Day 1 of the Christmas Story

A few years ago, I felt impressed to study the events surrounding and leading up to the birth of Jesus. I wanted to have in my heart and mind every day of December what this season is truly about. We are so far removed from the significance of this time, even as Christians, so a few years ago, I devoted every day in December to study just a small piece of the Christmas story, and of the depth of what Jesus’ birth means to us. These blogs are a result of that. So, if you are up for it, I hope you will join me each day, and by the time the 25^th arrives, who knows, this may have helped you in some way enjoy the season in a way you haven't been able to before.  So, if you're ready, let's get started on day one...

Luke 1

1 Many people have set out to write accounts about the events that have been fulfilled among us. 2 They used the eyewitness reports circulating among us from the early disciples. 3 Having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I also have decided to write a careful account for you, most honorable Theophilus, 4 so you can be certain of the truth of everything you were taught.

We start the book of Luke with the first few verses laying out Luke’s purpose for writing this book. Each of the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) were written to a specific group of people. Luke wrote his gospel to Gentiles (those not of Jewish descent). Luke was a doctor. He himself was a Gentile Christian, a Greek. He is the only known Gentile author in the whole New Testament. He was a traveling companion and friend of Paul. If you have ever studied the basic temperaments, Luke would be the “beaver” or the “melancholy”. Just the facts, ma’m. That personality type values accuracy and detail. As a medical doctor he was very thorough in his research, observation and analysis, dotting all the “I’s” and crossing all the “T’s”. Luke wanted to be sure everybody knew he had talked to first hand witnesses and the disciples, and he had carefully investigated each story. That done, he decided to write a “careful” summary, to reinforce and back up the truth to all the people he was writing to. I am thankful that Luke was led to write this account, because the story of Christ’s birth is very detailed and accurate and gives us some insight into the events surrounding his first coming, and does so from the perspective of a Gentile, one of us.

5 When Herod was king of Judea, there was a Jewish priest named Zechariah. He was a member of the priestly order of Abijah, and his wife, Elizabeth, was also from the priestly line of Aaron. 6 Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous in God’s eyes, careful to obey all of the Lord’s commandments and regulations. 7 They had no children because Elizabeth was unable to conceive, and they were both very old.

Herod the Great was confirmed by the Roman Senate as “king of the Jews”. (I bet he liked that title.) Herod himself was only half Jewish and was very eager to make a good impression on his Roman superiors. If he did anything to help Jews, you could be assured it was only for political purposes. He even did extensive work on the Temple, enlarging and beautifying it, BUT he placed a Roman eagle over the entrance! He became a great persecutor of the Jews, as you will see later.
8 One day Zechariah was serving God in the Temple, for his order was on duty that week. 9 As was the custom of the priests, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and burn incense. 10 While the incense was being burned, a great crowd stood outside, praying.
Now Zechariah was a priest and his wife, Elizabeth, was also from a priestly line. It seems that during this time there were over 20,000 priests throughout the country! Of course, they couldn’t all minister in the temple at one time. King David, during his reign years back, had divided the priests into 24 groups of about 1000 each. Usually each group was called up twice a year to minister in the Temple and manage its upkeep. Zechariah was in the eighth group, the division of Abijah, and their week had arrived to be in the Temple. Now, every day, one priest would enter the Holy Place in the Temple and burn incense. The one chosen to go in was chosen by “sacred lot”. Sort of like drawing straws, and they depended on God to allow the correct straw to be drawn by the divinely designated person. Remember the Proverb that says “We can throw the dice, but God determines how they will fall”? (Proverbs 16:33) Same principle here. Now what is really cool and one of the first Godly interventions you will see throughout this story is this: This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance for a priest to go into the Holy Place, if a priest ever got to go in at all! Zechariah was there that week, chosen that day by sacred lot, and as divine providence planned, out of hundreds of other priests there with him, it was Zechariah’s red letter day! And boy, he had no idea what was about to happen!
Interestingly, Zechariah’s name means “Yahweh remembers”. Interesting, I say, because Zechariah and Elizabeth were old, and barren, having never had children. It must have seemed that God had forgotten him. To be childless was considered a curse in this culture for many reasons, so much so that the sound of Zechariah’s very own name must have mocked him many times throughout the later years of his life, asking himself over and over why it seemed ironically that Yahweh indeed did NOT remember him, enough to even give him a child to carry on his name. Yet it says in the verse above that he was righteous in God’s eyes, careful to obey all the Lord’s commands and regulations, as was his wife Elizabeth, who had longed for a child her whole life. They remained faithful, even though he and Elizabeth had not been able to have a child.
Needless to say, I cannot imagine the excitement Zechariah must have felt as he pulled the sacred lot that cast him into the Holy Place that day. I’m sure in his mind he was playing each event moment by moment, so as to remember it for the rest of his life. We all have those “red letter days in our life at some point”. I’m sure he couldn’t wait to tell Elizabeth about it as soon as he got home, and since he couldn’t call her on the cell phone or text her, or email her, he would have to wait a few days. Today was his day to stand where very few would ever stand, to represent and pray on behalf of his people, to burn the incense to call the people outside to prayer. At the time the smoke from the incense began to rise every day, the people outside prayed. The incense represented their prayers going up to God as a sweet smelling aroma, a sacrifice, and you will find mention of that type of picture throughout the Bible.
As he began to burn the incense, no doubt Zechariah must have prayed, as all devout Jews did, for the Messiah to please come soon. The responsibility of his particular position that day must have been heavy upon him. I am sure he was thanking God for that opportunity and was overwhelmed at being chosen that day to represent his people. And no doubt, either, that Zechariah, with a special opportunity this day to be in the Holy Place and feel especially close to God, would ask God maybe just once more that he and Elizabeth could have a son.
So, as we end here for today, we have a man, a priest, one of thousands, called into the Holy Place that day. He didn’t do anything special that day, it was God’s divine guidance that placed him there at that strategic time, and tomorrow you will see why.
Just remember, God has a purpose and a plan for each of us. We may be the Zechariah for the day, or we may be the person in the crowd outside praying for the day. No matter where God directs us today, let us remember it is by his divine guidance, and that there is a purpose to fulfill wherever we find ourselves this day, to join God in what he is doing. We are all called priests. Remember that your prayers to God are like a sweet and pleasing aroma, pictured by the incense that was burned on the altar of the Holy Place that day. Is there something you quit praying about long ago because you thought God just forgot and you quit asking? Are you in a situation where you are called to be God’s representative in some form? Is He calling you to his Holy Place to burn the incense of prayer before Him, to lift up your family, your friends, your nation, your church in prayer? When you sense a call to pray, do you stop and do it? Do you realize that every day you have an opportunity to be in the right place at the right time, by God’s divine providence?
1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

· Psalm 141:2
May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.

· Revelation 5:8
And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

· Luke 11:9
“And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.

Join us tomorrow as Zechariah says “ ____ !!!!”