The Lord Our Provider

We have many needs in life.  However, if we are not careful, our life can become a version of seeing how many plates we can keep spinning.  In such cases we are driven to keep an innumerable amount of desires satisfied.  Of course, it is never enough.  If I only had more skill at this then I could be like so and so.  Have you ever stopped to think that this most likely is not God’s plan for us?  Scripture clearly states that God does not want man to worry about how his needs will be supplied.  As long as God is with us, we can trust in Him.

Another problem is that we can focus only on material needs and neglect the even more important spiritual needs.  We need spiritual sustenance and healing as well as physical.  As we look at Luke 9:10-17, we find Jesus ministering to both the physical and spiritual needs of the people.  In this passage the feeding of the 5,000 teaches us that we need not grumble about what we lack because God will always provide.

Jesus Has Compassion For Us

Luke’s account is brief compared to the other gospels.  In both Matthew and Mark we are told that Jesus was “moved with compassion.”  This is a hallmark of Christ.  He is deeply touched with what it means to be human and have need.  Though it may seem strange, the teaching that God took on a human nature makes sense in the light of compassion.  He can identify with our situation and cares for us.

In fact the reason Jesus had gone out into this uninhabited area was in order to be alone with his disciples.  They had been going throughout Israel ministering with Jesus and had just returned to him.  Jesus knew that they needed some time alone with him in order to be the receiving ones.  Humans were not designed to only be givers.  We are to also be receiving from God and from that supply giving to others.  So it is not just the crowds that need Jesus, but also his faithful workers.

Even Jesus himself later sends his disciples across the lake while he prays on the mountain alone.  This sets up a powerful understanding.  We all need to receive from God as individuals in a quiet secret place of our own.  From that place we can be an encouragement to our close friends and family.  This part is a two way street.  I am giving to them, but they are also giving to me.  The third layer is the one of the crowd.  These are people who have no relationship with us at all.  However, Jesus had compassion for them as well.  Notice how we often want to choose one over the other.  Jesus kept them all in balance because he truly did care for each one.  Sometimes we can let the sheer numbers of the crowd and the never ending need drown out our care for them.  The opposite is true as well.  Some people care more for the crowds than they do for those closest to them.  May God help us to love Him, our friends and family, and the unknown people around us.

These people were imposing on Jesus and his disciples.  But he had compassion on them.  Many of them would only follow him if he was doing miracles.  They would never enter his Church after his resurrection.  Some of them would stand in Jerusalem shouting, “Crucify Him!”  Yet, he had compassion.  As he ministered to Judas, knowing that he would betray him, so we must listen to the heart beat of how Jesus operated.  Jesus began teaching the people and healing those who needed healed.

Jesus Wants His Disciples To Have Compassion

As it approaches evening, the disciples come to Jesus with a practical concern.  He needs to tell the people to leave if they are going to find lodging and food for the night.  The area they were in was uninhabited.  But, Jesus turns this problem back on them.  “You give them something to eat.”  Jesus is not a dummy.  He understands that there is not enough food around.  He is testing them.  Another word for testing is “training.”  These disciples need to learn to operate from the same compassion and trust in God that Jesus had.

It starts with choosing to be a giver.  It is easy to always send people on their way and never ask the question, “Does God want me to give to them?”  Being a giver has nothing to do with how much you have to give, but with how much you care for the other person.  Even when we have much to give, we can operate from a “mentality of lack.”  People need Truth and Love even more than they need food and clothing.  We always have something to give.  Like Peter at the temple we can say, “Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee.”  Quit looking at what you don’t have as an excuse for your lack of compassion.  Rather, give what you can material or spiritual out of compassion.  Our heavenly Father is a great giver.  Look at all that He has provided on earth and throughout the universe.  To become like Him is to become a giver.  So make that choice.  You will find that when you become a giver, your out-of-control consumption is restrained.  Your mentality will not be about how little you have, but how much you can give.

Which points out, we shouldn’t worry about what we have to give.  Whatever it is, it is enough.  It is enough to help the other person.  You are not God and He doesn’t expect you to meet all of their needs.  We spend too much time bemoaning what we don’t have.  In truth we can actually rejoice in the little that we have.  Why?  We can rejoice because God’s supply will be easier to see.  Paul saw this when he said, “when I am weak then I am strong.”  He knew that his weakness would make God’s strength all the more obvious, which would then strengthen his faith and the faith of others.  When we are strong we delude ourselves into thinking it is all us.  When in truth God is even then helping us.

We need to also give in both material and spiritual things.  Different people tend to go one way or the other.  We either give $5.00 to someone and go on our way, or we hand them a Bible tract and go on our way.  I am not saying that either of these is wrong.  The real question is about our motivation.  God, how can I help this person?  Sometimes we need to stop giving people money and help them in other ways.  This takes true care and the wisdom of God.  Jesus was able to do both.  He fed the people food, but also taught them about the Kingdom of God.  Sometimes people do not realize that they have great spiritual need.  They may despise your attempts to minister to them spiritually.  Compassion should not be given because the recipient is so thankful.  It should be given because it is the right thing to do.

This Event Parallels Israel In The Wilderness

When you step back from this story, you realize that is practically a reenactment of Israel and Moses in the wilderness.  First, we have a people who go out to meet with God in the wilderness.  In the Exodus it was Israel leaving Egypt to follow Moses.  Here it is people who are hungry for God leaving the society of Israel behind to follow the Messiah.  In both cases it is a remnant of all the people in the land who follow God.  Today, the Church is the remnant of the tribes, tongues, and nations of the earth that have been called out of the world system in order to meet with God.

The second point is that God provides bread and meat for them.  In the exodus, they began to complain and God miraculously provided manna and quail as well as water.  Jesus of course takes 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish and feeds over 5,000 with it.  In fact in this case it is the Messiah who does the miracle.  Whereas Moses only told the people what God would do.  Even today, the material needs of God’s people are met by Him.  He promised that if we would put His Kingdom first, then He would provide our material needs.

The third point is that God provided Truth and Instruction for them.  Moses is known as the lawgiver because God gave his laws to Israel through him.  Here, Jesus instructs the people in the new society they are to become a part of, the kingdom of God.  It is easy to settle for bread and meat and to not care about the spiritual.  God is not content to just meet our material needs.  As Christians we can be guilty of being part of the religious crowd, but not really letting the teaching of Christ change our life.  Here is a question for you.  Do you interpret the Bible in the lens of what you want and feel?  Or, do you interpret your feelings and wants in the lens of Scripture?  Don’t be foolish and twist God’s Truth to fit what you want.  We are the ones who need to repent, not God.

In some of the other gospels we are told that the people continued to follow Jesus in the days after this great miracle, hoping for more bread and fish.  Yet, he rebuked them and said they needed to work as hard for spiritual food as they did for food for their stomach.  Thus commendation is for those who trust the Lord, not those who saw a miracle.  In days of the Exodus, all the people saw great miracles, but they perished in the desert because they did not have faith in God.  Faith turns away from grumbling and towards thanksgiving.  Faith turns away from complaining and towards rejoicing.  Faith turns away from disobedience and towards obedience.  Faith does not focus on our lack, but rejoices in His faithful supply.  The Lord is our provider and He has not failed us yet!

Lord our Provider Audio

The Triumphal Entry

Today we are going to pause in our study of the Gospel of Luke and look at what is called the Triumphal Entry of Jesus in Luke 19:28-44.  It is called the Triumphal Entry because Jesus is celebrated and declared to be the Messiah as He comes to Jerusalem in the week before He is killed.  In some ways it is oddly named because in 3-4 days the crowds will be crying out, “Crucify him!”  I guess it all comes down to what you call a “triumph.”  This day is not a triumph from the perspective of Jesus and heaven.  It is actually a tragic failure because the people are only fair weather friends who will largely reject Him when He embraces going to the cross.  This is not the kind of savior they were seeking.  Thus from heaven’s perspective the Triumphal entry would be either His resurrection day or we could fast-forward to the Second Coming in Revelation 19 and point to it as His true triumphal entry.  Let’s look at the story.

Jesus Heads For Jerusalem

Jesus often went to Jerusalem, but this time is unique.  Jesus heads to Jerusalem for the last time in order to offer himself up as the Lamb of God for the sins of Israel and for the whole world.  Up till now it was not His time.  But now it is.  Up till now He could not be touched by the authorities, but now they will succeed in taking Him and killing Him.  This passage says that Jesus “went on ahead” up to Jerusalem.  This is intended to mean that Jesus led His disciples, not that He left them.  Rather, He is not hiding among the herd of disciples to protect himself.  Instead, He is out front leading the way. It was He that would bear the blow in the days ahead not them.  He is the one who is our shield and strength.  If He lets anything touch us, it is because it cannot truly hurt us; that is if we keep our eyes upon Him.

Loosing Of The Colt

When they reach two small villages on the east side of the Mount of Olives, Jesus gives His disciples some instructions.  He wants a young donkey who has never been ridden to be His transportation to rest of the way.  This is not because He is tired.  Jesus is doing these things on purpose in order to teach us.  Let’s look deeper.

Many skeptics have read these verses and accused Jesus of trying to steal the donkey.  Is this theft or something else?  Why doesn’t Jesus just ask for the donkey first?  What you have to understand is that Jesus is acting out a prophecy in order to teach Israel something about His Messiahship.  Thus this is not theft, but symbolism.  In fact Jesus knew they would be asked why they were taking the colt.  He is going to act out a prophecy that would not only speak to all the people of Jerusalem, but would also declare truth to the rebellious, spiritual forces that were holding mankind captive.

In Zechariah 9:9 there is a specific prophecy that tells Israel that her King (the Messiah) would come to her having justice and salvation, humbly riding on a donkey.  In this sense Jesus was purposefully fulfilling this prophecy.  Now some accuse Jesus of doing this with all of the prophecies in the Old Testament.  However, many of the prophecies had to do with His birth and lineage.  Thus most of the prophecies about Jesus were not ones He could plot to fulfill.  So this accusation is unfounded.  By purposefully fulfilling this prophecy, Jesus was, without a doubt, declaring His kingship over Israel.  He was ready to go public.  Yet, this prophecy emphasizes that the mode of operation (MO) of the Messiah would be justice, salvation, and a humble king riding on a humble beast.  This can be contrasted with the 2^nd Coming of Christ in Revelation 19, where He comes back gloriously and riding on a white horse, with the armies of heaven at His back.

The symbolism in this section is critical.  The donkey represents not the strong leaders and kings of Israel.  But the simple people of Israel.  Jesus had come to set free the people who had been tied up (brought into bondage) by the leaders of Israel.  Thus Jesus does not need to ask permission to untie the people because they are His by right.  Notice however the objection.  The religious leaders objected to the person, teaching, and ministry of Jesus.  They did not want the people free.  They enjoyed the privileged place they had and the benefits they received from having the people in bondage.  Also, the dark forces of the spirit world also objected to any freeing of people.

The answer that is given is that “the Lord has need of him.”  Why did God come down to save simple people out from under the great elite of this world?  Why did God, over the top of natural and spiritual objections, set free the lowly of this world from the powerful?  It is because He has need of us….of you.  The next time you are tempted to put yourself down as nothing, remember that He has need of you.  God doesn’t need the pomp, pride, and power of man.  What He needs is man to humble himself.  Here is the King of Israel, but He offers himself in humility.  If I am to be your king it is going to be a humble administration.  Rejoice today that the Lord has need of you.  He wants your companionship.  He wants your love.  He wants your willing heart.  He wants you!  What a precious thing that we should remind ourselves during times of doubt.

Lastly notice that Jesus is carried by the colt.  In the New Testament we are told that clothing often symbolizes righteous works.  The disciples cover the colt with their outer garments as a picture of how Jesus would use them to teach the humble believers how to take the righteousness of Christ upon themselves, so that they could then become “bearers” of Jesus wherever they go.  Now Christ is the one directing the colt.  Thus we are to live clothed in the righteousness of Jesus (versus our own ideas of righteousness) directed by our Lord.  So Jesus “rides” upon us to the work that He wants to do through us and with us, as we submit to the teachings of Jesus and His apostles.

The Celebration of Jesus

Now it is the Passover week, which would have lots of travelers on the road to Jerusalem. So as Jesus and His disciples crest the Mount of Olives they begin to head down into the valley between it and the Temple Mount.  It is then that the people begin to notice that Jesus is coming into Jerusalem on a donkey.  They break out into celebration because many had come to believe that He must be the messiah.  They get the message that He is sending.  The King is coming!

They then throw their outer garments onto the road for Christ to ride over.  This honoring of Jesus is simultaneously a humbling of yourself (and your own righteousness).  They are rolling out the red carpet for Christ.  If you are going to receive Jesus as your king, then you are going to have to lay down your righteousness and seek to be clothed with His righteousness alone. 

They people also use the words of Psalm 118 as their celebratory cry, “Save us!  Save us!  Blessed is the One who comes in the Name of the Lord!”  It would be worth your while to meditate on that Psalm this week.  It was understood to be speaking of the Messiah.  By the way, you may notice that in Psalm 118, the next thing after this cry for salvation are these words:  “Bind the sacrifice to the altar with cords.”  What cords bound Jesus to the cross?  Was it not the ties of His love for us, for you?

The Rebuke

Now all of this is being seen by Satan’s spiritual powers and the leaders of Israel who had come under their influence.  They do not like what they are seeing.  Thus the Pharisees and lawyers begin to object to Jesus.  Remember that this is the very thing that the symbolism of the objection to untying the colt was pointing to.  Jesus has come to untie the people from their sins and the wicked do not like it.  Why?  They do so because they want to keep the people in bondage.  They have worked too hard to have it all lost.  Know this, that the elite men and the spiritual forces of this world have a vested interest in keeping mankind bound in sin and under their authority.  But, Christ has set us free from all that.  Thus we live in an age of great deception.  Many Christians are being deceived to the truth of Christ that would really set them free and give them different leaders.  Thus Jesus is told to rebuke His disciples and keep them from proclaiming Him as Messiah.

Jesus points out that if they didn’t cry out then the rocks would.  Know this:  God will be praised.  The question is will you be a part of it?  The rocks will praise me.  This is a common theme throughout the prophets.  In Isaiah 55 we see the trees clapping their hands and the mountains will break forth before Him.  This reveals that the natural world will glorify God by doing what it was made to do.  But man is different.  Man has an ability to choose something other than what he was made for.

Jesus Weeps

Like He wept over the death of Lazarus, so Jesus weeps over Jerusalem as He looks out over it and its people.  Jesus weeps because He knows what is coming, what didn’t have to be.  He was there and could stop it, if they would allow.  But sadly they would not.  Yes today they rejoice, but shortly they will change their mind when He chooses a path that is contrary to what their flesh and heart desire.

Jesus says that only if they knew where their peace comes from.  Even today Israel and most of the world do not know where their peace comes from.  Only God can give us peace.  No amount of ambassadors, great sounding words, powerful militaries, and amazing leaders can give us peace.  No amount of cool movies, seductive actors, amusements, or wealth can give us peace.  Everything we plunge after only takes us further away from what would give us peace—Jesus.  The world as a whole rejects the offer of peace from God because it thinks it can create its own peace.  This is why God weeps.  He knows that this is a pipe dream that leads to the slavery of mankind and ends up in the destruction of mankind.

Jesus says that the significance and understanding of these things would be hidden from the eyes of Israel. The apostle Paul picks this theme up in Romans 11:25.  He states that this blindness of Israel to the messiah would not last forever.  Also in 2 Corinthians 3, he states that the blindness of Israel was like a veil over the eyes.  Yet, the good news is that though God may blind us because of our unbelief and wickedness, He will have mercy.  He will bring us back around again to see once again what we refused to believe before.

Lastly Jesus refers to this as the time of Israel’s visitation.  Israel was in bondage to the “Beast” kingdom of Rome.  They had cried out for deliverance for years.  Now, in Jesus, God was visiting them, in order to deliver them.  Their cry had not failed to reach God.  Though God has a different time schedule than us, He does hear our cries.  He is hurting over our injustices, and wounding of each other.  He weeps over the bondage that we continue under and longs to come and offer Himself to us.  In Jesus that day has come.  For the last 2,000 years God has been carried around by lowly Christians who offer to them the peace of Christ.  But there is a day of visitation coming; a day when it will be critical that we have eyes to see the truth.  The antichrist will come forth offering a false peace that leads to destruction, but the true Christ will come forth offering a true peace that leads to life.  Choose Jesus today!

The Triumphal Entry mp3

The Lord of the Sabbath

Today we are going to look at Luke 6:1-5.  At issue in this portion of Scripture is a legal issue regarding the Sabbath day under the Law of Moses.  Now the term “Sabbath” means to rest or cease an activity.  It is a reference to the Creation, in which God created all things in six days.  The seventh day becomes the day on which He ceased the activity of creation or rested from creating.  This is where we get our idea of a 7 day week with at least one day off for rest.

There is no indication that this was ritually observed before the flood.  But in the Law of Moses God commands Israel to do no work on the seventh day.  In fact the Old Testament refers to these days of rest as something God was giving Israel.  They were God’s rests that He was giving to Israel.  In other words, by resting on this day and worshipping God they were demonstrating their trust in God to take care of them.  The natural desire to keep working out of fear for the future is counteracted with God’s offer of rest.  If they trusted Him He would ensure that they had enough.  Thus Sabbath day was intended to not just be a day of physical rest, but also a day of emotional, psychological rest.  However, it is in the New Testament that we begin to see that this day of rest also has a spiritual application.  Thus Scripture declares that there is “no peace for the wicked.”  (Isaiah 57:21)  The wicked may be able to rest physically and even emotionally.  But spiritually they would have no rest or peace with God.

So let’s look at this event and see who Jesus really is.

Picking Food On The Sabbath

In verses 1-2 we are told that it is a Sabbath day and that Jesus and His disciples walked through a grain field.  The disciples were picking grain, rubbing it in their hand to remove the outer shell, and eating it.  No doubt the discussion with the Pharisees takes place when they reach a town, either outside of it or inside.  They probably see the group approach from out of the fields and notice the “infraction” in the hands of the disciples.  Now we might be tempted to think that the problem is one of stealing.  However, in Israel, as long as you weren’t trying to harvest for yourself, it was not considered stealing to pick a fruit or pick some grain on your way through your neighbor’s fields.  In fact all of the land of Israel technically belonged to God.  He had delegated authority over the land to the tribes who in turn divided it among the family clans.  Thus there was a concept of private property.  But, it was more like a manager status.  The “owner” was the one who had delegated authority over the property.

No, the problem here is not stealing, but rather that what they are doing is classified as work by the teachers of Israel.  Now clearly this is a stretch of the meaning of the word work.  But over the years the teachers of Israel had developed a complex system of things that were considered work and things that were exceptions.  The act of picking the grain and the act of rubbing it in their hands were both unapproved activities.  Now this form of legal nit-picking is clearly not a thing that God likes.  When we do this kind of thing we lose sight of the original intent of the law.  God had a purpose in the Sabbath law, which was being buried under an avalanche of things you couldn’t do.  However the opposite can be a problem as well.  We can use the nit-picking of others to justify total disregard for the law.  God is not a fan of that either.  The Law has a purpose and should be obeyed.  However, the spirit (purpose) of the law can be lost when we devolve into this form of legal nit-picking.  Thus the original purpose of a speed limit was to keep traffic moving at a safe speed, not make money off of people who don’t have cruise control.

Part of the problem can be described with the term “mission-creep.”  Originally this had to do with a military mission.  It was common to have initial successes that lead to additional objectives being added.  Over time the addition of objectives can lead to losing sight of the original mission or it can lead to objectives that directly thwart the primary objective.  This happens in legal settings where the original intent of the law gets lost in attempts of politicians to push the envelope of what the words might mean for us today.  Israel had experienced “tradition-creep.”  Over time they had built up a tradition of what could or couldn’t be done on the Sabbath that was not in the Bible.  The traditions had taken on the same force as Scripture and lost touch with the original purpose of God.  The purpose of the Sabbath was to be a blessing to man, not a straight-jacket that put him in fear at every turn.

Now it would be easy to say that the Pharisee’s problem is that they are judging the disciples.  But that is too simplistic.  Yes, Matthew 7:1 says, “Judge not that you be not judged.”  But that verse goes on to describe that the purpose of this statement is to get us to judge ourselves first so that then we will have the right spirit and ability to help our brother.  In John 7:24 Jesus says, “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”  God wants us to make good and proper distinctions in life.  Yet, he doesn’t want us to have a critical spirit of others while having the opposite spirit towards ourselves.  This type of prideful and spiteful judgment is displayed everyday online in the comments section of an article.  It is difficult to wade through the blatant “I’m right-You’re wrong” nonsense that goes on.  So finding that balance and learning to make good judgments is important and godly.

Jesus Justifies His Disciples

In verses 3-5 Jesus gives His response to the Pharisees and it has two basic points.  Now, let me just say that it is nothing new to be criticized by others.  Sometimes we should be criticized, yet, often critics go too far.  The important thing for believers is that we recognize that Jesus is the one who justifies us (He is also the one who judges us.) 

Now the first point Jesus makes is to come down to their level.  They live for legal arguments, rabbinical precedents, and scriptural anecdotes.  Jesus reminds them of just one of the places in the Old Testament where an exception is made for one of God’s laws.  If there were exceptions being made then God’s original purpose could not have been to create a police state where everyone is forced to live in fear of getting caught breaking any one of a swelling body of traditions.  Neither was God wanting to create a society of people trying to catch each other.  Jesus could have skipped this argument because His second one completely wins the argument.  However, it is important for us to think about this.  Now the Pharisees knew that there were exceptions in the law.  In fact, they had their own favorite loop-holes.  Yet, in many places the Law was not as tight as their traditions had made it.

The particular story Jesus refers to has to do with David running for his life from King Saul.  Without going into too much detail (you can read the story in 1 Samuel 21), David goes to the tabernacle looking for some food and weapons.  The only food available is “holy” bread that had been removed from the Holy place.  Technically only the priests of Aaron should eat this bread.  Yet, the priest lets David have the food as long as he is ceremonially clean.  In this story we see that human need took precedent over a ritual observance.  The ritual of the bread was important and should be obeyed.  Yet, its main purpose was to symbolically teach Israel about the holy bread of God (a picture of Jesus).  When human need or human life was on the line, the ritual could be stretched.  Thus we see the priest doing his best to keep the ritual (“are you ceremonially clean?”), and yet, not overlooking David’s need in a time of persecution.

We see this principle of the priority of human life over ritual throughout the Old Testament.  We also see the priority of God’s purpose over the letter of the Law.  David speaks of this when he says in Psalm 51, “You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burn offering.  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart—these, O God, You will not despise.”  David is not advocating lawlessness.  However, he is recognizing that God really wanted people who had sacrificed themselves spiritually.  The animals were only a symbol and a way of expressing faith in God.  Thus God’s Law of the Sabbath had an original purpose.  There is purpose and scope to all of the Laws of God and the person who tries to turn this passage into a license for disregarding them is being foolish.

The second argument is a form of “pulling rank.”  Jesus basically says that He is in the authority over the Sabbath Law.  His use of the term “son of man” is definitely referring to himself.  However, it is also a reference to Daniel 7.  Throughout the Old Testament “son of man” is a way of saying “human.”  However, in Daniel 7, Daniel sees a particular human (son of man) who comes to God and receives the Kingdom that lasts forever.  Thus “son of man” is a messianic title.  The Messiah is lord of the Sabbath.  In fact, the argument can be made from Scripture that it is Jesus who gave the Sabbath Law to Moses in the first place.  Jesus is not saying, “He who makes the Laws can break the laws.”  What He is saying is that the maker of the Law is the One who you look to do “interpret” it, not rabbinical ideas and thoughts.  Moses demonstrated this during the desert.  God had not given him every law all at once.  When a situation came before Moses, he would go to God and pray for an answer.  If God answered it would become a part of the Law.  If not, then it would not.  You do not add to nor subtract from God’s word.  Instead of waiting for the Messiah to make problem situations clear, they had plunged ahead in their own wisdom.  Jesus is basically saying, “I made this law and my intention was not to bust people for doing what these disciples are doing here.”

Now let me close by just challenging believers today.  Jesus is your justifier.  Sometimes those who criticize you are totally unjustified and you want to tear into them. However, you will not change their minds and only fill your heart with evil desires and thoughts.  Let Jesus be your justifier.  Learn to trust Him and stand with Him.  Our country is becoming more and more hostile towards those who try to stand with Jesus.  Just know that Jesus is your defense.  If you stand with Him, you will stand in the end.  But if we retreat from Jesus because of the criticism of others, then we actually cut ourselves off from the very one who can justify us.  There are times when we need the criticism of others.  God sometimes uses the negative feedback we get from others to show us that there is a problem.  However, in both these cases, we need to look back to Jesus and work this out in our own hearts before Him.

Lord of Sabbath Audio

The Prophecy of Zecharias

Today we will pick up the Christmas story in Luke 1:57.  Here we are told that Elizabeth had come to full term and birthed John.  Now Mary had stayed with Elizabeth during these 3 months and then, at some point after John’s birth, had gone back to Nazareth.

A Sign

Now we saw how Zecharias had become mute after the angel talked to him in the temple.  The angel had told him that he would not be able to speak until all these things were fulfilled.  That is over 9 months of being unable to speak.  So people obviously knew something happened to Zecharias.  In fact, most likely they believed he was being punished by God.  Zecharias had been given the hope that he would speak again but there was no specific time.  Thus he probably wondered on the day of John’s birth whether he would be able to speak.  Nope.  As the days go by he is being tested further and further.  Why can’t I speak yet?  It is interesting that his speech returns when he confirms that the baby’s name is to be John.  The miracle of speech was connected to this act of faith.  “No, we will not name the baby after me.  We will give it the name that the angel said.”  This faith is a demonstration that Zecharias is surrendered to the will of God in this situation. 

Now this sign of being unable to speak for so long and then suddenly speaking at the naming of the child, caused the people to marvel.  It pointed out something special about this baby in God’s plan.  Yes, Zecharias muteness was a sign, but it also was a discipline.  God’s discipline is not simply about punishment, but rather about teaching us and helping us to become what we really want.  Zecharias wanted to be faithful to God.  Now he had his own personal sign and experience that God will do what He says He will do.  Zecharias will have much stronger faith from now on.

God’s Salvation Has Come

In verses 67-70 he begins to praise God for the salvation that has come.  Now let me just say up front that in all prophetic declarations, it is the Holy Spirit who is actually prophesying.  The person is simply yielding the Spirit.   This first theme of salvation is something that Israel had been waiting to receive for centuries.  Zecharias says that “he has visited.”  God visits His people to deliver and to judge.  Sometimes it is one and sometimes it is the other.  In fact the prophecies about the Messiah point to it as both deliverance and judgment; salvation to those who believe and judgment to those who do not.  Notice that he speaks of it as if it has already happened, or is done.  This can be understood in the context of waiting for a millennium plus.  To have angels declaring that it has begun is to rejoice that it is as good as done.  Will God start something and not complete it?  Rejoice!  The Messiah is here and we are as good as saved!

He also points out that the Messiah will ransom His people.  To redeem or ransom is to buy back in order to free someone.  Thus the picture is that Israel is held ransom by her sins and by Satan.  She cannot be set free without a price being paid.  Jesus points this out in Matthew 20:28, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”  It has become common today to diminish the concept of ransom.  It makes God seem less loving.  Yet, if we get rid of this idea of ransom we do so at the expense of diminishing God’s Truthfulness and the badness of our own sin.  If I “make God more loving” by removing the concept of the blood of Jesus being shed to pay the price for my sin, then I am saying that sin is not that big of a deal.  Sin is not nearly as sinful as previous generations thought.  O really?  Where do you suppose they got that idea?  They got it from God Himself.  Here Jesus says that the heart of what he is doing is paying a ransom.  Can we really save God’s reputation from Himself?  No, we will both end up in the ditch.  God doesn’t need us to rescue His reputation from what the Scriptures say.

He also points out that this salvation has come through David’s line.  God had specifically promised David that the Messiah would come through his line.  The reference to a “horn of salvation” was a picture of the dangerous and prominent horn that sticks out from the head of an animal.  This metaphor was used for a strong leader of a people.  This leader, this Messiah would use His strength in order to accomplish salvation in the same way that the Judges of old did.  Or, I should say, in a far better way. 

This is the salvation that all the prophets had spoken about in every generation all the way back to God Himself in the Garden.  It was there that he prophesied that the seed of the woman would one day crush the head of the serpent.  In every age prophets had spoken of this coming salvation and yet, in every age, were those who were cynical, mocked, and scoffed at such foolishness.  Salvation comes to those who make it happen!  Many today, even in the Church, are scoffing and mocking at the things promised by Scripture.  Here Zecharias is rejoicing that in the midst of such scoffing has come the very day that the faithful had waited for.

Salvation From Our Enemies

Verse 71 points out that this is a salvation from our enemies.  It is literally “out from” our enemies.  The picture is more than God coming between us and our enemies.  But, rather we have been surrounded and taken captive.  He comes into the enemy’s camp and rescues us out from our enemy.

Now Israel had many natural enemies.  In fact some of these were even within Israel- King Herod being but one example.  And, of course, the Romans themselves would be high on this list.  Yet, Jesus did not come to lead a revolt against Herod or Caesar.  God was concerned first with the spiritual enemies of His people.  This starts with Satan, but also includes the world system that he has built up in every nation on earth.  It also includes sins hold within our own flesh.  Like a triple-barbed hook, sin cannot be removed without pain in the life of a human.  It is an “enemy within” that we find treacherous over and over again.

A Performance of Mercy

In verses 72 and 73 he speaks of God’s mercy.  Yes, God had made an unconditional promise to Abraham.  Yet, we can lose sight of the fact that God didn’t have to do that.  He chose to do so by His mercy and grace.  So the Promises of Abraham and even the Law of Moses itself stand upon a foundation of the grace and mercy of God.  The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.  His mercies never come to an end.  They are new every morning!  Great is Thy faithfulness!  The coming of Jesus is something greater than God keeping up His side of a bargain.  No!  It is pure, unadulterated mercy flowing down from the throne of God.  “Have mercy on me, Son of David!”  This is the cry of a person and a people who are captured by a sin sickness, within themselves and without, pleading for deliverance.  God does not owe us salvation.  But His mercy and grace has brought it to us. 

Zecharias reminds them that God didn’t just make a promise, but also swore an oath to Abram and David.  Though God doesn’t need to swear, He swore by Himself.  So that we could understand that even though He cannot lie, He swears by Himself that He will do what He has promised.  This makes our hopes doubly sure.  Like Jesus saying, “verily, verily,” it underlines and puts in bold the reliability of such statements.  God will not go back on this, nor has He.  Rather He has fulfilled it.

Delivered To Serve God

In verses 74-75 he declares that God has granted our deliverance so that we can serve Him.  Now some might disdain the idea of being saved so that we can serve God.  But, think about who this God has proven Himself to be.  To serve God is not to peel His grapes and wash His feet.  To serve God is to serve on behalf of the Greatest Servant.  You can’t out serve God.  He in fact sends us to serve others on His behalf, not wash His feet.

He wants us to be able to serve without fear.  He has dealt with our sins and our enemy.  We need not be afraid again.  However, that does not mean that He ceases to be God and that rebellion ceases to be scary stuff.  We should be afraid to turn our back on so great a salvation and usurp His position as God and the only source of Truth.  To the degree that our heart is towards God is the degree to which we can walk without fear.  But to the degree that we walk away from Him, is to the degree that we ought to have a fear of God rise up in our heart and turn us back to His righteous path.

We are to serve in holiness and righteousness.  God has not changed this desire.  However, in the gospel we are shown that our holiness and righteousness without God is unworthy.  So our service must be marked with the foundational holiness and righteousness of Jesus as our ransom.  He is our legal righteousness and the only reason we can now stand in service to the King.  Secondly, our service should be marked with a growing ability to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, i.e. practical righteousness.  This is unworthy on its own merits, but if we are in Christ it is accepted as a sweet offering unto God.

The Task of John

In verses 76-80, Zecharias turns to his son John.  John would prepare the way for the Messiah.  He would call people to repentance.  Christ can only enter a heart by the path of repentance.  Until we see that our sins separate us from God and weep over that, we will never be able to ask the Lord to come and save us. 

John also would teach Israel the truth of God’s salvation.  It is not just winning wars and having lots of gold coming into the Treasury.  God’s salvation is one that will not overlook our sin, whether 2,000 years ago or today.  May God help us to go forth in the same spirit and ministry of John.  May we call out to people to “repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”  May we be a faithful servant to Jesus our King by turning people from their sin back towards Him.  Amen!

Prophecy Zecharias audio