Luke 1:13a
But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard.”

The Lord hears our prayers as the following verses selected from the Psalms illustrate:
* Psalm 6:8-9, “Away from me, all you who do evil, for the LORD has heard my weeping. The LORD has heard my cry for mercy; the LORD accepts my prayer.”
* Psalm 18:6, “In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.”
* Psalm 28:6, “Praise be to the LORD, for he has heard my cry for mercy.”
* Psalm 31:22, “In my alarm I said, “I am cut off from your sight!” Yet you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help.”
* Psalm 34:6, “This poor man called, and the LORD heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles.”                                                                                                * Psalm 34:17, “The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.”                                                                                      * Psalm 40:1, “I waited patiently for the LORD to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry.”
* Psalm 42:8, “By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me– a prayer to the God of my life.”
* Psalm 55:17, “Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice.”
* Psalm 66:19, “But God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer.”
* Psalm 102:17, “He will respond to the prayer of the destitute; he will not despise their plea.”
* Psalm 116:1, “I love the LORD, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy.”
* Psalm 145:19, “He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them.”

Do we pray enough?

Should we practice prayer more in our church fellowships?

How can we encourage ourselves and others to pray more?

Luke 1:13
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 give him the name John.

This passage is a tremendous example of how God answers our prayers. Be careful to notice how specifically the Angel explains the answer to Zachariah’s prayer. God will answer our prayers in a very specific manner, but sometimes we pray in such a general way I think we would have trouble identifying an answer from God in relationship to our prayers.

“Your prayer has been heard.”
“Your petition has been heard” and “Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son.” “Your wife Elizabeth.” The very one whose barren condition was common knowledge would be delivered from her affliction. Through Elizabeth, and not through some other woman, Zechariah would become the father of a child.

“A son.” The very sex of the child is already predicted!

“And you shall give him the name John.”

God answers prayer in His own way and in His own time.

He worked in an “impossible” situation-Elizabeth’s barrenness-to bring about the fulfillment of all the prophecies concerning the Messiah.

We often say, “Lord be with me today.” Take a moment and try to figure out what that means. Are you really afraid God is going to leave you today? We must learn to pray specifically then we can identify an answer when God gives it.

Let me give you a specific example in what many would consider a non-spiritual situation. We were in the process of erecting a sign at our church. Two of our men had undertaken the task of putting in the concrete for the footing of the sign. They took their truck to the lumberyard and picked up the materials. On the way back to the church they discussed the fact that neither one of them knew anything about pouring concrete. They decided they were going to need help; they stopped and asked God to provide the help.

When they arrived at the church there was a man who owned a concrete company and had come to the church because God had told him they might need some help. He arranged for everything to be done and the sign is standing today.

Does God answer prayer?

What kind of examples can you give of answered prayer in your life?

Luke 1:13
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 give him the name John.

“Do not be afraid.”
In other words, “Stop being frightened; cheer up.” Isn’t encouraging see how often in Scripture God tells His people not to be afraid but instead to take heart?

A partial list of passages in which, in some form or other, this exhortation is found would be:
* Gen. 15:1; 26:24; 46:3;
* Exod. 14:13, 14;
* Josh. 1:9; 11:6;
* Judg. 6:23;
* 2 Kings 19:6, 7;
* Neh. 4:14;
* Ps. 49:16; 91:5;
* Isa. 10:24; 37:6; 41:10, 13, 14; 43:1, 5; 44:2, 8;
* Dan. 10:19;
* Zech. 8:13;
* Matt. 14:27; 17:7; 28:10;
* Mark 5:36;
* Luke 1:30; 2:10; 5:10; 8:50; 12:4, 7, 32;
* John 14:1, 27; 16:33;
* Acts 18:9; 27:24;
* Heb. 13:6;
* 1 Peter 3:14;
* Rev. 1:17.

Isn’t “Do not be afraid” another way of saying, “Have faith”?

You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Isaiah 26:3

Luke 1:10-12
And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers 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.

The people wait . . . and wait . . . and wait. They waited for minutes which must have seemed like hours; nothing was happening. This was unexpected, startling, completely unexpected; it was frightening – what was going on inside the Temple! The explanation is given in the following verses.

As Zechariah discharged his duty in the Holy Place, an angel of the Lord appeared to him on the right side of the altar. The exact location where the angel stood is a detail passed along by Zechariah himself and kept intact by writers.

Let’s think about angels today.
A growing number of people believe in the existence of UFO’s and the extra-terrestrial life forms. Their recent motto has become “we are not alone.” The Bible lends support to this claim, but not in confirming UFO sightings and verifying the existence of extra-terrestrials.

The Bible indicates we are not alone; angels good and evil are part of the created order. There is a spiritual dimension of reality which co-exists with the physical world. The Scriptures record many stories of individuals who encountered angels. The Bible even reports, as we have recently seen in our study of Hebrews, at times people without knowing entertained angels (Heb. 13:2).

Confronted by a supernatural, heavenly being, Zechariah was terrified. It is natural for the sudden, unexpected appearance of a holy, dazzlingly brilliant angel to cause a sinful human being to tremble. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear.

What is an “Angel”?
We probably all have a different picture in our mind when we hear the word “Angel.” An Angel is not a chubby little baby with a halo and little wings as they were often depicted in the Renaissance era. These creatures still abound in gift shops everywhere, however they have no connection with reality.

The word angel simply means “messenger.” In fact our word angel is a direct derivative of the Greek word “angelos.” When the Bible was brought over into English there was no suitable word to convey the idea of a heavenly messenger and so the word “angel” was created and has passed into our language.

The word is applied in Scripture to an order of supernatural or heavenly beings whose business it is to act as God’s messengers to men, and as agents who carry out His will.

If you are interested in doing further reading on the subject of angels there are numerous good books available. Let me recommend two.
“Angels” written by Billy Graham – This is a simple straightforward discussion of the subject from a biblical viewpoint.
“The Supernatural” written by Michael S. Heiser – this is a summary of a much larger work called “The Unseen Realm” written by the same author. I guarantee some time spent in either of these two works will give you an entirely new appreciation of the biblical concept of angels

Luke 1:8-10
Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, 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 worshipers were praying outside.

Zacharias belonged to the division of Abia. Every direct male descendant of Aaron was automatically a priest, this meant for all ordinary purposes there were far too many priests.

They were divided into 24 sections. Only at Passover, Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles did all the priests serve. For the rest of the year each course served two periods of one week each. Priests who loved their work looked forward to that week of service above all things; it was the highlight of their lives.

There was as many as 20,000 priests and so there were nearly a 1,000 in each division. Zechariah’s division of priests was serving in the temple during this particular week. Each morning, one of the priests would enter the Holy Place in the temple to offer incense. Incense was burned in the temple twice daily. Lots were cast to decide who would enter the sacred room and one day during the week Zechariah was chosen by lot.

Offering the incense was considered a great privilege. It was very possible a priest would never have the privilege of burning incense all his life; but if the lot did fall on any priest that day was the greatest day in all his life, the day he longed for and dreamed of. On this day the lot fell on Zacharias and he would be thrilled to the core of his being.

God was guiding the events of history to prepare the way for Jesus to come to earth.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20, 21

Luke 1:5-7
In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly. But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well along in years.

These verses, 6 & 7, reveal two important details about Zechariah and Elizabeth.

First, they both were righteous before God. To say they lived blamelessly does not mean they were sinless, but that they loved God and obeyed him, living according to all the commandments and regulations.

Second, they had no children. To ancient readers, this would have seemed like a contradiction. Children were considered to be God’s greatest blessings. Certainly such God-fearing and God-honoring people as Zechariah and Elizabeth should have been blessed with children. But Elizabeth was barren.

Not only that, but Luke adds the detail that they both were getting on in years, meaning they could not expect any change in their situation. In societies like Israel, in which a woman’s value was largely measured by her ability to bear children, to be aging and without children often led to personal hardship and public shame.

For Elizabeth, a childless old age was a painful and lonely time, but during this time she remained faithful to God.

Zechariah and Elizabeth didn’t merely go through the motions of following God’s laws; they backed up their outward obedience with inward obedience.

Unlike the religious leaders whom Jesus called hypocrites, Zechariah and Elizabeth did not stop with the letter of the law.

Does your life reflect careful obedience and high regard for God’s will?

As your life shows your love for God, others will be drawn to Him.

Luke 1:5-7
In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly. But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well along in years.

Luke has already told us he intends to begin at the “beginning.” He does, however, surprise some readers by beginning with the birth of John the Baptist and not the birth of Jesus.

He is telling his readers, the beginning is not His birth! The apostle John shares this truth with his readers when he wrote, “In the beginning was the word.” Luke is sharing the same truth but he is beginning with the announcement of the birth of John the Baptist; the person who would prepare the way for Jesus.

Luke’s presentation of the announcement of John the Baptist’s birth makes it clear everything he is describing from John the Baptist’s birth to all of Jesus’ life is a continuation, or more accurately, a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies.

When God fulfills His promises and acts on behalf of His people, it is an occasion to rejoice in God’s goodness.

Here we have a couple who have lived exemplary lives and yet they seem to have been forgotten by God. In their day to day life nothing is happening. They are serving and obeying, but for years God has not answered their prayer for children. No doubt, their life was a daily routine of obedience and piety. As they settled into their routine they seem to have lost all hope God would ever work in their lives.

Zachariah and Elizabeth are truly examples of “normal” people trying to serve God and perhaps feeling they are accomplishing very little in their daily life.

What this introduction tells us is we should anticipate God working in our lives.

We should pray God will accomplish His will in our lives.

We should look for occasions to praise Him for what He is doing.

Don’t lose God in your daily routine!

Luke 1:1-4
Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

Since the Gospel of Luke is such a long document and a great deal of it is historical narrative, my tentative plans are to take the book paragraph by paragraph. I will highlight a few items in each paragraph for comment. I will still go into detail on specific sections which I think are important for the 21st century.

A Tragic Situation (1:5-7)
When God acts to fulfill His promises, He meets a wide variety of needs. After over 400 years of silence; God acts in the time of Herod the Great to begin fulfilling His plan. Although He is concerned to fulfill His promises to Israel, God is also meeting the personal needs of a righteous couple.

Luke introduces the parents of John as devout, law-abiding people. However despite their blamelessness, they have suffered the disappointment of infertility, a condition Elizabeth will later refer to as a disgrace (v. 25).

Elizabeth’s feelings are completely understandable, but to be barren is not an indication of the presence of sin or of condemnation of God. It may be an opportunity for blessing, whether God grants a child late in life or allows a couple to pursue other opportunities of service.

In Scripture, when God allows a woman to be barren, He often has something special in mind for her.
* Sarah, Genesis 18:11
* Rebekah, Genesis 25:21
* Rachel, Genesis 29:31
* Samson’s mother, Judges 13:2, 5
* Hannah, 1 Samuel 1-2

So in the case of Elizabeth and Zechariah, God’s action parallels the way he often worked among the fathers and mothers of Jewish faith.

His word and plan are coming to pass again.