May the
words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight,
O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. AMEN.
Let us
pray! Gracious Heavenly Father, You sent Your angel to proclaim the fulfillment
of Elizabeth and Zacharias heartfelt desire for a child, but our human
condition of doubt entered into the equation.
May we not doubt Your promises, but believe, for You are unchangeable in
Your divine will to set us free from our sins by sending our Savior, Your Son,
Jesus Christ. May our hearts continue to
be prepared for Jesus coming as foretold by John the Baptist, the son of
Elizabeth and Zacharias for all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel. AMEN.
In years past if someone were given the
moniker “Pious”, it was usually greatly misunderstood. If you were to use it in church circles,
people considered that this person was ‘better’ than everyone else, even
‘closer to God’. Yet tonight we
encounter Elizabeth and Zacharias who were well known for their piety and
devotion early in the New Testament.
Zacharias was devoted as a priest in the temple and Elizabeth was a good
wife of her husband, both of them were good Jews. Not unlike some couples today, Elizabeth and
Zacharias wanted children and for years were not blessed with children’s pitter
patter of little feet around the house.
They doubted they would ever have children.
Enter the angel of the Lord. As we heard last week the angel while
Zacharias was performing his priestly duties in the Temple saw the angel of the
Lord. And Zacharias was told of a child
to be born to him and Elizabeth. How
does Zacharias respond, not with “Alleluia’s”, but with clear doubt saying, “How will I know this for certain?” It is clear that Zacharias has human doubts
and these cloud even the vision of an angel standing in front of him in God’s
house around His altar. Since Zacharias
doubts even the angel of God, known as Gabriel, there are clear consequences
that he will endure, he will be silent, unable to speak, but God though He
could have, does not withdraw His promise through Gabriel of a son to be born
to Elizabeth and Zacharias after such a long period of being childless.
We are no different today. We have clear promises from God to us through
His Word of the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Even when we doubt, God can and does accomplish
His plans through us. God still fulfills
and reveals His glory to and for each of us today. But there is a cost for our doubt, just as
Zacharias found out in doubting the angel Gabriel and the plans of God. We today sometimes doubt God’s potential
provision, action and involvement here at Emmanuel, whether it was funding a
Pastor full-time, getting enough money to make the church more energy efficient
or even expanding the work of the church in the community, we honestly doubt
God’s action and what can be done. We
pay the price for it, but in walking out in faith and not fear God will bless
us and come in a most wonderful way.
For Elizabeth and Zacharias it would be
the birth of their son, John the Baptist, who would herald the Savior by
‘preparing the royal highway’. God still
fulfilled His plan through these two pious servants for all of us today. And God will fulfill His plan in the life of
Emmanuel as well.
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