Sermon — September 20, 2026

Division had hundreds of priests. So when they came for that week of service, twice a day, one priest was chosen to go in and burn incense unto the Lord. Because there were so many priests, the only way they would decide who would go in, who would get that privilege, is they cast lots to see who was going to go in.

Now this was a privilege that many, perhaps most priests, never experienced because there were so many priests. They wouldn't have that opportunity. So for this to fall to Zechariah's lot, this was the opportunity. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity. And I have to understand how exciting this would be in his life. He would be filled with joy—that he would have this once in a lifetime privilege to go in the temple and into the holy place. They would go into the holy place. The only place beyond that is the most holy place where the high priest could only go once a year. So this was an incredible honor that was bestowed upon him.

Verse 10 says the people were praying outside. So the priest would go in to the holy place and the people would be outside praying while he is in there.

Now I want to read to you a verse from the book of Proverbs, and I want you to listen to what Solomon says in Proverbs 16:33. Listen to what the word of God says: "The lot is cast in the lap, but listen to this—but every decision is from the Lord." Yes. Every decision is from the Lord.

So Zechariah, here he is thinking, well, everything's happening kind of by chance that day. Absolutely not. God is engineering all of those circumstances. He's in the casting of lots. God is behind that. Why? Because God was up to something. God was orchestrating the events in his life, and he had no idea what was happening or what was coming.

And what was his charge? The priest with two other priests would give him hot coals, and then he would go into the holy place. And he would take those hot coals. Before he would put them on the altar, he would trim the candles—the menorah that was set up to the right of the altar. Then he would put the hot coals on the altar, and then take powdered incense, put that on the hot coals, and it symbolized where God's people's prayers are going up to heaven. And then the priest would come down right in front of the altar and lay down flat on his face before almighty God in humble worship of God, and then quickly get out.

So the people are waiting for him to come out at this time. But something is going to happen. Look at verse 11 with me. All of a sudden, here he is. And in verse 11, an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right of the altar of incense. In verse 12, Zechariah's in trouble. Imagine this. Here he is, this excitement going in there, and he's serving the Lord. Perhaps he's up to the point where he's putting coals on the altar and all of a sudden, to the right of the altar appears visibly this angel, totally unexpected. Now his response is he's in trouble. He's shocked. You can imagine him seeing this and feeling fear. And according to the scriptures, an angel hadn't appeared in Israel for almost five centuries—with the prophet Malachi, hundreds of years before. So you can imagine he's shocked. And what we see here is even someone who's righteous before God, even someone who's walking in God's ways, still trembles in the presence of a holy, brilliant angel.

And then the angel is going to make this announcement to Zechariah. And he begins by mentioning three proclamations.

The first thing he says is, don't be afraid. In verse 13, don't be afraid. Now he's telling him that. Of course, in the Old Testament, oftentimes when an angel came, it was to pronounce judgment, he's basically telling him God's prophecy. Good news to you.

But the second thing he tells him in verse 13, your petition has been heard. Your prayer has been heard. What prayer is that? Now there's some debate as to which prayer, but I think very clearly from the context these are prayers—prayer that this man has prayed. And perhaps he got to the point in his life where at this point, he kind of gave up. When Elizabeth was aged, when she hit menopause, certainly they came to the point where he had to make peace with that reality. That they weren't going to have a child. And here comes this angel telling him, your wife Elizabeth is going to conceive. Look what it says: "You come to bear a son, and you will give him the name John," which means "Yahweh is gracious" or "Yahweh is greatness." Very appropriate name for this child.

So he announces this child that is to come. And he also tells him the third pronouncement in verse 14. You're going to have joy and gladness. It's not only you. Not only Elizabeth, but many who will bring joys. Why are they going to rejoice at this child? Well, because of what this mission—the mission of this child is going to be. That this child is going to bring in the messianic age. That he is going to be the one who is preparing the way for the Messiah.

And the angel really is going to get specific reasons why there will be this joy. And in verse 15, the first reason—well, he says he's going to be great in the sight of the Lord. John the Baptist will be great. Listen to what Jesus says of John. Many, many years later, thirty plus years later, Jesus describes John in Luke 7:28. "I say to you, among those born of women, there is no one greater than John." Jesus himself said there will be no one born who is greater than John. That's right.

And he says here, he's going to be great. And then he describes what his mission will be, what his character will be. Then he says, first of all, he will drink no wine or liquor. Now this could be a reference to Leviticus 10:9 where a priest was not to drink wine while he was serving the Lord, but perhaps it's speaking of what was called a Nazarite vow. And this is in Numbers 6 when a man was to devote himself totally to the Lord, he took a vow before the Lord. And in that vow, he would vow to drink no wine. He would not cut his hair or touch a corpse. And though oftentimes it was for a season of time, there are times in the scriptures when someone would take a Nazarite vow for life.

Was John a Nazarite? Well, there's been much ink spilled on that. There's all kinds of debate. I don't know. But we know this was a disciplined man. And by him abstaining shows this man was totally dedicated to almighty God.

And then it says here in verse 15, the middle of the verse, he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother's womb. Now we have to understand what a statement that is. In the Old Testament, the spirit of God came upon people to empower them to serve, and oftentimes just for a season. Let me give you two examples. In 1 Samuel 10:10, the Bible says when Saul was chosen to be king, the holy spirit came upon him with power. Came upon him. And then in 1 Samuel 16, when David is anointed king, it says the holy spirit came upon him. But here we find that the spirit of God is actually from the womb filling him. And that tells us John is going to be controlled by the Holy Spirit even from the time he's in his mother's womb. This would be unheard of in the Old Testament.

And it kind of reminds us of Ephesians 5:18. "Don't get drunk on wine, which is debauchery. Be filled with the Spirit." Here's a man not only who is filled with the spirit, but from his mother's womb he was filled with the spirit of God. This makes us think also of some of the prophets in the Old Testament who announced they were chosen from their mother's womb. Jeremiah 1:5—"In my mother's womb, I was chosen." Speaking of the Messiah in Isaiah 49:1, the servant who will come, chosen from the womb. Paul would even say that in Galatians 1:15. "I was chosen in my mother's womb."

Yes. This passage teaches us two things. First of all, a fetus is a person. Amen. A fetus is a person. Second of all, not only that, it teaches us life begins at conception. Period. God has said it in his word. It's not open for discussion. That's what God says, and that's what we learn.

But look at verse 16. It also says, "He will turn many of the sons of Israel back to God." So his mission is going to be that—that word "turn" means conversion. People are going to get saved, converted in this ministry. They're going to be turned back to God.

Verse 17, he's going to be this forerunner. He's going to be the one who prepares the way for the Messiah who is going to come.

Now I want you to turn just three books to your left. To the last book of the Old Testament. This was written four hundred years earlier, and I want you to look at the very last two verses of the Old Testament. Malachi 4:5-6. Here's where it says, "Behold, we're going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers. And I will not come and smite the earth with a curse."

Now turn back to Luke. Look at verse 17 in chapter 1 of Luke. It says he's going to come with the spirit of Elijah, and he quotes that verse: "Turn the hearts of fathers back to children, the disobedient to an attitude of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

And here's the question: Was John the Baptist Elijah? And the answer to that question is no and yes. No in the sense that one day in John 1, we find people came up to John the Baptist and they asked him right to the case, "Are you Elijah?" And in John 1:21, John should be done. "He was not Elijah come back to life."

But listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 11:13. Jesus says, "For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come."

So what he's telling us here, when we come back to Luke, Jesus is telling us he was Elijah in the sense he was figuratively Elijah and in that he came in the same ministry. He came in the spirit and power of Elijah as Luke said. His ministry would parallel Elijah's in the sense that he would prophetically be calling people to repent, that people would turn from the Lord. And he said relationships will be restored—fathers back to their children, the disobedient to the righteous. In other words, people are going to turn to God, and in family relationships, people who are at odds, who are separated in the same family, that's going to be that reconciliation. And many people are going to turn to righteousness.

John, you know, had this task of preaching the gospel, humbly preaching a message of repentance. Now God was working in ways that would not have happened. And as you and I look out at this dark world, think about this. It seems that God is even at work? And that's how first century saints thought. Look at the land, the apostasy, all that's going on. Is God at work? Remember, God is sovereignly working out his will. God is continually working out his will. And listen, he is working out his will in your life and my life as well. Even though it's not apparent, things that are happening in our lives, it might not be immediately apparent, but God is at work, the Bible tells us.

This was a one time unique event in salvation history. We've seen that. But God was bringing the light into the world, and he was sending that one. He was going to prepare a way for the light. And you know what's an encouraging verse also for us twenty-first century saints? Think of Ephesians 1:11. That means whatever's going on in your life, whether it's good, whether it's bad, God is in control. Things that we might think, "How did this happen? This seems to be by chance, haphazard?" Absolutely not. God is just as in control today as he was in the days of John the Baptist coming into the world. And we have this wonderful promise that God will work all things together for good for those who are called. That is, God is engineering the good and the bad that comes into our life to work it for our good. What is our good? That we should be formed to the image of Jesus Christ, and that God be glorified.

First Lesson: Trust God Is at Work

So when we look at that first lesson, trust God is at work, even if it's not apparent.

Second Lesson: Serve the Lord in the Midst of Disappointment

I want to jump to the second lesson from this text this morning that I want to point out, and that is simply this: Serve the Lord in the midst of disappointment.

Listen to what one writer says: "In our disappointments, our disappointments have a way of producing terrible theology and denials of God's goodness. How disappointments have a way of producing terrible theology and denials of God's goodness."

Like that first century group, you might not like to admit it, but we can have that same mindset. Certainly our lost culture does. That when things that are seemingly good and blessings come into my life, God must be what? Please. And then when hardship comes into life, trials, difficulty, do we tend to think? God must not be pleased. God must be displeased. It's a sign of God's disapproval. My prayer hasn't been answered. God must be displeased with me. Friends, that is bad theology.

Now one writer recounts how Elizabeth—what might have been going through her mind through those years. You can picture when she first got married and was a young woman, right? You can picture her well-meaning friends coming up to her. "Are you going to have a child?" As the years pass and time goes on, maybe those friends would start saying, "Well, pray with me." And then as she got old and passed childbearing years, no one would say anything because they knew she was not going to have a child. In fact, verse 25, she describes it, "Lord, you've taken my disgrace." That's what it was viewed as—a shame. And at this point, it was terribly painful for this godly woman to carry with her role in those years.

And disappointment is just as difficult today as it was then. But what is so beautiful about this couple? In the midst of the fact that all these years they prayed, they sought the Lord. It seemed that God wasn't going to answer. What were they doing? They were righteous. Not only that, they were living, walking, blameless before God. Not only that, they were serving almighty God and serving. Zechariah was in the temple. Yes, disappointed. But listen, his eyes were not downcast. Come on. In the midst of that, his eyes were on almighty God. They were not deterred. They served God faithfully. And we may live each day with a certain discipline. There may be something in your life that might—as we're talking about this, it comes to your mind.

The righteousness and example of these two call us to live righteously. To serve God. God is our hope. He is our hope. And you and I have to ask ourselves this question this morning: Am I going to serve God? Am I going to serve him wholeheartedly? Faithfully, even in the midst of disappointment—that child that seemingly is not coming, prayer is not being answered, that spouse been praying for for years, that ministry opportunity I thought I'd have, that I really wanted. It looks like that door is closed. That person in my life with my love and longing for their salvation—I'm praying for years and years and nothing's happening. Will God be enough? Will God mean more to us in our desire? That's what we've learned from Zechariah: his eyes were on God. So serve the Lord in the midst of disappointment. We learn from that.

The Final Lesson: Walk by Faith, Not by Sight

And the final lesson is simply this: choose to walk by faith and not by sight, where Pastor Steven preached on several Sundays ago.

Now you gotta mention this. Zechariah is in the temple. The greatest day of his life that he's getting to serve, and now on top of that, an angel appears to him. He's having a good day. And then the angel says to him, "Listen, that prayer—those prayers that you prayed for probably thirty years, twenty years, whatever—God is going to answer that. God's going to answer."

You would think he stood up and said, "Woo, hallelujah." And here's his response: "How does this gonna happen? I'm a little man. Well, I know this for certain: I'm an old man. My wife's old. She's as old as me." Zechariah was walking by sight. And really, here's what unbelief says: "God, can you really do this for him? God, will you really do this?" He wants proof. Have there ever been times in your life when you pray and you prayed and you prayed, and you just say, "This hasn't happened," and you just want to throw in the towel and give up? You see that in Zechariah's heart.

But then look at verse 19. The angel answered and said to him, "I am Gabriel." Now Gabriel is one of only two angels in the Bible who were named—Gabriel and Michael. And look what he says: "I'm Gabriel who stands in the presence of God. I've been sent to speak to you and to bring you good news. I have come before Almighty God. I've been in the presence of Almighty God. He's the one who sent me." In other words, he's saying, "You want proof? Hello? Look. I'm standing here from God. Don't you see?"

And Gabriel pronounces God's discipline on Zechariah, and that's in verse 20. "You're not gonna be able to speak. You're not gonna be able to talk. You're not gonna be able to share what happened in here with those closest to you when you leave. You're not gonna be able to do it."

Why would he do that? Why would God do that? Because look in the middle of verse 20: "Because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time."

So we learn from Zechariah his humble service in spite of disappointment. But then in the negative sense, we learn about unbelief, false belief, or doubting God.

And in verse 22, he came out. They're waiting for him, because when the priest would come out, he would pronounce the ironic blessing in Numbers chapter 6: "The Lord bless you and keep you. Make his face to shine upon you," and so forth. They're waiting to say, "What's the delay?" And when he came out, they looked at him and they could see they were rattled or startled. And they could tell just by looking at this man, "Woah, something happened in there. This man has seen a vision. He has seen a vision."

And in verse 23, when the days of his service were ended, he went back home. He finished that week of service, couldn't speak a word, went back home. According to Luke 1:39, his home was in the hill country of Judea, south of Jerusalem.

He humbly went home, and look at verse 24 with me: "After these days, Elizabeth, his wife, became pregnant and kept herself in seclusion. 'The Lord has done this for me,' she said. 'In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.'"

She gives it all up for God. She praises God, acknowledging he's the one who did it.

What We Learn from Zechariah and Elizabeth

Here's one of the things we learn from our text: Someone could be righteous and faithful, live righteously, live in the forward look to the Messiah. Someone could be walking in obedience, seeking to serve the Lord, serving diligently even in the midst of disappointment. And still fall into acts of unbelief. Still fall into times of doubt, walking by sight.

Here is one thing you can mark down—mark it down for certain: When you and I as believers disbelieve what God has said, God's discipline is coming. Why? Because he's a loving heavenly Father. He's not gonna leave us having a big party, acting that way. He's going to intervene in our life. When God speaks, you and I have one responsibility: trust. Believe what he says.

God's Plan of Redemption

This passage tells us of God's plan. God is setting into motion. He's setting the wheels in motion of this great eternal plan of redemption for the ages. The light is going to come into this darkness of Israel. The light is the Lord Jesus Christ. And we just learned about the conception of the one who is not the light, but the one who is going to herald the light, who is John the Baptist.

And Luke tells us that these two humble people, Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth—listen, here's what I find so encouraging, and you should find encouraging this morning: God uses humble people for his purposes. Humble and flawed people.

And we saw that God's word always comes to pass. The angel said it's gonna happen. Guess what? It happened. The Bible says things are gonna happen. Guess what? If they haven't been fulfilled already, they're going to happen.

The Lessons We Learn

• Trust God. He is working in your life even when you don't see it. He hasn't forgotten you. He knows exactly where you are. He's working in your life.
• Serve the Lord in spite of disappointment.
• Walk by faith.

What God says will come to pass. God's purposes, God's word, always.

Father, we thank you for this account of this humble couple. Lord, you have used humble things of this world to accomplish your purposes. Let us see the unfolding of your glorious redemption for the ages, the glorious plan of the coming of the Messiah and the path that John the Baptist will have. Lord, we step back and we're in awe of your word. And, Lord, we acknowledge this morning you're working in each one of our lives. Help us to trust you, trust what you said in your word. And I pray for that one this morning, Lord, who is dealing with a disappointment in their heart. O Lord, may they look to you and faithfully serve and trust you in your day. Lord, you are so great and magnanimous, and we give you praise this morning. In Jesus' name, amen.