For the Newness Before

(0:10 - 0:29)

And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard, and your wife Elizabeth shall bear you a son.

(0:30 - 1:08)

And you shall call his name John. And you shall have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink, and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb.

And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. And the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

(1:09 - 2:04)

And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years. And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God, and am sent to speak unto you, and to show you these glad tidings. And behold, you shall be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because you believe as none my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season.

And the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he tarried so long in the temple. And when he came out, he could not speak unto them, and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned unto them, and remained speechless. And it came, and it came to pass, that as soon as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house.

(2:05 - 4:59)

And after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying, Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me, to take away my reproach among men. Last time we had talked about the occurrences that had happened, with the altar of incense, and what it is used for, versus our conception of how we think an incense or an outrage should actually be. It is an outrage, is it not, that this man ministered to God all of those years, and his wife still had no child, and that the performance of the duties of the Lord was a weariness undulled.

That was an outrage, was it not, that there was nothing better than our God there at the time, except a continual bondage and drudgery, a service attitude, much as happens in the military, that this man was sitting here executing the service of the Lord, rather than our God, who performed all of his work in his good time, and this he made ready. See, how we view the Lord is very much linked to how we portray him. For Zacharias it was an execution matter of his service to the Lord, and it showed itself in the people who sat without praying.

The people not just had troubles at home, but they had troubles in the service of the Lord also, and that just because one thing affects another in the house of the Lord, so you do not live in an amebiotic relationship between you and the people of service, or even God's people of purpose. There is no such thing as isolation in the body of Christ, much as you would have liked to at the time. Hence, there is no service to the Lord without the fullness of purpose, without seeing his people, preparing way to meet him, and making ready at any time that our God could have happened on inside.

See, the day came that Zacharias was not ready. He expected at least that an angel appeared beside the altar of incense, and he was outraged, to say the least, because this was not at all expected, that the Lord should have shown up as unto his host. He is the Lord of hosts, is he not? And he is good for us all the time there, my friends.

(5:00 - 9:22)

And so Zacharias sees the angel, and he is troubled, and fear falls upon him, because he knows it is not right at the time. See, prayers to the Lord are always heard, they are always answered, perhaps not in the time that they would think that they should be. But it is never just a vain lip service to our God, that our God hears every prayer, he wipes every dear answer.

It is him that is always near. Notice that the angel also was sent from the Lord to let Zacharias know one of two things. First of all, his prayer had been heard, and second of all, that he would have a son.

And third of all, that this child was divinely planned for, as unto the Lord. See, our God holds each request in his hand, he provides for each one in his time. And so there is never a thing that falls outside of his plan.

And the angel might be outside of the will of the Lord at the moment. Let me see if the angel ever did identify himself. There he goes, in verse 19 he says, I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God.

See, just because you also might be an angel standing in the presence of God at that time does not mean that you are entirely without in your service, that there is not an issue that you should not make ready to receive him, that sometimes you are in rebellion to the Lord at the time. And as with anything, this angel found himself also perhaps in need of a good straightening out. But yet when our God is in the house, he will cause all things to come about in their time, both for the straightening of man under his wing, as well as the angels that served him there also.

For our God is not without in his plan. He does not lack of his not waiting, sitting around, oh dear, whatever shall I do, as he waits for the children of men, or even the angels he created to obey him. In fact, he has it all, all along, just as we saw in the prophecy of Enoch, that he holds each and every one.

And so it shall be that even in Zacharias lack of speech at the time, and his waiting for the performance of the Lord, or even a child that grew up as in the wilderness of the land, that our God would have planned for each and every thing in his time. And so thus it is that we should trust him more for this each and every day in whose time we are in. And just as Elias was sent to the people to turn the hearts of the children on back to the fathers, lest the Lord should come and smite the earth with a curse.

Though our God is the most just, is he not? He is the wisest of them all. There was there then any theory on the wall, or any mirror of them all, and so thus the word is as a mirror that points our hearts back to the Lord. This angel has a mission, and his purpose is being sent.

And so in his mission, and in his purpose, he is to prepare the way of the Lord, for the Lord to come in. Just as the gates had need of to be lifted up at some times, and the doors be opened all of themselves, that the King of glory might come in. And then you find that who is this King of glory? Well, who is he? Because we had not heard of him in our whole lives.

(9:22 - 9:49)

And that is just the problem, is it not? Is it men in our sinfulness, and the angels in the rebellion from which some had then fallen, or even those that were faithful, knew not of the Lord. They knew nothing of him that they served. And so it was not the fulfillment of the words, or even the power there that came of of them all, but that the word of the Lord of hosts would be fulfilled.

(9:49 - 11:50)

As scripture says, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. Just as an equal measure, it is the zeal of his house that has eaten us up at some times. So his will, his zeal, his who he is, performs it all by himself, even when we have knowledge and have no clue.

And so the people could see that something had happened in the temple, and nothing could have been said there about it. They knew not of the time, just as Zacharias himself knew not of the Lord, and even the angel which served. See, you might think yourself God at the time you might find yourself tempted, as did the messenger, to put yourself into his position and his place.

However, when our God is through, there will not be found any in his house in the land. So let us next time see what it shall be that shall have happened, and how God will bring these things to be, to do much more than take away reproach among men, but to take away his own reproach among his people, to vindicate his name, to justify himself, and that the lives of all men might be turned to the same, and that all men may praise his name.