Prepared for Christmas

Hi, this is Cynthia Dowling, and did you know that between the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi, and the earliest events of the Christmas story found in Luke 1, heaven was silent for 400 years? From the beginning of time, many people, especially Jewish people, waited and prayed throughout their whole lifetime for God to send His Messiah to the earth. And after the last prophet of the Old Testament, Malachi, God even stopped speaking through prophets for 400 years—no word, no vision, no dream, just silence from heaven. But God always keeps working behind the scenes and preparing hearts even when He is silent. Then after 400 years, it was time, time to break the silence. Who did God choose to break that long silence?

In Luke 1, verse 5, God starts breaking the silence with a man whose name we may not be expecting to hear—Zacharias. Who is Zacharias? Zacharias was a priest and his wife's name was Elizabeth. The Bible says they were both righteous before God and were blameless in keeping all the ceremonial law, not that they were perfect, as we will see a little later. But what an amazing couple! Although acclaimed by God, they still had one great sadness in their lives, they had no child. Even though they had prayed and prayed, they were now too old to have children. At the time when Luke 1 begins, Zacharias had left Elizabeth at home and to journey to Jerusalem to carry out a special, scheduled duty at the Temple. On this occasion, he had the privilege of burning incense on the altar of the Holy Place. Amazingly, as Zacharias offers the incense to the Lord in the temple, an angel named Gabriel appears next to the altar. Certainly, this had never happened to him before, and Zacharias became troubled and full of fear! But what did the angel say? “. . . the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.” Can you believe it? God was going to answer their prayers with a very remarkable son, with a very important job from God; listen to this: “For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. So, not only would this child named John have a special diet that would set him apart for God, but he would also be filled with the Holy Spirit from the womb. In addition, his life and ministry would turn many of the Israelite’s hearts back to the Lord! How wonderful! How would He do it? Gabriel says more: “And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just.” What does that mean?

Well, to understand the meaning of this prophecy, we’ll need to take a quick look at God’s last spoken word from the Old Testament at the end of Malachi, penned 400 years before this angel appeared to Zacharias. Malachi 4:5-6 reads, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” How amazing! Here, God connects the last verses of Malachi with this child. This child John would fulfill the prophecy Malachi penned 400 years earlier! Wow! So not only would this baby named John have a significant task, but he would perform that task in the spirit and power of Elijah, Israel’s greatest prophet. Also, John’s God-given ministry emphasis would be the family, and God would use his preaching to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers. How important the family unit is to God! In God's hierarchy of relationships, the family comes right after man's own personal relationship to God Himself!

Now let’s look at the last phrase in the prophecy that must have startled Zacharias—his child would have the most important task ever given to a prophet. He would “make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Really? The Messiah is coming? Yes, the silence is broken with the best news anyone could hear—Jesus is coming shortly, and this baby John will be the herald of the Holy One! Miraculous! Although Zacharias and Elizabeth may have stopped praying for a child of their own, they were waiting, watching, and praying for the birth of Messiah, and now He is coming without delay!

So, let’s consider this couple, Zacharias and Elisabeth, that God chose to be the parents of this noteworthy herald. They had no idea that God would use them in this amazing way; they just loved God with all their hearts and daily chose to obey His commandments. As a result, they were above reproach and just before God, and unknowingly they prepared themselves for their unique task. So, God used a family with prepared hearts to prepare the heart of their son, who would then be able to prepare the hearts of the families of Israel for Messiah. Prepared hearts, prepare hearts.

So, God is not only using this coming child John to bridge the gap between Malachi and Luke, but He is also using the angel Gabriel. The angel Gabriel? How? Well, this angel Gabriel appears by name only four times in the whole Bible—twice in the Old Testament in the book of Daniel and twice in the New Testament in the book of Luke. (Daniel 8:16, 9:21 and Luke 1:19, 26) Interestingly, in chapter 9 of Daniel, the angel Gabriel tells Daniel of future events, and in verse 25 Gabriel mentions the first coming of “Messiah the Prince”! Do you see how God was preparing all along? He now draws major Old Testament prophecies together and sends this same Gabriel, the announcing angel, to Zacharias. Again, He connects the Old Testament with the New Testament, while tying the birth of this child John to the coming of Messiah.

Wow! What happens next? Well, before we find that out, we must look at Zacharias’ response to Gabriel’s announcement. He was ecstatic, right? Unfortunately, not. Zacharias can only focus on the glaring, material flaw in this plan, ignoring God’s marvelous promise. First, he questions God, asking for proof, and then reminds God that he and his wife cannot possibly have a son, they are both too old. Uh, oh, not the right thing to say! This announcing angel, Gabriel, responds, “I am one that stands in the presence of God.” Whoa! Gabriel doesn’t bow all the time in heaven, he has permission to stand some of the time! Then Gabriel reminds Zacharias that God sent him to show Zacharias these glad tidings. But of course, instead of rejoicing Zacharias doubts this imposing angel’s message. Yikes! What does Gabriel do? Well, through Gabriel, God gives Zacharias the proof he requested. Because he did not believe God’s words spoken by Gabriel, now Zacharias himself cannot speak until the day this promise comes to pass. Oh, how often we shortchange ourselves when we minimize God’s Word with unbelief! But how gracious our God is! God knows Zacharias’ heart and does not let this faithless act negate God's promise of a son. God has carefully chosen Zacharias and knows he will be exactly the father that John needs to be prepared to be the herald of Messiah. Silently, Zacharias finishes his scheduled days of work in the temple and then returns home to Elizabeth. And by faith, Elizabeth rejoices over the news!

Several months later in Elizabeth’s sixth month of pregnancy, God again sends Gabriel to the earth. Wow! After 400 years of silence, God sends the angel Gabriel twice to the earth in the same year? Yes, as Galatians 4:4 tells us, “. . . the fullness of time” for Messiah to be born “had come,” and now things were happening very rapidly! This time Gabriel does not have a message for someone in Jerusalem; Luke 1 tells us that Gabriel was sent from God to the city of Nazareth to speak to a virgin named Mary. “And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. Completely surprised, Mary’s mind races, trying to understand what is happening, while quietly listening to Gabriel and his amazing message. Seeing her perplexity, Gabriel continues, “. . . Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.” What a commendation! God states that Mary is highly favored and blessed, He is with her, and she has found favor with God Himself! Wow! Clearly, Mary, too, has a prepared heart for God’s special task, just as Zacharias and Elizabeth had.

What else does Gabriel say to Mary? “And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.” So, another God-announced, God-named baby boy will be born in Israel. But this boy baby Jesus is the only baby of His kind ever born on earth. Listen to what Gabriel tells Mary, “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. . . therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” Wow! This baby is the Son of God, the long-awaited Messiah, the Christ, the Savior of the world. God's most precious gift to the world, His Son Jesus becomes a human baby. Amazing! The promised Messiah is announced! The most wonderful news the world has ever heard! God now has chosen the parents of His herald and the mother of His Son! God has broken the silence with Gabriel’s announcements!

Then the angel Gabriel goes on to say, “And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible.” And Mary very simply and humbly says to the angel, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.” What a response of submission and faith from this simple, prepared heart! Believing the angel’s statements about her cousin, Mary soon journeys to Elizabeth's house. And as Mary steps over the threshold into Elizabeth's house, Elizabeth's baby jumps for joy! Here’s yet another miracle from God to these two believing women, confirming the relationship between the herald, John, and Jesus Christ, the Messiah. How good and gracious God is!

And of course, we cannot forget speechless Zacharias. At the birth of John, family and friends wonder what the baby's name will be. Given that Zacharias cannot speak, the observers decide they will name the baby themselves, Zacharias after his father. But his mother Elizabeth refuses and states, “His name is John.” But the onlookers were not persuaded, so Zacharias brings out a writing tablet and pen to affirm, “His name is John.” And with that faith-filled sentence, Zacharias could speak again, and all he could do was praise God.

Can you believe it? After 400 years of silence God is rapidly putting things together for the birth of the herald and His Son! When God waits, He can wait a very long time; when God moves, He can move amazingly fast. Who could be prepared for God to move in such a way, in such a place, in such a time? Yet, we find that Zacharias and Elizabeth, and Mary were prepared. God tells us they were prepared without knowing anything about the miraculous blessings God had prepared for them. How did they prepare? They prepared themselves every day by being who God wanted them to be, choosing what God wanted them to choose, and living the way God wanted them to live. Their whole way of thinking, feeling, and acting is completely conformed to the will of God. So, by living upright, submitted lives, they prepared themselves to be a part of God's greatest miracle ever. Did you know God wants us to be prepared in the same way? He may be waiting a long time in your life and in mine; but when He is ready, He wants to move quickly and accomplish His eternal purpose and plan using us! So, let's take a careful look at ourselves and see how prepared our hearts are and whether we are ready for God to use us in a special way that only a prepared heart can accomplish, including being prepared for His imminent return.

Joy to the world, the Lord is come

Let earth receive her King

Let every heart prepare Him room

And heaven and nature sing.