While at the children’s hospital this summer in California, my wife Nikky and I were sitting in the atrium to the main entrance one day when I noticed a man in a black suit and an ear piece walking around. He was looking all over the place and talking to people. As I watched him I leaned over to my wife and said, “I bet he’s secret service.” She kind of rolled her eyes at what she thought was my overactive imagination and I kept watching. A few hours later a whole entourage of people show up with photographers and more men dressed in black suits and sunglasses. They surrounded a woman who was being given a tour by the woman whose name was on the side of the building whose family happens to own the San Francisco 49ers. I never did figure out who the woman was, but obviously she was someone important because of the special preparation that took place. (Important guests require unique preparation.)
Go back 2000 years. God was about to enter human history and do what he had long ago promised. Such an arrival certainly required special preparation. The main person to provide this preparation was man who would eventually be known as John the Baptist. Over the next three weeks we’re going to look at this man – a man on a mission – a mission to prepare people for the arrival of the Son of God Jesus.
“This was not what I expected!” I wonder how many times that thought crossed the minds of John the Baptist’s parents Zechariah and Elizabeth. It may have begun in the years immediately following their marriage as they tried and tried to have children but nothing happened. How many times did they think, “This was not what we expected. We had hoped to have children and maybe even a few grandchildren.” When the Bible first introduces us to Zechariah and Elizabeth that time for having children had long since passed. But over time they had come to accept that children just weren’t in God’s plans for them. They could accept that plan because they trusted the Lord and his love for them. They were of that group of Jews who continued to trust the Lord was going to do as he had promised and send them a Savior, someone who would repair their sin-wrecked relationship with God. That repair would require the shedding of blood and the sacrifice of life, something that Zechariah and Elizabeth were regularly reminded of each time they went to the temple which they repeatedly did.
Zechariah’s family was among that group of Jews called Levites who God had selected to serve in the temple and help the priests. Zechariah had recently received the honor of being selected, “to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense” (Luke 1:9), an honor that a Levite could receive only once during their life. The burning of incense was one of the ways that God reminded his people of the privilege to come to him in prayer – their prayers rising to him like incense.
When Zechariah entered that special room of the temple called the Holy Place, he was met by something that he never expected. We’re told, “Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense” (Luke 1:11). This was certainly not what Zechariah expected! Naturally, “he was startled and gripped with fear” (Luke 1:12). But the unexpected was just beginning as he listened to what the angel said, “Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John” (Luke 1:13). Zechariah certainly did not expect to become a father at this stage in his life! Bu the news got even more unexpected as the angel described what Zechariah’s son, John, had been chosen by God to do. Listen carefully, “And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous – to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:17). That first and last phrase identified the specific mission that God had chosen John for: to “go before the Lord…make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Zechariah’s son was to prepare the way for the promised Savior of the world!
Not only was this something that Zechariah did not expect, but he had a hard time believing it. And when he doubted the message, he was given a 9-month reminder of what he had heard. The angel announced, “And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time” (Luke 1:20).
Now picture the Zechariah walking out of the Holy Place, wanting to tell everyone what has happened, but unable to speak. When he finally was able to communicate to his wife Elizabeth the message from the angel, I think it’s safe to say that this was not necessarily what she expected at this point in her life. And the unexpected just kept popping up in their lives.
Six months after all this took place, their relative Mary, a young girl from up north in Nazareth knocks on their door. Elizabeth takes one look at Mary and is filled with joy and the Holy Spirit. She exclaims, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1:42,43). To a certain degree, Elizabeth could relate to Mary in a way no one else could. Both Mary and Elizabeth shared unexpected and miraculous pregnancies. However, Mary’s was undoubtedly far greater as Elizabeth also realized. Mary was a virgin, her child conceived by the Holy Spirit, a child who was the Lord God and Savior of the world.
Mary spent the next three months living with Zechariah and Elizabeth. You can only imagine the conversations that these two women must have had with one another especially considering that Zechariah couldn’t talk. Talking about what their sons were going to do and be. News was travelling quickly concerning Elizabeth’s pregnancy. We’re told, “Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy” (Luke 1:58). Everyone was happy to see Zechariah and Elizabeth receive this unexpected blessing.
Finally, the time came to give birth to her son. Once again, the unexpected surrounds his birth. When it came to naming the baby everyone expected that he would be named after his father Zechariah. But Elizabeth made it clear, “He is to be called John” (Luke 1:60). When they questioned her choice of names, Zechariah confirmed his wife’s choice of names as he wrote down, “His name is John” (Luke 1:63). As unexpected as his birth, so was his name.
Immediately, Zechariah is able to speak and what does he announce his son John is going to do? Listen again, “And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.” (Luke 1:76-79). It’s no wonder you have all these unexpected and unique things surrounding John! He was sent by God on a special mission – to prepare the way for the arrival of the Giver of forgiveness, the Light of salvation, the Path of peace.
And in 24 days we will once again celebrate the arrival of God’s Son Jesus entering human history for the salvation of the world. Yes, you know exactly what to expect, and has that in some way diminished our awe, our wonder, our joy for Christmas. Let’s face it, we kind of know what to expect. We’ll sing many of the same traditional Christmas songs and hear many of the same Bible readings. There will be parties and family gatherings, gifts given and received. Been down that whit Christmas road many times before. If you feel that way, maybe we need to listen once again to the words of Zechariah.
This is the “the Most High” God who comes to US. This is not some stunt double or understudy. This is God himself. He comes to do the unexpected. What should the sinner expect from a holy and just God? You would expect for him to want to keep his distance. Why would he want to be part of this sinful world? A world that often robs him of his glory by failing even to acknowledge him as their creator, people who complain about not having enough, and then complain about not having enough space for all stuff God gives. You might expect God to dust off his hands and keep his distance. But instead, God does the unexpected. He shows us mercy. He comes to be the perfect sacrifice for sins that every Old Testament sacrifice pointed ahead to. He offered his life and poured out his blood at the cross for our sins, to win forgiveness, to give us peace. He breaks through that darkness that by nature we live in, uncertain of our standing before God and unsure of what awaits us after this life. Jesus is that light that shows us the path of peace assuring us that we are right with God, fully forgiven of our sins for Jesus’ sake. Jesus shows that the door to heaven has been opened wide for all those who trust in Christ for heaven’s home. This is better than anything we could have expected! This is what “the Most High” God has done for us through the person who first arrived on Christmas.
It’s no wonder why John’s birth was surrounded by the unexpected – he was a man on an important mission – to prepare the world for the arrival of the most important person this world had ever seen – the Lord Jesus. Amen.
