Once in a Lifetime:  A Story Sermon

Norman Moll

Midland SDA Church

March 16, 2013

Scene 1:  The evening after Zechariah and Elizabeth’s Wedding

N.  It was a splendid wedding celebration!  You were so beautiful in your white dress and veil. 

D.  Yes mother and auntie worked so tirelessly to remake it for me.  Just think mother wore that dress for her wedding nearly 50 years ago.

N.  I wonder what life will be like here in Judea when I reach 50.  Will Israel have a king or will the Romans still be around?

D.  There must be something better to discuss on our wedding night than Roman politics!  Did you notice in the prayer that your grandfather offered blessing our wedding that he alluded to the promise of a Redeemer. 

N.  I did and it almost seemed that he had personalized that idea into our family.  In his blessing he prayed for the children we hope to have and he inferred that one of them might be the Promised one, the one who would crush the head of the serpent.

D.  Have you ever heard that hope expressed in a wedding blessing before?

N.  I haven’t, but don’t you think it is appropriate to mention it at a time like today?

D.  Of course, but how could it be someone in our family?  You and I are Cohen, descendants of Aaron of the tribe of Levi and Messiah is to be the Lion of the tribe of Judah. 

N.  I don’t know.  Do you ever pray about the coming of the Messiah?

D.  Zechariah, I will share with you a secret.  Every day since I was a small child and first began to understand how life begins I have prayed that God would give me a son.  And after learning from the scriptures that The Seed God promised to Adam and Eve would come from a woman, I have prayed that I would be that woman.

N.  Oh Elizabeth, that’s so beautiful.  May the God of Israel answer your prayers.  And indeed we must continue praying that God’s will may be done in our lives, in our marriage

K.  “The plan for our redemption was not an afterthought, a plan formulated after the fall of Adam. It was a revelation of “the mystery which hath been kept in silence through times eternal.” Romans 16:25, R. V. It was an unfolding of the principles that from eternal ages have been the foundation of God’s throne. From the beginning, God and Christ knew of the apostasy of Satan, and of the fall of man through the deceptive power of the apostate. God did not ordain that sin should exist, but He foresaw its existence, and made provision to meet the terrible emergency. So great was His love for the world, that He covenanted to give His only-begotten Son, “that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16.  DA 22:2

Scene 2  Sabbath Afternoon a Year Later

N.   Interesting discussion at the Synagogue today.

D.  Oh, how’s that?

N.  The reader selected readings from the Isaiah scroll.  He read from the section that begins

“Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” (Isa. 53:1) 

You remember the passage.   It talks about God’s servant who is despised and rejected by his fellow men.  It says he is like a lamb to be slaughtered.  He is cut off – that means killed – and leaves the land of the living. 

The discussion focused on who is this servant?  And what is God trying to do with him?  Who do you think this is referring to?

D.  I’d always heard that it was an allusion to the suffering that God’s people, our people, experienced at the hands of the Gentiles.

N.   Me to! But the reader pointed out that the text seems to be talking about one servant, not a whole nation.  It also states that this servant does no violence, that there is no deceit in his mouth.  How can this fit Israel when we have fought wars and tried to trick our enemies?  It goes on to say that the Lord makes this servant an offering for sin?  An offering has to be perfect.  As a nation we are not perfect and in fact not one of us can claim to be perfect.

D.  Isn’t that the passage that compares us, God’s people, to sheep who have wandered off and gotten lost, absorbed in our own priorities.  Doesn’t it say that the Lord lays on His servant the iniquities of us all?

N.  That’s the same passage.  It seems to be describing one individual, one person who will die for the sins of everyone else.  The reader suggested that this suffering servant is the promised Messiah, the Redeemer.

D.   But the Redeemer. . .  I thought the Redeemer was the coming king who would rescue his people from the oppression of their enemies.  And the Romans sure fit that description.

N.  I know, and I had always thought along those same lines, the Isaiah passage says nothing about the servant battling with enemies with an army.  It is all about one person rejected by everyone, sorrowful, grieving for the lost condition of those around him, who ultimately gives himself for them, the same way a lamb is sacrificed on the altar in the temple so that the sinner’s sin can be forgiven. 

D.   What would it be like to be the mother of a man who would fill that role?  I can imagine that his pain, his grief, his anxiety would spill over onto her.  If it were my son, would I want to let him do what this passage describes?

K.   This was a voluntary sacrifice.  Jesus might have remained at the Father’s side. He might have retained the glory of heaven, and the homage of the angels.  But He chose to give back the scepter into the Father’s hands, and to step down from the throne of the universe, that He might bring light to the benighted, and life to the perishing. . .

Christ was about to visit our world, and to become incarnate.  He says, “A body hast Thou prepared Me.”  Had He appeared with the glory that was His with the Father before the world was, we could not have endured the light of His presence. That we might behold it and not be destroyed, the manifestation of His glory was shrouded. His divinity was veiled with humanity,—the invisible glory in the visible human form. DA 22:4 – 23:1

Christ was treated as we deserve, that we might be treated as He deserves. He was condemned for our sins, in which He had no share, that we might be justified by His righteousness, in which we had no share. He suffered the death which was ours, that we might receive the life which was His. “With His stripes we are healed.”  DA 25:2

Scene 3 Just after Passover Ten Years Later.

N.  I’m back!  Passover was a joy and I have news!  The leaders of the priesthood have announced that all the Cohen in our district of Judea who are at least 30 years of age will be expected to serve at the temple for a week in the first half and last half of each year.  This means that in addition to going to Jerusalem for Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles, I will be actually serving in the temple another two weeks.  The rotation has yet to be worked out. 

D.   Oh I miss you so much when you have to be gone.  But I’m sure God has a reason for doing this. 

N.  I agree.  For one thing it will give me a chance to learn more details regarding the temple rituals.  There are many tasks that I will be called upon to perform but a key one is assisting with the sacrifices and offerings brought by the people.  I wish I could understand better God’s plan for us. 

D.   The attitude of people towards religion and serving God troubles me.  Religion seems so mechanical!  We have all these rules to follow and the rabbis seem to be adding more every time we visit the synagogue.  Where is our focus?  Is it all about tithes and Sabbath rules and dress rules.  What about those around us who are in need?  Who is supposed to care for them?  The vineyard owners used to leave whole rows of grapes for the gleaners, but not anymore!  You do well to find even a few grapes on the ground after the harvest.

N.  I trust you are still sharing from our bounties with the widows here in our village.

D.   I do.  But I wish we could do more.

K.   What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?  Micah 6:8

      So listen to the Lord God:   “Your sacrifices mean nothing to me.  I am sick of your offerings of rams and choice cattle; I don’t like the blood of bulls or lambs or goats.  “Who asked you to bring all this when you come to worship me?  Stay out of my temple!  Your sacrifices are worthless, and incense is disgusting.  I can’t stand the evil you do. . .  I hate your Moon Festivals and all others as well.  They are a heavy burden I am tired of carrying.  “No matter how much you pray, I won’t listen.  You are too violent.  Wash yourselves clean!  I am disgusted with your filthy deeds.  Stop doing wrong and learn to live right.  See that justice is done. Defend widows and orphans and help those in need.”  Isa. 1:11-17 adapted CEV

Scene 4  After Zechariah’s first week of service at Zerubbabel’s Temple in Jerusalem

N.  What a week that was!  I didn’t realize how decrepit Zerubbabel’s temple has become until I saw it from the eyes of a priest in training.  That building is over 450 years old.  It needs major renovations. 

D.   Why aren’t some of the offerings given by the worshipers used to care for maintenance of the building?

N.   I wondered that myself and so I did some checking.  What I discovered is that while men like me serve in the rotation without compensation, the full time priests receive large salaries.  And at the top – you don’t want to know this – the offering money’s go to for bribes paid to the Romans.  Even the positions on the Sanhedrin and the high priest’s office are for sale.  So much for “offerings to the Lord.”

D.   There must be some good still coming from the religion that God gave us through Moses at Sinai!

N.  Oh there is.  But it is not easy to find.  There are some elderly priests whom I watched and spoke with.  They spend time with the worshippers, listening to their trials, offering words of scripture as encouragement, citing prophecies of the Promised One.  One even spent an evening sharing with me.

D.  What did you talk about?

N.  Oh many things, but it mostly centered on this old priest’s love for the scriptures.  He loves the Psalms!  He must have them memorized.  I was amazed at his knowledge of prophecy.  He sees in the developments in Rome and here in Palestine signs that the Messiah will come soon. 

D.  Do you remember any of the texts he quoted?

N.   For sure, I even jotted down some notes.  Here’s one:

      The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. Gen. 49:10

      Even though the Jews have become politically weak and are dominated by the Romans, the scepter, that is the power to rule ourselves, will not disappear before Shiloh comes. 

D.   I like that.

N.   He also pointed out to me that God has a record of keeping his word.  When he told Noah the flood would come in 120 years, it happened.  When he told Abraham that they would suffer 400 years, it happened.  When Jeremiah’s prophecy of a 70 year captivity was read by Daniel, he prayed and the after 70 years it ended.  Every time prophecy was fulfilled exactly.

D.   But are there time prophecies related to the coming of the Messiah?  When do they reach their end? 

N.   That would be thrilling to know.  I will search for answers.

K.   But like the stars in the vast circuit of their appointed path, God’s purposes know no haste and no delay . . .  [I]n heaven’s council the hour for the coming of Christ had been determined. When the great clock of time pointed to that hour, Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

“When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son.”

At this time the systems of heathenism were losing their hold upon the people.  Men were weary of pageant and fable.  They longed for a religion that could satisfy the heart.  While the light of truth seemed to have departed from among men, there were souls who were looking for light, and who were filled with perplexity and sorrow.  They were thirsting for a knowledge of the living God. .  .  DA 32:1,2

Scene 5  The twentieth-fifth anniversary of Zachariah and Elizabeth’s wedding, a Friday evening

D.   As I light the Sabbath Candles I think of the candles that burned at our wedding.

N.   I remember the way they were reflected as I looked into your eyes.  You are as beautiful today as you were then!

D.   Zechariah your love is amazing!  You have been so patient and kind to me.  Have I been all you hoped I would be?

N.   That and so much more!  I have grown in my faith because of your strong trust in God.  Not once have I been disappointed.

D.   But what about my secret desire, the one I shared with you on our wedding night?  My longing to have a son, in the hopes that he might be the Promised One?  Do you remember?  Do you think about it?  Is it your hope too?

N.   Yes Elizabeth I do, often.  Almost daily.  And especially when I go to Jerusalem and I’m reminded again of the promise that the desire of all nations will come and fill God’s house with glory!  Even though Solomon’s temple is long gone and Zerubbabel’s lacks the splendor of the former, yet God promised that this temple will be more glorious than the first one.  And in this place, God said, I will give peace.  Haggai 2:7,9

D.   So is there still hope – for Israel and more specifically, for me?

N.   Elizabeth, my love, I can’t read God’s mind on these questions, but we have the privilege of exercising faith.  Remember Sarah, Abraham’s wife?  How old was she when she eaves dropped on her old husband Abraham conversing with the Angel of the Lord?  What was the promise?  And did it come true?  And remember Manoah’s wife who after being visited by the Angel of the Lord became the mother of Samson.  And don’t forget barren Hannah, mother of Samuel the prophet.  The Lord heard and answered her prayer.  We must never give up.  Do you still pray daily for God to give you a son?  God has blessed us in so many ways.  We have been able to help so many people.  Look at all the village children who have grown up calling you auntie and now their children have begun to do the same.  Your quiet influence in our community is reflected in so many ways.  God is at work of this we can be confident. 

K.   Would God answer the prayers of Elizabeth and Zechariah?  How?  When?  Years pass.  Zerubbabel’s Temple is replaced with the much larger and more stunning temple constructed as one of the building projects of Herod the Great.  Its huge courts, palisaded porticos and spectacular central temple dwarf the people who come there to worship.  Jerusalem itself has undergone a major rebuilding and facelift.  But what of the religion practiced there?  What about the people and their leaders?  Do they know what will happen there?  Soon!

      Herod is effective and ambitious but also ruthless, cold, insecure and of divided loyalty.  During his long rule any threat to his power, even those based on his paranoid suspicions, are dealt with immediately.  As a result many in his family have been dispatched.  His massive building projects are financed by successively higher taxes imposed on the people.  The breaking point is fast approaching. 

      Corrupt leadership quickly results in a corrupt people.  Sin becomes a science, and vice is consecrated as a part of religion.   Rebellion strikes its roots deep into the heart, and the hostility of man creates violence against others, but also against heaven. It is demonstrated before the universe that, apart from God, humanity could not be uplifted. A new element of life and power must be imparted by Him who made the world.  DA 37:1

Scene 6  Many years later after a week at the Temple that coincided with The Feast of Tabernacles.

D.   I’m so glad to have you home again. 

N.   Oh, I have so much to share with you!  Every time I approach the new temple I am awe-struck.  Its grandeur is beyond words.  I think of the Psalm (122) that begins, “I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.  Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem.”  So many prophets spoke affirmatively about Zion, the city of Jerusalem and Mount Zion, where the temple stands.  But men are now focusing solely on the building.  The temple of the Lord!  The temple of the Lord!” they say and then quote Isaiah “the Lord dwells in Zion.”  Salvation is in Jerusalem they proclaim.  But I think they are missing the point.  In the first place year by year I see more corruption.  The sacrificial system has become a lucrative business.  The exchange of common money for the temple currency has is like printing money.  You can’t bring your own sacrificial animal anymore; you have to buy one at inflated prices with temple currency.  Is it any wonder that people are dismayed with religion? 

D.   But what do the temple and its services mean to you?

N.   I think back to the original temple, the portable tent that Moses was instructed to build at Sinai.  It was small, simple, and plain by comparison, yet that simplicity allowed the symbolism to speak clearly.  Everything about the wilderness tabernacle points to the Redeemer to come!  The Menorah Lights, the Showbread, the incense, the sacrifices, the offerings, the Shekinah Glory – it was all about God seeking to be with us, to be our friend, to be our protector, our guide.  How can we make this connection if religion is just another business extracting money from the poor to pad the pockets of the rich? 

D.   If God were to speak to his people again by a prophet, I wonder what message he would send.

N.   You know it has been over 400 years since there was a prophet in Israel.  Ezra was the last!

D.  How I wish God would speak again.  Do you think that when Messiah comes he will go to the temple?

N.   Remember Haggai’s words, “The desire of all nations shall come and fill this house with glory!” 

D.   Oh that it were to happen today!

N.   Listen I have more exciting news to share with you.  While I was serving at the temple last week, I encountered some men from the east, Persians, who I doubt were even Jews.  They had come to Jerusalem knowing Tabernacles would be in progress hoping to glean some information about the Jewish Messiah.  They were in the Court of the Gentiles questioning one of the leading priests and it seemed that their search for answers was going nowhere.  When my duties assisting with sacrifices finished I hunted until I found them and invited them to my apartment for some fresh fruit and a chance to visit. 

D.   I’m glad I sent extra figs and raisins with you!

N.   Oh Elizabeth what I learned in those next few minutes stirred my soul!  These men, it turns out are religious scholars.  They are studying the history of world religions and in the process have tracked down scrolls and tablets form ancient Babylon, including the writings of Jews taken there during the 70 year exile.  They had found accounts written by Daniel the Prime Minister/Prophet.  Included in these were references to a Messiah to come in a message given to Daniel by a messenger from God named Gabriel.  Listen to what he said.  I didn’t want to forget it so I wrote it down.  This is Daniel describing his experience: 

And while I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before Jehovah my God for the holy mountain of my God; yea, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.  And he instructed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee wisdom and understanding.  At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment went forth, and I am come to tell thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision.

Seventy weeks of years are decreed upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.

Know therefore and discern, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the anointed one, Messiah, the prince, shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: Jerusalem shall be built again, with street and moat, even in troublous times.

And after the threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, and shall have nothing: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and even unto the end shall be war; desolations are determined.

And Messiah shall make a firm covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease; and upon the wing of abominations shall come one that maketh desolate; and even unto the full end, and that determined, then shall wrath be poured out upon the desolater.  Daniel 9:21-27

        Now these Persians had thoroughly studied this manuscript.  They had even gone back to learn when the decree was made by Artaxerxes, the Persian King, had been given.  The decree allowing the physical rebuilding and national restoration of Jerusalem, including even their own judicial system.  

D.    And what did they find?

N.    They discovered that of the 490 years that the seventy weeks of years that Gabriel referred to, all but about 40 have passed!  This means that it won’t be long before Messiah will come. 

D.    Forty years, compared to the thousands of years God’s people have waited already is like a moment! 

N.    I spent most of the night talking with those men.  They were deeply intrigued by the tabernacle service.  We discussed the meaning of sacrifices, the sprinkling of blood, and atonement. We talked about the festivals and how they point to salvation events.  I could tell them the history of the festivals but they were asking what the various types and symbols stood for.  God’s Spirit must have been with us because as we spoke I started to understand the significance, the beautiful meaning of the types.  I wish it were more clear to us, but even without complete understanding what God must be about to do is so incredible.

D.    But why don’t people know about this?  Even our own people don’t understand that the time is coming and is almost here.  And if we don’t know, how will the Gentiles know?

N.    Elizabeth, we must pray more fervently than ever before that God’s will may be done, not only on this earth but also in our own lives. 

K.     Satan was seeking to shut out from men a knowledge of God, to turn their attention from the temple of God, in order to establish his own kingdom. His strife for supremacy had seemed to be almost wholly successful. Through heathenism, Satan had for ages turned men away from God; but he won his greatest triumph in perverting the faith of Israel . . .  the Jews had sought to make a monopoly of the truth.  The religion which they tried to shut up to themselves became an offense. They robbed God of His glory, and defrauded the world by a counterfeit of the gospel. Because they had refused to surrender themselves to God for the salvation of the world, they became agents of Satan for its destruction. The very priests who ministered in the temple had lost sight of the significance of the service they performed. They had ceased to look beyond the symbol to the thing signified. In presenting the sacrificial offerings they were as actors in a play. The ordinances which God Himself had appointed were made the means of blinding the mind and hardening the heart. God could do no more for man through these channels. The whole system must be swept away. 

The Son of God, looking upon the world, beheld suffering and misery.  With pity He saw how men had become victims of satanic cruelty. He looked with compassion upon those who were being corrupted, murdered, and lost. The bodies of human beings, made for the dwelling place of God, had become the habitation of demons. The senses, the nerves, the passions, the organs of men, were worked by supernatural agencies. The very stamp of demons was impressed upon their countenances. Such was the prospect upon which the world’s Redeemer looked. What a spectacle for Infinite Purity to behold! Sin had become a science, and vice was consecrated as a part of religion. Rebellion had struck its roots deep into the heart, and the hostility of man was most violent against heaven. It was demonstrated before the universe that, apart from God, humanity could not be uplifted. A new element of life and power must be imparted by Him who made the world.

        With intense interest the unfallen worlds had watched expecting to see Jehovah arise, and sweep away the inhabitants of the earth. But instead of destroying the world, God sent His Son to save it. A way for its recovery was provided. At the very crisis, when Satan seemed about to triumph, the Son of God came. . .

And when the fullness of the time had come, the Deity was glorified by pouring upon the world a flood of healing grace that was never to be obstructed or withdrawn till the plan of salvation should be fulfilled.

He came to lift us up from the dust, to reshape the marred character after the pattern of His divine character, and to make it beautiful with His own glory.

Scene 7a  Zechariah at the temple six months later.

K.     The aged priest Zacharias and his wife Elisabeth were “both righteous before God;” and in their quiet and holy lives the light of faith shone out like a star amid the darkness of those evil days.

N.    Look at the temple.  Look at the wall, the building, the people!  I never tire of making this journey.  In spite of the disruption to our routine at home these trips are almost like a pilgrimage.  I go back home invigorated and newly committed to serving God each day of my life.   

        In all the times I have come to this place never once have I even seen into the Holy Place.  The only way this could occur is if my lot were drawn to offer incense at the time of the morning or evening sacrifice.  What a rare honor that would be.  For most of us it will never happen, not even in a lifetime.  And if it does it will be a Once in a Lifetime experience. 

Oh God, you know how I love you and how I love your tabernacle.  You know my heart’s desires.  You have privileged me to be one of your servant priests, given me opportunities to share words of comfort, hope and peace with the people who come to worship here. You know how Elizabeth and I long for the Messiah to come and how we have sought to spread this hope among our people.  And you know how Elizabeth and I have prayed for a son to carry on our name and our work.  Lord I know you have heard my prayers, but I’m wondering when.  When will Messiah come and fulfill the promises associated with His reign?  And what about Elizabeth’s prayers, along with mine, for an heir?  We have waited so long.  Should my faith remain?  Or should I stop asking you for what seems impossible – but really isn’t because with you “all things are possible.”  For now, my Lord, I will continue to pray to you knowing that you are the maker of heaven and earth, the stars, and of time itself.  Lord I trust you.  Forgive my questioning.  Forgive my weakness and tendency to doubt.  Thank you for the evidences of your love that you send daily.

N.    Well here I am at my apartment and look there is a note slid under the door for me!  What does it say? 

 “Please report to the office of the high priest for instruction and attire immediately.  You have been select by the casting of lots to offer incense at the golden altar of the Holy Place following the evening sacrifice tomorrow.”

Oh my Lord.  Can my old heart contain its joy?  You have answered my prayer.  I will enter thy gates with thanksgiving, and your courts with praise.  I will stand in your Holy Place with reverence.  There the river of your grace shall make me glad!  Oh my Lord, Praised be your Name.

Scene 7b  The afternoon of the following day.

K.     Zechariah has received the necessary instructions and donned the priestly attire.  The evening sacrifice, a perfect male lamb has been offered, its blood collected and sprinkled on the base of the altar of burnt offering.  The lamb’s body will be consumed by the flames from the altar.  And now Zechariah, censer in hand, approaches the grand entrance to the Holy Place.  In the Court of the Priests, the Court of the Men, the Court of the Women and the Court of the Gentiles silence reigns.  The eyes of many worshipers follow Zechariah’s steps. Slowly he climbs the twelve steps to the porch, the outer chamber of the temple, itself.  As he disappears alone into the temple the smoke from his censer curls up the face of the great façade.

N.    My mind is a whirl of anticipation and uncertainty.  I move slowly out of reverence for this holy place.  I pause at the doorway leading from the porch into the Holy Place hardly daring to breathe.  I then step across the threshold allowing my eyes to adjust from the sunlight shining into the court to the near darkness of the great room illuminated by the seven flickering oil lamps of the seven branched golden candlestick to my left.  To my right the gold covering the table of showbread glitters and flickers.  I notice momentarily the twelve loaves of unleavened bread arranged in two neat stacks.  But my objective is at the far end of the great room, the golden altar of incense.  As the coals in the censer glow brightly the aroma of incense fills the Holy Place.  Symbolically the rising smoke of the incense mingles with the prayers of the worshipers arriving as a sweet savor before the Lord.    As I walk my eyes scan the spotless floor, the walls and the ceiling of the room.  The colors and fine art work are beyond description.  Angels, great creatures, and the names of God array every open space.  The beauty is beyond description.  I try to focus on my task of saying the prayer psalms traditionally recited by the priest. 

        I had nearly reached the golden altar when my reverie was eclipsed by a burst of light that seemed to turn every surface of the Holy Place a brilliant white.  It took a long moment to realize that the light was emanating from a tall, splendid being standing just to the right of the altar of incense.  This being was no mere human, certainly an angel, or even divine.  My mind raced to comprehend the meaning this unexpected event! 

K.     But the angel spoke to him, “Do not be afraid, Zachariah; your prayers have been heard. Elisabeth your wife will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. This will be joy and delight to you and many more will be glad because he is born. He will be one of God’s great men; he will touch neither wine nor strong drink and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit from the moment of his birth. He will turn many of Israel’s children to the Lord their God. He will go out before God in the spirit and power of Elijah—to reconcile fathers and children, and bring back the disobedient to the wisdom of good men—and he will make a people fully ready for their Lord.”

N.    A son?  To be born to Elizabeth and me?  I grapple for words with which to respond.  I am speechless with wonder, taken-aback!  Finally I stammer, “How can I know that this is true? I am an old man myself and my wife is getting on in years ...”

K.     “I am Gabriel,” the angel replies. “I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and tell you this good news. Because you do not believe what I have said, you shall live in silence, and you shall be unable to speak a word until the day that it happens. But be sure that everything that I have told you will come true at the proper time.”

N.    I stand in silence starring at the angel.  I want to speak but I don’t know what to say.  Why am I suddenly doubting what Elizabeth and I have prayed for all these years and what Elizabeth has prayed for even from her childhood?  Where is my faith when I needed it most? 

        A moment later Gabriel, the angel disappears.  What did that last expression on his face mean?

        Abuptly my fear, uncertainty and apprehension turn to the joy of faith.  The good news . . .  This was THE good news!  This is GREAT NEWS!  I can’t wait to tell Elizabeth.  But wait, Gabriel shared more than just a birth announcement.  What was that that he said?

K.     “And he, your son, shall go before, the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elias, 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.    Luke 1:17

N.    My son, whom I am to name John, will prepare a people to meet “the Lord.”   The Lord!  Who can this be other than

Messiah, the anointed one,

The Redeemer, the Holy one of Israel,

The seed of the woman that will bruise the serpent’s head

The sacrifice “the Lord Himself Shall Provide”

The angel messenger of the Lord

The Branch of Jesse

The Lord Our Righteousness

The Desire of all Nations

The Prince of Peace

Michael our Prince

The Wonderful Counselor

The Saviour

N.    Suddenly I realize where I am, that time has passed and the people in the courts will be waiting for the priestly blessing.  I must make haste to reassure them that all is well and share with them the good news!  Stepping out on the porch I raise my hand to pronounce the traditional blessing (Numbers 6:24-26),

“The Lord bless you and keep you,

the Lord make His face to shine upon you,

and be gracious unto you:

the Lord lift His countenance upon you,

and give you peace.  Amen!”

But not a sound can I utter.  I am mute, unable to speak.  I can’t convey my excitement, my joy, my exuberance.  I can’t tell them about the angel Gabriel’s visit. 

K.     Zechariah makes a few half-meaningful gestures and as quickly as possible disappears into the priests’ quarters.  And it came to pass, that, as soon as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house.  And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months.

D.    “How good the Lord is to me,” she would say, “now that he has taken away the shame that I have suffered.”

K.     At about the time Elizabeth reached the sixth month of her pregnancy, the Angel Gabriel appeared to a maiden of Nazareth in Galilee by the name of Mary who was engaged to be married to a man by the name of Joseph.  Gabriel informed Mary that she had been selected to become the mother of Jesus, God’s Son the Savior of human kind. Gabriel even told Mary that Elizabeth, her cousin, though advanced in years was also with child. 

Scene 8  Mary visits Elizabeth to share her joy.

K.     With little delay Mary got ready and hurried off to the hillside town in Judea where Zacharias and Elisabeth lived. She went into their house and greeted her cousin. When Elisabeth heard her greeting, the unborn child stirred inside her and she herself was filled with the Holy Spirit, and cried out,

D.    “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is your child! What an honor it is to have the mother of my Lord come to see me! Why, as soon as your greeting reached my ears, the child within me jumped for joy! Oh, how happy is the woman who believes in God, for he does make his promises to her come true.”

Scene 9  The Birth of John

K.     Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months during which the time came for Elisabeth’s child to be born, and she gave birth to a son. Her neighbours and relations heard of the great mercy the Lord had shown her and shared her joy.

When the eighth day came, they were going to circumcise the child and call him Zachariah, after his father, but his mother said,

D.    “Oh, no! He must be called John.”

K.     “But none of your relations is called John,” they replied.  And they made signs to his father to see what name he wanted the child to have. He beckoned for a writing-tablet and wrote the words, “His name is John”, which greatly surprised everybody.

Then his power of speech suddenly came back, and his first words were to thank God. The neighbors were awe-struck at this, and all these incidents were reported in the hill-country of Judea. People turned the whole matter over in their hearts, and said, “What is this child’s future going to be?” For the Lord’s blessing was plainly upon him.

Then Zachariah, his father, filled with the Holy Spirit and speaking like a prophet, said,

N.    Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,

And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;

As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began:

That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;

To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant;

The oath which he sware to our father Abraham,

That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.

And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;

To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,

Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,

To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.