Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends on this Wednesday,
Anticipation is a wonderful thing, and it’s growing to a near frenzy now, isn’t it? One week from today is Christmas Eve! Just the sound of those words sends shivers up your spine, doesn’t it?
The Old Testament of the Bible ends with anticipation words, did you know that? In fact, for Jews, the Passover meal every year has a very special moment when a child leaves the Seder meal table, goes and opens the front door of the house, and looks out. Why? To see if Elijah the prophet might be approaching their door, did you know that?
Here’s why. With the last few strokes of his stylus, the prophet Malachi closed the Old Testament, in about the year 430bc, with these words from God: “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents, or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.” (Malachi 4:5,6)
And when Malachi put down his stylus, God stopped speaking and His Old Testament ‘Grand Narrative’ was complete!
For about 400 years no person claimed a new word from God! God was silent! Why? God was giving people time to REFLECT on all that we’ve been reviewing since August. God loves the word REMEMBER, and we don’t do it often enough, do we? We’ve looked at nearly 4000 years of recorded human history of God communicating with humanity He creates in His image. Humanity He loves and longs to live with in a love relationship!
But we all get busy, in every generation, everywhere in the world, rushing through life, taking little time to learn from the past, always rushing forward, blazing new trails. And that’s dangerous, isn’t it, my friends?
Did you notice God promised Malachi that He would someday send someone like Elijah to turn the attention of parents back to their children and children to learning from and honoring their parents?
Is the demise, the breakup of families, a major issue in your city like it is where I live? Do we understand the damage to our society and future generations when a family breaks apart? Yes, when God spoke those words 2400 years ago, God was looking at December 2025!
In our “The Grand Narrative” journey we’ve learned the Bible layout does not always follow in chronological order, right? So, while Matthew is the first book of the New Testament, Luke 1 is actually the very next story which continues God’s ‘Grand Narrative’.
Luke was a Greek Physician who never met Jesus but traveled with the apostle Paul and did some serious investigation before the Holy Spirit led Luke to write his account. (Luke 1:1-4)
Luke’s opening story of old priest Zechariah and his old, barren wife, brings us to Jerusalem about the year 7bc. While a larger Jerusalem than Malachi knew, still the same city with the same Temple of God, although refurbished by King Herod the Great over the previous 20 years. After all, the Temple was more than 500 years old, completed in Ezra’s day, remember? (Ezra 6:15)
Luke reports that the angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah in the Temple announcing he had come directly from the presence of God, with a special, specific message for Zechariah. His prayer had been heard, and Gabriel’s message would fulfill the last words written by the prophet Malachi 400 years before.
Miraculously, Zechariah and Elizabeth would bear a son in their old age, to be named John. They were to raise John as a Nazarite and God would fill this boy with His Holy Spirit while he was still a fetus in Elizabeth’s womb! Like a prophet of old John would call Israel back to God.
Then Gabriel said this: “He will go on before the LORD in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of righteousness – to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:13-17)
Do you see the direct link to Malachi’s closing words of the Old Testament? Do you see Gabriel’s words form a bridge over those 400 years of God’s silence? A bridge that CONTINUES God’s Grand Narrative into what we call the New Testament. Now be careful… it’s vital we understand it’s ALL one big story written by God and do you know God is still writing His story in our day?
Zechariah was stunned, speechless, struggling to catch his breath and speak any intelligible words. I don’t blame him for asking the angel HOW this could possibly be? Gabriel’s response to Zechariah is a defining moment for human history: “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and tell you this good news.” Luke 1:19,20)
And as you perhaps know Gabriel then told Zechariah he would not be able to speak until John was born! Sometimes silence is much better than lots of words which complicate what God is doing, do you agree?
After completing his week-long assignment in the Temple Zechariah went home, mute. Somehow, he explained his Gabriel encounter to Elizabeth. Yes, she became pregnant and I presume she and Zechariah spent countless hours over the next 9 months studying the Old Testament trying to understand what God was doing; why God was including them, 2 old people; and what their responsibility would be for John’s upbringing and training!
I wonder if you’ve ever felt led by God into something beyond your comprehension and maybe a bit overwhelming?
Luke tells us Elizabeth remained in seclusion for much of her miracle pregnancy, (Luke 1:24) until suddenly a knock came at her door and before her stood a young girl we believe may have been her niece or cousin, named Mary.
Mary had also had a visit from God’s angel Gabriel, as you know, and Mary had come confident Elizabeth might be the only person alive, in the whole world, who could help her understand what God was doing in her through her miraculous pregnancy! (Luke 1:26-45)
You know the Christmas story well, you’ve heard it often and maybe told it to your children and grandchildren many times. So, let’s pause and put ourselves into the sandals of these four famous Bible characters. Men, put yourself into both Zechariah & Joseph’s place. Do you trust God enough to do what those two men were asked by God to do? What men, is the limit of your trust in God, today?
Women, pull up a stool and sit with Elizabeth and Mary, both miraculously pregnant. Would you say to God as Mary did “I am the Lord’s servant, be it unto me as you have said.”? (Luke 1:38) Where does that depth of faith in God come from? What questions would you like to ask these remarkable women?
So, I leave you pondering today, and I urge you to not rush past this ‘remember moment’, God may have something very special He wants to say to you!
As you know, more “Lessons Learned” today are at the Grand Narrative link below and I’ve found a special worship song for us, and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Today’s Scripture: Malachi 4 & Luke 1.
Choose below to read or listen.
Malachi 4
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Luke 1
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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