I invite you to take the Word of God with me and turn in your New Testaments to the book of Luke and chapter 1. Luke chapter 1. We considered the certainty of Jesus Christ in an introduction to the gospel according to Luke in verse 1 through 4, and then we considered the personhood of Jesus Christ in John 1. And I would like for us to look at some of the events that preceded the birth of Jesus Christ. And I would like for really a bulk of the message will be laying the groundwork for, you know, we open the Bible and we read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. But I think what would be helpful to us is to think of all that happened before, and the circumstances into which Jesus was born. And what I mean is in society, what were the national circumstances, the condition of the people. And I think that'll help us as we look here in Luke chapter 1, specifically at the account when this priest named Zacharias is given a message from the Lord. And so I'd like for us to read Luke chapter 1, and we're going to begin reading in verse 5, and we're going to read down to verse 25, and then I'll make mention of a few verses in this chapter. But notice with me, the Word of God says, There was in the days of Herod the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias of the chorus of Abiah, and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. And they had no child, because that Elizabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years. And it came to pass that while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course, according to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people were praying without, at the time of incense. And there appeared unto him an angel of the LORD, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard, and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the LORD, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink, and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the LORD their God, and he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years. Do you notice how he used a different term for his wife? He didn't say she's old. He used a smoother term, well stricken in years. And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God, and am sent to speak unto thee, and to show thee these glad tidings. And behold, thou shalt be dumb and not able to speak until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season. And the people waited for Zacharias and marveled that he tarried so long in the temple. And when he came out, he could not speak unto them, and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned unto them and remained speechless. Becken means he was doing a lot of motions, trying to communicate and they weren't getting it. And it came to pass that as soon as the days of his ministrations were accomplished, he departed to his own house. And after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived and hid herself five months, saying, Thus hath the LORD dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me. to take away my reproach among men. Now I want to pause here. Notice verse 25. Thus hath the LORD dealt with me, notice the expression, in the days wherein He looked on me. What are those days? Well, go back to chapter, to verse 5 of the same chapter. What days are we talking about? Notice verse 5. There was in the days of Herod. That's the days. I'd like to preach this evening a message that I've entitled, In the Days of Herod. In the Days of Herod. Let's pray. Father, we thank You this evening for the opportunity to study Your Word. Lord, help us to take a look at the days of Herod, what preceded those days, what the scene was like in the days of Herod, and how we can see this event and the significance of this event and how this can encourage our hearts. And so use this account to be a help to us as we consider the events that preceded the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. So as we read the text here, I was reading through this chapter and I thought to myself as I was looking back, what stood out to me was there was in the days of Herod and I thought for a moment, I wonder how many of us know and understand what the days of Herod were. Because it is in those very days that then Elizabeth, who finds herself now to have conceived and is expecting John, and that was announced to Zacharias, here we find that she says of her own words, thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein He looked on me to take away my reproach among men. And what we find here is a theme going on as we think about the events that preceded the birth of Jesus Christ that I believe God wants us to consider the days that preceded the first advent of Jesus Christ. Now this is challenging here because I'm trying to give us a brief summary, but I don't want to maybe neglect to put this in a full picture. Because if you think about the difference between the New Testament and the Old Testament, although the Old Testament is filled with a good and thorough history of Israel, there is about 400 years missing. between the Old Testament and the New Testament. And we have to know here what happens between that period because when we open the New Testament, we read, these are the days of Herod. And how do we close the Old Testament and open the New Testament and read about the days of Herod, which are completely different from the days we find at the close of the Old Testament? So I think a little bit of history might help us to think at what happened between the Old and the New Testament. If you remember it was, The northern kingdom, after the reign of Solomon, the kingdom of Israel had split in two, and then you had the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. Israel was the northern kingdom. Judah was a reference to the southern kingdom. And early on, the northern kingdom, after 19 consecutive kings who were all wicked and evil, they were invaded and taken captivity by the Assyrians. And then it was not too long afterwards that Judah also fell in sin, rebelled against God, and prophet after prophet was sent to the northern kingdom, prophet after prophet was sent to the southern kingdom to warn of the judgment of God that God would raise up another nation, a wicked nation, to judge them. And so he did so with the southern kingdom by raising the Babylonian empire, and they took Judah into captivity. The Jews came while they were taken captive by Babylon. In the midst of that captivity, we know that by the word of Jeremiah, the captivity was supposed to be about seven years. But before the seven years expire, the Medo-Persian Empire comes in and conquers Babylon. And the Jews now, who were Babylon were now under the dominion of the Medo-Persian Empire when Cyrus conquered Babylon in about 539-538 BC. So again, about 500 years before the birth of Christ, And here's the following summary of what took place at the close of the New Testament. Now this is important. We know we have, you could read II Kings, II Chronicles, but then you read Ezra and Nehemiah, and the last prophet that was sent to Israel was Malachi. It's the last message. And so let me give you a summary of what happens in the return after the 70-year captivity, the return back to Jerusalem to rebuild the city, to rebuild the walls, and to rebuild the temple. Ezra who was the first group to part of the first group to return laid the foundation and opposition as he was laying the foundation for the temple opposition came and labor ceased for 15 years. Then Cyrus died and was replaced by Cambyses. And when Cambyses died, he was replaced by Darius. God then raised up the prophet Haggai and Zechariah to convict the Jews of their procrastination and not rebuilding the city as they were commissioned to do. And so then the people returned to the reconstruction of the temple. The temple was then completed about 516 to 515 BC, and then Darius was succeeded by Artaxerxes. And Artaxerxes allowed Ezra to return to Judea to add something else, and that was to teach the law. to those who had returned from exile, because again, they had been under the influence of the Babylonians. And remember, they were teaching them the ways of the Babylonians. They wanted them to forget where they came from, and that's what had happened. They had been indoctrinated. Now, Ezra was commissioned to return and to teach people the law of God. And then after Ezra and Nehemiah comes on the scene and he asks the king for permission to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, under Ezra and Nehemiah a revival took place, although we might say a brief revival took place, after the work was complete. And you can imagine seeing the walls being rebuilt, the temple rebuilt, the city rebuilt, that that would encourage them. And so there was a little revival that took place after the completion of the work. then Nehemiah returned to Persia, because he was sent to go to complete the work and then to return. And then a little while later, Nehemiah returns to Jerusalem. And when he returns to Jerusalem, he discovers that the people had broken their pledge to serve God, and to continue in the law of the Lord. That broken pledge ends the Old Testament. And for the following 400 years, no prophet proclaimed divine authoritative truth from God. The Medo-Persian dominance lasted after the close of the Old Testament for another 100 years until the rise of Philip of Macedon and his son, Alexander the Great. And that brought in the era of the Grecian Empire. So you had the Babylonian Empire, and then you had the Medo-Persian Empire, and now you have the Grecian Empire. So that was about 330 years before Christ, 330 BC. And what we're interested in in thinking about not just the captivity but what did the Grecian empire produce all around the Mediterranean and all the nations around them. This period is marked by the spread of Greek culture and the Greek language. By the way, the New Testament was written in Greek. And so we see by the very testimony of our Bible and how it was written, it was written in that language. So the Greek influence would permeate society and other nations during that time. We refer to that period as Hellenization, which means the influence of Greek culture upon all the nations of the world. That influence would last, by the way, all the way to the time of Jesus Christ. Greek culture was all about the worship of the human body and it was a very materialistic society. The Grecian Empire was divided then after the lands were conquered. The territory was divided into four sections or four separate territories under the rule of four of the generals under Alexander the Great. One of those generals, Ptolemy, took possession of Jerusalem in 320 BC. And the divided territories, if you would look at a map, and you could, by the way, look at how the Grecian Empire was divided. You can look at a map and you'll find that the capital of I'll refer to it as the capital of Egypt, Alexandria there. That was the kingdom under another general. But Ptolemy occupied what we'll refer to as Syria, north. And if you look at the line between those two territories, you'll find Jerusalem is right on the line. And so those two generals, the one we'll say Egypt to the south and Syria to the north, were always fighting over Jerusalem. And so I want you to have in mind that during the 400 year period of silence between the Old and New Testament, when the Grecian Empire comes along, Jerusalem is battle after battle after battle between the two Greek generals battling over that specific city and the greater Judea area generally. And so when those divided territories eventually came into conflict, the city of Jerusalem was torn by the conflict of the two capitals of Egypt and Syria. And sometimes Jerusalem fell under the rule of Egypt. Sometimes Jerusalem fell under the rule of Syria. Now when Antiochus Epiphanes became king of Syria, so that's the kingdom to the north, he determined to conquer the Judea region including Jerusalem once for all. One of his goals though was when he would conquer Jerusalem he would then destroy the Jewish religion. That was his goal. And when he captured Jerusalem, he proceeded to do the vilest of things to offend the Jewish people. He desecrated the temple with pigs and set up the Greek idol of Zeus. Or another name for Zeus would be Jupiter in the temple of God. Antiochus forced the Jewish priest, then forced the Jewish priest to offer sacrifices to Zeus and burn all the copies of the scriptures that they could find. He murdered thousands of Jews. He even sacrificed a pig on the brazen altar. And he outlawed Judaism. So that was the severe persecution, and that severe persecution by Antiochus brought the rise of what we refer to as the Maccabees. Or another word for them is they would become the Hasmonean dynasty. And so the Maccabees in about 160, so it's about less than 200 years before the birth of Christ, The Jews rose up in revolt against the severe oppression of their Syrian overlords. This revolt was led by a man whose name was Judah of Maccabee. By the way, the word Maccabee means hammer. And the Jews were successful in that revolt. They cleaned the temple and the result, by the way, of the cleansing of that temple is the annual celebration of Hanukkah. that is still observed today by the Jews, also called the Feast of Lights. The Maccabees established what is referred to as the Hasmonean dynasty, which ruled in Jerusalem until 63 B.C., okay, about 63 years before the birth of Christ. Now, What did this Hasmonean dynasty produce? It produced during that time what we come to know as the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Now, the reason why we know this is, the reason why I say this is because we read the Old Testament. If you read the Old Testament, you read nothing of the Pharisees and you read nothing of the Sadducees. But then you open the New Testament, you read about these people, the Pharisees and the scribes. Who are these people? Well, they happen during that intertestamental period of before the birth of Christ and And you think about, let me maybe describe for us who the Pharisees were and who the Sadducees were. The Pharisees really, their primary objective was to resist the influence of Greek culture that had come into their own Jewish culture. They played an important part in the religious struggles of Judaism from the middle of the second century B.C. until 1st AD. And one of the main challenges when studying the Pharisees is to look apart from the biased and many of the sources. As an opposition group, they had often been condemned more than they deserved. They began with good intentions, but almost became an isolationist group by the end. In doctrine, they based their belief on both the Torah, but also on the traditions that had been passed down. The Pharisees believed that the law evolved over time to answer the new legal questions of the modern day. They also believed that the law had to be adjusted to reason and conscience and not obeyed blindly by the letter. And so the Pharisees could well be defined first and foremost as a philosophy with many supporters behind it. The Pharisees turned the law into a dead religion which focused on external rituals. They exalted human tradition, as Jesus told them, above the Scriptures. And so that was one of the main groups in Israel before the time of Christ. And then you had the Sadducees in this. And by the way, until Jesus Christ came, they were all fighting one another. And when Jesus Christ comes out, they join forces. The Sadducees were different than the Pharisees in this respect that they were called Hellenizers, meaning that they wanted Greek culture and influence in the Jewish religion. And so they were willing to surrender some of their Jewish distinctives to gain some desired qualities that the Greek way of life brought to them. In doctrine, the Sadducees considered the Torah as binding, but they rejected the interpretations of the law that were developed by scholars since that time. They were wealthy Jews typically. There was a constant struggle during, before the time of Christ, between the Sadducees and between the Pharisees. The Sadducees controlled the temple and Jerusalem and had a good relationship with the Roman rulers. The Pharisees On the other hand were really the main opposition to the Sadducees. The Sadducees were a rationalist group who did not believe in the resurrection or in angels. They were influenced by Greek philosophy and they sought to mix a measure of Greek pleasure and vice with their worship of God. And I'm thinking, man, that defines American Christianity today quite well. Now, because of the constant harassment from Syria, the Jewish leaders looked for external help. And they found the fast-growing power of Rome. In those years, they initiated a sign, they initiated and signed four separate treaties with Rome as an effort to keep Syria at bay. And then you have the entrance about 63 BC of the Roman Empire and the Roman Empire would be the empire when Jesus Christ is born. And so in about 63 BC, the Roman general Pompey conquered what remained of the Syrian Empire to the north of Jerusalem. He quickly moved on to Jerusalem and he ignored all previous treaties and he simply annexed them to the Roman Empire. And the Jews of the time were really powerless to stop them. Under Julius Caesar, the region was divided into several different provinces and placed under the rule of various representatives of Rome. And here's where we have coming in, one of those representatives was Herod the Great. Now, I went through all this. We read in Luke 1, in the days of Herod, that's Herod the Great. He was one of those representatives. Now, I want to put things in context again. He was considered by many a brilliant politician, a masterful builder. He added to the temple. He was, however, a very wicked man. He consolidated power and ruled as king under Caesar for 40 years, dying really shortly after Jesus was born. He was the most known in Scripture. He is most known in Scripture for murdering the babies in Bethlehem. That's Herod the Great. And he did so to attempt to kill Jesus. And for renovating or rebuilding the temple, that was about 500 years after the completion of the temple under, remember, Ezra and Nehemiah. So he vastly expanded and improved the temple over a 46 year period. This was the temple that the Jews had when Jesus came on the scene. And by the way, the current wailing wall is the remaining foundation of Herod's temple. This was the temple of Jesus's life. Now to put things again in perspective, let me read a brief account from the Bible as history by Werner Keller. He says, in 36 years, hardly a day passed. And here, this is a historical commentary on Herod the Great. In 36 years, hardly a day passed without someone being sentenced to death. Herod spared no one, neither his own family, nor his closest friends, neither the priest, nor least of all the people. On his list of victims stand the names of the two husbands of his sisters. He had his brother-in-law drowned in the Jordan, and his mother-in-law put out of the way. Two scholars who had torn down the golden Roman eagle from the gateway of the temple were burned alive. Hyracnus, the last of the Hasmoneans, was killed. Noble families were exterminated, root and branch. Many of the Pharisees were done away with. Five days before his death, Herod had his son Antipater assassinated. And that is only a fraction of the crimes of this man who ruled like what others say was a wild beast. That is the days of Herod. That is the days when Elizabeth was told she would have a son. You see, Herod Antipas, who ruled in the place of Herod the Great, Herod Antipas is the one who is mentioned in Luke 3, chapter 3, verse 1. when John the Baptist begins his ministry as an adult man. Herod Antipas was also the Herod that had John the Baptist beheaded. This was also the Herod who ruled during the crucifixion of Jesus. And so I want to summarize this here because we read in Luke chapter 5. I know there was a long runway here, but Luke chapter 1 verse 5, there was in the days of Herod. What are those days like? Well, Think about the cultural influence. Hellenization. Greek culture. Incorporated at the hand of the Sadducees among the Jewish people. And then you think about those times they were filled with cruelty and think about it. Think about it. Jerusalem was ruled by Babylon. Then it was ruled by the Medo-Persians and then it was ruled by uh and then I forgot the order by the Greeks and then it was ruled obviously after the division of the four generals the battle between the Syrians and the Egyptians and then it was ruled by the Maccabees and you have the Pharisees and the Sadducees coming in around that time and and cruelty and the desecration of the temple you think about all the things that took place and they thought that during that small period when they overthrew the Syrian cruelty and then Rome comes in and and takes charge and now they have another ruler over them and he is just as wicked as everybody before him has been wicked and and that's how they've been living for over 400 years. The cultural influence, Hellenization, you have even within that the religious influence. Pharisees, Sadducees. When Jesus comes on the scene, understand, He has to deal with a misunderstanding, a misrepresentation of the Scriptures. And then you have the political influence. Let me ask you this. If there was a Messiah who was prophesied, and you had been taken into captivity and said that after your 70-year captivity you would return to the land, you would return to Jerusalem, and that happened, and the walls are rebuilt, and the city is rebuilt, and the temple is rebuilt, but then there's 400 years of bondage and taxation and Greek influence and cruelty and an effort to stamp out the Jewish people and their religion. And now you have just another ruler. Do you not think that the people were longing for the Messiah? Yes. Yes they were. You see the Jews had suffered under the hand of the Babylonians, the Greeks, the conflict between Egypt and Syria, and their current oppressor Rome was the mightiest of all of those empires. And I think it is natural to understand that the Jews were at that time very interested in the restoration of the kingdom. Much more interested in the restoration of the kingdom than they were in the deliverer himself. If you've lived under that oppression for over 400 years. So I'm trying to set the stage because we come to Luke 1, verse 5, and we read those words, "...there was in the days of Herod." And then we read when Elizabeth in verse 25, after she finds out that she has conceived and she is going to have a child, she said, "...thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein He looked on me to take away my reproach among men." excuse me, verse 24. And after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived and hid herself five months, saying, Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me to take away my reproach. And notice we see here, in the days wherein he looked on me. Those days. that God looked on her are the same days of Herod the Great, are the same days after 400 years of captivity and cruelty and Greek influence and religious corruption. You talk about a mess when Jesus comes on the scene. It's a mess. And so I'd like to give you or bring your attention to three, I'm not sure how to word, but three things we observe in the days of Herod. And as much as we can look and try to look around us and talk about all the details of how bad things are, they're not as bad as this. That's what I'm trying to say. And so, but I want you to see, first of all, in the days of Herod we find a priest and his wife. That's it. I'm thinking when you have this great context and you read verse 5 of chapter 1, there was in the days of Herod, ooh, and we could say right now, ooh, those were the days. But notice what we read. The king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, In the days of Herod, we find a priest and his wife. And God lets us in. what happened to this priest and his wife. Notice we read three things about them to inform us. The first one, in verse 6, he says, "...and they were both righteous before God," notice, "...walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless." Here's what we learn about this priest and his wife. They were walking faithfully before God. In those days, The days of Herod the Great. The days of this long history of oppression. Here were two people who were walking faithfully with God. That's encouraging, isn't it? That's not the only thing we learn about them. Then in verse 7, here's what we learn. So not only are they walking faithfully, here's what we also learn about them is they were well stricken in years. Now the reason why I say that is because the context of them being well stricken in years is that she had no child. So we learn later in verse 25 that she says that God has taken away my reproach. And so there was kind of this reproach on a woman who did not have, who was not able to bear children. And in those circumstances, I want you to think about that she, they got to the place where they lost all hope or possibility of even having children. We learn this because that's what Zachariah says when the angel of the Lord tells him, your wife is going to be with child. He says it's not possible. And so we find here that they were well stricken in years, not only walking faithfully before God, but they're more towards the latter end of their years than they are at the beginning of their years. And I want you to think about that because it might be that after walking with God year after year after year, now you get old and you have not seen deliverance. You have not seen the Messiah. You've not heard a word from God in the temple. It could be that you might get discouraged. and say, well, we're old now. Our life is almost over and nothing's changed. Here's we are in these times and it seems that our lives and walking with God and dedicating our lives for God has been wasted. You see, they were walking faithfully, they were well-stricken years, but do you notice they were waiting patiently for an answer? You go down to, and you read what Zacharias did. You read verse 8, Now, without going too much in detail because of sake of time here, but the incense was burned in the morning and the evening. And evidently, the priests were divided into different courses, and it was his turn. The lot fell on his course, and so it was his turn now. And so, when the priest would burn the incense in the morning and the evening, they would offer prayers to God, because that's what the incense represents. It represents prayers going up to God. And we find here that that's what Zacharias is doing. Again, he is faithfully walking with God and he's not in his younger years where he has his whole life ahead of him to see what God will do. He's towards the latter end of his years and he's yet faithful to God and he is yet at the very same time patiently waiting for an answer from God. We know he is patiently waiting for an answer from God because of what verse 13 says. And the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard. Here's what we know. If his prayer was heard, it means he prayed. Correct? We can assume that. The evidence that he prayed means that they were patiently waiting for an answer. You see, if you don't think God's going to answer, you don't pray. Zacharias was praying. So in the days of Herod we find a priest and his wife. What do we know about them? They were walking faithfully with God. They were well stricken in years and they were waiting patiently for an answer. You know, I don't think that Zachariah and Elizabeth are the exception or the first. I would imagine that during the 400 years of silence, there were other men and other women like Zacharias and Elizabeth who were doing the same thing. The Bible calls them often a remnant, a smaller portion. So in the days of Herod, we find a priest and his wife. But then, in the days of Herod, notice we find also a praying people. This is also something that's encouraging. But we read notice in verse 10 that not only was Zacharias burning incense, and I tend to think here that it was in the morning because it would happen twice a day, and the people perhaps in the evening would go home, but when he goes out after burning incense and remaining there for a long time, people are out and about and question why he's been in there so long. And so I believe here this takes place in the morning where they're burning incense. But notice verse 10, And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense. And so here's what we learn. In the days of Herod we find a praying people. Not just, not just Zacharias and Elizabeth, but a whole multitude of them. Now, Let's note three things about the days of Herod and the praying people. First of all, we see the custom, that this was custom of the priestly office. In verse 9, the Bible says, According to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. So notice, he was praying, and I know it's the law, so it would have been what most of them would consider by chance. Well, God has a message for Zacharias, so Zacharias has to be there at the altar of incense to pray, and God's going to give him an answer there. And so instead of maybe casting lot, we might think, well, God selected specifically Zacharias for him to be there at that moment. But as it was according to the custom of the priestly office. And so what we find is during the days of Herod, people were following the biblical customs. specifically surrounding the temple. And I was thinking, specifically with the background now that we have, I mean, it was not that long ago that the Syrians had conquered Jerusalem and had desecrated the temple, had killed a bunch of priests, had forced some of the priests to offer a pig on the brazen altar, our Lord's altar. But here are people continuing according to the custom. Despite all of that's happened for 400, they're continuing to do the same thing. And morning and evening, they're following the custom and they're praying every morning, every evening, without fail. In the days of Herod, Not only do we see the custom of the priestly office, but we also see the coming of the people to the temple. Verse 10, he says, And so what we find is people coming without the temple and praying morning and evening, morning and evening, morning and evening. We see the custom, the coming. We see also the concealing of the promise. We go down to verse 13 and when Zachariah saw I want you to see he is praying in the temple. God answers his prayer. But there's a bunch of other people who are praying also without the temple. But guess what? They don't know, do they, that a prayer has been answered. They don't. What I'm trying to say here is for 400 years, people have been praying. And that specific prayer about Messiah has not been answered, that He should come. Now it's answered, but only Zacharias knows. And what that tells us is God is doing a work Zacharias knows it, but most people don't. We just did a lesson in Sunday School just a few weeks ago about God is always working. That's what we find here. And the people don't know that God is working. You know, they might, again, leave the time of prayer outside the temple, go home, and they are clueless concerning the fact that their prayer has been answered. They don't know. Could it be that sometimes we pray and God answers our prayers, we don't know He's answered our prayer? So we see the custom, the coming, the concealing. And so not only in the days of Herod do we find a priest and his wife, we find a praying people, but thirdly, in the days of Herod, we find a promise fulfilled. Notice, in the days of Herod. Not the good days. What I'm saying is God didn't smooth things out for the coming of Jesus. He didn't bring stability all of a sudden and now, well, I'm going to give the Jews back their kingdom and their own rule over themselves and then Messiah comes. No, in the midst of this chaos and mess and the Greek culture and this Hellenization and the religious turmoil and the political turmoil and religious corruption. Now in the days of Herod we find a promise fulfilled. And so notice here what the angel of the Lord says to Zacharias that his son is going to do. Notice verse 14, And thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the LORD, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink, and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the LORD their God, and he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the LORD. And so in the days of Herod, we find a promise fulfilled. Notice the promise would be, first of all, a source of personal joy. Notice again, verse 14, when the angel of the Lord speaks to Zachariah, it says, And thou shalt have joy and gladness. And I put that in the context of, in the days of Herod the Great. If I would walk in typical of those days, is it possible for a Jew in those days to have joy and gladness knowing their circumstances and knowing the history for 400 years? I mean, they've been through a lot. In the days of Herod, we find a promise fulfilled and that promise would be a source of personal joy. Zacharias would be able to rejoice and to be glad, notice, in the days of Herod. It not only would be a source of personal joy, but notice the promise would be also an instrument of spiritual revival. Do you notice here then in verse 16 he says, "...and many of the children of Israel shall he," that's John, "...turn to the LORD their God." That's encouraging. That in the days of Herod, notice he, and the angel of the Lord does not say to Zacharias, don't you know John the Baptist is coming on the scene and he's going to do away with the Roman Empire. That's not what he says, is it? He said, John the Baptist is going to come. You're going to get personal joy over that. It's going to be wonderful. And you're going to find he's going to be an instrument of spiritual revival to Israel in the days of Herod. He didn't say that Herod would be removed. There would be no more Herodian dynasty. They would be done away with. No, no, no. The people of God would be stirred and their hearts would be turned to God. because John was an instrument, would be an instrument of spiritual revival. There's a third thing. Not only would the promise be a source of personal joy, the promise would be an instrument of spiritual revival, but the promise also would mark the anticipation of Messiah. He says in verse 17, and he, that's John, Well, who's Him? That's Jesus. That is a quote of Malachi chapter 4, verse 5 and 6. Hold your places. Let's turn to Malachi. So, by the way, that's how the Old Testament ends. Now, I know chronologically the prophets, they're not in the Old Testament chronologically, okay? But Malachi is chronologically the last prophet. Okay, chronologically. And I want you to notice here how the Old Testament closes, okay, with the last prophets, the last messenger of God. Malachi 4, notice verse 5 and 6. Go, you'll see In verse 1 of chapter 4, For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble. And the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. And we know here that there is a two aspects to this prophecy. There is a judgment aspect which speaks of the second coming of Jesus Christ. And then there is a good tidings aspect which is the first coming of Jesus Christ. And they're both found at the close of the book of Malachi. So in the days of Herod, You have a priest and his wife, and they're walking with God, and they're well stricken in years, and they're patiently waiting for the Lord to answer. In the days of Herod, you find a praying people who are following the customs of the Word of God. They're coming to the temple to pray, and even as they're praying, a promise is being fulfilled, and they don't even know it. And in the days of Herod, you find that promise fulfilled, and that promise would bring tremendous personal joy to Zacharias. That promise would bring a spiritual revival. But that promise was also the anticipation of the Messiah, the announcement that Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming. When Jesus finally comes on the scene, you know what John the Baptist says. He looks at Jesus as the crowd is listening to him, and he says, behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. That is what John the Baptist would do. You see, we come to this and although there's so much that could be said, I want us to think about our own lives and consider our own days and maybe make a personal application for us. It does not matter how you describe the world today. You say, well, pastor, I mean, look at the world and the political environment and technology. And we could look all around us and, you know, describe our days. And I'm just wondering if we might be able to be just like Zechariah and Elizabeth. And we say we live in those days. And guess what? In those very days, just like their days, we are walking with God. We will walk with God till we are old and we will wait patiently for God. And while we are in those days, we will continue to pray, because that is what we are supposed to do. We will come to the house of the Lord. And it could be, and we will have faith that even though we don't see God answering our promises, that God is faithful to answer us, even sometimes we don't see it. And understand that God will fulfill what He said He would fulfill. And I believe that just as Zacharias was in the days of Herod, so these same things could be true in our day, that God's promises can be to us a source of personal joy. And that God's promises in the midst of our days can be instruments of spiritual revival. And that God's promises can cause us to live in anticipation and wonder at what God's going to do in our day. In our day. Zacharias and Elizabeth were no doubt privileged to be part of that, but there has been generation after generation before them who did not see that, who were no doubt expecting it just like they were. You see, Zacharias and Elizabeth are no better because they received the promise than the same people who were waiting for the promise that did not receive them. They just were part of God's timing. But we can be just like, they say, well, Pastor, we're not, I'm not Zacharias and we're not Elizabeth. We're James and Natalie. Yeah, Zach and Kayla, Bruce and Ruth, that's all we are. But I want you to know that although we see the national scene, isn't it interesting that God brings our attention to one couple and to how God's gonna use this family to do a great work in the times of Herod? You see, God wants to use you in these times that we are in now. Let us not wish that we were in some other time. We are in the time that God wants us, and God can use us in this time. Let's pray.