The Unbelieving Prophet

Luke 1:5-23

⁵ 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. ⁶ And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. ⁷ But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years. ⁸ Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, ⁹ according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. ¹⁰ And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. ¹¹ And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. ¹² And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. ¹³ 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. ¹⁴ And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, ¹⁵ 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. ¹⁶ And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, ¹⁷ 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.” ¹⁸ And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” ¹⁹ And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. ²⁰ And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.” ²¹ And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. ²² And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute. ²³ And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home.

Every great story begins in an interesting place. Jesus’ story begins – well, it doesn’t ever begin because He is God and has always been. But His earthly story begins with the birth of John the Baptist. Luke signals that John is the beginning of the end of an era through his use of the modern and ancient Greek language.

Immediately following the prologue [verses 1-4], Luke shifts from brilliant Hellenistic Greek to archaic Septuagintal Greek. By this drastic shift in literary style, the gospel begins to sound like the OT Scriptures, suggesting that the story of Jesus continues the story of the OT and fulfills it. Luke’s narrative is ancient history with a long pedigree, tapping into Israel’s history and completing it.

Just, A. A., Jr. ©1996. Luke 1:1–9:50 (p. 43). St. Louis, MO: CPH.

That is just an amazing use of language. It would be as if I were writing about Shakespeare, using modern English and then shifted to Elizabethan English to make a point. You would instantly notice the difference in language because while both are understandable English to us, the Elizabethan is immediately different in our ears. When I read Shakespeare, or watch a play I always spend the first 5 minutes or so bemoaning the fact that I’m not going to understand what’s going on only to be surprised a short time later that I’m totally engaged in the story and understand every word. The reader of Luke would instantly recognize this change and be transported into the past, making the connection between their lives and the Old Testament, as Luke had designed. This is so very important because Luke is telling us about the Son of God who had come to fulfill all  the promises that God made in the Old Testament. Jesus is God’s answer to our sin problem as defined for everyone in Genesis 3.

Then we come to the main players in this early drama, Zechariah and Elizabeth. These are two faithful believers in God and His promise to send a Savior. They are moving through their lives with no expectation that they would be a part of God’s grand design for the salvation of the world. Suddenly, an angel shows up to explain their part in the story. They are rather a tragic couple as they are childless and old. Their time for bearing and raising a family is over and so they plan to live out their days as faithful followers of God without any children to carry on their family line. As childless people, they would have been seen as cursed by God inside of their culture.

In accord with the theology of the cross, the righteousness of Zechariah and Elizabeth through faith is hidden from the religious world of Israel, which views them as cursed by God, possessing either sin or guilt, because they have no children. Elizabeth is barren and they are too old to conceive. Elizabeth expresses this in the conclusion of the story: “In this way the Lord has dealt with me at the time when he looked upon me in order to take away my shame among men.” The tension between righteousness in the eyes of God and sin in the eyes of the Jewish religious authorities is a major Lukan theme that will culminate in the conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees.

Just, A. A., Jr. ©1996. Luke 1:1–9:50 (p. 53). St. Louis, MO: CPH.

Luke is setting us up for what is coming in the story of Jesus’ walk among men. What the world calls evil is not necessarily what God would see as evil and He is always the final Arbiter of the truth about each of us. The people in the community looked at the externals of Zechariah and Elizabeth’s lives and saw a problem. God saw faithful people who were going to be a part of His greater story. That is remarkably good news for all of us; especially when we see ourselves as useless or unimportant in the plan of God. There are no such people!

I find today’s verses rather poignant. It is not difficult to imagine two elderly people who have given up hope of ever having a child and have born instead the ridicule of their neighbors since their long childless marriage began. When Zechariah is serving (possibly for the only time in his entire life as a priest) as the one who gets to burn incense before the Lord he is greeted by the angel Gabriel. The angel’s message to him is startling for so many reasons. First, he is seeing an angel! Secondly, the angel delivers an unbelievable message. And third, the angel removes his ability to speak because of his unbelief. It was an eventful day.

The prophet Daniel and the priest Zachariah both receive a visit from the angel Gabriel.

“The parallels between Gabriel’s appearance in Daniel and Luke leave no doubt that an allusion to Daniel is being made by Gabriel’s appearance. For example, Gabriel appears in Daniel and Luke at the moment of sacrifice, both Daniel and Zechariah are afraid, Gabriel introduces himself in similar fashion, and his greeting is almost the same. Both Daniel and Zechariah are unable to speak and the restoration of their speech creates a similar reaction.

Just, A. A., Jr. ©1996. Luke 1:1–9:50 (pp. 57–58). St. Louis, MO: CPH.

While both men are struck dumb, Daniel’s inability to speak is not because of doubt but due to shock. Zechariah is a different story. He expressed a complete unbelief in the promise of a child to himself and Elizabeth. Being unable to speak was a punishment for that unbelief. But that punishment was not endless; when the baby was born, the silence would end. I have often wondered what Zachariah thought about during those nine months of quiet. It may have been a time of personal spiritual growth that was unparalleled by many others. Zechariah’s unbelief was soon resolved when Elizabeth becomes pregnant. His elderly wife was going to have a baby, just like several of the barren women in the Old Testament. Her story was not unique, but definitely rare.

While Zechariah’s unbelief was understandable, he still suffered for it, as so do we. Unbelief is inevitable but does not need to be permanent or defining. Instead we can jump on those moments as opportunities for growth and assurance.