus Christ, our savior, has come, and let us ponder his coming again. Pray with me. Our father, we thank you for the gift of Jesus Christ, our lord and our savior, and how through him you are making all things new. And I pray that during this Advent season, we would deeply ponder and meditate on these truths.
Joel Brooks:And, Lord, the end result would be, come Christmas, we would be bursting with praise. So, Lord, I pray that we would carve out the space, the space so that we can wonder, so that we can worship you in stillness, All for your glory, Jesus. And it's in your name we pray. Amen.