Your prayer has been heard

Luke 1:1-25

Key Verse 1:13

¹³ But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. 

So far we have studied 1 and 2 Samuel. We learned two types of leadership from David and Saul. The key point of God’s teaching through 1 and 2 Samuel was the importance of ‘obedience’. Saul failed to be a good king because he disobeyed the Lord, but David became the man after God’s own heart and the best king because he obeyed the Lord. The Lord was so pleased with David that he gave him the promise that his descendant will be eternal king and his kingdom will never end. 

Now we want to study the book of Luke in order to see the fulfillment of God’s promise to David. Jesus will be eternal king and his kingdom will never end. The main point of Luke’s gospel is how Jesus’ kingdom is expanding in the hearts of all kinds of people including the Gentiles. Luke is the only Gentile writer among gospel writes and he pays special attention to women and children. In our ministry we have many precious women coworkers and many children. So it is fitting for us to study the gospel of Luke. 

Now in today’s passage we begin to see the fulfillment of God’s promise to send Jesus, the son of David. In doing so the Lord God used two old people, Zechariah and Elizabeth. They were priests. They were very old. Usually old people drive slowly and move slowly and they even talk slowly. Some of them could not hear clearly. They usually have a lot of sickness in their bodies here and there. So old people may not be attractive to us. Probably Zechariah and Elizabeth could have all of these elements. In addition they were very lonely without having a child. But before God they were so special. They were so precious that the Lord used them in his plan to send the promised Messiah Jesus.

 So today we want to know why they are special people before God and how God used them in fulfilling his plan to send the Messiah. 

My message have two parts.  Part I. But they were childless (v.1-7) Part II. But the angel said to him (v.8-25)

Part I. But they were childless (v.1-7)

Let’s read verses 1-4.

1 Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, ² just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. ³ With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, ⁴ so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

These verses show how Luke wrote the book and the reason why he wrote it. First, he wrote the Luke’s gospel after carefully investing everything from the beginning. He did not want to add just another book but the really valuable one. “The things that have been fulfilled among us” in verse one refers to what Jesus’ life and ministry. Luke learned about Jesus probably from apostle Paul. 

Second, Luke tells the reason why he wrote the book. He wrote it to help a person named Theophilus. It was to help him to have a certainly of things he had been taught. In order words, Luke wanted Theophilus to know what he learned about Jesus is true. 

Theophilus is called the most excellent. So he could be a high ranking officer of Roman empire. Acts 1:1 says, “In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach.” So there is possibility by the time Luke wrote the book of Acts, he was not in the position.

We don’t know who is Theophilus. The meaning of the name is “Lover of God”. So figuratively speaking he could represent all lovers of God or believers. Missionary Augustine probably named his son “Theo” from this name. 

Now how does the story of Jesus start? Look at verses 5-7.

⁵ In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. ⁶ Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. ⁷ But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.

The story starts with two people, Zecharia and Elizabeth, a husband and wife. Politically the king over Judea was Herod the great. He was an evil king. He ordered all the children under the age of 2 to be killed when he could not find baby Jesus in order to protect his position as a king.

But God was going to send the true king, a descendant of king David. In the time of Herod’s ruling, there was one priest who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah. God divided priestly division into 24 divisions so that they can serve him at the temple in turn. 24 divisions would serve two weeks a year in the temple in rotation. 

God is the one who set up the temple system and priest system. The origin of the priest started from Aaron, Moses’ brother. In fact, only Aaron’s descendants could be priests. All the tribe of Levites are assistance of priests, and the Levites had age limit like 20 to 50 but priest did not have age limit. The first priest and the first high priest Aaron died at his old age. 

Zechariah is a priest. In addition his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron which means she belongs to priest family. Only Aaron’s descendants could be priests and she was one of descendants of Aaron.

Verse 6 reads, “⁶ Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly.” It reads, ‘Both of them were righteous before God.” So both the husband and the wife were righteous. In a family, sometimes a husband or wife can be more spiritual than the other. But in their case both of them were equally righteous in the sight of God. “To be righteous in the sight of God” is not an easy thing. Who can be righteous in the sight of God? To be righteous in the sight of God does not mean they were without sin because the bible tells us all have sinned. “To be righteous in the sight of God” means ‘they had faith in God’ and their faith was expressed their obedience to all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly.

In the sight of God they were special because they obeyed all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. These days we may not value much about obeying all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. In our nations people even wanted to remove the plate of Ten Commandments in front of our court houses. We may think it is too much to obey God’s commands and Christ set us free from the law. But it is very important to obey all the Lord’s commands because Christ set us free from the law by obeying all the law. When Christ saved us by obeying all the law why should we regard obeying the law lightly? Christ freed us from the law in order to help us to obey the Lord’s commands from our hearts. Not only that but also there is also a very important reason why we need to obey all the Lord’s commands which is equivalent of words of God in the bible.

Once I overheard conversation of two people. One person says “I know the guy and he is so good and kind person and I could not believe he went to a jail. I could not believe such a good person went to jail.” But then other person says, “well, I 100% believe he is the good person. But it does not matter. Even the best person can go to jail if he is not disciplined. I fully believe he could be the most kind and gentle person. But he can be violent and go to jail if he is not disciplined.” I was shocked by the truth of the word of the second person. It is very true that the most gentle and kind person can become violent if he is not disciplined and can go to jail. How then can we discipline ourselves? We can discipline ourselves by obeying the word of God in the bible. 

Once I talked to Mother Barry about how we can overcome our sinful desires. She told me that many of our problems come from bad habits. The word ‘bad habits’ means lack of discipline. If we do not discipline ourselves by obeying the words of God’s commands we can even go to jail. We may suffer from all kinds of evil desires and temptations. In our community I know at least two people who discipline themselves and eat daily bread without fail every day. We need discipline and the best discipline for us is to obey the words of God’s commands.

Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous in the sight of God because their obedience of the Lord’s commands and decrees through their faith. They were special people before God and God used them because of their obedience to all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly.

Look at verse 7. ^“But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.” Mysteriously they were childless. As Elizabeth later said in verse 25 not to have a child was disgrace for her. People thought that they must have committed some kind of hidden sins and therefore God did not bless them. So Zechariah and Elizabeth could suffer from condemnation and shame. Not to have a child was regarded as God’s reproach at that time. 

Despite their devotion and obedience to God’s commands they had such a serious problem. Why didn’t God give them a child? In addition they were both very old, meaning there is no hope for them to have a child anymore. Their righteous life in the sight of God did not exempt them from the trouble of life. This is one of most agonizing troubles of believers. Despite all of their devotion they are not exempted from troubles of life. One of main source of these troubles can come from their children. In the book of 1 and 2 Samuel, we just saw Samuel had a trouble of his sons who were so wicked. We just saw how much troubles king David had to go through because of his own sons. Why did God allow such troubles to such righteous people? Was it his punishment? What do you think?

No, not punishment but blessings. Why? Why do I say such troubles are blessings? It is because they draw us nearer to God and they give us opportunity to trust God’s love more. Let’s be honest. Did we come to God and pray more when we did not have troubles or when we did have troubles. It is when we have troubles.

When we have troubles, we have opportunities. We can make decision to trust God. They provide chances for us to make a decision to believe in the love of God. Our decision shows what is inside of us. If we believe God for our own good it will be exposed and it will be time for us to grow in faith. God wants to see what we have in our hearts through troubles and God wants us to love him and trust him despite our troubles. Many times God even gives us troubles so that we may turn to him.

Hosea 5:15 reads, “Then I will return to my lair until they have borne their guilt and seek my face – in their misery they will earnestly seek me.” The Israelites only pretended to repent when they lived in their own hometown. Only when they became slaves of the Babylon Empire after they became exiles they earnestly sought God and truly repented. So God disciplined them and punished them so that they might return to him.

Indeed the absence of a child is God’s love for Zechariah and Elizabeth because they can show their true trust of the Lord through their trouble. They lived in disgrace. But they could demonstrated their love and trust to God more. They were so special before God because they obeyed all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly despite of disgrace that comes from not having a child. 

Part II. But the angel said to him (v.8-25)

Look at verses 8-10.

⁸ Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, ⁹ he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. ¹⁰ And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.

So 24 divisions of priests serve God’s temple twice a year. Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and Zechariah was chosen by lot to go into the temple of the Lord to burn incense. Inside of the temple, there was an altar of incense and priests should offer incense twice a day, in the morning and in the evening. This incense is symbol of prayer because it goes up to heaven. 

 HYPERLINK "http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+5:8&version=NIV" 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 God’s people.

So when the time of burning incense came all the assembled worshipers were praying outside. It was the time of prayer.

Look at verses 11-13.

¹¹ Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. ¹² When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. ¹³ But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. 

The angel said to him, “Your prayer has been heard.” Zechariah might have thought that God did not hear his prayer because God did not answer his prayer. But the angel told him that his prayer has been heard all the time. 

Prayer is another reason why Zechariah and Elizabeth were so special before God’s eyes. God could use them because they were praying people despite troubles in their lives. 

I do not know whether Zechariah prayed for his child at that moment. But he must have prayed for a long time from the time of his youth until he becomes old. He must have prayed at least to the time when his wife could not bear a child. After his wife passed the age of child bearing he could have stopped praying believing that it is not God’s will for them to have a child.

The angel’s word ‘your prayer has been heard’ gives us a great motivation to pray. It is because it reveals one fundamental truth that God hears our prayers all the time.

When we pray, our prayer is heard, and God answers our prayers at his time in his own way.

When I had an installation service I was deeply moved by God who answers our prayers. Since I was so moved by God who answers our prayer I offered 3,000 1:1 bible studies with great thanks and the love of Christ within 10 years. I know God hears our prayers and it was recorded and it will be answered someday and people who will recognize the prayer topic and they will be amazed. They will truly experience what it means, ‘Your prayer has been heard and that is why it happened now.’ 

In the pioneering stage of our ministry, missionary Isaac Kim made a great effort to make prayer booklets such as all the names of California colleges and names of all colleges in America and names of all nations especially when we have Bible conferences. When he did I could not understand it fully. I thought, “why did he make such an effort to make such booklet when we do not carry or remember those names and prayer topics.” But now see what happens when I became a new director. I did the same thing. I ended up making prayer lists and pray with people in the morning. Now I understand missionary Isaac Kim. Why did he do it? Because he knows God hears our prayers and will answer them at his time. Whatever we have prayed so far, God heard all of our prayers and he will answer at this time in his own way.

For the last few years every Wednesday night at 8 pm about 4 people gathered and kept on praying. They maintained prayer meeting and worship even though no one participated other than these 4 people. I was curious at first and I was wondering how long they could do so. My question was ‘how long will they go?’ I thought so because even with all encouragement and support to have one meeting on a regular basis is not easy. But what about this prayer meeting among 4 people? So I watched them to know how long they would do. I thought they would do several months or at maximum one year. But several years have passed and they have been doing the same thing. So now I am convinced that they will do continually even though no one would participate in their prayer. I don’t know what they have prayed but I know one thing. All of their prayers have been heard, God will answer their prayer at God’s time in God’s way.

 

Although Zechariah’s prayer for his child was a personal and private prayer God honored it so much that he used it to fulfill his plan to send the Messiah Jesus. Look at verses 14-17.

¹⁴ He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, ¹⁵ for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. ¹⁶ He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. ¹⁷ And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

Not only the birth of John the Baptist will be a joy and delight to Zecharia and Elizabeth but also he will be a joy to many people. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. He will be set apart for the Lord not drinking even a cup of wine. He will bring back many people to the Lord their God. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous when he goes on before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah. In short, he will make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

What the angel said here is directly related to the last two verse in the old testament. The last sentence of the old testaments is Malachi 4:5-6 ⁵“See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the LORDcomes. ⁶ He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”

There was 400 or 500 years of silence between the last word in the old testaments and the new testaments. But when we see what is written in today’s passage we can see it is so fitting as if the book of Luke is right next book after the book of Malachi. God wanted to send someone who is in the spirit and power of Elijah and he was turned out to be John the Baptist. It is because the parents of John the Baptist was so special in the sight of God. 

I am sure Zechariah did not pray that his son would be someone like John the Baptist. He must have prayed to get just one son. But why did God sent such a man of faith to Zechariah? It is because God fulfills his promise to send the Messiah and God used Zechariah and Elizabeth because they were so special because of their obedience to God’s commands and persistent prayer. God’s desire to save people in all nations is so strong that he even used personal prayer of Zechariah to fulfill his purpose. When we pray God can use even our personal prayers to fulfill his purpose. 

Look at verses 18-20. 

Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” ¹⁹ The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. ²⁰ And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”

Zechariah  could not believe the word of the angel. They were too old to have a baby.

The angel proved what he said was true word of God. He said his name is Gabriel and he stands in the presence of God which means what he said to Zechariah is the direct word of God. The angel did not hear it from somebody else but from God directly. Then the angel disciplined Zechariah by making him silent for 10 months because he did not believe his words which will come true at their appointed time. 

All the word of God in the bible will be fulfilled. They will come true at their appointed time. Zechariah received silent training because he did not believe the word of God.

Look at verses 21-25.

²¹ Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. ²² When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.

²³ When his time of service was completed, he returned home. ²⁴ After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. ²⁵ “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”

God took away disgrace of Elizabeth at his time. He became the mother of one of the most blessed servants of God. According to Jesus, John was the greatest man ever born from women’s womb.

In conclusion, Zechariah and Elizabeth were so special to God and God used them to fulfill his purpose of sending the Messiah because they obeyed all the Lord’s commands and prayed persistently regardless of their critical problem in their lives. All of our prayer has been heard by God. God hears all of our prayers and he can use them to fulfill his purpose. 

One word: Your prayer has been heard. 

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