(12/23) I wonder if any of you have begun playing the "what if" game? What I mean is that you find yourself frequently asking yourself "what if" so-and-so happens. You may be asking "what if" I get sick or someone that I love gets sick? Or you may be asking "what if" considering the political and racial division in our country? And honestly it seems as if it’s easier than ever to get caught up in the "what if" game.

We are living in a complicated time, there’s all this tension, media hype, craziness everywhere and yet for many of us of Christian faith we want to trust the Lord, but it’s incredibly difficult because the future is so uncertain. It’s in that context that I’d like to share with you about an important time in history when much like today, trusting God was very difficult. In fact, there are some of you reading this who have great faith, you’ve believed and prayed, you trusted God and you’re waiting and you’re waiting. You know God is faithful, but it’s just so difficult because everything keeps going on like normal.

That was the case in the Scripture that I want to share with you today as we focus on the birth of John the Baptist. You see, he wasn’t born during a time of peace in Israel, but there is turmoil and unrest. In fact, the Israelites were in their homeland, but it’s almost as if they were under house arrest, because they are in their country, but it’s under the control of the pagan Roman Empire. Just imagine for a second that you’re at home, you’re in America, but it’s no longer the America you know and love, it’s no longer one nation under God, because now you’re under the rule of another nation. This is the environment John the Baptist is born into, the Scriptures say, "In the time of Herod King of Judea" (Luke 1:5). And so, this was a confusing time for the people of God, because Herod was just a puppet king of Rome, he wasn’t the king of Israel, they didn’t really have a king because the succession of Kings from King David had ended.

That is the atmosphere of this text, the children of Israel are trying to hold onto the last few threads of their culture they have left. They lost control of the government to the Romans, they no longer have a sovereign King in authority, and the Bible tells us, "there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly, but they had no children" (Luke 1:5-7). And so, now Zechariah was struggling not just with the authority in Israel, but with the very real possibility of losing the succession of priests in his family because he had no children.

What we need to recognize in this text is that this is more than just a prelude to the Christmas story; we need to understand that this is about a people fighting for who they are. Zechariah and his wife are trying to hold onto their faith and the priesthood was one of the last threads of their culture because it was the priesthood that gave them their identity as the people of God. And so, they’re going through the routine, the rituals, and the ceremony because that’s the only thing normal they’ve got left. Zechariah is holding on to what is and what was, "because Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well along in years" (Luke 1:7). And they have prayed and prayed and prayed, but God hasn’t answered that prayer, and so what was once a glimmer of hope for the succession of the priesthood has now grown dim.

It was in that context that the Bible tells us, "Once when Zechariah's division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside" (Luke 1:8-10). Zechariah with relentless determination shuffles into the temple to maintain some semblance of who he is and who they are as a people. This is the feeling and emotion of the text; he is lighting the incense as his fathers have done for centuries, because this is his culture, this is his identity, and this is the last bit of normal that he has left. And so, Zechariah is praying on the inside and the people are praying on the outside because that’s all that they have left; they’re just going through the routine, just doing what they normally do, doing what they’re supposed to do, but they’re not really expecting anything to happen.

Suddenly, "an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear." (Luke 1:11-12). And honestly, I don’t believe there are any of us who would not have been startled and gripped with fear. Just imagine being in Zechariah’s place, you’ve gone to the holy place, you’re praying, you’re doing what you normally do, and so you know what to expect and you weren’t really expecting things to change. Zechariah was used to praying in silence, praying and not getting an answer, he was used to normal when God sent an angel, a messenger from heaven who disrupted everything.

He was gripped with fear and immediately the angel said, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard" (Luke 1:13). God said, "I heard you" and I wonder if for some of us God is about to shake things up, because nothing has become normal on our jobs, in our families, our marriages, and in our churches. Gabriel said, "Your prayer has been heard" because it’s the prayer of the believers that goes up before God like incense, it’s a sweet-smelling fragrance to him, and it’s our prayers that starts the conversation in heaven. You see, prayer is important because it’s a bridge to heaven. It was Zechariah’s prayer that opened the door for Gabriel to come in because he was upright in the sight of God.

The angel said, "Your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John" (Luke 1:13). Of course, Zechariah was speechless, because what do you do when God gives you a Word that makes no sense? You know, when you find yourself wanting to trust God, but it’s so difficult, you feel like you’re on the edge, and you’re on the verge of giving up. What do you do when the odds are against you, your bank account is dwindling, and the tension is increasing?

Well, I believe the Bible suggests this would be a good place to start believing for a miracle, because the angel said what he said: "He will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous — to make ready a people prepared for the Lord" (Luke 1:17). And so, we’ve got to understand that "nothing is impossible with God" (Luke 1:37). And he will wait until it’s absolutely impossible for normal to get it done, so that you know that if it hadn’t been for the Lord, there is no way it could’ve ever been done.

Zechariah recognized the impossibility, but he was struggling with disbelief, and so he asked the angel, "How can I be sure of this, I am an old man and my wife is well along in years." The angel answered, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news." In other words, God was getting ready to break all the rules, because he was going to do something in spite of the evidence. And so, Gabriel said, "Now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time" (Luke 1:18-20). In other words, "I’m going to shut your mouth, because every time you open it, you’re telling me what you can’t do, who you can’t be, or what you can’t have because it’s just too late." And so, God put Zechariah in a position where he couldn’t mess it up and where all the people would know that it was God that did this and no other.

In fact, I want to encourage some of you who have been struggling to believe, because it’s been difficult season, but God is about to do something new. It’s going to be creative, it’s not going to make any sense, but until what’s happening in your heart starts manifesting itself in your behavior, until what’s happening in your church starts happening in your house, until your religion breaks out of a designated hour, until your faith makes the journey back home, you’ll never see the power of God manifested in your life. And so, Scripture says, "When (Zechariah’s) time of service was completed, he returned home" and he had some work to do (Luke 1:23). He needed to believe what the angel said, believing what he heard in the temple, but it wasn’t going to be conceived until he got home. The Bible tells us that he did, because, "After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant" (Luke 1:24).

Like Zechariah and Elizabeth, we need to trust what God is doing, trusting his timing, even when it doesn’t make sense. I know for some of you it feels like it’s too late, it’s the wrong season, and the odds are against you, but there’s something in you that is stirring. God is moving in spite of the circumstances and "when it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son" (Luke 1:57). And this is why trusting God is so important, because this will lead to that, and there’s something else coming, something bigger than you could ever even ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20).

On the eighth day, when they came to circumcise this miracle child, they were going to name him after his father, but his mother said, "No! He is to be called John." But they said to her, "There is no one among your relatives who has that name." And so, "then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone's astonishment he wrote, "His name is John." Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak, praising God" (Luke 1:61-64). Everyone was filled with awe, because God had interrupted and effectively disrupted normal in that hill country of Judea, but there was something greater going on, and so I’ve got to give you the rest of the story.

Their son, John the Baptist grew up and went out into the desert, because he was called by God to be, "A voice of one calling in the desert." He did "prepare the way for the Lord…" (Luke 3:4) because it was Jesus Christ who was born just months after John. It was Jesus Christ, the Son of God who was "born king of the Jews" and it was he that would end the succession of kings and priests (Matthew 2:2). He was the Son, the Savior, born in the town of David who would "become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God" (Hebrews 2:17).

Like Zechariah and Elizabeth, we must let go of our own understanding and choose to trust in God’s goodness, his plan and his purposes, because they are so much higher than what we have the ability to understand. John the Baptist pointed people to Jesus as the hope for the world, because he would wipe out every form of sickness, disease, and sin; and in his presence, there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. I pray for new faith, new vision, and new trust for those of you reading this this Christmas because God has heard your prayers. I hope you will receive this Word and declare in the name of Jesus that the purpose of the Lord will come to pass in your life.

Read past sermons by Pastor John Talcott