“The Promised Way-Preparer”
Text: Luke 1:5-25
11-28-2021
In the name of our Advent King who comes in humility to save us, dear friends in Christ. It has bothered me for some time, but our lectionary system of Scripture readings never delivers the whole Christmas story in a chronological, orderly fashion. Oh, we get a piece of it here and a piece of it there, but never the complete story from beginning to end as St. Luke lays it out in the first 2 chapters of his Gospel. Which is too bad because then people can get strange ideas about the people and events that took place in preparation for that wondrous Christmas Day miracle. And not only that, we can end up missing out on how God had all this preplanned and foretold in the Old Testament. We need to see that all of these people and events are key ingredients for understanding the deeper meaning of Christ’s birth in Bethlehem. So, I’ve decided to follow a Pastor friend’s suggestion and utilize a different set of Scripture readings for Advent. We’ll mainly rely on St. Luke’s Gospel since he gives us the most details about all that took place leading up to the first Christmas.
All of that is a huge factor to consider as we look at the Scripture lessons for today. Let’s begin with our reading from Malachi 3. Listen again to that opening verse where God says, “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me.” A little later in chapter 4 God also promises, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.” Keep in mind, this was written around 400 B.C. By this time in history the Babylonians and then the Assyrians had conquered the people of Israel, carrying them off into exile. Prior to that, the Lord had visibly removed His presence from the Temple and it was destroyed. Eventually, the Israelites were allowed to return and rebuild the Temple. Here in these passages from Malachi the Lord was promising to return to them via the Messiah whom He would send. In the final verse of our reading expresses that promise, “Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts.”
God’s return was essential to Israel’s survival. And this is what they were waiting for. However, they knew that before the Messiah would come to rescue them, the prophecy said that a messenger would appear on the scene to prepare the way. That’s the first thing the people of Jesus’ day were watching for. The Old Testament prophets were God’s messengers. But God hadn’t sent them one since Malachi, which was 4 centuries ago. So, they held onto this promise as they watched and waited. They looked for Elijah or someone like him to arrive and prepare them for the Messiah’s coming.
Everybody accepted that prophecy. However, God’s plan for their preparation was completely different than what the priests and rabbis were teaching. They had counted 613 rules and regulations in the Law of Moses. And they admitted that they hadn’t kept them perfectly. In fact, they believed this was the reason God had allowed them to be conquered and suffer so much. But they figured that if the people of Israel would keep all those laws perfectly for just one day, then the Messiah would finally come. That’s how they defined being prepared. The problem is that it wasn’t possible. Because of their sinful human nature, no one could keep the law perfectly. Even the religious leaders, who outwardly pretended to be doing so, were inwardly violating God’s commandments. They had also twisted God’s laws so that the rich and powerful (which included their own cliques) could take advantage of the less fortunate… and do it with a clear conscience.
God saw right through all their pretense, lies, and fake righteousness. This was not the correct preparation for the Messiah. God’s plan relied on HIS righteousness. It relied on a purification of their hearts through repentance. When God sent His messenger to prepare the way, that would be his message. The good news is that some within Israel listened to God’s original prophecy and ignored the garbage that the religious leaders were spewing forth. Yes, even within the ranks of the priests who served at the Temple there were true believers who trusted in those unchanging promises of God. They watched and waited for God’s messenger to arrive and prepare their hearts for the Messiah to come.
Zechariah and Elizabeth were among them. When our text says, “they were both righteous” it doesn’t mean they were keeping all the laws perfectly. Their righteousness wasn’t due to anything they had done, even though they tried to lead God-pleasing lives. Rather, they were confessing their sins and shortcomings, relying on God’s forgiveness, which made them righteous before the Lord. They too were watching and waiting with expectation for God’s Elijah-type messenger. But there was a chink in the armor of their faith. They simply couldn’t imagine that God would ever use THEM to bring this about. They were old and childless. Elizabeth’s body had shut down in the “getting-pregnant department.” In their minds, if God were going to bring the Messiah’s forerunner into this world by natural means, it wouldn’t be through them. Little did they expect that God would choose them for this great honor.
It’s understandable that Zechariah would be surprised when Gabriel suddenly appeared to him while he was offering up the incense in the Temple. You don’t encounter an angel from heaven every day. But Gabriel’s news was even more stunning: although it seemed humanly impossible, Zechariah and Elizabeth would become parents by the grace of God. And the most amazing part was that their child would “make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” The prophecies were finally about to be fulfilled and they would be God’s instruments in doing it!
Well, as you heard, the chink in Zechariah’s faith was exposed. Like all the faithful, he wanted God’s people to be prepared for the coming Messiah. He had hoped and dreamed and watched and prayed to be able to see this day arrive. He just didn’t believe that it could be accomplished through him. He underestimated the power of the Almighty God. And therein was his fault. His temporary punishment was that he was struck speechless, which was fitting. Since he doubted the good news he had heard, then he wouldn’t be able to speak about it until it was fulfilled in 9 months.
Even though he was now mute, he evidently did finally trust the promise that was made to him. By a miracle of God, Elizabeth conceived a child. And Zechariah had 9 months to ponder what he would say when he could speak again. In the end, he believed every part of Gabriel’s message from the Lord. When his son, John, was born, his speech was restored and he proclaimed the angel’s prophecy that would be fulfilled through his child. Listen to part of what he said: “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God…” Now if you fast-forward to when John became an adult, you’ll find this is exactly what he did. He prepared the way for the Messiah by calling people to repent of their sins so that they could receive the Lord’s forgiveness. That’s what would make God’s people ready to receive His gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.
There are several challenging lessons in this story for us. God’s Messiah, the Savior Jesus Christ, was born. He came into this world to fulfill the Lord’s promise to save us from our enemies: sin, death, and the devil. Christ fulfilled that promise when He went to the Cross to die on our behalf. He rose again declaring His victory and our salvation. All that is the good news of the Gospel. And human hearts are still in need of preparation to receive it. That includes both the hearts of faithful believers and those who have never trusted in God’s promises before. The message that prepares us sinners for this wondrous salvation is not to work out our own righteousness. That’s not possible. Instead, the message is the same one that God has been speaking through His Word all along. “Repent and receive the forgiveness of your sins.” That’s God’s righteousness being graciously given to us. It’s this message that will “make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”
But there’s one more lesson for us here. Zechariah had a hard time believing that the Lord would use him to send forth this message. And we’re no different. We doubt that God could or would choose us as His instruments to help prepare the hearts of people for the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, all too often we’re speechless like Zechariah. Not because God did it to us, but we’ve muted our own lips from proclaiming that wondrous message. That’s because we’ve made it harder than it really is. Sure, it’s good to share your faith with others in simple terms. But many people aren’t sure what to say when that time comes. Well, all you need do is invite people to join us in hearing the good news of salvation that is proclaimed in God’s Word. The Christmas season is an ideal time to do that. Invite your family and friends to join you here in worship where together we hear God call us to repentance so that we might receive the forgiveness of sins and His salvation. In this way, may the Holy Spirit use us as His messengers to prepare the way for spreading that Good News. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!