This sermon explores the challenging times before the birth of Jesus, focusing on the dark period of 400 years of silence and the corruption of leadership, while highlighting the unwavering faith of Zechariah and Elizabeth as God fulfills His promises.
Transcript
Last week we looked at a lot of Old Testament scriptures, promises of the coming Messiah. And we pointed out that people in the Old Testament received these promises, understood to some measure that a Messiah would be coming, and yet lived out their lives never receiving the promise. They lived in faith, they were saved people, but they never received the promise of the coming of the Lord Jesus. And so right when you get to the New Testament, it’s always interested me, the people right on the cusp of the change, the greatest event that takes place in the history of the world, it’s interesting to look at the lives of the people who experienced that.
The Dark Times
One of the things that’s interesting is that this was a particularly dark time. We’re living today in what I believe is growing darkness. I mean, I honestly believe that we’re moving away from the Lord at a very rapid pace in the West, and things are rather dark. But this isn’t the first time there’s been great darkness on the earth. As you get to the New Testament, there had been 400 years of silence. 400 years since the last time that God had spoken. When you look at that last verse, the last verses of the last prophet in Israel, when you look at these words of Malachi, verses 5 and 6, it’s a promise. It’s a prophecy, and it’s a prophecy that includes judgment. He says,
Behold, I’m going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming and great and terrible day of the Lord.
He’s saying that a prophet is going to come in the spirit and power of Elijah before the Messiah comes, and he’s going to prepare the way for the Messiah. And it says in verse 6, remember what we read before in Malachi this morning?
He will restore the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.
He’s saying that there’s a problem in Israel, and the problem has something to do with the priesthood, and it has something to do with family life. And before the Messiah comes, he’s going to send this one who’s going to come in the spirit and power of Elijah, and he’s going to restore the hearts of the fathers to the children, the hearts of the children to the fathers. 400 years before those words were written. 400 years is a pretty long time. Can you remember what happened in the United States 400 years ago? Do you have any idea where we were as a people in the United States? There was no United States. There was no United States of America. There was just this land, which was pretty much a wilderness. I can tell you exactly what happened in February of 1621, 400 years ago. Miles Standish is appointed as the first commander of the Plymouth Colony. And in April that year, the Mayflower sails back to England. It’s 400 years ago. An awful lot has happened in 400 years. Extraordinary things have happened in this nation. The rise of the United States, which became an absolute world power. It’s influenced every nation in the world. And possibly beginning to see the decline of that nation. A lot can happen in 400 years. A lot happened in for these 400 years that we have no record of in this in our Bible, but we do have history that was recorded in those 400 years. Right after Malachi wrote those words, you had the rise of the Greeks. The Greeks came in and they conquered the known world, and that included Jerusalem. And so Israel was under the Seleucids of the Greeks rule. And at one point, their king was Antiochus the IV. You might remember some of that story. It’s terrible history, where he brought a pig into the altar of into the holy place, into the temple and sacrificed a pig on the altar in the temple. And that was when Judas Maccabeus rose against him. And that little what became started out as a little rebellion, grew. And so Israel won their independence. They were a free nation, which lasted for a little while, not long enough. Because one of the things to ensure that, one of the things that the Maccabeans did was they formed an alliance with Rome. And after forming the alliance with Rome, Rome began to sink its tentacles into Israel, more and more. So Rome began to take more and more control and the people hated it.
Zechariah and Elizabeth
And yet, he was the kind of person that could appease people in many ways. He did that as I’ll mention in a few minutes probably. One of the interesting things is, it’s mentioned his name Herod, the King of Judea, is mentioned in connection with someone who is of no consequence at the time. Somebody that hardly anyone would think anything about. A priest, who lived up in the hillside of Judea. He lived outside of Jerusalem, a pretty good ways. Lived up there in the hillside. And God, in His word, singles out this priest, in the days of Herod, King of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah. I find that intriguing. And the other thing that really struck me as I was studying this some years ago, it struck me, and I’ve always thought this is really significant. This portion of God’s word, the very beginning of this message to us, comes with this man, whose life was who was absolutely a contemporary of Herod. As you study this passage, you know, and you, it says they had no child. And look at the last part of verse 7,
They were both advanced in years.
Now, what does that mean they were both advanced in years? Well, Alfred Edersheim cites some writings in the *Mishnah* from the period that would indicate that they’re about 60 years of age or older. That’s pretty old for the time. I don’t think it’s terribly old now these days. 60 years old’s pretty young. But that was that was pretty old in the context, you can see. But one of the things that intrigues me about this is that as this this passage as it’s come about, Herod the Great, Herod the King of Judea, is about the same age. He’s about 65 years old, when you’re reading this passage, when these things are coming about. He’s going to be 66, 67, somewhere right around that age. And so that means that Zechariah was a contemporary completely with Herod. Their lives parallel. You know, the historians, I don’t know why this is, but none of the historians recorded much about Zechariah the priest living up in those hills. They recorded a lot about Herod. But if you put yourself in the place of Zechariah and Elizabeth, one of the things that you know, is that when you read the history of Herod, you’re going to see the experience of this couple living up in the hills. You’re going to be able to see how they saw the changes that took place as Herod became king, and as he ruled in the all the changes that took place over the people of Israel when he ruled. So the first thing to think about in the light of this is the rise of Herod. There was in the days of Herod, King of Judea. He was only 20, he was 25 years old when he became the governor of Galilee, and he was a particularly ambitious young man. And so there was a little uprising of the Jews, and he quelled it. And he took the leader of that uprising, and he had him executed. And as a result, the Sanhedrin, the 70 rulers of Israel, called him in. You’re going to you’re going to try him for executing this guy. And he comes in dressed in purple, with bodyguards, and with a message from Rome that says, you’re going to find this guy innocent. And in their discussion, he agreed to retreat from Jerusalem, and they it was fine. They let him go. Given all that, he he had such authority, you know. They let him go. He came back very soon afterwards, with a Roman army, and he was appointed king. He wasn’t a king who had David’s blood. You know, he wasn’t of the line of David. He wasn’t of the line of Judah. He wasn’t of the line of any tribe. He was Edomite. He was of Esau. He had no Jewish blood in him at all. What had happened under the Maccabeans is that, in, is is they took control, they, they had, you know, they forced everybody into Judaism that was under their rule. And so these, this Arab population living down there were taught Judaism. And so this is where Herod learned all about Judaism. And so he is schooled in all of this. He knows about the sacrificial system and all these things. And by the power of Rome, he becomes the King of Judea. So Judah is this, this Judea is at this point is a vassal state of Rome. The might of Rome prevails. And you read about the peace of Rome, but in the Jewish experience, this was oppression. They saw it as oppression. So Rome began to take more and more control and the people hated it.
The Corrupt Context
And yet, he was the kind of person that could appease people in many ways. He did that as I’ll mention in a few minutes probably. One of the interesting things is, it’s mentioned his name Herod, the King of Judea, is mentioned in connection with someone who is of no consequence at the time. Somebody that hardly anyone would think anything about. A priest, who lived up in the hillside of Judea. He lived outside of Jerusalem, a pretty good ways. Lived up there in the hillside. And God, in His word, singles out this priest, in the days of Herod, King of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah. I find that intriguing. And the other thing that really struck me as I was studying this some years ago, it struck me, and I’ve always thought this is really significant. This portion of God’s word, the very beginning of this message to us, comes with this man, whose life was who was absolutely a contemporary of Herod. As you study this passage, you know, and you, it says they had no child. And look at the last part of verse 7,
They were both advanced in years.
Now, what does that mean they were both advanced in years? Well, Alfred Edersheim cites some writings in the *Mishnah* from the period that would indicate that they’re about 60 years of age or older. That’s pretty old for the time. I don’t think it’s terribly old now these days. 60 years old’s pretty young. But that was that was pretty old in the context, you can see. But one of the things that intrigues me about this is that as this this passage as it’s come about, Herod the Great, Herod the King of Judea, is about the same age. He’s about 65 years old, when you’re reading this passage, when these things are coming about. He’s going to be 66, 67, somewhere right around that age. And so that means that Zechariah was a contemporary completely with Herod. Their lives parallel. You know, the historians, I don’t know why this is, but none of the historians recorded much about Zechariah the priest living up in those hills. They recorded a lot about Herod. But if you put yourself in the place of Zechariah and Elizabeth, one of the things that you know, is that when you read the history of Herod, you’re going to see the experience of this couple living up in the hills. You’re going to be able to see how they saw the changes that took place as Herod became king, and as he ruled in the all the changes that took place over the people of Israel when he ruled. So the first thing to think about in the light of this is the rise of Herod. There was in the days of Herod, King of Judea. He was only 20, he was 25 years old when he became the governor of Galilee, and he was a particularly ambitious young man. And so there was a little uprising of the Jews, and he quelled it. And he took the leader of that uprising, and he had him executed. And as a result, the Sanhedrin, the 70 rulers of Israel, called him in. You’re going to you’re going to try him for executing this guy. And he comes in dressed in purple, with bodyguards, and with a message from Rome that says, you’re going to find this guy innocent. And in their discussion, he agreed to retreat from Jerusalem, and they it was fine. They let him go. Given all that, he he had such authority, you know. They let him go. He came back very soon afterwards, with a Roman army, and he was appointed king. He wasn’t a king who had David’s blood. You know, he wasn’t of the line of David. He wasn’t of the line of Judah. He wasn’t of the line of any tribe. He was Edomite. He was of Esau. He had no Jewish blood in him at all. What had happened under the Maccabeans is that, in, is is they took control, they, they had, you know, they forced everybody into Judaism that was under their rule. And so these, this Arab population living down there were taught Judaism. And so this is where Herod learned all about Judaism. And so he is schooled in all of this. He knows about the sacrificial system and all these things. And by the power of Rome, he becomes the King of Judea. So Judah is this, this Judea is at this point is a vassal state of Rome. The might of Rome prevails. And you read about the peace of Rome, but in the Jewish experience, this was oppression. They saw it as oppression. So Rome began to take more and more control and the people hated it.
God’s Promise Fulfilled
And yet, he was the kind of person that could appease people in many ways. He did that as I’ll mention in a few minutes probably. One of the interesting things is, it’s mentioned his name Herod, the King of Judea, is mentioned in connection with someone who is of no consequence at the time. Somebody that hardly anyone would think anything about. A priest, who lived up in the hillside of Judea. He lived outside of Jerusalem, a pretty good ways. Lived up there in the hillside. And God, in His word, singles out this priest, in the days of Herod, King of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah. I find that intriguing. And the other thing that really struck me as I was studying this some years ago, it struck me, and I’ve always thought this is really significant. This portion of God’s word, the very beginning of this message to us, comes with this man, whose life was who was absolutely a contemporary of Herod. As you study this passage, you know, and you, it says they had no child. And look at the last part of verse 7,
They were both advanced in years.
Now, what does that mean they were both advanced in years? Well, Alfred Edersheim cites some writings in the *Mishnah* from the period that would indicate that they’re about 60 years of age or older. That’s pretty old for the time. I don’t think it’s terribly old now these days. 60 years old’s pretty young. But that was that was pretty old in the context, you can see. But one of the things that intrigues me about this is that as this this passage as it’s come about, Herod the Great, Herod the King of Judea, is about the same age. He’s about 65 years old, when you’re reading this passage, when these things are coming about. He’s going to be 66, 67, somewhere right around that age. And so that means that Zechariah was a contemporary completely with Herod. Their lives parallel. You know, the historians, I don’t know why this is, but none of the historians recorded much about Zechariah the priest living up in those hills. They recorded a lot about Herod. But if you put yourself in the place of Zechariah and Elizabeth, one of the things that you know, is that when you read the history of Herod, you’re going to see the experience of this couple living up in the hills. You’re going to be able to see how they saw the changes that took place as Herod became king, and as he ruled in the all the changes that took place over the people of Israel when he ruled. So the first thing to think about in the light of this is the rise of Herod. There was in the days of Herod, King of Judea. He was only 20, he was 25 years old when he became the governor of Galilee, and he was a particularly ambitious young man. And so there was a little uprising of the Jews, and he quelled it. And he took the leader of that uprising, and he had him executed. And as a result, the Sanhedrin, the 70 rulers of Israel, called him in. You’re going to you’re going to try him for executing this guy. And he comes in dressed in purple, with bodyguards, and with a message from Rome that says, you’re going to find this guy innocent. And in their discussion, he agreed to retreat from Jerusalem, and they it was fine. They let him go. Given all that, he he had such authority, you know. They let him go. He came back very soon afterwards, with a Roman army, and he was appointed king. He wasn’t a king who had David’s blood. You know, he wasn’t of the line of David. He wasn’t of the line of Judah. He wasn’t of the line of any tribe. He was Edomite. He was of Esau. He had no Jewish blood in him at all. What had happened under the Maccabeans is that, in, is is they took control, they, they had, you know, they forced everybody into Judaism that was under their rule. And so these, this Arab population living down there were taught Judaism. And so this is where Herod learned all about Judaism. And so he is schooled in all of this. He knows about the sacrificial system and all these things. And by the power of Rome, he becomes the King of Judea. So Judah is this, this Judea is at this point is a vassal state of Rome. The might of Rome prevails. And you read about the peace of Rome, but in the Jewish experience, this was oppression. They saw it as oppression. So Rome began to take more and more control and the people hated it.
Closing Prayer
Father, I thank You for the truth of Your Word. I thank You, Father, for the fact that You are a God of integrity, perfect truth, and that You never make a promise that You don’t keep. Thank You that we can have confidence in Your Word. And thank You as we go through difficult and hard days that we can have faith and trust, knowing that these days will come to a blessed end, in the great triumph that our Savior the Lord Jesus will bring. That He will rule with righteousness over this earth and this world, and that we will share in His rule. Thank You, Father, for all that You’ve given us in Christ Jesus. We praise You in His strong name. Amen.