Introduction to the New Testament: Zechariah and Gabriel

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The CEM Network is pleased to present Ronald L. Dart and Born to Win.

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Imagine that you are in a room all by yourself. Nobody’s there. No one else is supposed to be there. You’re in the process of carrying out a rather simple task, but one that requires you to pay attention to what you’re doing. All you have to do is to carefully replenish the incense burning on a small altar. Then, with no fanfare, no warning, no noise, there is suddenly a man standing there to the right of that small altar. One minute he was not there, the next minute he was there. Now, all of us know what it’s like to have someone creep up on us and not realize they’re there and turn around and see them. It can make you jump nearly out of your skin. This is precisely where a man named Zechariah found himself one day. He was a priest. He was in the temple. He was alone. No one else should have been anywhere near where he was. Suddenly, there was a man standing there. The book says he was startled, gripped with fear. I would certainly think so. Now, this event took place somewhere near 4 B.C., and what’s of special interest is that nothing like this had happened for the past 400 years. In case you don’t know the story, Israel had been carried into captivity in Babylon, oh, some 580 years previously. Looking back from where we are today, that would be some 80 years before Christopher Columbus set sail for the New World. Then Babylon was conquered by Persia. It was a Persian king who allowed the Jews to begin returning to Palestine. These are the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, the finalizing of the sacred books of the Old Testament. They were not years of unalloyed joy in those days. The prophets chastened the people for neglecting the reconstruction of the temple. They had battles with their neighbors. But the temple was finished and ready to be dedicated about 510 years before this day when Zechariah stood ministering in that very temple. It was some 400 years earlier that the last prophet of the Old Testament wrote his message. His name was Malachi. And when Malachi finished and wrote the last word on parchment, God went silent and had nothing further to say. 400 turbulent years followed. The land was conquered and ruled by Alexander the Great. He then died, and his generals took his kingdom after him. One of them, named Antiochus, had attempted to put an end to worship in this very temple. He had forbidden the practice of Judaism. He installed a pagan altar and burned swine’s flesh on it in a deliberate insult to the Jews and an attempt to defile the temple where it couldn’t be properly used. In the years that followed, there were rebellions. Kings were installed and deposed. The Maccabean rebellion played out in those years. And a mere 15 years before the day that Zechariah stood there doing his service, a king named Herod the Great had completely rebuilt the temple. They tore the second temple down and rebuilt it. Herod’s temple still was called the second temple because the service and sacrifice never ceased during the reconstruction. So for all these long years, every day there was an evening and morning sacrifice, and all the things they’d been commanded to do, they kept right on doing. One thing to know, by the way, about the second temple, there was no Ark of the Covenant in that temple. We don’t know what happened to it. We know it was installed in the first temple by Solomon. It’s mentioned in one of Jeremiah’s prophecies, but we are told absolutely nothing about its disposition, what happened to it, or where it went. So here stands Zechariah, carrying on an ancient service uninterrupted for some 500 years, and he finds himself face to face with an angel of God whose name was Gabriel. The angel actually identified himself to Zechariah, something angels don’t always do. They often come and say, here’s what God said, go get it done. And who they were didn’t matter. But he said, I’m Gabriel. The message of Gabriel, interestingly enough, seems to take up right where the prophet Malachi left off 400 years ago. It’s almost strange the way this happens. Here is the last chapter of the last book of the Old Testament. Let’s take a look at it so we can get a feeling of continuity between what happened then and what happened on this day to Zechariah. Malachi chapter 4. Behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, and all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts. It will leave them neither root nor branch. But to you who fear my name, the Son of Righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings. He shall grow out and grow fat like stall-filled calves. You shall trample the wicked. There will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I do this, says the Lord of hosts. Now, this is kind of shocking in a way, because many of these prophecies are found in the major prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel. They talk about all sorts of things just like this. But they wrote long a time ago, and many people think that they were prophesying the terrible events that led up to the destruction of Jerusalem in their own day. But that event is long past, people think. And so those prophecies have been fulfilled, and nobody needs to look at them again. I’m afraid they’re wrong. Here it all comes again with Israel as the winner, not the loser. He says then in verse 4, Now we know we’re talking about terminal issues. And the great and dreadful day of the Lord is still… You could have made that mistake if you’d been reading Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel. You might have thought, oh, the day of the Lord, that’s going to be the time when God intervenes and Israel’s punished and carried off into captivity. Well, unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. Now we’re looking at a great and dreadful day of the Lord that in Malachi’s day is still… off in the future, when the whole earth is headed toward extermination. That’s what he means here, by the way, when he says, lest I come and smite the earth with doom. The Hebrew word is a little stronger than just a curse. Now, Jesus spoke about this time. He was in the Olivet Prophecy when he had his disciples gathered around and asked him about what’s going to happen in the future. In Matthew 24, verse 21… There shall be a time of great distress, he said, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now, and never to be equaled again. The King James Version renders this, Then there will be great tribulation. It gives us a name for this one day in history. And it’s awfully hard when you read it not to see it as an end-time event, a time way off into our future when there will be a great tribulation. And he tells us, Malachi tells us, Jesus tells us, there has never been such a time before, and, happy to say, there never will be again. Of singular importance is this verse we read in Malachi. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Now, everyone knows that Elijah is dead, long dead. It is, of course, possible, I guess, that Elijah would be raised from the dead, but I don’t think anyone expects that. More likely, it was understood that another prophet would come in the role of Elijah, a prophet like Elijah, or an Elijah-like prophet, if you please. Elijah was a rather rough-hewn figure in the Bible. He is the archetype of all prophets. He’s described as a hairy man who wore leather. He’s a man of very few words. He never used two words when one would do. His first recorded prophecy comment, for example, is this. As the Lord God lives before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years except by my word. Then he disappeared and no one heard from him again for three and a half years. And it didn’t rain once in all the years that he was gone. So we can expect an Elijah-like figure to come on the scene with a mission in hand. We don’t know exactly what he will look like, but Elijah seems to have been pretty rough-hewn, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he rides into town on a Harley Davidson. But his mission is what’s really interesting. Stay with me through this short announcement, and I’ll explain when I come back.

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So when this Elijah comes, what’s he supposed to do? What is the mission he has in hand? Well, Malachi tells us this. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers. Now, this is somewhat unexpected. As far as I can tell, Elijah did nothing like that when he was working. And yet here… is a look into the future where an Elijah will actually begin a work of restoring families. And it’s fascinating he speaks of turning the hearts of children to their fathers and of fathers to their children, especially in our age where a lot of deadbeat dads are taking off. Some of these kids don’t even know who their dad was, and their dad doesn’t care who they are. It’s a different world. Well, Elijah is supposed to begin to reverse that. And if he’s not successful, the land faces utter destruction, total annihilation. That’s what basically Malachi tells us is coming. And this is the picture that concludes the Old Testament. Then comes 400 years without a single word from the Lord. Now we come back into the Bible when a man named Zacharias is tending to the incense altar in the temple, a job he did two weeks out of the year. His job is mundane. The place is mundane. It is now Herod’s temple, but there’s no ark there. And nothing miraculous or special has happened in his entire life. And he is an old man. Now, he comes face to face with an angel of God who has an electrifying message for him. It’s in Luke, chapter 1, verse 5. There was in the days of Herod the king of Judea a certain priest named Zacharias of the division of Abijah. His wife was one of the daughters of Aaron. Her name was Elizabeth. They were righteous before God. They walked in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. But they had no child. Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years. So it was, as he was serving before God as priest in the order of his division, according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. It sounds like they actually parceled out the different duties that the priest had to carry out by lot. Well, outside there was a rather large crowd of people who were praying at the hour of incense, apparently the customary time for them to be there. The incense going up like the prayers of the saints and them praying outside. So one minute as he was standing there doing his job, there was nobody there but him. The next moment, there was an angel. Zechariah saw him and was troubled and fear fell on him. The angel said, ìDonít be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard. Your wife Elizabeth shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.î Now, I read that and I thought, ìThis is really fascinating.î He said, ìYour prayer is heard.î Now, I would guess, judging by what follows, it has been a very long time since Zacharias felt any need to pray that his wife would have a son. You know, when they’re in their 20s and she hadn’t had a baby yet, or in their 30s and no child, I can see the man praying on a regular basis, Lord, give us a child. Lord, give us a son. Okay? Makes sense. But when the woman passed the menopause, I guess if most men would say, well, I guess it’s not God’s will, and they would give it up. And, frankly, it might have been 30 years since Zechariah had prayed for a son, and now here comes an angel saying, oh, your prayer is heard. Your wife, Elizabeth, will bear a son. You call his name John. Well, is this the way it’s going to work? You pray until your wife reaches menopause. Then you decide, I guess that’s the answer. Give it up as God’s will. And then years later, the prayer gets answered. I can guess what Zacharias was thinking if he was even able to think at this moment of time. What? My prayer is heard. I’m going to have a son? You mean now? I was musing on this a few days ago, and I told my wife, Allie, I said, you know, I would really hate to have a son, brand-new son, at my age. I’m 72. I’m set in my ways. Me, up at 3 o’clock in the morning to change a diaper or warm a milk bottle, good grief. Allie answered, how do you think I would feel? And that was kind of a sobering moment all by itself. And here’s Zechariah getting this announcement dropped on him by Gabriel. But he said more. He said, You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. That’s a very significant statement right there, because he designates that this will be a Nazarite, because the Nazarite vow prohibited the drinking of wine or strong drink, and they couldn’t cut their hair. It says he will also be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb. Now, you need to understand something here. This isn’t talking about from the time when he leaves his mother’s womb. It’s talking about even while he is in his mother’s womb. He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also 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 a people prepared for the Lord. Now, this is really an electrifying statement, because you’re talking about a gentleman named Zacharias here. who knew what Malachi had said. This is a man who was quite familiar with the Holy Scriptures. And now, he says, this boy that’s going to be born will begin to turn the hearts of the children to the fathers and the fathers to the children to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. He is going to go before him, that is, before the Lord their God, in the spirit and power of Elijah. This would have been a jolt if Zacharias had heard it about someone else, for he recognized the prophecy immediately. Malachi said it, and here is Gabriel saying, Now, we’re ready to actually do the deed. You know, 400 years without a word from God seems a very long time between two closely connected events. But I have long since come to realize that God’s watch runs differently from mine. A thousand years, on my time, it’s a day on God’s standard time. Well, Zacharias collected his thoughts and said to the angel, How shall I know this? I’m an old man. My wife is well advanced in years. The angel said to him, I’m Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God. I was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you didn’t believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their own time. It almost sounds like Gabriel got a little huffy because Zacharias didn’t immediately grasp the matter at hand. He said, I’m Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God. I was sent to bring you glad tidings, and you’re standing here looking like it’s not good news. But really, I suspect that Gabriel’s response was really because the angel didn’t want him running out and blabbing all this to the crowd, so he just made him mute to where he couldn’t say a word until the child was born. Now, outside, the people waited for Zacharias, and they were startled that he waited so long in the temple. They were worried. And when he came out, he couldn’t talk. And they perceived he had seen a vision in the temple because he could only gesture to them and make signs and remain wordless. And so it was, as soon as the days of his service were completed, he departed to his own house. Now, what in the world would he tell his wife when he got home? Think about it. I think here’s this man who’s got this incredible announcement that’s going to involve his wife. You can’t very well keep it a secret from her. What do you tell her when you get home? Honey, we have to get to work. You’re going to have a baby. Well, after those days, Elizabeth conceived, and she hid herself for five months, saying, Thus has the Lord dealt with me in the days when he looked on me to take away my reproach among people. And, you know, it’s truly sad that a woman of her character… A fine, elderly, upstanding, blameless woman should have been reproached. But you see, that was the culture of the time. Having a child was so important, not only for cultural but also for economic reasons, that people tended to assume that a woman who was barren had somehow displeased God and was not being blessed by God. Now, there is something in this passage that at first blush seems irrelevant. But we’re going to come back and take a look and see it’s very relevant indeed. Stay with me through this announcement.

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It is still so striking to me that Luke just takes up with where Malachi left off. The promise of the Elijah? Here he comes. Now, as I said, there’s something in this passage that at first blush would seem irrelevant. Luke throws this in. It’s almost like an aside. There was in the days of Herod the king of Judea a certain priest named Zacharias of the division of Abijah. What does Abijah have to do with anything? Well, as long as it’s here, we might as well look at it. The Levites, as a group, were divided into divisions to serve in the temple. Each division served for one week, twice a year, and the week was named for their ancestor, in this case, one Abijah. So the Abijah division is working in the temple at this time. I won’t bore you with the details of how this was calculated, but what it effectively does is place this event either in late June or late December. Now, why should we care about that? Well, Luke included it. Maybe we should continue on with what he had to say about it. Later, in verse 26, he says, Now, in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth. Here comes Gabriel again with another big announcement. But why does it matter that it’s in the sixth month of anything? Well, it was in the sixth month of Elizabeth’s seclusion with her coming son. Since it was six months, it was about time for Zacharias to be in service again. We are now in either late December or late June, depending upon which of the two annual weeks he served he was in. Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth. And everybody knows this from endless nativity pageants. To a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph. Of the house of David, the virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women. I should say so, but when she saw him, she thought, Huh? What’s this? Now, I presume on this occasion Gabriel may have come in by the door, and unlike most of his artwork, angels usually appear as a man. He said, Don’t be afraid, Mary. You have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus. He will be great. He will be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. Now, this not only rockets back to Malachi, it goes clean back to other prophecies about the descendant of David who would be the Messiah. And have you noticed, through all this, from Malachi forward, it is looking forward far beyond even the earthly ministry of John and Jesus. Prophecy is clearly Messianic. Mary had to know as soon as these words came out that she was going to give birth to the Messiah. Also keep in mind, that she is just a girl, probably in her late teens, already betrothed to a man, effectively his wife, but the marriage had not been consummated. She shows remarkable grace and poise in this situation. Unlike a lot of men who’ve come into contact with angels who seem to drop their jaws and their knees become weak, she basically says, ask a reasonable question. how can this be since I have not known a man, sexually speaking? He didn’t use that word, I’m sure. Now, bear in mind the Messiah, the son of David, was expected to come in the world as a normal birth, the result of a union between a man and his wife, the result of the normal birth process. Well, the angel answered, the Holy Spirit will come upon you. The power of the highest will overshadow you. Therefore, also that holy one to be born will be called the son of God. Now, indeed, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age. This is her sixth month for her who had been called barren. But you see, with God, nothing is impossible. And Mary had not a word of argument. She said, Behold the maidservant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word. And the angel departed. This was no flighty girl. She didn’t fall apart. She didn’t bounce off the walls. She accepted and believed, unlike Zacharias, if you will recall. Now, if I may return to my earlier question, why is Luke bothering with divisions of the priesthood and this or that month of someone’s pregnancy? It’s probably better understood by the first readers of this. What it did effectively was to place the conception of Jesus in late December, not his birth. John would have been born in the spring near Passover. Jesus was then born in the autumn, in the month of the Feast of Trumpets and the Feast of Tabernacles. Now, this may answer the question of why Jesus’ birth date is not specified in the Bible. In my opinion, he was born on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles. It tends to be the way God works. He has his appointments with history and does his big things on those appointments. And along comes John and tells us, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was made flesh and tabernacled among us.

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Until next time. You have heard Ronald L. Dart. If you would like more information or if you have any questions, write to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. In the U.S. and Canada, call toll free 1-888-BIBLE44 and visit our website at borntowin.net.

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