Well, we're a gospel preaching church. That's how we would describe ourselves, isn't it? But what does that mean? It means that we have glad tidings. It means that we have good news to share with the world. But I wonder whether you have ever felt ashamed of sharing the gospel. Ashamed of sharing that good news. We get so used to the world rejecting the message. They don't seem to show any interest in Jesus Christ or the good news of the gospel. It's all so sidelined. And yet we have the best news that this world could ever want. There's no good news in any of the other world religions or movements. Atheism doesn't have good news for us. Hinduism? Islam sure doesn't have any good news for us. There's only truly good news here, in the Word of God, proclaimed by the Church of Jesus. This is the only place where sin-sick people, battered and bruised by the results of the fall of man into sin, can find hope. Well, as we come to this gospel, this comes after 400 years of silence. Between Malachi and Luke, there's 400 years of silence. And actually Luke is the only gospel writer who takes us to the very moment when God broke the silence and shared glad tidings. As we come to study this passage, we want to draw out some truths for our own lives. We're going to consider it under three headings. Firstly, the silence of God. Secondly, the silence broken. And thirdly, the silence of the priest. Silence of God, the silence broken, and the silence of the priest. As you look at verse 5, the opening verse of our section, you might think that the words that are here are just a sort of time marker to tell us when these things happened. But they're far, far more than that. They tell us about who was reigning over the nation at the time. It was King Herod. King Herod had been appointed as the King of Judea by the Roman Empire. And he was an Idumean. Now, what's an Idumean? Well, the Idumeans, the Edomites, were the long descendants of Esau. So, you may have to remember back to Genesis, there was the birth. Isaac and his wife gave birth to Jacob and to Esau. And these two struggled against each other. The Edomites descended from Esau and the Israelites descended from Jacob. And in God's providence, Jacob, although he was the youngest son, received the birthright and the blessing of Abraham. Abraham blessed Jacob and all his descendants. He said this in Genesis 27. Let the nations serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be master over your brethren, and let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be those who bless you. Wow, is this the case for Jacob's descendants now? In this chapter? Not at all. Far from bowing down and serving Israel, the nations are over them, not under them. And a descendant of Esau, rather than serving Jacob, is ruling over Jacob. And even worse than that, he calls himself the king of Judea, the king of the Jews. Bear that phrase in mind, it's going to come up later. because the true king of the Jews is coming. You see, and Herod, he was no good king. He filled the land, oh yes, he rebuilt the temple, but he also filled the land with idols. He was a ruthless ruler. He killed anybody who got in his way, and as we'll soon find out, began slaying some of the infants. He was a wicked king, and those faithful Israelites who were waiting for their true king to come, must have sighed within themselves every time they heard that title, Herod, King of Judea. They must have remembered all the promises that were made to David, that God would raise up from David's loins a man to sit on his throne forever and rule in justice and peace. And they waited for the consolation of Israel. They waited for God to send the Messiah who would save them from their bondage to sin and misery. And so what we see here in verse five is not a people at liberty, not a people delivered from exile, but a people very much, they're in the land, yes, they're no longer in Babylon, but they are in exile. under the foot of their enemies and they wait for their Messiah. But there's a glimmer of hope. There's a glimmer of hope. But what is that glimmer? Is it the arrival of a king with a powerful army to deliver his people? Is it a son born in a regal palace of ivory? No, the first glimmer of hope is a little priest and his old wife, Elizabeth. Doesn't seem very hopeful. Two old people who can't have children. As we go on, I just want to stop for a moment and consider Zacharias and Elizabeth because they are a little picture of the remnant, the faithful Israelites who were waiting. They were very faithful. The text says that they were blameless. They walked in all of God's ways and yet they had a crook in their lot. You may look at other Christians, and you think they're strong, and they're walking with the Lord, and you think, oh, nothing ever goes wrong in their life. And yet, there's always a trial. Each one of us has that trial. And for this couple, they longed to have a child, but they couldn't conceive. And they prayed, and they prayed. And it was an affliction to them. And it was even harder to bear because in those days every woman longed to have a child not only to pass on the inheritance in the land to and the family name, but every woman longed that maybe she would give birth to the Messiah. Not Elizabeth. After years of prayer, her hope of having a child was now gone. She was a woman well advanced in years. But you say, well, they were godly people. They were upright and they were blameless. They had true faith in God. They followed his laws. Why were they not blessed? Like we read and we sang in Psalm 128 of the blessed man. Like a vine with fruit abounding in thy house, thy wife is found. And like olive plants, thy children encompassing thy table out. That's a description of a blessed man. Why were Zacharias and Elizabeth not blessed in that way? And maybe you feel that about your own life in one way or the other. You know, I'm trying. I'm trying to serve the Lord with all my heart. I love Jesus. And yet he hasn't answered my prayer. And I'm praying for a good thing. And he's withholding it. Am I not blessed? Well, you know, there's a so-called type of gospel preaching out there that says, well, all you need is to have enough faith and to donate to our ministry. Of course, they always get that in there somewhere. And you'll be wealthy, you'll be happy, you'll be prosperous. We call it the health, wealth, prosperity gospel. And it's heresy. It's wrong. They just say, well, God is going to pour a blessing into your life. He's going to cure your cancer. He's going to fix your marital problems. He's going to fix the problems in your family. He's going to fix your financial problems and give you security. If only you have enough faith. It's all a pack of lies. It's a poor comfort to the faithful Christian who suffers. And really, these people don't read their Bibles. They just don't read the Bible, because this is not in Scripture. You say, well, they never read of Job, of David, of Jeremiah. Jeremiah, good prophet, and they put him in a pit. Of Daniel, thrown into the lion's den. Or of the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul who says in Colossians that it was a joy to him to be filling up the sufferings of Christ. In fact, far from seeing trials as an existential problem for the Christian, the Bible says in James chapter 1, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. So that's not It's not a good thing to let ourselves assume that blessing must come in a certain form. You say, well why if God loves his people must they suffer and at times suffer persecution? Is it not that God would be more glorified? I'm often blown away when you read biographies of Christians who suffered and were tortured for the Lord. Faith burns brightest in the darkest room, and fire feels warmest in the coldest night. You'll remember that Paul himself suffered a thorn in the flesh. He prayed over and over again that God would remove it. And what did Christ say to him in the end? My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Don't complain because of the trial. They produce patience. As it says in 2 Corinthians 4, our light affliction which is but for a moment is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Take heart. Well, Zacharias and Elizabeth, they really stand for all the faithful at that time. They were waiting faithfully following the Lord and yet childless. Israel was still childless in the sense that the child had not come. the child of Isaiah's prophecy in 9.6. For unto us a child is born and unto us a son is given and the government will be upon his shoulder. His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace. Israel is childless. And on top of this, no one had heard a word from God in 400 years. It was a deafening silence. But Luke now records for us the very moment when God broke the silence. We want to ask a few questions about this. Firstly, when and where did God break the silence? You know, God's timing is perfect. It always is. Look at verse 8. It was Zacharias' turn to enter the holy place and burn incense on behalf of the people. And there were many priests. It probably was the chance of a lifetime, the moment of your whole career as a priest, to go into the holy place and offer the incense of the people, the prayers of the people, and to pray on their behalf. And it says that it was decided by casting lots. Don't think that that was just by chance, you know. It says in Proverbs 16, the lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the Lord. And by the casting of the lot, God was beckoning his servant into his temple to speak with him. He went in with the incense. He went in thinking he was offering the prayers of God's people to God. It was the normal practice. And he thought, well, that's all that's going to happen this day. I'm just offering the prayers of God's people. And yet God was actually drawing him into his house, into his place to speak to him. God had a message for his people. And we learn an important principle here. God speaks to those who are speaking to him. God speaks to those who have their ears open and they're ready to hear. And so there's a challenge. Come into the house of God with a prayerful heart. Otherwise, how can you expect to hear God speaking to you? Unless you come in with a prayerful heart. And so that's what Zacharias does, he's a godly man. And what an appropriate place, what an appropriate location for this meeting. One commentator puts it this way, he says, the temple itself, the center of the theocracy, becomes the cradle of the new covenant, of the worship in spirit and in truth. And there is then a divine suitability in the choice, both of the actors and the theater of the scene which is about to take place. There's the very holy place, the cradle of the new covenant. I love that. It's the place God chooses to speak. And so then we might ask, how does God break the silence? Well, he sends his angel Gabriel, the same angel who went and spoke to Daniel, don't forget, now comes and speaks. And fear falls on Zacharias, and he sees this angel. You know, you weren't supposed to meet anybody in the holy place. It's just you. And perhaps Zacharias was thinking, man, am I in trouble? Is this, am I going to be Nadab and Abihu number two? Am I going to be struck down? Have I done something wrong? Am I offering strange fire? Is this God come to strike me down in my place? And you can well imagine that a good priest who walked with the Lord and who was careful to do everything according to God's law would be terrified at this. John Calvin says, if at the sight of an angel, who is but a spark of the divine light, this fear fell on Zacharias, the one commended as being righteous, What shall become of us miserable creatures if the majesty of God should overwhelm us with its brightness? It's a terrifying moment to be met by God's angel. But then come the first words. After 400 years, what does God's angel say? Do not be afraid. Fear not. So beautiful, isn't it? That's what our God says to us. To a world sunk in sin and misery and rebellion against God while we were yet enemies, God comes softly into our world and he says, don't be afraid. That's grace. And then he says to Zacharias, your prayer Your petition, as it could be translated, is heard. So what prayer? What prayer is the angel speaking about? Well, of course, Zacharias was in the temple praying, wasn't he? He was bringing the prayers of all the people. And what were the people praying for? The salvation of God to come upon his people. Was that the prayer that was answered? Well yes, most certainly so. And yet, it seems a little bit more particular than that. Your prayer. God came to tell Zacharias that the prayer that he and his wife had prayed for many, many years for a child was soon to be answered. It was a prayer that they had long stopped praying because his wife was well advanced in years. that had lots, he had lots of hope that that prayer would be answered. But now after many years, maybe he just lost hope. But is this not the way with God? He is so gracious that sometimes he answers those prayers that we've stopped praying, just to show us how gracious, how powerful he really is. For this couple, they prayed for the birth of a child and maybe you pray for the rebirth of a child. Maybe you've got children or family members who are unsaved and you long that they be born again. Have you stopped praying for that? God can still answer a prayer that you have stopped praying, you know. It's as though he would say, you haven't prayed that prayer for years and yet I haven't forgotten about it. This is the God who numbers our wanderings and puts our tears into his bottle, as David says, are they not written in your book? Little children, you know, they forget things within moments. Isaac can be bawling his eyes out, crying away, and then within five minutes, he's forgotten it and he's on to the next thing. And we're like that as Christians, aren't we? The thing that's in front of us is the most important thing in all the world, and then once we're past it, we forget. But God doesn't forget. He's like the loving parent. He takes every tear, he puts it in his bottle. And so take comfort in that, dear Christian. doesn't fade away in his love, and he can answer prayers that maybe you've forgotten about. Thirdly, who is the child and what would he do? The angel said, you shall call his name John, which means gracious gift of God. This son would be someone to bring great joy, not just to his parents, but to many. He will be great in the sight of the Lord. And yes, when Jesus the Lord saw John, what did he say? Among them that are born of women, there has not arisen a greater than John the Baptist. So we might ask, well, why was John the Baptist the greatest of the prophets? Well, firstly, he was filled with the Holy Spirit from his womb. from the womb. It's possible actually for children to be saved as early as that. J.C. Ryle puts it this way, he said, we should deal with children as responsible to God. We should never allow ourselves to suppose that they are too young to have faith. The heart which is not too young to sin is also not too young to be filled with the grace of God. It's now wonderful. Filled with the Holy Spirit from the womb. And then, secondly, he was completely consecrated to the Lord. It speaks about him not drinking any strong drink. Just like Samson. He would be a Nazirite from birth. Set apart from his earliest days to serve God as a prophet. You know, Moses was called the burning bush. He was 80 years old. Jeremiah, Isaiah, you know, Elisha, all of them, they had this point when they were called to be a prophet. No one was called to that office as young as John. And he gives proof of it a little bit later. We're gonna see him already in the womb, leaping when Mary comes in, testifying that he was in the presence of his Lord. but ultimately John would be the greatest prophet because of the one that he came to herald. He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah 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. So this is the summary of John's ministry, and all of this Old Testament language should have been going off in Zacharias' brain like fireworks. You mean to tell me that my son will be the one prophesied in Malachi chapter 4? Or as Malachi chapter 4 says, this is the last book of the Old Testament, it says, Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest they come and strike the earth with a curse. It couldn't be clearer what Gabriel is saying. The day has come. God is going to save his people from all their sins by the servant that he has chosen. And this son, John, is going to herald his coming. And John was to have a wonderful ministry of reconciliation and repentance. That's what's meant by this whole idea of the fathers and the children being reconciled together. There would be harmony brought again to the brokenness of the church and the nation. What a ministry John was to have. And as we go on through the book, we're going to see him exercising that ministry. Is this not what we long to see in our own time? We long to see the church of Jesus Christ converted, revived. Men and women turning in their droves to the Lord God. And this is a marvelous announcement. Glad tidings. Christ, for this world, coming. Are you glad to read about the birth of Jesus? Do you rejoice? Well, lastly, we want to come to the response that the angel received. Zacharias says, how shall I know this? Okay, God sends his angel to one of the godliest men of that generation, and he's still met with unbelief. I don't know if it's ever possible for angels to be surprised, but if there were ever a surprised angel, it was Gabriel. I've been waiting for 400 years to tell you this. I stand in the presence of God, says Gabriel. It's the most exciting news that you could ever receive. And what do you say? How shall I know this? As if to say, prove it. I want some guarantee. That sounds just crazy, man. You say, really, Zacharias? Do you not remember your Bible? Whenever the Lord did something amazing in the Old Testament, he followed this pattern. The birth of Isaac, from a barren woman. The birth of Jacob, from a barren woman. The birth of Samson, from a barren woman. The birth of Samuel, from a barren woman. Again and again and again. An established pattern, so that God's servants might know, when God did it again, He's raising up His servant. But no, how should I know that you're telling me the truth? Give me some proof because I'm an old man and I'm married to an old woman. It's like he could only see what was in front of him. But Paul calls us to walk by faith and not by sight. We so often default to our senses, what we can see, what we can hear, what we can touch. That's what we want to stake our lives on, not the pure word of God. Oh well, we learn a number of lessons from this because now the angel Gabriel has now shut Zacharias' mouth. As I said earlier, what amazing, God has just broken a 400 year silence and he's spoken to a man in the temple and he comes out and he can't share it with anybody. He can't share it. We learn a number of important lessons from this. You can be a very faithful servant of the Lord. You may walk with him for many years and still unbelief can find a place in your heart. God may take away from you the privilege of serving him because of unbelief. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Christ has put his Holy Spirit within you. Your salvation is kept forever, as we're going to read later in 1 Peter. And yet, our usefulness to the Lord can be curtailed by our unbelief. God can close a minister's mouth for the sin of unbelief. That's a terrifying thing. It terrifies me. Well, you know, eventually Zacharias's mouth would be loosed. God would give him the opportunity to share what he knew. Because God loves to restore us. And again, we see the graciousness of God. J.C. Ryle says, Unbelief is the true cause of a thousand spiritual diseases, and once allowed to nestle in our hearts, it will act like a cancer. Let us watch and pray daily against this soul-ruining sin. Concessions to it rob believers of their inward peace, weaken their hands in the day of battle, bring clouds over their hopes, and make their way difficult. According to the degree of our faith will be our enjoyment of Christ's salvation, our patience in the day of trial, our victory over the world. Believe, friends. As we conclude, Today this church is preaching the same good news of the gospel of Jesus that he's come into this world to save men from their sins. Will you react like Zacharias? Will you respond in unbelief? You know, if that unbelief is persisted in, you cannot share in the glad tidings. Zacharias' speech was restored later. Because he was a man of God, but there were others who persisted in their unbelief. Herod persisted in his unbelief. And where did that leave him? He chopped John the Baptist's head off. The Pharisees and the scribes persisted in their unbelief, and they put Christ on the cross. Who do you stand with? Do you stand with the faithful? Or do you stand with those who chop the heads of Christ's servants off and crucify them. Dear friends, those of us who are in Christ, let us rejoice anew at these glad tidings and never be ashamed to bring good news to this sin-sick, dying world around us that needs it so much. Rejoice. We know how the story goes. John was born. He heralded Christ's coming. Christ was born. And he ascended to the right hand of the Father. From whence he will come to judge the living and the dead in the last day, he will come with healing in his wings. He's a sweet Savior who offers us salvation from all our sin and misery. If we but believe in him, be believing and not unbelieving. Amen.