This morning we are going to walk through some large sections of Luke 1. I want us to consider the role of silence in these passages, the role of silence in the miracle of God, the role of silence in the Christmas season.
Luke 1:5ff 5 In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. 6 Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. 7 But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.
Zechariah and Elizabeth were special. He was a priest, and she was the daughter of a priest. Both of them were righteous in the sight of God. How could that be? If Jesus makes a person righteous, how could people have been considered righteous pre-Jesus? Well, we know that Abraham’s faith was counted to him as righteousness. In what had he placed his faith? He believed the promises of God that were given to him regarding the sending of a Savior, a Messiah, that would come to reconcile the world to God. He looked ahead to Calvary’s cross. I would submit to you that Zechariah and Elizabeth did the same. They looked ahead to the coming Messiah and believed God would accomplish everything He promised.
We who are on this side of the crucifixion look back and believe that through Christ, God accomplished everything He promised He would accomplish. Those who are righteous before God have put the full weight of their faith in Jesus as the Messiah.
Even though they were righteous before God, even though he was serving in the priesthood, that didn’t mean their lives had been easy or without difficulty. A longing of their hearts had gone unmet. They hadn’t been able to have children. The way the Scripture is worded here, “Elizabeth was not able to conceive,” tells me it was something that had tried for, something they had hoped for. It was something they prayed for, but now they were very old. So, at this point, I’m sure they are past hoping it will happen.
Yet, there they were, serving God, believing God, trusting God. They didn’t let what didn’t happen for them in their earthly life create distance between them and God. These people were spiritually mature. They were the real deal.
Just because you walk closely with God doesn’t mean that things will work out the way you want them to or in the time you want them to. Zechariah and Elizabeth stand as examples of what it means to trust God through and with your disappointments.
8 Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, 9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.
This was a big deal for Zechariah. Only priests from a particular lineage could serve in the temple. By this time, there were as many as 20,000 priests, so they would sort of draw straws to see who might get the honor of doing this service in the temple. A priest might only have one chance in his lifetime to have this honor.
To have been chosen in the lottery was likely the biggest event of his life. It was a once-in-a-lifetime moment. I’m sure he had speculated what it would be like to enter the holy place in the temple. I’m sure he had heard amazing stories from other priests who had had the privilege of standing before the presence of God. It was now his turn to experience it firsthand.
There were two other priests who would have been chosen by lot that morning. They would walk beside the priest who was chosen to offer the incense. All three would enter the Holy Place together. One priest would set the burning coals on the golden altar. The other people arranged the incense, so it was ready to go and then those two priests left the temple, and the incense priest was left all alone in the Holy Place! That guy was Zechariah. He would be left alone in the presence of God.
And while he was in there, the congregation had gathered to pray outside. It was called the “hour of incense.” When the congregation saw the two priests coming out of the temple, they knew the incense was being burned. Those hundreds of people would bow or kneel before the Lord and spread their hands out in silent prayer. They knew at that moment that the incense priest was praying in the Holy Place, in the very presence of God, for the entire nation.
There were several minutes of dead silence in every area of the temple as Zechariah was enjoying God’s presence in an unprecedented way. It was the most solemn and sacred experience of his life to date. The burning of incense is equated to prayer in Scripture. I wonder what Zechariah prayed for during those silent moments.
11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. 13 But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John.
First of all, I can imagine Zechariah was startled. Who wouldn’t be afraid? None of his buddies had told him about seeing an angel when it had been their turn to offer the incense. Was he being punked? But the angel quickly gave him the message that permeates the Christmas story. “Fear not.” Notice what the angel said next. “Do not be afraid, Zechariah. Your prayer has been heard.” Friends, I highly doubt Zechariah was using his incense time in his old age to ask God to help him and Elizabeth to have a baby. What did the angel mean when the angel said, “Your prayer has been heard.”
Listen, you have heard us say it before. Your prayers don’t have an expiration date. Zechariah and Elizabeth had prayed many prayers decades before. The angel was telling them that the fruit of those prayers was yet on the way. Zechariah never went to work that day thinking he would become a father. How many prayers had they prayed? How many times did they wonder why God was SILENT?
Zechariah had been praying for the consolation of Israel, for the Messiah to come. That was always on the prayer list of the priest. Little did he know that a son God would give he and Elizabeth would become instrumental in preparing the way for the Messiah’s birth!
14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. 16 He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 And 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 the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Their son, John the Baptist, would help get people’s hearts ready to meet and follow Jesus.
18 Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”
Questions would be reasonable at this point, right? I wonder if Zechariah thought the angel had the wrong guy. He had more than questions. He expressed some doubt.
19 The angel said to him, “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, “I have been with God. I didn’t get this second or thirdhand. I didn’t mishear, Zechariah. I stand in the presence of God and have been sent for the purpose of giving you this good news.”
And here is the miracle of silence I want us to reflect on for just a few moments:
20 And 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 appointed time.”
While it seemed God had been the silent one in Zechariah’s life, God took away Zechariah’s voice and made him silent. He would be unable to speak about what had happened with anyone until that baby was born. He wouldn’t be able to talk about the miracle that was taking place in his home, in his wife’s body. He wouldn’t be able to testify to the angelic visit. In silence, he would wait and watch God execute His plan.
Usually, when we think about a miracle, we think about God adding something to our lives, like healing. When healing comes, the sickness goes. But we probably haven’t often, if ever, thought about God removing something that we use on a daily basis, something we count on, as a miracle or something for our good.
21 Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. 22 When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.
That had to mess with the priests who wondered what they might face if they were to win the lottery next!
23 When his time of service was completed, he returned home. 24 After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion.
Zechariah was forced into silence. Elizabeth chose silence. Do you see it? She remained in seclusion, hiding her pregnancy, hiding her miracle. Only she and Zechariah, and God and the angel knew what was happening. It was going to be a quiet miracle, at least for five months.
25 “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.”
The angel had prophesied that John the Baptist would be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he was born. We have evidence that it was so. In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, Mary, a virgin, was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, and conceived in her was Jesus, the Messiah. Mary went to visit her cousin, Elizabeth, and when Mary told Elizabeth what had happened to her, the baby in Elizabeth’s womb, John the Baptist, leaped, and when he leaped, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit! That had to be some mighty jumping going on in utero, folks! There were some major spiritual moments taking place, here. In her seclusion, in her silence, God was filling her with the Holy Spirit! That’s a special kind of miracle!
Well, she had her baby and was getting pressured to name him Zechariah. Everyone thought he should be a junior, but Elizabeth spoke up and said, “No, He is to be called John.” Zechariah asked for something to write with and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.” When he did, immediately, his mouth was opened. His obedience to do as God had instructed through the angel, ended his silence. He was able to speak, and he started praising God.
65 All the neighbors were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. 66 Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him.
In Luke 1:67-80, Zechariah burst into a song. Verse 67 says that he also was filled with the Holy Spirit in that moment. Songs, praise and worship, came at the end of his silence. Oh friends, the miracle of God prompts us to a new level of worship!
The context of this story is super important. It actually takes place at the end of 400 years of silence. There was 400 years of silence between the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi, and the moment the angel brought the good news of John the Baptist’s birth and spoke of how he would prepare the way for the Messiah. Theologians actually call this “the 400 years of silence.”
This was a significant moment. For 400 years God’s people had waited for Him to speak. That is a long time for God’s people to go without hearing His voice. Maybe it seems like a long time since you have heard God speak to you. Maybe you have had some questions about God’s seeming silence in your life. Be reminded that the first two things God said after 400 years of silence were: You don’t have to be afraid, and your prayer has been heard.
The noise of this world is loud. The cries of the culture, the gods of this age, are all competing for our attention. Don’t let them be louder than the voice of God that has spoken and is still speaking. Don’t be afraid, and rest assured your prayers have been heard.
Gabriel’s word to Zechariah tells us, even when we don’t hear God speaking, God is still listening to His children. He had heard every word His people had prayed during those 400 years of silence, and He had heard every prayer Zechariah and Elizabeth had prayed for decades.
When God broke the silence and told Zechariah his son was soon to be born, he told him to name him, John. The name John means “God is gracious.” Zechariah was the first to hear about a soon-to-be explosion of grace on the landscape of human history. Jesus would come full of grace and truth, John 1:14. John’s very name would point to God’s desire to deal graciously with His people.
Why the imposed silence when Zechariah had some doubts about how this birth could take place after decades and decades of trying to have a child? Zechariah lifted up his and Elizabeth’s age as if that was an issue for God. In that miracle of imposed silence, God was silencing Zechariah’s doubts! Listen, church. We need to resist limiting God in any way with the words that we speak. Perhaps God knew Zechariah wasn’t going to stop with the questions. Perhaps he knew his doubts would only grow as he continued to speak. God was going to teach Zechariah something we all need to learn, “In quietness and trust is your strength.” Isaiah 30:15
Yes, questions are a normal response to Divine activity, but there comes a time when we need to “Be still and know that He is God,” Psalm 46:10. Sometimes God doesn’t work in what appears to be a flurry of activity. Sometimes He works in the midst of a silent, quiet and trusting heart.
The world wasn’t going to get a heads up that the Messiah was soon at hand. He would come quietly, and only those who needed to know He was on the way would get the briefing. Listen, sometimes the miracle of God is just for you for a minute. Sometimes God wants to communicate something to you that He wants you to ponder alone in your heart, something He wants you to benefit from first. It wasn’t time for Zechariah to tell his story. It was time for him to be still and let God work. It was time for him to watch a miracle unfold in silence. Maybe God had more to do in Zechariah to prepare him to be the father of John the Baptist and God needed Zechariah to be still enough to receive the preparation.
Sometimes, letting go of fear requires a deeper trust, a more intentional and often quiet surrender to letting God have His way in our lives. Zechariah had some decisions to make. For the next nine months, he wouldn’t be communicating with anyone but God. Do you think they had some special times together?
What did Zechariah and Elizabeth do during that time of silence? They prepared for their miracle! They readied themselves. They readied their home, and they let God do the miracle. For five months, their quiet miracle was theirs to rejoice in. They couldn’t do anything to make it happen. They just stood back in silent trust and watched God work. Something most people want to shout to the world, “We’re having a baby!” was kept quiet. It was an intimate miracle until it could no longer be hidden.
Sometimes we’re afraid of silence. Sometimes it’s awkward. Sometimes we want to prove that we know God and are walking with Him in faith by pointing to all of the ways He is moving in our lives. We want everyone to see Him. But sometimes, in a miracle of silence, more than others around us need to see Him, WE NEED TO SEE Him. We need to sit with Him in the silence. We need to trust Him and depend on Him in the silence. Sometimes, God wants to work quietly in us until it’s time to unveil what He is doing. In that respect, the miracle of silence becomes a gift to us.
In times of silence, trust God to be working the miracle you need. There’s a story in I Kings 6 that details how the temple was being built with stone. The Scripture says it was finished away from the temple. It was finished at the quarry. The temple needed to be quiet so that the worship of God could go uninterrupted. When it says the stone was done at the quarry, it meant underground, under the earth. Under the earth, a place where no chisel or iron tool could disrupt what was going on in the temple. Something was being prepared in quiet. Something was being prepared underground. No one in the temple could hear the building going on even though it was construction that was going to benefit the temple. It was happening in quiet. Sometimes you can’t hear or feel or see God building something in your life, but trust me, He doesn’t take His hands off His creation.
Even if you can’t hear the hammer and the chisel, God is at work. Maybe God has silenced some things in your life so that you can hear Him clearly. He removed Zechariah’s voice. Maybe like Zechariah God has moved some people out of your life or removed some noise from the culture because He has something to say to you that He doesn’t want you to miss. Maybe in awe and wonder of His amazing work, like Elizabeth, you have chosen a season of silence, a season of silent worship. In either case, the end result will be an explosion of grace in through your life and a blessing for those around you. God’s work doesn’t stay underground forever. What He builds, He blesses. What He births, He blesses.
Silence can indicate a miracle is about to make its way to earth.
Know this. Advent reminds us that fear can be silenced in our life. Advent invites us to be silent and cherish the unexpected ways God has come to us. There are moments of rejoicing in the Advent season, for sure, but there are also moments to ponder, in quiet anticipation, the miracles that are yet on their way.
There will be plenty of hustle and bustle to enjoy this Christmas, but what if what God has for you is coming not through the hurry and hoopla, but in the stillness and silence. Don’t be afraid. God has heard your prayers. In quietness and trust, seek Him. Find some time to seclude yourself and joy in the God who is still doing miracles in the silence.
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