SERMON SERIES: “Zacharias, Elizabeth, and Mary’s Response To Messages From The Throne Room”
PRESENTER: Rev. Dr. JoAnne P. King
DATE:December 31, 2023
Good morning and Happy New Year’s Eve Saints of God!
In many of my sermons you have heard me say that God is the most purposeful person in the whole world. Everything that He does has a purpose behind it.
The books of the Old Testament contain many passages about the Messiah. All of these prophecies of Jesus Christ were fulfilled in the New Testament. For one person to fulfill all of these prophecies, experts say is a mathematical improbability which stands as evidence of His Messiahship.
These prophecies were so accurate that the crucifixion of Jesus foretold in Psalm 22:16-18 approximately 1,000 years before Jesus was born, was also, before this method of execution was even practiced!
Let’s observe the workings of the prophecies in the New Testament announcing the preparations being made for the birth of His Son.
His Son had to have a forerunner named John. So, his father, Zacharias, had to be notified. Zacharias was a high priest and God arranged for Zacharias to be selected to serve in the Temple.
The day of his service was the Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur is the highest holy day of the Jewish Calendar.
To give you a little background: You know that I have been to Israel three times and I can tell you that they take their sabbaths, feasts and Holy days seriously. On the sabbaths for example, they are not allowed to use any machinery. While in Jerusalem, on their sabbaths, you saw very few cars on the streets and those you did see weren’t driven by practicing Jews. The former owners of our house were Jews and our oven even has a setting for sabbaths. Indicating when it is the sabbath, the oven will not work all that day.
Now, the Day of Atonement laid the foundation for God to forgive the people of any sins committed since the previous year’s feast. Thus, the Day of Atonement was a yearly reminder that all of Israel’s daily, weekly, and monthly ritual sacrifices and offerings were not sufficient to permanently atone for sin.
Yom Kippur was the only time during the year when the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies in the innermost chamber of the Temple (or the Tabernacle) to make atonement for the sins of all Israel. Only the high priest was allowed in the Temple at that time. The people were praying outside the Temple.
Atonement means “covering.” The purpose of the sacrifice was to repair the broken relationship between humans and God by covering the sins of the people. On this day, the high priest would remove his official priestly garments, which were radiant vestments. He would bathe and put on a pure white linen robe to symbolize repentance.
Next, he would make a sin offering for himself and the other priests by sacrificing a young bull and a ram for a burnt offering. Then he would enter the Holy of Holies with a pan of glowing coals from the altar of incense, filling the air with a smoky cloud and aroma of incense. Using his fingers, he would sprinkle the blood of the bull on the mercy seat and the floor before the ark of the covenant.
The high priest would then cast lots between two live goats that had been brought by the people. One goat was killed as a sin offering for the nation. Its blood was then added by the high priest to the blood already sprinkled inside the Holy of Holies. With this act, he atoned even for the Holy Place.
With grand ceremony, the high priest would then place his hands on the head of the live goat and confess the sins of the whole nation before the altar of burnt offering. Finally, he would give the live goat to an appointed person who carried it outside the camp and set it free into the wilderness. Symbolically, the “scapegoat” would carry away the sins of the people.
After these ceremonies, the high priest would enter the tent of meeting, bathe again and redress in his official garments. Taking the fat of the sin offering, he would present a burnt offering for himself and one for the people. The remaining flesh of the young bull would be burned outside the camp.
Today, the ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are days of repentance, when Jews express remorse for their sins through prayer and fasting. Yom Kippur is the final day of judgment when each person’s fate is sealed by God for the upcoming year.
Jewish tradition tells how God opens the Book of Life and studies the words, actions, and thoughts of every person whose name He has written there. If a person’s good deeds outweigh or out-number their sinful acts, his or her name will remain inscribed in the book for another year. On Yom Kippur, the ram’s horn (shofar) is blown at the end of evening prayer services for the first time since Rosh Hashanah.
I gave you all this information to show you what Zacharias was doing on this Holy of Holy Days when God’s messenger gave him the following message: “And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But 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. And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. 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 be turned to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the ears of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Zacharias’ response to this oral Word from the Throne Room was: “And Zacharias said unto the angel: Whereby shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years.”
“And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings. And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season” (Luke 1:11-20).
God’s purpose was two-fold, He was telling Zacharias that He and Elizabeth, even in old age, would give birth to John, the forerunner to His Son, the Savior of the world. After Jesus’ birth, the ceremony that he was doing that day would be done away with. Good Friday, the day Jesus Christ suffered and died on the cross of Calvary is the fulfillment of the Day of Atonement.
Zacharias’ punishment was so severe because he should have remembered what he had been praying for and should have known that this was a representative of God since Gabriel was in the Holy of Holies when he was given the message concerning his son John. Any unholy person would have been struck dead because only a holy person could be in the Holy of Holies and live. Additionally, he should have remembered Abraham and Sarah who had Isaac at an old age as well.
I am sure that Elizabeth, his wife, didn’t have a problem when he communicated to her through writing what the angel Gabriel said since she was known to be barren and had suffered many things because of it. In fact, her response to the oral message from the Throne Room of God was: “after she conceived, she hid herself and said God looked with favor on me to take away my disgrace among men.” She celebrated and was full of joy about it.
Next, Gabriel had to inform a virgin that she had been selected to be the mother of Jesus, the Savior of the world! Many Jewish girls, heard and probably read that the Savior of the world would be born through a virgin and secretly prayed and asked if it would be them?
“… Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, “Hail, thou that art highly favored, 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. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary; for thou hast found favor with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. 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 forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” To this oral message from The Throne Room, Mary questions: Then said Mary unto the angel, “how shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore, also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. 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.” After receiving this response, Mary responds to the oral message from the Throne Room with: Mary said, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.” And the angel departed from her (Luke 1:26-38).
Mary could have been fearful and asked Gabriel a lot of what if questions like Zacharias but she was joyful as exemplified in her meeting with cousin Elizabeth a few days later.
The scriptures say that when Mary entered Zacharias’ house and greeted Elizabeth, “the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: “And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.” Elizabeth is full of joy as she prophesies to Mary, the mother of her Lord.
And Mary’s response was: “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. For He hath regarded the low estate of His handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For He that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is His name. And His mercy is on them that fear Him from generation to generation. He hath shewed strength with His arm; He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree, He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich He hath sent empty away. He hath holpen His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy; As He spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed forever” (Luke 1:46-55). Just listen to Mary as she worships and praises God for the mighty things He has done for her.
The above words of Mary are called the “Magnificat” and as have been prophesied by her; have been sung by the Catholic Church throughout the centuries and even today.
I want to point something out about Zacharias, the angel Gabriel said that Zacharias “would be dumb, and not able to speak until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season.” We assumed that Zacharias just wouldn’t be able to speak but he was deaf as well. How do I know this? Let me show you how?
“On the eighth day, when they came to circumcise the child, they called him Zacharias, after his father. …Elizabeth said, Not so, but he shall be called John. They said to her, there is none of thy kindred that is called by this name. They did not ask Zacharias how he should be called. Instead, they made signs to his father. You don’t make signs to a hearing person but to one who is deaf. He asked for a writing tablet and wrote saying, His name is John…” (Luke 1:60-63). After this, his mouth was opened immediately and his tongue loosed and he spake, and praised God. He was filled with the Holy Ghost and prophesied saying: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,
And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;
As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began:
That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;
To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant;
The oath which he sware to our Father Abraham,
That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,
In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.
And thou, child, shall be called the prophet of the Highest; for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;
To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,
Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us.
To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Luke 1:68-79).
As we read and learned how these two women and later Zacharias praised and worshipped God for selecting them for His divine purpose on this eve of New Year’s, how many of you have praised and worshipped God for selecting you for His divine purpose?
You know, Elizabeth and Mary didn’t have to praise and worship God for their selection. Elizabeth could have said why am I being selected at my old age to be pregnant? People are going to laugh at me and say mean things to me. Whoever heard of an old woman like me nursing some baby? I may not even live long enough to see him grown.
Mary could have been less than delighted and said don’t you know they stone women to death for being pregnant and not married? What are my parents going to say? Don’t you know that I am engaged? Joseph won’t want to marry me!
Or are you like Zacharias at first with putting forth excuses of I’m too old, I don’t have enough education, I just can’t do this, it’s too hard, I haven’t been chosen, etc.
Let me put your mind at ease, if you accepted the Lord Jesus as your Savior, then you have been chosen and been assigned job(s) to be done. Jeremiah 29:11 Amp. says: “For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you, says the Lord, plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”
To achieve your assignment(s), just lean on some of the promises that God has given to believers:
Bodily Supplies: Ps. 37:3: “Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.”
Unlimited Blessings: Mk. 9:23: “Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.”
Answers to Prayer: Mk. 11:24: “Therefore, I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when you pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”
Removal of Obstacles: Luke 17:6: “And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.”
Divine Sonship: Jn. 1:12: “But as many as received him to them gave He power (Exousia) to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.”
Eternal Life: Jn. 3:15: “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Spiritual Fullness: Jn. 6:35: “And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger: and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”
Spiritual Light: Jn. 12:46: “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.”
Power for Service: Jn. 14:12: “Verily, verily I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.”
Salvation: Rom. 1:16: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to ever one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”
In closing, I thank God that everyone under the sound of my voice or reads this message on line, will lean on God’s promises to believers and complete the assignments that God has given them from the throne room. Assignments can come through reading the Bible, hearing a sermon, a prophecy given, laying on of hands, a prayer, a dream, etc. Well, last week you received an assignment from the Throne Room and it was “How to Witness to a Sinner.” Practice what you have learned until it is perfected. There are rewards for winning souls! Your job is to accept the task willfully and joyfully. Most of all, do it as unto the Lord!