God is on the Move. Wilberforce was the instrument of God raised up to put an end to the slave trade in Great Britain.

Transcription

1 God is on the Move Luke 1:5-25 Introduction If you were part of the evangelical church in 18 th century England you would have been very familiar with the name of William Wilberforce Wilberforce was the instrument of God raised up to put an end to the slave trade in Great Britain. He became a member of the British Parliament in 1780 then became a Christian in 1785 began to use his office to seek to improve the moral condition of the country One incident that gave much fuel to the abolitionist cause was something called the Zong incident The Zong was a British ship involved in the slave trade. The captain of the Zong due to some navigational miscalculations found his voyage to be taking much longer than normal the infamous middle passage across the Atlantic a number of slaves on board were becoming gravely ill [at 3 mo. 60 had died]. If they died on board his ship the financial loss was his. Every dead slave was worth nothing to him. He then struck upon a legal loophole. If a slave died during what was called a peril of the sea then that slave was covered by insurance underwriters. So the captain told his crew to begin tossing slaves overboard before they died which would be more profitable to him. If asked why this occurred the captain said that a peril of the sea caused a water shortage and some of the cargo had to be jettisoned in order to preserve the rest. When the insurance company brought a legal complaint against the captain - a judge ruled in favor of the captain saying that it was just as if horses had been thrown overboard. [131 in this case] Such were the atrocities of the slave trade Wilberforce came onto this scene like a John the Baptist calling the nation to repent and rid itself of the disgrace of slavery He called attention to incidents like the Zong slave ship And after 20 long years Wilberforce did accomplish the passage of a slave trade act abolishing the slave trade in England He earned his place in history as one of those moral revolutionary figures who left their mark on this world This morning we are going to look at another moral revolutionary figure the circumstances surrounding his birth 1

2 The moral revolutionary is John the Baptist and the event of his birth involved supernatural elements such as an angel / a miraculous conception / a loosened tongue John the Baptist came on the scene of Israel at a time of great moral darkness There had not been a prophetic word from God for 400 years since the prophet Malachi John the Baptist came - calling people to repent and to get ready for the advent of the Messiah Matthew quoting Isaiah described the conditions of the nation at the time Matt. 4:16 The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great light, and to those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, upon them a light dawned. The coming of John the Baptist to precede Jesus was itself a fulfillment of biblical prophecy [Malachi / Isaiah] So it is not surprising that when Luke wants to give us his narrative on the Christmas story he begins with the birth of John the Baptist Why begin here? because it is here that we first see God on the move in 1 st century Israel The darkness is lifting / God is about to intervene in history in a remarkable way He is sending a Deliverer who will rescue His people from slavery to sin The long-awaited Messiah is about to come on the stage of history Before we get to the Messiah we begin with the birth of the forerunner John the Baptist I. A Righteous Couple vv. 5-7 As Luke takes us back to 1 st century Israel we are struck by a couple things The birth narrative involving John is filled with the supernatural a miraculous conception / appearance of an angel in the temple - Zacharias becoming mute for a period then speaking again This birth signals that God is on the move John Piper: Most excellent Theophilus, here is the first locked-down, unshakeable, secure, mountain like reality in everything you ve been taught: God is real, God is active. God is unstoppable. God sent His angel. God struck Zacharias dumb. God made the barren Elizabeth and the Virgin Mary conceive. With God nothing is impossible. [His Mission, p. 14] 2

3 i.e. God stepped into history and rearranged the furniture he stirred the pot he shook the trees He sent His angel He sent His Son God is bringing to pass what He promised long ago We begin with a portrait of a pious couple in Israel While there was much moral corruption in Israel - the faithful were still waiting for God to fulfill His promises of bringing a Messiah into the world It is never so dark in this world that God does not have His light shining somewhere You and I are called to be that kind of light to our generation Matt. 5:16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. That is our calling: be a light / glorify God Zacharias and Elizabeth are described by Luke as righteous in the sight of God walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord. We know this does not mean they were sinless The Scriptures are clear that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God But their faith was genuine / their lives reflected it in their actions People of this description in Scripture always seem to be a minority in society There is a broad road that is comfortable to society / the culture we live in Then there are those who dare to breathe a different air the Daniel s / Joseph s the Corrie Ten Boom s / William Wilberforce s Charles Spurgeon: Any dead fish can float downstream; it takes a living fish to swim against the current. If you are living a righteous and blameless life you are going to be going against the current Corrie Ten Boom had a great model of the faith in her father Casper When Holland became occupied territory of the Nazi s neighbors warned Casper to stop harboring Jews in his home you will be sent to prison they scolded. Casper s reply: I am too old for prison life, but if that should happen I would be glad to give my life for God s ancient people the Jews. [it s the right thing to do] 3

4 That s what piety is doing the right thing The father let his light shine in a dark environment The daughter followed in his steps Wilberforce was another such individual whose life was a burning light He had an interesting practice that gives us a window into how he became who he was He lived near enough to Parliament that he could walk home from work on the way he would often recite Psalm 119 from memory while he walked Where you see righteous behavior you see a life that is fueled by the Scriptures Psalm 1 shows us the connection There is the enduring quality to the life of the righteous Another thing we see in Scripture: the righteous are always tested Joseph was tested sold into slavery by his brothers David was tested on the run from Saul for ten years Job was tested Abraham was tested Ruth was tested We saw in the book of James we will be tested / tried we can expect it / let our lights shine thru it Zacharias and Elizabeth were godly / righteous and afflicted with a sore trial Zacharias and Elizabeth had not had any children [now advanced in age] - - and had seemingly given up on the idea by now [judging by Zacharias response to the angel] When the angel Gabriel says you and your wife are going to have a child Zacharias doesn t jump up and down and praise God for finally answering his prayer He says, are you sure? / What about...? Being childless was a weighty trial for someone in Jewish culture Elizabeth will later refer to her disgrace which God has taken away They had accepted disappointment as His appointment but the angel Gabriel is going to bid farewell to that kind of thinking 4

5 Corrie Ten Boom: God works sometimes slowly, but His work is perfect. Have you already prayed for a long time for your son, husband, wife, or neighbor? The devil will tell you, You see God does not hear you. How long have you already prayed now? He is a liar. Do not listen to him. Not one prayer is lost. The devil often laughs when we are up to our eyes in work. He giggles when we make plans, but He trembles when we pray. This opening movement of this Christmas story comes on the heels of prayer God is answering the prayer of Zacharias and Elizabeth II. Encounter with the Supernatural vv Zacharias was of the priestly line of Aaron there were many qualified priests in his day [some 18,000] so the privilege of offering the incense in the holy place was a rare honor Many priests never received the honor and those who did only got to do it once For Zacharias this was a solemn / holy experience we might compare it to our getting baptized Zacharias was chosen by lot for this task v a seemingly random / chance occurrence Prov. 16:33 The lot is cast into the lap but its every decision is from the Lord. Spurgeon: It fell to the lot of Zacharias to burn incense; this did not happen by chance... there was a special reason why this good man should stand at the altar at this particular time. God is orchestrating this like a musical conductor As Christians we believe in the doctrine of providence J. I. Packer: The doctrine of providence teaches Christians that they are never in the grip of blind forces [fortune, chance, luck, or fate]; all that happens to them is divinely planned, and each event comes as a new summons to trust, obey, and rejoice, knowing that all is for one s spiritual and eternal good. Without providence we would be left with a random universe all is meaningless With providence we see a God who has ultimately good purposes for His children and everything is made to serve those ends Providence is the backbone behind Rom. 8:28 God causes all things to work together for good... 5

6 While Zacharias is in the temple burning incense an angel of the Lord appears to Him there! v. 11 We find out later that this is the angel Gabriel Zacharias had likely never seen an angel before was certainly not expecting to meet one this day but that s what he got You and I will see angels someday! The angel says that God has heard his prayers and Elizabeth is going to have a son We see here that Zacharias was a person of prayer *** Prayer and piety always go together Paul calls believers to pray without ceasing I Thess. 5:17 Richard Sibbes: every grace increaseth by exercise of itself, so doth the grace of prayer. By prayer we learn to pray. i.e. the best way to learn to pray is to pray do it / start small if you have to but pray! Gabriel tells Zacharias here what they are to name the baby John John is marked out for a special role His role will be to arouse the nation / call people to repentance / prepare them for the coming of Jesus It has been thousands of years since the first prophecies were spoken about the coming of the Messiah The presence of Gabriel in the temple tells us the time is now III. Zacharias Stumbles vv Zacharias shows some hesitance with this word Zacharias says, I am an old man he is a little more careful in describing Elizabeth as one advanced in years Gabriel responds with: So what I am Gabriel do you know who you are talking to? 6

7 Zacharias now knows that he is speaking with the angel Gabriel who appeared to Daniel [Dan. 9] But Zacharias question is going to be the last thing he says for the next nine months J.C. Ryle: Let us not doubt that when God says a thing, that thing shall be fulfilled. You are never on more solid ground than when you stand on the promises of God Zacharias inability to speak was a kind of discipline but also a sign that what the angel said would take place will take place If you need a sign here s a sign for you Zacharias would have probably preferred a fleece with dew on the ground like Gideon asked for but Gabriel gives him this sign Meanwhile outside people are beginning to wonder what has become of Zacharias there in the Holy Place Zacharias comes back out and seems to want to tell them something of the miraculous experience he just had probably seems kind of excited but no volume He begins making signs and such IV. An Extraordinary Birth vv We jump forward 9 months Apparently Zacharias was both mute and deaf since they made signs to communicate to him Relatives were trying to help out with the baby name saying Zach junior but Elizabeth is saying, no his name is John The name of this baby was a non-negotiable the angel Gabriel / therefore God Himself had given them the name for this child As soon as Zacharias wrote on the tablet his name is John he began to speak again With the opening of Zacharias mouth the people are made aware that God is actively present in these events this was a God event This miracle was seen as a kind of divine mercy [v. 58] in removing the reproach of childlessness but we also know it was a greater mercy to the nation in moving the program of redemption forward bringing light into a darkened world releasing captives from sin 7

8 Conclusion One of my favorite Christmas carols is God rest ye merry gentleman God rest ye merry gentleman let nothing you dismay Remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas day To save us all from Satan s power when we had gone astray O tidings of comfort and joy The message: something amazing has happened We were slaves of sin / under the brutal and oppressive burden of sin and Satan Christ was born to deliver It was John the Baptist who would be the first human voice to announce: Behold the lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Jesus is still in the process of delivering captives Everyone who turns in faith to Him hears the joyous words, you are freed from your sins now come follow Me. 8