John the Baptist: Meeting Our Savior

Text: Luke 1:1–25 ESV

The word ADVENT means, “visit” or “arrival.” Namely, of someone notable or distinguished. Luke wants us to know just how distinguished and notable Jesus is because he packs his gospel infancy story with all the supernatural, miraculous, and angelic events that surround Jesus’ birth. This is to tip us off that something is happening and that this something is connected to what has been foretold in the Old Testament. And that’s what we will focus on this Advent season here at Table Rock. We will view the visit and arrival of God made flesh, in the birth of Christ through several eyes: John the Baptist, Mary, and Zachariah before we view the birth of Jesus Himself on December 19th. 

How can you listen well to this series?

1. The Comings of Jesus: Pay attention to his first coming, but listen for his second coming. Much of what is said about Jesus through the eyes of those that beheld him are certainly true of his first coming, but find their greatest truth in the coming that is to come. So, we are living between the two comings and a Christian should have their head on a swivel. So, just don’t sip on the half joy of the incarnation during the advent, but swallow the full joy of the consummation of the ages when Jesus returns. 

2. The Old Testament allusions and their fulfillments: Luke is replete with references of the Old Testament about the coming of the Messiah (though not in the way Matthew is). Matthew records specific Old Testament verses and promises that are fulfilled in Jesus’ birth (Hosea, Jeremiah, and Isaiah), but Luke tackles this a little differently. He is going to take angelic decrees, Mary’s song of praise, Zechariah’s prophecy, and Simeon’s proclamation and distill down for us Old Testament understandings (or specifically common Jewish understanding) of the Messiah during that time. So, we are listening to those experiences and expressions (which are limited to Old Testament knowledge) and back-filling them in with clear gospel understanding! They certainly don’t betray Jesus’ death and resurrection. But look at how they will build to his death & resurrection! And if these characters felt and exuded joy based on what they knew, how much more shall we, knowing what we know! 

3. Finally, couple our sermons with the provided Advent reading plan that Don and Greer so beautifully put together. Swim in the Scriptures this season and let God’s Word prepare your hearts and hopes this season. Be diligent this month and make this the Christmas you drew close spiritually. This reading plan teaches us a small point about Bible reading. Christians read with the end in mind. We read our Bibles backwards. What do we know: God came. God was crucified and rose. God will come again (to finally apply all that He achieved). You know those three things and read with that lens and you will be doing very well! 

I want to look at the birth and death of John the Baptist through the lens of waiting. You will see a lot of waiting. Waiting from the nation of Israel, waiting to get pregnant, waiting to speak again, waiting in private, waiting for vindication, and finally John the Baptist died while waiting. So, this morning I want to simply say, Wait. Table Rock, you should be in a state of wait! As a believer living in between the two comings of Christ we should be in wait. If you're not, then that’s a problem. 

I don’t want to encourage you to just wait, but an unwavering wait in the promises of God! So, that you would be sure and steadfast in the Wait that God has for you. That the Wait would inform and influence all the “other waits” God has in front of you in this season of your life. So, what are you waiting for? Christmas and Advent should purify what we are waiting for. Or at least re-prioritizes our waits. But Christmas is also going to tell us that God wills that we wait (i.e. Great Commission)! In fact, he not only wills that we wait, but his will is in the wait! So, this theme of wait comes across through two angles: 

1. God’s will of wait, and (Will you submit to God’s will of wait?)

2. God’s will in the wait. (Will you seek God’s will in the wait?)

Here is our outline for our time:

1. John’s Parents (v. 5-7)

2. John the Baptist (v. 8-17)

3. Zechariah sin and Elizabeth’s shame (18-23) 

“In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.” (Luke 1:5 ESV)

The World, as a Jew knew it, was hopelessly lost. At this time God had not spoken for some 400 years since the prophet Malachi (Malachi 4:1-3 ESV). The people of God had been in a period of waiting—a long wait. Would God come through on His promises? Not only did they feel they had been left in the dark, but they had seen their kingdom come under the leadership of the man they considered a foreigner—an Arab placed there by the Romans. He was an evil man. Committed to self glory through grandiose building projects and lived under constant suspicion of overthrow. Therefore, He was a cutthroat ruler. He murdered one of His wives, his own firstborn son, and the firstborn sons of all of Israel around the time of Jesus to hold on to leadership. He had a lust for leadership, power, and control. Such a different picture of leadership that we will get from John the Baptist who famously said, “I must decrease, and He must increase.”

So, it's in this context, a bleak context of apparent nothingness and even against all odds that God begins to orchestrate the sending of His Son…This according to God was when “fullness of time had come.” This was when he had planned to move all along. 

A quick side note, many of you know that my family is Brave’s fans. We love watching the Braves. Especially this year. The World Series was an amazing feat for them. But my favorite year watching the Braves was last year. They had more come from behind 9th inning wins than any team in MLB history. You never counted them out. Their resolve to win was resilient. 

I say this to give you hope this morning. No circumstance, no situation, no person, or sin keeps God’s promises and wills from fulfillment. No lapse of time or sinful and selfish ruler can prevent His purposes. It may appear God is always coming from behind, but everything is actually happening in line with His plan. God in His loving sovereignty set an alarm to go off for everything from the arrival of His Son to an answer for your deepest wants. And it’s not if the alarm will go off, but it’s a matter of when and how. It may go off at a different time than you were thinking or with a different ring tone, but his purposes for you will not fail. (Isaiah 55:8-11 ESV)

“And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.” (Luke 1:6-7 ESV)

So, what do we find out? Three things:

1. Zechariah is a priest and he and Elizabeth both come from priestly lineage. If you were from priestly tribe from the nation of Israel you often intermarried into another priestly tribe to keep the priesthood pure. 

2. They lived pure and obedient lives, not perfect lives. They were overwhelmingly faithful servants. They lived very noteworthy and commendable lives “in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.” Their consistency and comprehensive following is so challenging. And this is especially important knowing what’s next.

3. They walked with God even though they had no child and were nearing the end of life. This was not for lack of want or trying, or clearly not punishment for sin (which many would associate with barrenness) but simply because God had not given them a child yet. But oh, that was to change. But before we move on, “What does this sound like?” 

   1. You have a faithful and godly couple. 

   2. They were often old and/or barren.

   3. God supernaturally gives them a child. 

You have these barren women in the Bible (Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Hannah, and even Sampson’s mom) and now Elizabeth. Luke is telling us that this coming child (John the Baptist) is clearly connected to God’s Old Testament prophetic line. He will be the last of these great prophets/representatives from the Old Testament era and he will inaugurate the coming salvation of the new covenant. Each of these women’s childlessness and barrenness would serve as a key role in God’s salvation history and so would Elizabeth’s. 

Quick word on Waiting from the text—Elizabeth and Zechariah had been clearly waiting on God to act for them. But just because their wants were going unfulfilled it was clearly not a reason for them to be unfaithful. They were being faithful in a personally very hard season and a very challenging national season for the nation of Israel. They didn’t budge, or flinch. They followed hard. They followed hard in a very hard season. So, in your season of waiting, don’t wait to walk with God. Because, his will in the wait (oftentimes) is that we might more closely walk with Him in the wait. Don’t miss that opportunity. Don’t miss the opportunity to realize your acute neediness that seasons of wait often reveal. 

“Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense.” (Luke 1:8-10 ESV)

Another observation on waiting. Serve God in your wait. Fulfill your calling. Zechariah’s wait did not stop him from walking with God and did not prevent him from serving God and fulfilling the important ministry calls on his life. His wait was not causing him to overly question or doubt to the point of standstill. So, walk with God in your season of wait, but serve Him fully and faithfully, completely in the season he has for you. Zechariah is not pining away for another season. So, Zechariah is serving God and the whole multitude of people who are being blessed in his service. 

And what do we find? God often meets his people in the normal everyday, faithful service to which He has called them. 

“And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.” (Luke 1:11-13 ESV)

So, not only do we see Zechariah and Elizabeth walking with God in the wait, serving God faithfully in the wait, but they prayed in the wait! Don’t stop asking. Zechariah and Elizabeth did not and neither should you. Jesus begins his prayer of the persistent widow with these words in Luke 18, “He told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart…” How will God answer? I don’t know, but you ought to keep asking! 

 This is just a good summary of what we ought to be asking ourselves:

1. Am I obeying God?

2. Am I serving God?

3. Am I praying to God?

Where are we in the narrative at this point and how does it tie into prayer? 

Zechariah is fulfilling his normative priestly role that his tribe would perform twice a year in the sacrificing of animals and burning incense in the holy of holies. He was chosen to perform the role of the burning of incense on this particular day (which was symbolic of prayer for favor, mercy, fulfillment of God’s salvific purposes). Because of the number of priests this honor was only given to a priest once in a lifetime. And so here is the picture. Zechariah is behind the veil in the holy of holies burning prayerful incense. And a whole multitude of Jews are praying outside and it's at this confluence of decades of obedience, service, personal prayer and now the addition of corporate prayer that God says Now! Now, what I am not saying is that God decides to work because they did these things, but what I am saying is that God’s work usually accompanies those things!

So, here is the miraculous angelic visitation that should tip us off that God is going to visit His people! 

“But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and 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 for the Lord a people prepared.””(Luke 1:13-17 ESV)

First, 4 observations about HIM and then 2 observations about what he will do:

1. Joy and Gladness will accompany His birth and much rejoicing will come by this supernatural conception. So, God has birthed this child. (God-ordained Birth)

2. He will be great before the Lord! Why? Because His life will be one of calling attention to Jesus and preparing people for Jesus. (Purpose)

3. He will not drink wine or strong drink showing that his life would be set apart and devoted to God’s purposes for His life maybe like the Nazarite vows of Samson and Samuel. (and to other indulgences)! (Devotedness)

4. Fourth, He would be full of the Holy Spirit from birth confirming God’s choice of Him from the outset and preparing of Him for his prophetic role. (And because of the working of God’s Spirit)

Second, 2 observations about what he will do:

1) “He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.” That's exactly what John the Baptist was doing. He had a ministry of repentance, while Jesus had one of redemption. John the Baptist shows us our sin. Jesus is the only one who can pay for it and forgive it. 

• Look at Luke 3:1-6. 

• What is John the Baptist calling the people to repent of: 

  • Verses 7-8: repent of your hypocrisy.

  • Verse 8: repent of your false hopes and security

  • Verse 9: repent of your inconsistency

• The crowd says, “what shall we do?” (Luke 3:7-14)

  • V. 10-11 - Crowds, repent of your selfishness and hoarding

  • V. 12 - Tax collectors, Repent of your greed and corruptness.

  • V. 14 - Soldiers, Repent of your intimidation and deceit. 

  • As we consider John (meaning “gracious”) and how he invites us to see Jesus, He specifically invites us to consider Jesus through our sin. We do not come without our sin, but with our sin. Therefore, if we are to turn to the Lord, you must call sin a sin & turn away from it. What would be John’s reproof for you? (Spouse, parent, child, friend, sibling, employee…)

  • (Luke 3:18-20) And how will you respond? You can either be humble or be like Herod. 

2) “He (John) will go before Him (Jesus) 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 for the Lord a people prepared.” (Luke 1:16, 17)

• One, What do we know about Elijah? He was an Old Testament prophet who like John the Baptist preached a message of repentance and reformation. He boldly spoke out against Israel’s sin and was carried strongly by God’s spirit during this ministry. 

• Any Old Testament-informed Jew (as would of Zechariah) would have said, “wait…” I have heard those words before! You mean, “the day of the Lord is coming…” This Child will usher in THE Child? And these lines take us back to the very last lines of the Old Testament in Malachi 4:

  • Malachi 4:1-6 ESV "For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the LORD of hosts. "Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction."

  • So, This angelic announcement should tip us all off that Jesus is coming. That his visit is preceded by a forerunner. A forerunner, born by God to prepare the way that Jesus might take our sin. As John said, “Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” But remember, how do we welcome this God? Jesus will take no sin, that we don’t turn from in repentance. In Jesus' own words, “The kingdom of God is at hand, repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). The name of John the Baptist should forever remind us, “God is gracious.” Therefore, let us approach him with our sin and be baptized into His grace! Read Luke 7:29, 30 — Don’t reject, but repent. 

What about waiting? 

The end of John’s life He is in prison and He’s hearing all that Jesus is doing and wondering why am I still in jail if He’s the One and did I live my life in vain or is it setting up the Messiah as the Good Lord instructed. So, I’m sure as he was wondering and confused in jail He sent messengers to Jesus and said, “Are you the One to come or should we look for another?” Do you see what waiting caused for the greatest man born of woman? Jesus doesn’t give him a straight up answer, but gives Him a summary response of a prophecy in Isaiah 61! And he doesn’t give John any different answer than He has for us this morning. He doesn’t take John to a place He doesn’t take us. He took John to the Word. God is faithful to fulfill His Word!! And in this life God may not give you more than His Word but he Surely will not give you less! The catalog of promises are what you can count on.

 And then Jesus says, “Blessed is the One who doesn’t take offense at me.” Blessed is the One who doesn’t take offense that God has a period of wait for them. And blessed is the One who doesn’t take offense of God’s will in their wait. None of this waiting will prevent the promises God has for either in this life or in the life to come. Whatever you want, God may be saying later, but you will also realize that what He wants for you, It will be better!

The end of our story acts as a great entry into communion for us this morning (believers). Sin is exposed in Zachariah and shame is covered for Elizabeth. Zachariah shows us how sinful we are. You can have an angelic visitation and still not believe. So, he shows us our sin and that there are consequences of it. And it’s not just muteness. It is death. You see communion tell us that Jesus was struck down dead with no speech, no sight, no breadth, no hearing, nothing for three days. His body, completely inoperable that your sin might be taken away. And Elizabeth had her shame taken away from her child.