We have been working through the women of Christmas, considering the theme of God’s special favor on those who are outcasts of the world, especially those who are barren. We’ve seen that God’s blessing on women who were barren is a picture of God’s grace on our spiritual barrenness, especially in the story of Jesus’ birth.
This morning, we are going to consider the story of Elizabeth, from Luke 1:5-25. From this text I want you to see the picture of patience, a pause in patience, and the promise of patience.
First, let’s consider the picture of patience from verses 5-7. In these few verses, we are told about an elderly couple named Zechariah and Elizabeth. Zechariah is a priest who works diligently at the temple. The passage points out that both Zechariah and Elizabeth are “righteous before God”. But, even though Zechariah is a priest who is constantly before the face of God, and even though they are both righteous and blameless, they are carrying a terrible reproach. They are barren, and to make matters worth, they are old, without any hope of having children.
Zechariah and Elizabeth are a picture of faithful patience. Even though their greatest hope and prayer had yet to be answered, it did not change their obedience to the Lord. Zechariah was faithful to his priestly duties, and there is no indication that he grumbled or complained. He carried out his duty with a whole heart. The same can be said for Elizabeth. Even in her barrenness, she is known to be righteous and blameless.
This couple should be a witness to the modern Christian about what faithful patience looks like, because to be honest, we don’t do patience so well these days. In part, that can probably be blamed on our consumer society, where we expect everything to be delivered within two days. We value instant gratification over the labored, artfully made product. We value the high calories and low nutrition of fast food over the home cooked meal. Unfortunately, I’m afraid we expect the same out of our religion, too. I want my salvation now! I want heaven now! I want all the promises of God to be fulfilled now! But the reality is that the Christian life is one of patient waiting. We live obedient lives, faithfully worshipping and witnessing, all while we wait for the final salvation that Christ will bring when he returns.
Second, notice the pause in patience from verses 8-23. In the course of Zachariah’s faithful waiting, it comes to his turn to carry out the duties of the high priest. This was a serious, life-threatening task. The High Priest had the responsibility of confessing his own sins, offering a sacrifice, and going through very specific cleansing rituals so that he could safely enter the Holy of Holies to represent the people before God. If the priest failed in just one area (he forgot to confess a sin, didn’t offer a pure sacrifice, or failed to follow the cleansing ritual to a T), he could die in the Holy of Holies. This could create a crisis for the whole religion, as the high priest was the only one who could enter the Holy of Holies. So, if he died, there was no one else who could go into the room to get his body. To solve this potential crisis, they would tie a rope around the priest, and they attached bells to the hem of his robes, so that as he carried out his work in the Holy of Holies, the bells would tinkle to let the people outside know that he was still alive. And, if he killed over, they had a rope ready to pull him out. You can pick up this anxious moment in verse 10, as it notes that the whole multitude of the people were praying outside.
In the middle of this intense, stressful ritual, an angel appears to Zachariah. It says, in verse 12, that Zachariah was “troubled”. The Greek word for troubled means “roiling water”. In other words, his stomach was churning with fear. But, the angel tells him not to be afraid, and then he announces the most wonderful promise. The angel says that the prayers of Zachariah and Elizabeth have been answered – God will cause Elizabeth to conceive. And, if that were not a great enough blessing, he also tells that this son will be a great prophet, filled with the Holy Spirit, who will proclaim the coming of the Messiah.
Zachariah is dumfounded by this. He can’t bring himself to believe the magnitude of this miracle, and in verse 18 he questions – “How can this be possible?!” The angel answers with what can only be a bit of aggravation, “Look, I’m Gabriel, I stand before God every day, and I’m the one telling you the good news.” In other words, “Do you know who I am?! And you are questioning me?!” He then tells Zachariah that he will be struck speechless until the child is born as a punishment for his doubt.
This doubt of Zachariah serves as an encouragement to anyone who faithfully waits. As we wait on the Lord to fulfill his promise, we can become so accustomed to the waiting that when the fulfillment actually comes, we doubt it. Or, worse yet, we stop believing that fulfillment will come and begin to accustom ourselves to the life we’ve adapted to in our waiting. Sadly, I think this has happened to American Christians. We’ve become so comfortable in our lives as Americans, so prosperous as a society, so advanced in our knowledge of the world, that we have begun to think that maybe this is the promised land. Maybe this is our heaven on earth. Worse still, we’ve begun to believe that our deliverance can come through some other means other than Jesus Christ. So, we treat our politicians like superheroes, or even Messiahs, who can save us.
Finally, consider the promise of patience from verses 24-25. In these last two verses we find out that God fulfills his promise to Zachariah, and Elizabeth conceives. Her reaction is one of faithfulness – she praises God for his gracious gift. The son Elizabeth would have would be named John – the John we call “the Baptist.” He would serve as the forerunner to Jesus, the Messiah. His calling would be to announce the coming of the king of kings, and he would faithfully do that until he was beheaded by Herod for speaking truth about Herod’s sin. Catch this: John’s calling was to tell people, “Hey guys, the wait is over! The Messiah is here! Get ready, here he comes!”
The good news of Christmas is just that – the Messiah has come! There is no reason to wait. Your salvation is here. In Jesus’s life, he fulfilled the promises of God. In his death, he gave the final sacrifice for sin. In his resurrection he defeated death and hell for us. So, Paul can say in 2 Cor. 1:20 – “All the promises of God find their Yes in Jesus.” There is no more waiting for your sins to be forgiven. There is no waiting on God’s presence to be with you. There is no more waiting on the truth to be revealed. We have all of that in Jesus. So, turn to Jesus in faith today and follow him that you might know the fulfillment of the promises of God.
Brothers and sisters, Jesus has secured our salvation, but we still patiently wait for its completion. We are still waiting for Christ to return and put to death every power that would rebel against him. While we wait, may we not be caught losing heart or losing patience. May we trust in the means that God has given us while we wait. May we remain obedient to his calling in our lives as we wait. And may we watch with anticipation for the completion of all things.
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