Preparing for the Lord - Part 1

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If I were to ask you this morning, where would you begin to tell the Christmas story? Where does the Christmas story really start? Well, certainly the most famous account of the birth of Christ is in the first couple of chapters of Luke's gospel where I invite you to turn this morning.

Luke provides us with a Christmas story. And as he does so, he does something really quite unexpected. He weaves together the stories of two primary characters. Certainly, there's the story of the announcement of Jesus' birth to Mary. There's the record of Jesus' actual birth - the most familiar one in Luke 2. But woven in and out of that main storyline, is the remarkable story of a man we call John the Baptist. I want you to see this.

Look at the flow of these chapters as Luke has put it together here, under the inspiration of the Spirit of God. Notice in Luke 1:5, he begins with the announcement of John's birth to Zacharias, all the way down through verse 25. In verse 26, there's the announcement of Jesus' birth to Mary. And then beginning in verse 39, Mary visits Elizabeth who is now six months pregnant with John. And the details of their visit are given there. That's followed by Mary's Magnificat (verse 46) - that famous song poem in which she details what God has done for her. And then in verse 57 is John's birth.

Now, Mary went to visit Elizabeth when Elizabeth was six months pregnant. Apparently, she stayed with Elizabeth for the next three months and was there for the birth of John. Following the record of the birth of John and his circumcision and naming, his father is able to speak. And in verse 67, we have Zacharias' famous prophecy, after the birth of his son. Chapter 1 ends in verse 80 with John's growth and maturity. Now, Mary returns home after those three months she spent with Zacharias and Elizabeth. And at that point, she was pregnant. We don't know exactly when, but she was pregnant, and she told Joseph. Joseph didn't believe her, decided to divorce her, and then in a dream he's told to take her as his wife, and he does.

That brings us to chapter 2. And in chapter 2, we have the famous record of Jesus' actual birth. In verse 21 - Jesus' circumcision and His naming, eight days after his birth. And then in verse 22 down through verse 39, forty days after His birth, Jesus is presented at the temple and meets, of course, Simeon and Anna there. And then chapter 2 ends with a record of Jesus' growth and maturing.

Now, what I want you to see is there's so many similarities here, between these two main characters. In both cases, Gabriel brings the announcement of their birth. Both of their births, their circumcisions, and their namings are recorded. Both birth narratives are followed by a prophecy.

The point I want you to see is that these two stories, side-by-side in Luke's gospel, parallel each other and they do so by design. They do so on purpose. They are inseparably woven together in the gospel record. The question is, why? Why is the record of John so important? Why is more space given to the record of the announcement of John's birth than space is given to the record of the announcement of Jesus' birth? The reason is that John is an absolutely essential character in the New Testament record of the birth of Christ. Why? Well, there are many things we could say about John but there are two primary reasons John plays such an important role.

Number one: because he is the hinge between the testaments. He is the point of continuity. Understand this: John the Baptist is the last Old Testament prophet. At the same time, he is not part of the new spiritual kingdom that Jesus came to found. Listen to Jesus' own testimony about John in Matthew 11. Matthew 11:7: "As these men were going away [they were leaving to go back to John, Matthew 11:7], Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John, 'What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Those who wear soft clothing are in kings' palaces! But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and one who is more than a prophet." How is John more than a prophet? Because (verse 10), "This is the one about whom it is written, 'Behold, I send My messenger ahead of You, / Who will prepare Your way before You [quoting Malachi].' Truly [Jesus says in verse 11] I say to you, among those born of women [up to this point in time] there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven [in the kingdom I am founding] is greater than he [John]."

What I want you to see is that John is part of the Old Testament era, but he also is the transition to the new. The Old Testament doesn't really end. Have you noticed that? The Old Testament doesn't really end as a completed story. It ends leaving its readers sort of leaning forward in anticipation for what's coming.

Look back at the last prophet of the Old Testament era, 400 years before Christ. His name was Malachi. Malachi. And look at what Malachi writes as he tells the people to prepare for the coming of the Messiah. Malachi 3:1: "Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me [notice the large capital. This is God speaking]. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple..." And then He's also called "the messenger of the covenant", that is, the Lord is. "The one in whom you delight, behold He is coming", says the Lord of hosts. Over in chapter 4 of Malachi, verse 2, again the Messiah is predicted. "But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings... [But first, verse 5] Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse."

What I want you to see, is that the Old Testament ends with this amazing prophecy, that the Lord Himself will enter space and time. But first, will come His messenger in the spirit and power of Elijah. You see, John the Baptist is how we know that our faith is not a doctored ending to an already completed story. Jesus and Paul didn't add to the finished faith of Judaism. At their heart, Old Testament Judaism and Christianity are not two different faiths. The New Testament is not just tacked badly onto a complete Old Testament. It's not like what Joseph Smith did with the writings of Mormonism - just sort of tacking them badly to the end of Christianity. The transition from the Old Testament to the New Testament is a seamless one. The Old Testament ends with the promise - the Messiah is coming. And how will you recognize Him? How will you know? There would first come a special messenger, a unique prophet. He would come in the spirit and power of Elijah, and he would announce Messiah is coming. He would prepare the way before him in the way that a king's herald in the ancient world went before the king and said, "The King is coming! Make things ready." John is that point of continuity. He is the stitching that binds the Old and New Testament together.

But there's one other crucial role that John plays and that is as a witness to the true Messiah. That's why John is so vitally, crucially connected to the Christmas story. He is the promised one, the designated one to announce, to identify Messiah. He is the unique witness to point out the Messiah. By the time we're done in the next couple of weeks, you will see that by the time John is finished with his ministry, he points to one man. You can't miss him. He points to one man, and he says, "This is the one I promised you who would come. This is the Lamb of God." That was his role. He was the last Old Testament prophet, the promised messenger, and he was to prepare the people for the coming of Messiah, unequivocally, to identify Him.

So, this Sunday, Lord willing, and the next two Sunday mornings, I want us to look at a remarkable passage about this crucial but enigmatic character of John. Because the announcement of John's birth is really where the Christmas story begins.

Let me read a part of it for you. Look at Luke 1. Luke 1:5: "In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years. Now it happened that while he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division, according to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside at the hour of the incense offering." Let's stop there.

It will become clear to you, as we work our way through this passage, that this is in fact the record of God's preparing the world for the Messiah. And you will also see that in itself, it is a truly amazing story. Now, as we work our way through the story, it unfolds in several remarkable movements, and I want us to track those movements as we work our way through this story.

The first movement provides us with the historical context. Luke has just told us, in the introduction to his book, that he's interested in history. Look back up in verse 1: "Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word [in other words, we've been handed down to us from the apostles, who were eyewitnesses or these things. Some have tried to write them down. Verse 3], it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus; so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught."

Notice Luke doesn't begin the story of John and Jesus with "Once upon a time..." This is no fairy tale. This is not fiction. It occurred in space and time, in a land that many of us have visited. This is a historical reality. And Luke gives us the historical context at the beginning of verse 5: "In the days of Herod, king of Judea..." There is both the historical place and the historical time. Where? It happened in the Kingdom of Judea. "Here" meaning the land of the Jews, in Palestine.

Now, I don't know if you've ever wondered about this, but why did God give that piece of land, that tiny little piece of land, to the Jews? What's so impressive about that? If you've ever visited, there's nothing that impressive about the land itself. The reason is its location. That tiny strip of land was, in the ancient world, a land bridge between the three great continents of ancient history. You have Europe and Asia and Africa. And if you wanted to travel from any one of those continents to the other, you passed through that tiny land bridge that we call Israel or Palestine, because on the east was desert. You didn't travel that. On the West was the Mediterranean, which was given to violent storms, as we even read about in the Book of Acts. And so, if you wanted to go anywhere, you went through that land. So, that little strip of land then, was where God placed Abraham and his descendants so that they could be a light to the nations, not by going to the nations, but having the nations come to them and through them. It was the land bridge connecting the entire ancient world. That's where this story unfolds - at a strategic, geographical spot in the ancient world.

And notice when: "In the days of Herod". This Herod (and there are several in the New Testament that you have to keep straight), this Herod was born in 70 BC - 70 years before Christ (approximately). He died in 4 BC. So, after the murder of the innocents, that's recorded in Matthew's gospel (you remember the wise men story), this Herod passes off the scene. In fact, he dies while Mary and Joseph are still down in Egypt, to preserve Jesus' life from this murderous man.

When this Herod was 25 years old, his father appointed him as governor over Galilee. Eight years later in 37 BC, at the age of 33, Herod was placed by Rome as the king over Palestine. The Roman Senate gave him this official title "The King of the Jews" which, by the way, makes it very interesting what was affixed to Jesus' cross.

But Herod was insanely paranoid about losing his position, and rightfully so. Because, you see, Herod was not Jewish. Herod was an Idumean. His father was an Edomite. That means he was from the neighboring region of Edom, and he was a descendant, not of Jacob, but of Esau. He was an outsider. And so, to consolidate his power and to strengthen his political base with the Jews, he married into the royal Jewish family - a Jewish princess named Mariamne. So, understand then that this Herod was a brilliant man, but he had connived and flattered and bribed and bought and married and battled his way into power. He was the consummate politician.

He later came to be called Herod the Great. He was called this because his greatest achievements were in the area of architecture. I've had the chance to visit some of the things that were built under his reign. He built magnificent cities like the beautiful port city of Caesarea, there on the Mediterranean coast. He built incredible palaces like Masada. But the crowning building achievement of his reign was the remodeling and rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. He was the "Great" in terms of what he accomplished at that level.

But morally, Herod was anything but great. Herod had 10 wives and a dozen children. He loved one of his wives the most - the Jewish princess he had married (Mariamne). But he was so suspicious that he secretly had her brother and her grandfather killed. Later, he suspected her of being unfaithful to him, so he had her killed and then her mother. In 7 or 8 BC, he executed her two sons. And, of course, he's about to order, in Matthew 2, in just a short time, the unthinkable slaughter of all the male babies in the village of Bethlehem two years and younger. In a village that size, probably 20 to 25 babies died. In 4 BC, just five short days before his death, he had his favorite son executed for fear that his son would take his position just a little too soon. When he knew he was about to die, he knew that no one in Israel would mourn his passing. And so, he had his soldiers arrest many of the leading men from throughout the land of Israel. He put them in the Hippodrome, and he instructed that when he died, they were to be slaughtered. That way there would be genuine mourning all over the country on the day of his death. He was a monster of a man.

If you put the biblical chronology together, the account here in Luke 1 was probably right at the very end of his reign around 6 BC. For God's people it was, in a sense, the worst of times. There was a temple but there was no ark of the covenant in that temple. There was no glory cloud showing the presence of God. They were subjugated to Rome and Rome had placed over them a descendant of Esau, an Edomite, a violent immoral man. That was the space and time in which this story unfolds. So, the first movement provides the historical context.

The second movement I want you to see introduces us to a stark contrast to Herod. It's a godly priest. A godly priest. Look at verse 5: "In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth." As William Hendrickson writes, "In the days of Herod, this diabolical monster, there lived a man who together with his wife exhibited the very opposite traits of character."

Now, where does this information about Zacharias and Elizabeth come from? Well, we know that under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, Luke used a variety of sources to write his gospel. He talks about his investigation from eyewitnesses early on in his letter, in his gospel record. So, most commentators agree that the events of the first two chapters of Luke come either from a personal interview that Luke had with Mary, or from some document or diary that she had written - from which he borrows. So, the details of this account, then, come from Mary - probably learned first-hand during those three months that she stayed with Zacharias and Elizabeth, at the end of Elizabeth's pregnancy with John.

Zacharias. It was a common name. In fact, in the Bible 31 different biblical characters share that name. It simply means "Yahweh remembers". God remembers, that is, He remembers His covenant promises. If Zacharias had a common name, it fit well because he was just a common, simple priest. He wasn't one of the priestly aristocracy who lived in Jerusalem, in wealth and power. Instead, look at verse 39. There, we're told, that he and his wife lived south of Jerusalem, in that rugged part of the land called the Hill Country of Judah - a place that frankly, if you've been there and seen it, you would never want to live.

He belonged to the division of Abijah, verse 5 tells us. From the time of David in 2 Chronicles 24, all the priests had been divided into 24 divisions. And even though only four of the divisions came back from the Babylonian captivity, they had taken in Ezra's day (in Ezra 2) those four divisions and divided those four divisions into 24 and renamed them with the original names. Zacharias belonged to the 8th division, listed in 2 Chronicles of the division of Abijah. He was a common ordinary priest.

And it says he married a woman whose name was Elizabeth. Her name simply means "my God is my oath". That's a Hebrew way of saying something like this: "my God is the absolutely reliable one". A priest was only allowed to marry a virgin from his own people. But Zacharias not only fulfilled that requirement, but he married a woman who was also herself a descendant of Aaron as he was. That meant two things. That meant that Zacharias was very serious about his responsibilities as a priest. It also meant that Elizabeth understood her husband. Since she was a descendant of Aaron, that meant that almost every male relative in her life - her brothers, her cousins, her uncles, her father, her grandfather, her great grandfather - would all have been priests. To be a priest was a wonderful thing, but to be a priest married to the daughter of a priest - that was considered a great blessing. A common saying about an excellent woman in those times was, "She deserves to be married to a priest".

Notice God's assessment of this couple in verse 6: "They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord." You know, there are two important facts about this couple buried in that verse. First of all, they enjoyed imputed righteousness - righteousness that was not their own credited to their account. Why do I say that? Because the rest of Scripture, Old and New Testament, speaks with one voice to say that no one is, what? Righteous. No one is inherently righteous. There is none righteous, no not one. So, the fact that they can here be called righteous means that they have come to the place in their lives, both of them, when they realized they were sinners before God, that they had nothing to offer God. They repented of those sins and embraced the work of the coming Messiah as their only hope.

How do I know that? Well, not only do I know that theologically, I know that very practically. Look over at the end of chapter 1 in Zacharias's prophecy. This is what he looked for in the coming of the Messiah. Zacharias says in Luke 1:76, talking about his son John: "And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; / For you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways; To give to His people the knowledge of salvation / By the forgiveness of their sins, / Because of the tender mercy of our God, / With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us, / To shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, / To guide our feet into the way of peace." What Zacharias needed, what he longed for in the coming of the Messiah, was not only one who would free Israel from the domination of Rome, but especially who would bring rescue from personal guilt and sin. He and Elizabeth had come to experience that.

But Zacharias and Elizabeth didn't just enjoy a righteousness that had been credited to their account. They enjoyed real, personal, practical righteousness as well. We are saved by faith alone. But the faith that saves is never alone. Notice how verse 6 describes this couple: "walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord". That wasn't sinless perfection. It simply means that the direction and pattern of their lives was in step with the Word of God. So, in the sight of God, this was a couple with an unblemished reputation.

Ironically, that wasn't true with all of their peers. Verse 7 says, "But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren..." Notice that in God's sight, this couple is righteous and blameless, so Elizabeth's barrenness has nothing to do with God's disfavor. But that's not how the people around them in the culture saw it. Look at verse 25. Verse 25, when Elizabeth realizes she's going to have a son, she says God has taken away my disgrace among men.

So, in the culture there was disgrace that came with not having a child. Why? Well, because they lived in a culture that was heavily influenced by what theologians call retribution theology. Retribution theology is still alive and well and it simply teaches this: that your circumstances in this life are directly the result of God's favor or disfavor. So, you can look at a person's outward circumstances here, and know whether God is pleased with them or displeased with them. So, when it came to offspring, this false doctrine taught, it meant if you had children, God was pleased with you and had blessed you. But if you had no children, that must mean God was displeased with you and the only explanation for that was that there was some hidden, secret, terrible sin in your life. Remember that's how Job's friends thought when everything came crashing down on him. "Job, confess your sin. What is it you're holding out? There must be something for you to encounter these trials."

So, ironically, these two people who were righteous in the eyes of God, may not have been righteous in the eyes of their peers. Don't let us ever forget that the prosperity preachers of our day are absolutely wrong. One's state in this life does not necessarily reflect God's ultimate assessment of a person.

Jesus countered this very idea with the Pharisees, who believed the same thing, when He told that parable later in Luke, you remember? There were two men - a rich man who fared sumptuously every day and had all that he wanted. He died and to the shock of those to whom He told the story, ended up in hell. On the other hand, there was a poor beggar outside his gate - didn't have enough food to eat and the dogs came and licked his sores. He died and he was carried into heaven. There is no direct relationship between what we experience in this life - our circumstances in this life - and God's favor or disfavor.

And it wasn't like Zacharias and Elizabeth had any hope for the future of changing any of that because verse 7 adds: "they were both advanced in years." We're not told how old they were but in Jewish writings, typically, old age begins at about 60 years of age. So, at this point, the majority of their lives are gone. They have waited together and prayed together for many years for a child, until their hope had died to an ember. And then the ember had died.

What I want you to see is that, in spite of the fact that this dear couple had lived their entire lives with the weight of huge personal heartache and disappointment, they remain faithful to their God, faithful to his Word, faithful to their calling. May God enable all of us to grow old like that, even if our circumstances don't deliver what we think they should.

That brings us to the third movement in the story. We've seen the historical context and a godly priest. The third movement is a unique privilege. Verse 8: "Now it happened that while he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division", something happened. What is this priestly service in the appointed order of his division? Well, understand there was only one temple. It was in Jerusalem. But there were many priests. In fact, Josephus tells us there were 18,000 priests in the first century. So, they couldn't all serve at once, so they served on a rotating basis. All 24 of the priestly divisions had to be there for the big national feast - the three required national feasts because there were so many people, all of them needed to be there to serve. But in addition to that, each of the 24 divisions were responsible to serve at the temple two separate weeks each year - just two weeks a year. The rest of the year they lived in their own homes and hometowns. They had jobs as tradesmen. They helped teach the people in their own community the law of God. But for two weeks every year, they traveled to Jerusalem and assisted with all of the duties that went with the temple. Much of their responsibilities were connected to the sacrificial system. They were in effect butchers as thousands upon thousands of animals were slain to picture that no man can come before a holy God without sacrifice.

Verse 8 tells us that these events occur during one of Zacharias' two weeks in that year on duty. Verse 8: "Now it happened that while he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division [one of those two weeks], according to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. Josephus notes that each of the divisions of the priests had about 750 priests. So, that week, there would have been about 750 there with Zacharias. Because there were only a few special duties and too many priests to spread them among, and there was too much potential infighting without having some system in place as they all vied for the best position, every day they drew lots for who would get the best duties. By far, the most sought-after duty, if you were a priest in the first century, was burning the incense. Twice a day, at 9 AM and 3 PM as Exodus 30 required, a priest would enter into the temple itself. He went into the holy place to burn incense on a golden altar of incense, to represent the prayers of God's people ascending.

Now, you and I can't begin to really appreciate how special this was. But just to help you understand it, know this. The Jewish document, the Mishnah, said that a priest could only do this one time his entire life. And many priests died without ever getting this opportunity, because you only had a one in 750 chance and then only 14 days a year. So, this was not a once in a lifetime opportunity. This was a once in several lifetimes' opportunity.

Zacharias had never done this before. From the age of 30, when he became a priest, for more than 30 years he had served his time at the temple every year. But this was the only time he got the white stone and the lot fell on him for this duty. He had been picked to actually enter the temple itself and to present the incense.

I wish you had a mental picture that to some degree reflect the beauty and grandeur of that second temple, Herod's temple. It was amazing. Herod had created a huge, raised platform for the entire temple area. Josephus describes just the platform on which the temple was built as 330 yards by 400 yards, about 35 acres. And there were huge courtyards surrounded by beautiful arched balustrades. You could wander on that 35 acres but in the middle of that 35 acres, the focal point in the very center of that massive temple mount was a building - the temple proper. At the front, if you walked up to the front of that temple, you would have been overwhelmed with its size because at the front it was 50 yards wide by 50 yards high - massive, massive structure. And if you'd walked inside, you would have entered into what was called the holy place, where the priests ministered daily. And toward the back of that room, was a small room that was a perfect cube - 30 feet by 30 feet by 30 feet. It was accessible only by one man, once a year, the high priest on the Day of Atonement. If you exited the temple and looked down, there were twelve steps leading down from the temple itself, down to the court of the priests, where there was a massive altar on which the animals were burned for sacrifice. That altar was so large there had to be a stairway to ascend it. The altar itself, the bronze altar as you've heard it described, was 30 feet by 30 feet by 15 feet high.

That morning Zacharias was chosen to enter the temple. We don't know whether he drew the lot for the morning or for the afternoon, but we know that he would immediately have chosen two family members or two special friends to help him. And he would have quickly prepared himself. And when the time came, Zacharias with his two assistants, would have gone up the staircase to that burning altar where the huge 15-foot altar where the animals were burned, and they would have taken some coals from that fire. And along with them they would have taken some fresh incense. And the three of them would have walked across the court of the priests, with their hearts beating out of their chest, as all the priests watched, as all of the people of Jerusalem had gathered for the time of prayer and watched this unfold as well. And then they would have walked up those 12 great steps to the porch of Solomon's temple, the renovated temple of Herod. And there they would have seen that massive front - 50 yards by 50 yards. And as everyone watched, they would have swung open the doors and walked into the holy place. And, in a moment, their eyes would have adjusted. The only light would have been the light from the lampstand that was in their candlelight. And as soon as their eyes adjusted, they would have seen only three pieces of furniture - to their left, the lampstand itself; to their right, the table of showbread as it was called or the table of the presence (the bread of the presence); and straight ahead of them would have been a massive curtain separating that from the holy of holies which represented God's presence. And right in front of that massive curtain, would have been a golden altar of incense

One of the men would have taken the hot coals that they had taken from the burning animals just outside. He would've taken those hot coals and he would have moved quietly forward and placed those hot coals there on that golden altar of incense. And then he would have backed away quietly and in prayer and left the building. The second assistant would then have walked up with the fresh incense and have laid it next to those burning coals, with some distance between them. And he too, then, would have backed away and left the temple.

For that moment, Zacharias was inside the temple all alone. He would have waited his entire life for this moment. And as he was responsible to do, as the priest, he would have said a prayer for the redemption of his people. And then he would have walked forward, and he would have placed the incense on those burning coals. And, immediately, the smoke from that would have begun to rise and fill the room and go under the curtain into what represented the very presence of God. That incense pictured the prayers of God's people ascending to Him. Psalm 141:2: "May my prayer be counted as incense before You; / The lifting up of my hands as the evening offering."

While all of this was happening, look at verse 10: "And the whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside at the hour of the incense offering." At 9 and 3 every day, many of the people of Jerusalem would gather at the temple, at the time of the lighting at the altar of incense, for prayer.

What an unforgettable moment for Zacharias! It was the most solemn moment of his life. And what a powerful picture it is for us, because that ceremony was intended to picture a spiritual reality that has not changed to this day. What was the spiritual reality? It was that no man can approach - no man, no woman can approach a holy God directly. There must be a mediator. Even our prayers are not acceptable to God, apart from the approved mediator. And today it's not an earthly priest. As 1 Timothy 2:5 says, "For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus..."

This wonderful picture is really just a portrait of what happens in the presence of God. Turn over to Revelation 8. Revelation 8. We're given a little glimpse into heaven itself in the future, the time of the trumpet judgments and the Great Tribulation period. Revelation 8:3 says, "Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel's hand."

What I want you to see is, that day, Zacharias participated in an ancient ceremony that pictures what happens every day and will happen into the future. We, as God's people, pray. Maybe you're in a quiet place, alone. Maybe you're sitting on the freeway. Maybe you're praying with your family. Maybe you're praying, as we were here today. And sometimes, doesn't it seem, as if those prayers stop at the ceiling? Doesn't it seem as if they don't go anywhere? And yet this picture tells us that when we pray, those prayers ascend into the presence of God as the smoke of that incense ascended into His presence. And our mediator takes those prayers, and He offers them to the Father on our behalf. Hebrews 7:25, speaking of Jesus says, "...He always lives to make intercession for them [His people]." Our prayers - understand this Beloved - our prayers are like a sweet smell of that incense was to God. They come up and He hears. He knows. He responds.

Little did Zacharias know it, but God was about to answer both his prayers. God was about to answer a personal prayer that he and Elizabeth had stopped praying years before, and that was the prayer for a son. And at the same time, God was going to answer his priestly prayer that he was praying at that very moment, and that was a prayer that God would send the Redeemer, the Savior. And at that moment, all of heaven stood breathlessly awaiting what would happen next. And we'll see it together next week.

Let's pray together.

Father thank You for the wonderful example of Zacharias and Elizabeth - righteous - through the righteousness You gave them as a gift of grace, but then personally righteous walking in Your ways, walking in Your Word. Even with the disappointments of life, even with the trials when things didn't turn out the way they had hoped and prayed, still faithful to you. Oh God, make us like that. And remind us, oh Father, that our prayers are just as poignant to You today as is pictured in that wonderful ceremony when the priest burns the incense, blended with the coals from the sacrifice, and it makes it acceptable in Your sight. Father our prayers are made acceptable before You as our Mediator, our great High Priest who is also the sacrifice, offers Himself to You on our behalf. Father thank You that You hear. You don't always respond like we want, but You always hear. And in Your way, and in Your time, You will respond. We praise You, oh God, that You are not like the God of the nations who cannot speak, who cannot hear, who cannot act. But You are a God who hears. We thank you in Jesus' name, Amen!