Music has been a popular part of the celebration of our Lord’s birth for a long time, a VERY long time! Scripture records that the central characters in the Christmas story almost instantly responded to the events surrounding the birth of our Savior with songs. Perhaps the age of these songs is the characteristic that makes the songs of Christmas so popular. As we sing these old Christmas hymns and carols we have the sense of joining hands and lifting our voices with people who have sung them across the centuries. It is almost as if we touch the lives of those who sang at the first Christmas.
Well, for the next four weeks I want us to take a close look at the very first songs of Christmas, in the hope that as we do we will feel the excitement and wonder that those first Christmas singers felt as they watched the events unfold that led to the birth of God’s only Son.
So here’s the schedule: Today we’ll look at Zechariah’s song, next week Mary’s song. On December 21, we’ll study the angels’ song, and the Sunday after Christmas we’ll look at the song of Simeon. The lyrics to all of these songs can be found in the first couple chapters of the Gospel of Luke. Think of these sermons as a sort of “concert series.” So today our concert bill says we will hear The Christmas Song of Zechariah.
The setting of this first song of Christmas is found in Luke 1:5-25…
The events that are recorded in these verses occurred during a gloomy period in the life of the nation of Israel. Remember this nation was not just any nation. It had been chosen by God from among all nations to be a priestly nation to the rest of the world. But, in the time of Zechariah, this nation that was to lead all nations to God was being led by the pagan empire of Rome. And Rome was the last of a long line of pagan nations that had ruled Israel. The king in Zechariah’s day was Herod. Herod was not a man of God. In fact he was just the opposite–a very degenerate man.
Herod had introduced Roman temples into the land and had built idols to the Roman gods. Under his leadership Israel became a land filled with immorality. The spiritual life of the Jews lost its vitality. In the midst of these dark times, Luke introduces us to a simple, faithful couple, an elderly priest named Zechariah and his wife, Elisabeth. They had been given very special names by their parents. The boy was named “Zechariah” which means “Yahweh remembers” and the girl “Elizabeth” which means “the oath of God” or “the promise of God”. By naming them in this way their families appealed to God’s character, that He would be true to His promises. The children carried that hope-filled identity with them throughout their lives. And then when they married, imagine how joyful their families felt. For when you put those two names together ,you have a “union” that affirms a wonderful truth: GOD REMEMBERS HIS PROMISES!
But the rejoicing quickly faded when years passed and it became evident that Elizabeth was barren. Zechariah and Elisabeth had lived with this shame throughout their married life but it had not caused them to become bitter or abandon their faith in God.
At this time in the life of Israel there were approximately 20,000 descendants of Aaron, all of them priests by birth, like Zechariah. Since there were so many priests—and only one temple—they were divided into groups, and those groups served in the temple only two weeks in the year with various duties allotted to each priest. Now, the greatest privilege granted to an ordinary priest like Zechariah–the thing they each lived for–was the privilege of burning incense on the altar of the Holy Place. This coveted privilege was granted by lots so only a few priests were given this opportunity and if you ever were given it you never got the chance to try again for you were only allowed to do this once in your entire life. So when Zachariah was chosen for this privilege it was the chance of a lifetime. We know that this was no chance of coincidence but rather the hand of God. I read once that coincidences are actually miracles for which God chooses to remain anonymous.
When this most solemn occasion began Zechariah was expected to offer his prayers of intercession on behalf of the people of Israel and then put aromatic spices on the coals of the alter as a powerful, beautiful symbol of the prayers of Israel rising to God. And all the while, outside in the court of Israel a great multitude of people waited laying face down on the floor in prayer, praying with the priest who represented them in the Holy Place. They were hardly prepared for what was to take place. And neither was Zechariah for in the midst of his prayer an angel of God appeared and stood at one end of the altar right in front of the aging priest. Understand the shocking significance of this event. Not only was it a shock for an angel to show up. It was a shock for God to speak to His people. There had been no word from God since those of the prophet Malachi 400 years prior.
When the angel appeared Zechariah was afraid, but the Angel calmed him. And his next words to Zechariah were, “your prayer has been heard”. What had Zechariah been praying for? I doubt that he was praying for children. Zechariah and Elisabeth had prayed for children for a long time but the physical possibility for that happening had long passed.So probably this godly man was praying for the Messiah to come–for God to keep His promise to His chosen people.
But God’s answer through the angel addressed both prayers–the prayers of Zechariah’s past and the prayers he had just uttered. The angel said that Elisabeth would bare Zechariah a son and that this little boy would not be just any child. No Zech’s boy would be named “John” and he would fulfill the 400 year old prophecy of Malachi 4:5-6! Luke 1:16-17 record that the angel said, “Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. He will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Zechariah’s son would prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah….
This news was too much for Zechariah. The answer to his prayer was more than he had asked. It was too much for him to believe. So immediately his faith gave way to reason and in Luke 1:18 he said, “How will this happen? My wife and I are old, too old,” You see, Zechariah made the mistake of looking at God through his problems rather then look at his problems through the power of God. Well, the angel rebuked this lack of faith and said, “To prove to you that this is God’s truth that I am proclaiming you will be mute for 9 months, until the day that John is born.”
Well Zechariah completed his two weeks of priestly ministry and then returned home and shortly thereafter, Elisabeth conceived. Nine months later the baby was born, and on the 8th day he was circumcised . It was customary to name the child at this time. It was a common practice to name a boy after his father. So the relatives and friends who had gathered to see this special baby born to these two senior citizens probably figured that this first-born son—surely the only child this couple would ever have—would be called “Zechariah”, after his father. But Elisabeth said, “No,he shall be called JOHN”
Well, the neighbors and relatives then appealed to ZECHARIAH as to what his will was in the naming of his son and he asked for a writing tablet–probably one covered with wax and wrote on it four words: “HIS NAME IS JOHN!” Not “Shall be,” but “is”. Zechariah knew that God had already named him–that he was already JOHN.
Well when Zechariah wrote this note—the last of nine months of notes—his mouth “was opened”….his tongue was loosed and the first thing he did was begin to sing. Over the years the church has given this song the title of: “THE BENEDICTUS” or “The Blessing” In the lyrics of this brief song, sung by one of the proudest fathers of all time, Zechariah verbalizes the joyful realization that the meaning of both his and Elisabeth’s names was true.
1. Remember, “Elisabeth” means “the OATH of God” or “The promises of God”….
John’s birth showed Zechariah that God does keep His promises! In His song Zechariah belts out to all who will listen, “God has done as He said he would through His holy prophets of long ago. He has remembered His holy covenant that He swore to our father Abraham. ”
And you and I need to realize that God has gone on record in His book that He will keep His commitments because it is God’s nature to be faithful. Hebrews 10:23 urges us to, “Hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful!”
2. Zechariah’s name meant “GOD REMEMBERS”
Well in this song Zechariah literally explodes with the joyful realization that GOD does remember! He sings, “God HAS raised up a horn of salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us…to rescue us…to enable us to serve Him without fear.”
Zechariah must have been discouraged. He was a priest of a nation that had turned its back on God. He and Elisabeth had been faithful to God all their lives — they had lived like they believed the meanings of their names—-and yet God had not blessed them with a son, and Israel continued to be oppressed by it’s pagan enemies.
Did God even know what life was like for them—trying to be faithful when no one else was, trying to do what was right when most people no longer cared for morality? He must have wondered, Where is God? He had not spoken for 400 years! And I think there is an amazing feeling of joy that comes when you and I to know that our Creator remembers us–that He knows where we are–that GOD knows what our lives are like–that He has a plan for this sinful world and that we are a part of His plan.
And that is what Zechariah sang–not only to those relatives and neighbors standing around that week-old baby 2,000 years ago but to you and me.
And that is something worth singing about!!!!!!!
God knows! He understands! He hears our prayers!
He answers them! He does REMEMBER us!