Zechariah opens our Christmas story with a doubtful example of peace and trust in God. He was ‘gripped with fear’ (Luke 1:12) when the messenger of God arrived. How often are we also gripped with fear at a word from God? Like Zechariah, we see with human eyes what can and cannot be done instead of accepting that God can do all things. Zechariah and Elizabeth have perhaps ‘made peace’ with not having children and then he trembles in fear and believes only in human means to get his wife pregnant. A blessing or God’s healing don’t enter the realm of consideration.

Do not fear

‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah’ is the angel’s first phrase. It is natural to feel or experience fear when faced with a messenger of God, but the messenger is nothing to fear. We do not know if the message will be good or bad, but we have the everlasting assurance that God is good and works things for our good. Zechariah was likely also trembling because he was offering the prayers of the people and didn’t understand if he was to be sent off commanding an army like Gideon or to reveal a birth, like Abraham’s visitors announced. We need not fear the messenger nor the message because God is good.

Our prayers are heard

The angel continues by saying, ‘your prayer has been heard.’ We also doubt this basic principle of our faith, we wonder if God has heard or if He is saying no. It would seem in his old age and the lack of trust that he would have a son indicates that Zechariah had stopped praying for a child, maybe when Elizabeth was no longer of childbearing age. It seems he stopped praying when it became an impassivity or at least highly improbable. The improbable are possibly God’s favorite thing to do based on how many times He does them in the Bible, especially in the Christmas narrative. Maybe God delights in surprising us. Certainly, the improbable carry us into a deeper faith, through our prayers and in the waiting and leaning on Him. Maybe this is the delight. But we see over and over that we must not give up. He has heard his prayer and answers in the affirmative for Zechariah. Perhaps his hope had waned, but no matter how long he had been praying, he now has heard that his hope is to become reality. God does hear our prayers and he answers in good time, the time that is right to bring about the good that He desires for you. Praying and waiting is all we can do.

Filled with the Holy Spirit

The blessings do not stop at fearing at no more, God hearing our prayers and a son in arrival. God blesses the little John with the first glimpse of what is to come for all of us. John is to be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb (Luke 1:15). John is the first person recorded in the Bible to be filled with the Spirit and not just have the Spirit ‘on’ him. This is a glimpse of what was to come at Pentecost, and indeed John brings many back to God in his ministry. His ministry is a first demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit living in us. In describing John, the angel also indicates that he will be the one who prepares the way, as prophesied in Malachi 3:1. How truly overwhelming an announcement this is, especially for a priest like Zechariah who is ‘righteous and walking blamelessly,’ (Luke 1:6). Zechariah was to be the father of one filled with the Holy Spirit and who fulfilled a prophecy to lead the way for the Messiah.

God acts

The close of this message/conversation does not go well with Zechariah. He is filled with disbelief and thinking only of earthly means to accomplish such a thing. He left God out of the equation. What Zechariah didn’t recall was that whatever the message, He empowers and equips us for the work He requests of us. 2 Corinthians 9:8 (TPT) affirms this empowerment or equipping, ‘Yes, God is more than ready to overwhelm you with every form of grace, so that you will have more than enough of everything – every moment and in every way. He will make you overflow with abundance in every good thing you do.’ God equips us and fills us with whatever is necessary to do His will; Zechariah would be healed, or Elizabeth’s womb would be opened. Our limitation of how we expect God to do things can also limit His work. He has a hard time working where there is disbelief (Matthew 13:58). God does empower Elizabeth and Zechariah for this prophesy. We see the result throughout the gospels, how John grows up and fulfills the prophesy with the Spirit leading him. However, for this disbelief, Zechariah is struck dumb and unable to fully share the message that he receives. It should be our joy to share what God is saying to us, his messages found in scripture, in prayer and the whisper of the Holy Spirit. It must have been disappointing that Zechariah was not able to do so.

We mustn’t fear God’s messages for he fills us with His Holy Spirit to accomplish his purpose. Isaiah 55:11 reminds us that His word never goes out only to return empty, it shall succeed in the purpose of the Lord. It will succeed as we embrace His plans for us and work together with the Holy Spirit in us.

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