“PROMISE AND PRAYERS FOR A CHILD”: FAITH BY STEP
LUKE 1:13-25, 67-80: LIFEWAY WINTER QUARTERLY: SESSION 1
INTRODUCTION: “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to ALL people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the LORD.” Luke 2:10-11
“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…” or how about: “Once upon a time…” When we hear these words we know a story- a saga is coming. The intros above are for sci-fi and fairy tales, but the greatest story ever told, “The great cloud of witnesses” that are its part that have told it, lived it, and left it with us tell no fairy tale, or conjured up folklore but the True and greater than fantastic story of the Gospel; The Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God recorded by Luke. Luke’s Gospel and his second book: The Acts of the Apostles, tells a story. The story of Jesus, the story of our salvation, of mankind’s redemption by grace through faith in His name, the birth of the church, and the transition from the Old Testament to the New.
We will come across several key themes as we study Luke over the next 6 months, themes of: salvation, the power of the Holy Spirit, God’s justice and care of the poor, the reversal of fortunes, the physicality of Jesus as Son of Man and Son of God, and learning to walk faithfully, and humbly with the King. Luke’s purpose was to show Jesus as Messiah and the “out-breaking” of the good news (gk- evangelion- where we get our word “evangelism”) of the Kingdom of God through the proclamation of the last prophets (Ana, Simeon, John the Baptist), Shepherds the disciples, the people Jesus helped and healed, even his enemies, and Jesus Himself. Luke successfully shows the birth and growth of the Church in and through Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit from relative obscurity in backwater Galilee to Jerusalem, all Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth (Rome {see Acts 1:7-8; 28:14, 16, 23-31}); in the process for his listeners he shows and explains to a growing and “mixed cultural” church of Jews, Greeks, Gentiles, “Sinners”, and former pagans what exactly it means that Jesus is “The Messiah” not just beginning from the roots of Israel and Judaism but Jesus as acceptable and universal for ALL people to have access to God’s salvation by Faith in His name. Luke’s story is Father God’s story of heaven’s salvation come to earth in Christ Jesus our Savior and Lord. It is the church’s story and its Mission. We are invited to make it our story… joining a great cloud of witnesses with the promises, plans, and commands of God no longer written on tablets of stone but human hearts through the gracious actions and Passion of our Risen King and the quickening of His Spirit that resides and moves within us… Let’s begin, and may we be reminded as we study to allow Luke’s saga to continue through us and forward into the generations after us till we all reach home as we proclaim the Good News of Christ Jesus and the Kingdom of God!
Luke Chapter 1 is the longest chapter of the New Testament and begins Luke’s transition of the “old order” the Old Testament to the New. Luke deftly shows Augustine’s observation that: “In the Old Testament the New Testament lies hidden, and in the New Testament God’s desired outcome of creation from the Old stands revealed.” The chapter is steeped in Old Testament Semitic (Jewish/Ancient Middle Eastern cultural and linguistic methods) structures and poetry. Luke uses these forms to explain Jesus’ Jewish and Hebrew-Palestinian roots and origins to a mainly Gentile audience and how Jesus fits into and out of the Old Testament prophesies from Isaiah (gee I wonder if we have been studying that?) Luke 1 is concerned with “Promises and Prayers for a Child”; (actually two children) the last and greatest herald (Prophet) of Messiah and Messiah Himself. The structure of the introducing story is very similar to modern adventure novels (Lord of the Rings) or TV show plots (like Bonanza- “Meanwhile, back at the Ponderosa…”) where two separate but heavily related story lines weave in and out of each other to stress the overall meaning, plot and purpose (both the Gospels of Luke/Acts and Mark rely heavily on this literary method {see Mark 5 Luke 8 and Acts 8&9}). Luke follows the foretelling (remember Isaiah’s “Forthtelling” Prophecies) and birth of John the Baptist and Messiah Jesus while at the same time giving His listeners the contrasting hopes and fears, faith and doubts of their parents at the receiving of these revelations through the angel Gabriel. I believe God used Luke to intentionally show us these doubts and faith to get his listeners to think of Abraham and the birth of Ishmael and Isaac and the doubt and faith that was woven into that story considering the promise and prayers for a child…
In Abraham’s story a child (Isaac) was graciously promised and delivered to a couple in old-age but not without the struggle between faith and doubt, hope and despair ending with a child of promise (Isaac) and a child of doubt (Ishmael) yet God used them both and strengthened the faith of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar not all at once but through a maturing process, by struggle, through suffering, through history, through “Faith by Step” (listen to Rich Mullin’s Song: Sometimes by Step). Abraham had given into his wife’s doubt by fathering a child through her maid-servant Hagar. As a result, God had to test and renew Abraham’s faith through the request to sacrifice Isaac on the altar (Genesis 15-16; 21-22). Throughout Genesis we see a family struggling with Faith and doubt in God based upon God’s Word, His signs and miracles in keeping His promises; promises that are not just beneficial to the family but to everyone as a result but God does not only reward their faith He soothes their doubts by testing and trial, by worship and a call to simple (but not easy) obedience in order for them to trust Him and His plan. It is the hallmark of Old Testament Faith and Promise that is carried into the heritage and legacy of New Testament fulfillment by Luke’s Gospel especially here in Chapter 1 through the promise and prayers for a child (Luke 1:13-17).
The promise and prayers for a child in Luke’s Gospel is three-fold: there is the “personal” promise and prayer, a “national” promise and prayer, and a “universal” promise and prayer. Luke shows us the personal struggle between promise and prayer for Zechariah and Elizabeth. They were both old; they both thought they had reached the pinnacle of their success and failure in family and community endeavor. Zechariah was fulfilling the highlight of his role as a priest in getting to serve in the Temple of Jerusalem and burn incense in the “holy place” (the center of Faith for all Jews). Most scholars believe that there were many priests at this time and each priest chosen to serve in the Temple would have served there only one week and not all of them would have had that opportunity before they died. Zechariah was at the height of his success when Gabriel gave him the Good News of his coming son, John. Meanwhile, Elizabeth struggled for years with childlessness (which was considered a curse and a failure in that cultural context) even though Luke makes the point that they were considered “righteous” like Abraham was considered righteous. Prayers and pleadings with God for a child had been constant and fervent and as they aged they probably got less and less till they faded to silence at the impossibility of it all till what was left was a sorrowful hole in their hearts. BUT God had heard their prayers and answered them according to His excellent plan, in His own and appropriate time (the word for time in v.20 is kairos meaning a divinely appointed time) which were far and above anything the couple could have dreamed of!
Are there desires of your heart that have yet to be fulfilled? Let God guide and temper your desires as you trust in Him and He will do an unexpected and joyous work in you that may or may not fulfill your desires but bring you peace, joy and godly contentment as He fulfills His own desires in and through you! This is the “personal” lesson that Zechariah learned through the promise and prayers for a child. Faith comes in steps and some steps are harder than others from our perspective but never from God’s. I think Zechariah was made “silent” so he could better see God’s supernatural hand at work in his life and over this enormous step of faith. Zechariah’s doubts did not nullify God’s promises or plans in his life. Yes steps of faith in trials over God’s promises made are easier on us than doubts in the trials of the fulfillment of our desired prayers but as Luke shows, God can work even our doubts towards His glory and strengthen our trust and praise in Him as a result… Look at Zechariah’s Song in (v.67-80) and see how Zechariah’s faith was strengthened. The majority of scripture shows that God doesn’t like it when we ask for a sign of His faithfulness but He loves to give us daily signs and providential- life changing signs of His goodness and love for us with Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection being the ultimate example from the Gospels. John prepared the people for Jesus’ coming and the fulfillment of this sign.
There is MORE than a “personal” promise and prayers for a child going on in Luke’s Gospel. There is a National and Universal component that intertwining is synergistic and much bigger than the sum of its parts. One thing we examined in Isaiah that continues here in Luke’s Gospel and throughout the progressive plan and history of scripture is the escalation of Prophecy and its fulfillment across the Old Testament and Old Covenant into the New. God made promises to a family, to a people, to a nation, to a world, to creation through the church for the redemption of what He loves by Faith in Christ Jesus. John’s birth and Jesus’ birth fulfilled those prophecies (see Isaiah 40:3-5). We see a continuing “lesser to the greater” motif in scripture especially in Luke’s Gospel where out of the most humble of beginnings the King of Kings and LORD of LORD’s is born. John’s ministry was not simply to turn the hearts of the people back to a “generational” righteousness over unrighteousness as was the ministry of Old Testament prophets, but to prepare and turn their hearts towards Jesus’ who would CLEANSE them of ALL unrighteousness for every generation of person that would believe, and for every nationality, creed, man, woman or child that would believe in Christ. John shows the Old Testament promises being met in his early chapters but much more than that he seizes upon the vague global and universal components of Isaiah’s Prophecies and clearly reveals them as being met and exceeded beyond physical components to the “spiritual” and eternal components of all believers. Jesus and John are Jews. Their backgrounds, histories, and origins humanly speaking are thoroughly grounded in Palestine and ancient Jewish culture and custom, however out of this background comes universal promises from the Word of God that are for all people who accept Jesus as Messiah; not just Messiah of Israel but as Savior of the World, not just as Savior of the World, but personally for each person that believes and places their trust in Him. This is the Good News of the Gospel and it is an invitation to belief for everyone though not everyone will accept it.
Israel had been promised a child, Israel had been praying for a child to deliver them- they got more than that in Jesus, they got the opportunity for eternal life, for personal intimate relationship with God and to be a part of His eternal Kingdom. The fulfillment of that promise and the answer to their prayers looked nothing like their hearts’ desires, but would they see Jesus with the eyes of faith, or with the skepticism of doubt? What steps would God guide people through to develop that faith and would they let Him? That is a major question of the Gospels and of Luke, and it is a major question for us today. We’ve been given promises and prayers for a child (Isaiah 9:1-7). God has fulfilled them, how will we respond?
Dear friends as we struggle with the pull of doubt and of faith in our lives like Zechariah did let’s not forget that God keeps His promises, He is in control, and step by step He wants to develop and strengthen the Faith of His children who call on His name. Trust Him in those struggles. Trust Him as we deal with the weariness, fear, and sorrow of Covid-19. Faith means we can look for the unexpected hand of God and trust Him spiritually for the future we cannot see physically as He guides us away from our doubts and towards His joy and hope as He did with Elizabeth & Zechariah and the birth of John the Baptist. Be honest yet gentle with yourselves as God is with you. I am convinced He is leading us through hard times and there is a great revival coming at the other end but we must be “prepared” like John prepared the people!
Zechariah was a priest- and like priest and preachers today I am sure he liked to preach, he liked “to do,” plan, and serve- he was “righteous and good” as well as the most “vocal” guy in the room. But God made Him silent for more than 9 months… Why? Perhaps to show him as He has been showing me that God doesn’t need my help. He doesn’t need my “strategic plans” for ministry and “church growth” political alliances or crowded sanctuaries, and numerous events and programs. He wants me to seek and listen- to Him (as the KJV puts it) BEHOLD Him. When we behold God we are never the same and that is our greatest personal witness to our neighbors. To behold God Zechariah had to wait upon Him and we cannot wait upon the LORD when we are so loud and busy that we make Him wait upon us (though He has often patiently done so). God wants my obedience and faithfulness more than He wants my activity (He will direct that “by and by”) He will guide us step by step when we are silent and still before the magnificent revelation of His love. Our promises and prayers for a child this Christmas have been answered. Jesus has come and is coming back again and He will guide us in Faith by step- be confident, be assured, and be at peace. Know I am praying for you all and that our classes will be together in person again soon! Love in Christ, Darrin.