of the Christmas story. The Christmas story really begins about a year and a half before Jesus' birth, as recorded in Luke chapter 1. Luke presents Jesus as the perfect man, and he presents the life of Christ in order, he tells us in verse 3 of chapter 1, after he has told Theophilus that He wants to speak of Christ, to write about the life of Christ, and he says to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus. That is, as Luke gives his account of the life of Christ, he's doing it chronologically in order. So he begins with the announcement of the forerunner of Jesus, that is, John the Baptist. It had been about 400 years since the Lord had spoken directly to men when Zacharias saw the angel Gabriel. who announced to him that he and his wife Elizabeth would have a son in their old age who would prepare the people to receive the Lord. And I was pondering this as I was looking at this and preparing this for tonight. Why does the Lord tell us all this? Why does he give us, and there's a lot of information. There are 20, about 20, well, there's almost 30 verses in Luke chapter one about the birth of John the Baptist. And he's an important person. But why did the Lord give us all this information? Why does Luke record all this? And from his human perspective, he's just giving us the full story. But the Holy Spirit is the one who's directing his writing. But I think the reason, I think the whole reason for all of this is just a reminder of God's faithfulness. And I think if we don't carry anything else away from this tonight, that we are reminded that God is faithful to his word. Because the last promise that God made in the Old Testament was this, Malachi 4, 5, and 6. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he'll turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers. lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. And we'll note later on that the birth of John the Baptist is at least the beginning of the fulfillment of that promise. He comes in the spirit and the power of Elijah, and he comes to turn the heart of the fathers to the children. As it says later on in this chapter, it's reminding us that it's been 400 years since that promise was made, but God hadn't forgotten. And the fact that it hadn't happened for 400 years since that promise was given didn't mean that God didn't mean it when he said it or that God wouldn't fulfill it. God is faithful to fulfill all of his promises, even if the answer is delayed for a long time. And we need to rest in the faithfulness of God to the promises that he makes. And so it tells us there in verse five that all of this occurred in the days of Herod. the king of Judea, Herod ruled from 37 to 4 BC. So often when we think about the calendar, and BC means before Christ, and we think, well, Jesus was born, you know, at zero or one. No, he was actually born probably in 4 BC. So even though it's before Christ, it actually isn't before Christ because he actually began before zero. OK, so all of this occurred before Herod died and Herod died in 4 BC. So even when you go to Matthew and Matthew's account of the wise men that came and they came and they came first to Jerusalem to Herod. because they're looking for the King of the Jews. Jerusalem is the capital of Judea. They're thinking that the King is born in Jerusalem. They go to the King, Herod, and then they're sent to Bethlehem. So all of this occurred before his death, and we know that he died in 4 BC. And it's probably in that last year before he dies. And so we read about Zechariah and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist. Zachariah and Elizabeth were both descendants of Aaron, the priestly line. There's a priest named Zachariah, and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, named Elizabeth. And again, I'm thinking about what we're being told, and it is interesting to me that both of John the Baptist's parents are from the priestly line. Obviously, the ladies are not serving as priests, but she is a daughter of Aaron. She is also descended from Aaron, so they both are in that priestly family. Well, both Mary and Joseph were descendants of David. Joseph threw Solomon, so again, if David's family had still been on the throne, Joseph would have been the king, not a carpenter. But Mary was also a descendant of David through his son Nathan. And I don't know if that's significant. I can't help but think that it is because I don't think God does anything unintentionally. But I don't know that I can tell you tonight why so much that's significant that John the Baptist comes from both parents who were descendants of Aaron and Jesus. I understand why Jesus comes from both parents who were descendants of David. But why did he choose a priest who is married to a daughter of Aaron as the parents of the forerunner of Jesus. The only thing that comes to mind is the fact that at this point there's still the separation, you know, it speaks to the separation of church and state. You've got the priesthood and you've got the kingship. And those those two things, God ordained them to be separate. You go back to the Old Testament. The king could never serve as a priest. The priest never served as a king, but there was a king, if you remember, who tried to serve as a priest. He tried to do the priest's function. He tried to offer incense in the temple. And God struck him with leprosy because it was not his responsibility nor his privilege to be able to do that. He was usurping the authority and the responsibility that God gave only to the priests. But the one who came through the line of David and the one who was proclaimed by the priestly descendant will join those two together. Jesus will be both priest and king. And maybe that's why it's a priest's son who is the forerunner of the one who would be king and typifying the fact that in Christ they would both be. I don't know if that's the reason. Maybe it is. Again, I think it's significant, but I don't know that I can tell you tonight why. But what does it further tell us about Zachariah and Elizabeth? They were both righteous before God. And I think that speaks of their justification, if we put it in New Testament terminology. These are believers. Their faith is in the coming Messiah as their savior, to whatever degree they understand the fact there's one coming who would provide salvation, in whom there would be forgiveness. They're looking to the one that would come to be the perfect sacrifice for sin that's been promised in the Old Testament. They understand that, they're looking for that, they're resting in that. They are righteous, they are justified, the same way that we are as we look back to the cross. We are declared righteous in the sight of God through our faith in Jesus Christ. We are clothed in the righteousness of Christ so that when God sees us, he sees us as if we were absolutely righteous. Even though in our life, our practice, we're growing in righteousness, but we're not absolutely righteous. But it would be said of every believer that we are righteous before God. But it goes on further to say that not only were they justified, They're righteous before God, but they walk in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. They are faithfully serving God. That is not insignificant. We don't earn the favor of God, we don't earn the privileges and opportunities to serve God, but God does use those who are committed and consecrated to him. He is looking to use those who are striving to live a life of obedience to him, a life of consecration to him. God obviously uses anybody. But I mean, he can he can use anybody and he even uses unbelievers to accomplish his purpose. You know, there's no indication that Cyrus was a believer, but Cyrus was appointed by God to to let the children of Israel go back to the land at the end of the 70 years of captivity and rebuild the temple. God worked through an unbeliever. God can use them. But when God when we're talking about the work that God wants to do among his people, he's looking for those who are committed to him, who are consecrated to him. And that was true of Zachariah and Elizabeth. It was also true of Mary and Joseph. The same things are said of them, that they were righteous and that they were striving to live in obedience to God. And by the way, I would note here too, it's not only the outward observance. They were blameless in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord. But God wasn't just looking for outward observance of the law. So when we read that, we need to understand that what that's telling us about them, at least, is, you know, because he, again, he condemned the Pharisees. They were, they kept the law too, but their heart was far from God. The Lord said, you honor me with your lips, but your heart is far from me. That's not true of them. It's not just the outward observance, but their heart is seeking God as well. So when we talk about God is looking for one who loves him, who seeks him and is seeking to live a life that is pleasing to him, we're not perfect. But God is looking for those who are committed and consecrated to him. Of course, it tells us further that they had no children. Elizabeth was barren. Despite their faithfulness to God, God had withheld the blessing of children from them, which reminds us again that we should never expect that a life that pleases God will be a life that is free from troubles or trials. We all experienced that. And that was, no doubt they had others, but that was a particular trial in their life because for a Jewish woman to be barren, it was just, it was a bad thing in that day. It was, they felt bad. It was just like God had withheld something from them. And they are also, we're told, old. They're well stricken in years beyond the normal years of bearing children. And so, as then Zechariah, we're told, was fulfilling his duty as a priest of offering incense, he was serving, it tells us in verse five, he was of the course of Abiah, and In verse 8, it came to pass that while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course, according to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord, and the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense. In the days of David, when he was preparing for the temple, and the worship of the Lord in the temple. He divided the priests into 24 courses. You read about this in First Chronicles 24. And each course served at the temple two weeks out of the year. So my understanding is they served a week at a time. So every priest Two weeks out of the year, we'd come to Jerusalem and he would serve at the temple. The priests had many responsibilities. Some of them kept the gates to the temple. They stood at the entrances to the temple, to the courtyards, to make sure that no one came in that was not supposed to. People were not to use the courtyard of the temple as like a passageway, a shortcut from one place in Jerusalem to another. They offered the sacrifices. There were many duties that they had. They sang the praises of God, led in the worship at the temple. But each year, they came for two weeks to serve. And of course, they would have come at other times, the feast times, the three feasts that all Jewish males were to come. there would be a need for additional priests because there would be so many sacrifices to be offered. But Zechariah, we're told then, of those 24 courses, he was of the course of Abijah. When you look in First Chronicles 24 in verse 10, you read the name Abijah, but that's who, in the New Testament, it's translated Abiah, which was the eighth of the 24 courses. Now, it's interesting to me, I don't know, maybe Brother Levy could shed some light on this, but I'm assuming that they served in order. So the significance of that is if they go in order, then Zachariah, this event that we read about in Luke chapter one would have probably happened around August or September. late summer or early fall of the year, a man by the name of Alfred Edersheim, who was a Jew who came to Christ and wrote a definitive work on the life of Christ. He says it was October. when this took place. I base that, my thinking, before I read Edersheim, I was just trying to figure this, and the Jewish calendar, there's two calendars, there's the spiritual calendar, if you will, when they came out of Egypt, they came out in around the month April. And the Lord said this would be the first month, this is the beginning of your year. That's the spiritual year, but their civil year began in the 10th month, around our October. So if every priest served for two weeks, the eighth course would be about 16 weeks in. So anyway, just looking at all that, it's either gonna be late summer, early fall, or it's gonna be like January when this would have taken place. And I'll take Edershein's word for it that it was in the fall of the year. So again, this is about 18 months before Jesus' birth, so we can kind of, determine sorta when Jesus was born. If we're right, then Jesus probably was born sometime around December, January, probably not December 25th, although Edersheim thinks it was, but I don't think it exactly was the 25th, but it could have been and probably was in December, January, sometime around the time that we normally celebrate the birth of Christ. So he's serving, according to his course, it's his week to serve, and he's going to offer incense. And you notice it says his lot was to burn incense. The incense was offered twice a day, in the morning and in the evening. The evening would have been around three o'clock in the afternoon. We're not told whether Zechariah was serving in the morning or the evening, but it is by lot There's so many priests, again, serving that the jobs that they did was somebody had to trim the wicks on the candlesticks. Somebody had to light the candles, change out the show bread every week. There were many jobs that had to be done, and they were chosen, what they did was chosen by lot. They cast lots to see who would do what. But the interesting thing about this is this was something that they only got to do once in their lifetime. So they cast lots, and whoever was chosen by lot, they could only do it once. And once they had done it, they never could be in the running to do it a second time. So it's kind of interesting that the Lord's in control. What does the Book of Proverbs say? The lot is cast in the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. This was the time. Just so happens that it was at this time when God's ready to send the Messiah that the lot fell on Zachariah, who would be the father of the forerunner of the Messiah. The Lord's in control of all this. And so he's serving. By the way, some were never chosen. There's so many that even at that, even only serving once, some of them never got the opportunity to serve. And so as he's then going into the temple, morning or evening, whichever it was, and he goes up to the altar of incense. So if you can picture in your mind, again, the Holy of Holies on the right side. So we're entering in from the east. On the north side is a table of showbread. On the south side is the golden candlestick. And straight ahead of us, in the west, is the altar of incense. Right behind it is the curtain that divides the holy place from the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant is and the mercy seat. So he's standing there at the altar of incense. The coals are there. He takes the incense. He puts it on the altar. And just as he does so, On this side of the altar, as he's facing the altar on this side between the altar and the golden lamp stand, all of a sudden there's Gabriel. And the Bible says that when Zechariah saw him, he's troubled and fear fell upon him. It would be enough just the fact that you think you're in there alone and all of a sudden there's somebody standing there who wasn't there a minute ago and you know they didn't come in from behind you and all of a sudden there's somebody else there. And that's pretty frightening enough in itself. And then you realize it's an angel. And then you wonder, God hasn't sent angels for 400 years. What did we do wrong? You know, I mean, that would be the natural thinking. Thinking is, you know, oh, I'm in trouble. We're in trouble. And so there's fear. But as God always does, especially with those whose hearts are humble before him, when they encounter him and their response is fear, it's always peace. The angel said unto him, don't By the way, Warren Rearsby said, you probably notice that God often speaks to his people and calls them while they're busy doing their daily tasks. Both Moses and David were caring for sheep, Gideon was threshing wheat, Peter and his partners were mending nets when Jesus called them. It's difficult to steer a car when the engine is not running, but when we get busy, God starts to direct us. It's as Zechariah is carrying out the work that God had given him to do, that the angel appears and first of all again says, don't be afraid. I'm not here to bring condemnation, I'm here to bring blessing. You and your wife are gonna have a son. You've been praying for it. Thy prayer is heard and thy wife Elizabeth will bear thee a son. You've been praying for this son and you thought that God had said no, but he didn't. He just said not yet. But you're going to have a son and his name you're going to call his name John, which means God is gracious, which is what God was doing in grace. God was giving the Messiah. And the name is significant, though again later when when they go to name the child initially when he's born. They're trying to name him Zechariah, and Elizabeth says, no, he's gonna be called John. They said, there's nobody in your family named John? And so they turned to Zechariah, who at that point can't speak, and ask him, and he says, no, he writes, no, his name is John. And immediately his mouth is open, but no, the name is significant, God is gracious. And it was a reminder that in his grace, God was fulfilling the promise to give the Messiah. And God answered their prayer, though it was long in coming. And he said, you know, you're going to have joy and gladness. Obviously, they've been wanting a child all their lives. They thought God had refused. But God had answered their prayer, though it was long in coming. And so naturally, they rejoiced. But he also said that many will rejoice at his birth. And you notice in verse 15 it says, it begins with the word for. Why would many rejoice at his birth? Because, that's the significance of word four, he'll be great in the sight of the Lord. He's gonna be a great man of God. God's gonna use him in great and mighty ways. And he'll be a Nazarite from his mother's womb. He'll drink neither wine nor strong drink and be filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb. He'd be great in the sight of the Lord. Jesus said, among those that are born of women, there's not a greater prophet than John the Baptist. He was a Nazirite set apart for God's special service, filled with the Spirit, and he would go before the Lord, the Messiah, in the spirit and power of Elijah. He'd be like Elijah. What is the spirit of Elijah? Elijah was fearless. Elijah was not afraid to confront Ahab and Israel about their sins. Went into the palace and stood before Ahab and said, it's not going to rain until I say. He stood on Mount Carmel and challenged the people of Israel to decide is God the true God or is Baal and make up your minds. He wasn't afraid. Elijah was fearless. John the Baptist wasn't afraid. He wasn't afraid to preach against the sins of the people. He even called out Herod for his sins when the Pharisees and the Sadducees came to his baptism. They didn't come to be baptized, but they came to his baptism. He said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring therefore forth therefore fruits meet for repentance and think not to say within yourselves we have Abraham to our father for I say unto you that God is able these stones to raise up children to Abraham and now also the axes laid into the root of the trees and therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. I mean, how much more, how much stronger language can you use to condemn the hearts of the Pharisees and sadly the religious leaders of his day? And he didn't mince words in telling them what God thought of them. But that's the spirit of Elijah. He even rebuked Herod who had taken his brother's wife as his own. And not only the spirit, but the power of Elijah. Elijah prayed and God did great things. And John the Baptist didn't work any miracles, but there were a lot of lives that were changed through the ministry of John the Baptist, which really is the next thing that the Lord says of him, or that Gabriel says of him, he would turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just. That there would be heart changes of the people, turning the hearts of the fathers to the children. What does that mean? And probably what it means is when the people repented, John's message was repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, as the people repented of their sins and began to walk in obedience to God, their faithful fathers would no longer disown them. but would rather recognize them as their children. And the disobedient would realize that living a life of obedience is actually the wisest course of action. John's message was repent, and that's what the people did. Unfortunately, you know the story, Zechariah refused to believe Gabriel. He didn't reckon on the miraculous power of God. How can I know this? I'm an old man. My wife is well stricken in years. And the angel answering said unto him, you know, I think I wonder if it wasn't like this, if I can, you know, kind of help us a little bit. Who do you think I am? Well, you don't believe I'm Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God. You don't believe my man. Who do you think I am? Who are you? I'm speaking for God here and you don't believe me. You're going to be dumb and not able to speak until these things are done because you didn't believe my words and they will be fulfilled in their season. And it just I say I say that we need to understand God hates unbelief. It is a great sin. To doubt God, to disbelieve God. And that's what he is doing. You know, I was reminded of that story in the life of Christ. There was a man who brought his son who was demon possessed. The disciples, Jesus and Peter, James and John are on the Mount of Transfiguration. The other disciples are at the foot of the mountain. The father brings the son to the disciples to have the demon cast out. They couldn't do it. He gets discouraged, but Jesus shows up and he and the father says to the Lord, you know, tells him what what he what he wants for his son to be delivered of this demon. Your disciples couldn't cast him out. And if you can do anything, help us. And Jesus kind of turns that thing on its head and he says, no, if you can believe. Don't don't don't question me. It's not a matter of can I do it? It's a matter of can you believe? And then the man, it was a rebuke to that father when he said, if you can do anything, as if I don't believe you can. And Jesus rebukes him by saying, it's not an issue of whether I can do it. I have the power to do it. Can you believe? And the father humbly then says, Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. God hates unbelief. And we rob ourselves of many of the blessings that God wants to fulfill and God wants to do in our lives. He couldn't work many mighty miracles in Nazareth because of the people's unbelief. They had seen him grow up and they didn't believe that he was God, and so he was limited in what he could do. And when we fail to believe God, we limit what God can do in our lives. So let me just, for time's sake, I need to wrap this up. There's more that we could say, but let me just throw out two or three thoughts briefly as I close. Number one, God keeps his promises. We see that. Secondly, God uses each of us as he chooses. Why Zachariah and Elizabeth? There were others who were righteous and blameless that he didn't choose to use. Why them? Because he chose them. He chooses and uses each of us as he sees fit. And our job is just to be faithful to what he's given us to do. God is not limited to natural means to accomplish his purposes. Don't limit God. He can give an old couple a child if he chooses to do that. He hates unbelief. He fulfills his promises and answers prayers, though sometimes he delays. And when it was all said and done, Zechariah praised God. God is worthy of our praise and thanksgiving for all that he does. And if we would prepare people for the Lord's second coming, we need to be spirit-filled and bold like John the Baptist. Well, let's stand and we'll close in prayer. Father, we pray that you would just remind us through the truths we've considered tonight, through this account of the birth of John the Baptist, the announcement of his birth and his birth. And Lord, as we would read this passage, maybe some of these truths would come to mind and might they encourage us and help us in our daily walk with you. Bless us as we leave here tonight. Give us safety in traveling home. And we pray you'll bless the time on Friday of Christmas caroling and our services together on Sunday and Christmas Eve. And we're just continuing to direct our thoughts to the Christ who came and why he came. And we pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.