Good Tuesday morning. Yesterday, we got a small glimpse into the life of Joseph, and the instrumental part God asked him to play in the life of his son. I saw some really good things about Joseph I hadn’t seen before. Today, we go back to Elizabeth and Zechariah. As you remember, Mary had rushed to visit Elizabeth after Gabriel had come to her, and she spent about three months there and then returned home. So, that is where we pick up today. Mary has gone back home, probably about 3 months along in her pregnancy now. Home to a questioning family. Home to a Joseph that has been visited by an angel. Home to a man who has allowed God to change his plans. But also, home with a deeper knowledge of the Lord, as she and Elizabeth spent time together, no doubt including the Lord in their times.
Luke 1: 57 When it was time for Elizabeth’s baby to be born, she gave birth to a son. 58 And when her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had been very merciful to her, everyone rejoiced with her. 59 When the baby was eight days old, they all came for the circumcision ceremony.
Elizabeth gave birth to a son. Everyone in town was rejoicing with her and Zechariah that the Lord had been merciful to her and given her a child. Eight days after birth is when the Jewish ritual ceremony of circumcision is performed. I learned that it is one of the three eternal covenants Jews hold as sacred with God, these three being the Sabbath, the rainbow (as the promise after the flood), and circumcision. It is something God instituted with Abraham and that every Jewish baby boy since that time has followed. It is not a medical procedure so much as it is for us Gentiles, as it is not performed in the hospital by a random doctor before your little boy ever goes home. It is a spiritual ceremony, with friends and family invited, gifts given. It is truly their dedication ceremony of this child to God. It is performed by a religious man who is trained in performing the ritual of circumcision. The son is not named until the circumcision, and he is named by the father. One fact I found very interesting is that before the circumcision, the “mohel” (the man who performs the ceremony), takes a piece of gauze and dips it in wine, then places the gauze in the mouth of the baby. I assume this is to give the child some sense of anesthesia to ease the pain. However, in John’s case, the angel instructed that “he must never touch wine”. I don’t know if that included the circumcision ceremony or not! The other interesting thing that modern medicine now confirms is that a newborn’s ability to clot blood properly from bleeding too much is only fully intact after a week of life. Isn’t that cool how God knew EXACTLY what he was doing even from a medical standpoint that we wouldn’t find out for centuries? Remember, God is the God of science, of mathematics, and of all the laws of creation.
They wanted to name him Zechariah, after his father. 60 But Elizabeth said, “No! His name is John!” 61 “What?” they exclaimed. “There is no one in all your family by that name.”
Zechariah was still deaf and mute. He was unable to name his own child at this most special of times in his life. Probably the only child he would ever have, a child given by God, and his duty as the father would be unable to be carried out. They looked to Elizabeth and she said “his name is John”. They questioned her, because it was not the woman’s place to name the baby and said there is no one in your family by that name. So, they make hand signals to Zechariah.
62 So they used gestures to ask the baby’s father what he wanted to name him. 63 He motioned for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s surprise he wrote, “His name is John.” 64 Instantly Zechariah could speak again, and he began praising God.
Zechariah had been silent for 9 months, and even though still mute, in obedience he chose to name the child what Gabriel had told him to name him – John. He communicated this by writing it on a tablet. And in that momentous act of faith, God instantly opened his mouth again.
65 Awe fell upon the whole neighborhood, and the news of what had happened spread throughout the Judean hills. 66 Everyone who heard about it reflected on these events and asked, “What will this child turn out to be?” For the hand of the Lord was surely upon him in a special way.
So the story began with Zechariah and, at this time, has come back around to him again, after 9 long months of silence, unable to hear, unable to speak, watching the world go by him but not really able to partake in it except as a spectator. Even when the child was born, he couldn’t go share the news, couldn’t shout out proudly that he had a son. And all because he questioned God, he doubted, he placed circumstance above faith, because he needed proof that an omnipotent God would actually do what he said.
But there was an end to the silence. Because we serve a merciful God, there is always an end to the trial, and in God’s perfect timing, He leads to victory and brings us back around to the path he had originally designed for us. The Bible says God doesn’t punish us as our sins deserve. He does not put on us more than we can bear. He is redemptive in his discipline. But boy does he take us up to the edge sometimes!! I believe this time was a time of deeper growth in Zechariah’s relationship with God. A time when he was taken to end of himself, a time he was “taken out of the game”, a time he watched but had to keep silent. A time for God to work and for Zechariah to be quiet and learn. And at the appointed and perfect time, Zechariah chose faith this time over doubt. Remember the angel said he would not speak until the child was born. The child was born over a week ago and Zechariah was still unable to speak. Would that mess with your faith? A room full of loud, happy, people, eating and giving gifts and there Zechariah is in total silence, reminded again of the consequence of his unbelief. Unable to join in the sounds of the laughter and the chatting, the family and friends here to celebrate with him.
But, regardless of those circumstances, he knew this time he would choose faith. And he did... Unable to speak, he still wrote John’s name on a tablet. “His name is John.” The authority of the head of the household had spoken, even without words, in accordance with the leadership of God. And because he acted in faith over his family, God once again opened his mouth. His time of silence was over. His time of learning this particular lesson had come to an end. And he did not leave the circumcision ceremony unable to speak. He spent the rest of the day rejoicing with his friends and relatives, for God had restored what he had temporarily removed so that He Himself could be glorified. And as he looked back at this day of dedication of his child to God, it would also be a day to remember Zechariah’s dedication to God and being released from the long silence.
I can so relate to Zechariah. If I were one of the characters in the story I would probably be him. Religious, yes, devoted to the church, yes, but when it comes to giving God my total trust, my total faith, my total self, I fall so short. I ask for proof. And as a result, God must silence me over and over again so that I can learn the lesson that needs to be learned for that time. He always brings me through it and restores me again though. If you are walking through a time of silence maybe the question is not “God why aren’t you fixing this situation?”, but rather “God what is it you are wanting to teach me during this experience?”
God’s timing is so perfect. I asked him to give me a dream last night about something I was struggling with and he did. And what he showed me was exactly what I said above – that I was asking the wrong question. I was asking for a situation to be fixed instead of for my “foundation” that the situation was built on to be fixed.
God spent 9 months rebuilding Zechariah’s foundation. He would now be able to be the Godly, believing, trusting father to John that God required him to be in order to properly raise the forerunner of Jesus Christ the Messiah of his people. When he spoke to his son, it would be words of faith and trust, words of thanksgiving to God, words that would grow his son into the man God intended that he be, strong, bold and believing for the Kingdom of God.
So, in your time of silence, maybe feeling like God isn’t there or isn’t talking, or you just can’t hear him, re-assess the question you’ve been asking him. Maybe it’s the wrong question you’ve been asking. Maybe he’s wanting to teach you something during this time, and you are just looking for relief so you can go on in your same old ways.
But this is for sure. When you ask God, he will communicate with you, he will teach you, he will take you through your situation and you will come through it and he will be glorified, just as he was among the people of Zechariah’s town that day.
Once again in silence, Teresa :)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment