Fear Not - Zacharias

Did you know that four times in the Christmas narrative we find the words "fear not"? We're going to look at the first of these today in Luke 1, the account of the priest Zacharias. As the angel came to him there in the holy place and said in Luke 1:13, "Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard, and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth."

All of this took place during the reign of Herod the Great, the king of Judea, Luke 1:5. Herod the Great was a vicious man, a murderer, a liar, a very godless man. And it's good to know that in bad times there are still good people.

There were Zacharias and Elizabeth, husband and wife, godly people. In fact, Luke tells us in Luke 1:6 of his Gospel that they were righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.

And so, Zacharias should have been a very, very happy man. He was a priest, he belonged to the chosen people, the Jewish nation. He had a godly, wonderful wife, and yet there was one thing missing in their lives: they did not have any family. Luke 1:7 tells us they had no child, and Elizabeth was barren, they were both well stricken in years.

One day in the casting of the lots, Zacharias was chosen to present the incense at the altar in the holy place. Now, this happened only once in a lifetime. There were so many priests that they had it divided up into various orders. David had done this. And then the lots were cast to make sure that each person had the opportunity.

Well, it came to pass that it was the chance, the opportunity for Zacharias to burn the incense. What a high and holy privilege he had. And the priest was supposed to perform this as quickly as possible, lest he would think some sinful thought while he was there and perhaps displease God.

The whole multitude of the people were outside in the temple praying at the time of the burning of incense. Now, Luke 1:11, 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.

I would like to examine the responses of this man in this experience. Of course, his first response was that of fear, and I think that would have been my first response. Here he was at the altar burning the incense, he had never done this before, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and all of a sudden an angel appears. And I think my natural response would have been one of fear.

And yet the angel spoke to the priest and said, "Fear not, Zacharias." Well, after 400 years of silence, God is now speaking again. Malachi the prophet had closed the Old Testament book of prophecy, and now for some four centuries God had not spoken through prophet or priest or as far as we know angelic visitor, but now God is speaking again. And the angel seeks to calm the fears of this old priest.

He says God has answered your prayer. You will have a son, and not just any ordinary son, he shall be great in the sight of the Lord. That's the best way to be great. You and I may not be great in the sight of people, they may not pay much attention to us, but oh, it's a marvelous thing to be great in the sight of the Lord. And he is going to turn many of the children of the Lord back to their God.

Now his second response in Luke 1:18-22 is a response of unbelief. He says in Luke 1:18 to the angel, "How shall I know this?" or if you want to change it just a little bit, "How can I be sure of this? For I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years." Unbelief.

You know, I hear people say, "Oh, if I just had a vision, I would believe." I don't believe that at all. Here's a man in the temple burning incense at the altar of incense, he sees an angel, a glorious angel Gabriel coming from heaven, and the angel speaks to him and gives him a marvelous message, and he responds with unbelief.

You see, the heart of man is unbelieving. I've often said the heart of every problem is the problem in the heart, and the problem in the heart is unbelief. Instead of looking to God and saying, "God can do anything," Zacharias says, "Well, God can't do anything, I'm too old." He was limiting God by his condition and he says, "How shall I know this? How can I be sure of this?" Visions don't increase your faith. Angelic visitors don't change your faith. It's your heart. Unbelief.

Now his third response: silence. Silence. The angel says, "I am Gabriel who stands in the presence of God, and am sent to speak unto thee and to show thee these glad tidings." That's the gospel, this good news. "And behold, thou shalt be dumb and not be able to speak until the day that these things shall be performed." Why? "Because thou believest not my words which shall be fulfilled in their season." Silence. You know, unbelief always leaves us speechless.

The Psalmist said, Psalm 116:10, "I believed, therefore have I spoken." Paul quotes this in 2 Corinthians 4:13. Faith opens your mouth in praise. Faith opens your mouth in submission. A little later on we're going to meet this same angel visiting Mary, and Mary is not going to say, "How can this be?" She's going to say, "How shall this be?" That's not unbelief, that's faith.

He goes from fear to unbelief to silence. Now, this silence was rather tragic because the priest was supposed to come out of the holy place and bless the people. They were waiting for him to come out, and ordinarily he would come out quickly and he would lift his arms and bless the people saying, "The Lord bless thee and keep thee, the Lord make His face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee, the Lord lift up His countenance upon thee and give thee peace." But he tarried, and when he did come out, he could not speak. Unbelief robs us of the joy of being a blessing.

Fear, unbelief, silence, and now the fourth response: joy. All of this was fulfilled. In Luke 1:57, Elizabeth's full time came that she should be delivered, and she brought forth a son. And of course her neighbors and her relatives came to see this marvelous thing, how that this old woman has given birth to a son. Luke 1:58 says they rejoiced.

I notice in Luke 1:44 that when Mary met Elizabeth, the yet unborn John leaped in her womb for joy, leaped in Elizabeth's womb for joy. So there's all sorts of joy wrapped up in the birth of John the Baptist. Luke 1:14, "Thou shalt have joy and gladness, many shall rejoice at his birth."

I have rejoiced at his birth because of the birth of John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Savior, and then the birth of the Savior, I've been experiencing joy in my life, and so have you if you know Christ as your Savior.

And so the parents rejoiced, and the friends and relatives rejoiced, and we rejoice, and John himself rejoiced. And the old father had his lips opened. In Luke 1:67-79 you have this beautiful song of praise. It's called the Benedictus from the word blessed, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, He has visited and redeemed His people." And so he goes from fear and unbelief and silence to joy.

Now, what is this passage saying to us today? Well, it's saying this: Don't be afraid of answered prayer. The angel appeared and Zacharias was afraid, and the angel said, "Now don't be afraid, your prayer is heard." He'd been praying for years for a son, and now his prayer was heard. It's strange that when God does begin to answer prayer, we get surprised, don't we? Now, why didn't God answer prayer sooner? Because He had a timetable.

"When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law." Galatians 4:4. God has His timetable. God is never a minute too early, and God is never a minute too late. He's always right on time. God is gracious, and God is going to accomplish His purpose. And so the first of the "fear nots" in the Christmas story is given to a priest, an old man who'd been praying for years, and God said, "Don't be afraid, your prayer is heard."

Luke 1:26 records one of the most beautiful stories anywhere in scripture. "And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary.

And the angel came in unto her and said, 'Hail, thou who art highly favored, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women.' And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying and considered in her mind what manner of greeting this should be.

And the angel said unto her, 'Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end.'"

Then said Mary unto the angel, "How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?" And the angel answered and said unto her, "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

And behold, thy cousin Elizabeth hath also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible." And Mary said, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word."

I say it again, that's one of the most beautiful stories in all of scripture. And it gives to us the second of the four "fear nots" in the Christmas story.

According to the record, the angel Gabriel made at least two visits to Palestine. He went to Jerusalem to visit Zacharias in the temple and then to Nazareth to visit Mary, probably in her own home. It's really interesting to contrast these two visits. Gabriel went to see an old man and he went to see a young lady.

I don't doubt that Mary was probably in her teens because Jewish girls, as you know, married very young. The angel went to see a man who was a priest, and he also came to see a young lady who was really a nobody. We wouldn't know a thing about Mary otherwise except that it's recorded in scripture.

The angel went down to Jerusalem, the city of the great King, the temple, but he also came to Nazareth, and you'll recall Nazareth had somewhat of a reputation: "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?"

Now we're going to consider the responses of Mary, and there are four of them. And the first one, of course, is fear. Luke 1:29, and when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying. And the angel said to her, "Fear not, Mary."

Now, we must notice that Mary was not frightened because the angel appeared. The word just simply says that the angel came in unto her. I get the impression that he just simply walked into the door and into the room and there he was.

But it wasn't the presence of the angel that frightened her or that disturbed her. It was with Zacharias; Zacharias when he saw the angel was troubled and great fear fell upon him. But not so with Mary. The thing that troubled Mary was his greeting. She was troubled at his saying and she pondered, she considered in her mind what manner of greeting, salutation, this should be. And the angel knew, of course, that she was pondering his message.

Why should she be so highly favored before the Lord? Now the word "hail" and the word "favored" in Luke 1:28 and the word "favor" in Luke 1:30 all come from the same basic root that means grace. You could read it this way: "Grace, thou who art highly graced." The angel said to her, "Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God."

Why should she be so highly graced? Now, this response on her part indicates that she was no different from any other Jewish maiden. Why should God be with her? This shows her humility.

Elizabeth tells us over in Luke 1:42, "Blessed art thou among women," not above women, but among women. "Blessed is the fruit of thy womb." There's no question that God in a very special way selected Mary for this task. And the angel explained this to her, that she would conceive by the power of the Holy Spirit and she would give birth to the Son of God in human flesh.

First there was fear. Secondly, there was faith. This is just the opposite now of Zacharias. He began with fear and went to unbelief. But in Luke 1:34, Mary says to the angel not, "How can this be?" but, "How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?" She had not entered into the relationship of marriage. Now, Mary was exercising faith here. She said, "Well, I believe God can do this. How is he going to do it?" And the answer, of course, is the power of the Holy Spirit.

Luke 1:35 describes what we call the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this, of course, was a fulfillment of Isaiah 7:14. Luke 1:37 says it perfectly: "For with God nothing shall be impossible." I like the version of Luke 1:37 that reads like this: "For no word of God shall be void of power."

Every word that God speaks has power in it. The word of God is living and powerful. Therefore, with God nothing shall be impossible. Why? Because God can speak the word of power. And so her fear was followed by faith.

Now, response number three: surrender. Surrender. Mary says in Luke 1:38, and this is one of the most beautiful acts of surrender anywhere in scripture, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord." That word "handmaid" means a lowly slave. "Be it unto me according to thy word." This is surrender. She said, "I'll be God's slave, I'll do what he wants me to do." Now, stop to think of what this means. Mary was taking a great step of faith in her surrender.

It was going to cost her something because people were going to accuse her falsely. She would go off to be with Elizabeth until Elizabeth delivered John the Baptist. That would be about three months. She'd come home from that sojourn and everybody would know that she was expecting a baby.

And they would be saying, "I wonder what happened to Mary? What part did Joseph have to play in this?" You don't have to have a great deal of imagination to see the tongues in Nazareth wagging very furiously in gossip. The shame, the price she had to pay to surrender. But she did it. She did it because she believed God. And oh, what a privilege it was for her to give birth to the Messiah.

Fear, faith, surrender, and then singing. Now, faith and surrender always lead to song. And we call Luke 1:46-55 the Magnificat. "My soul doth magnify the Lord." She didn't magnify herself, she magnified the Lord. "And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior." Mary had to have a Savior. She was a sinner like everyone else, and she had to be saved by faith.

Now, why would this relatively poor, unknown little Jewish girl in Nazareth be so filled with joy? Did she suddenly inherit some money? No, that's not what gives you joy. "He hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden, for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed."

There's nothing wrong with honoring Mary for her faith and her surrender. It's wrong, of course, to elevate her above anybody else or to elevate her to the same position as our Lord Jesus. "For he that is mighty hath done to me great things." She could sing that song: "Great things he hath done, and holy is his name."

Now, what is it we want to remember about Mary? She began with fear, and then faith, and then surrender, and then singing. The thing we want to remember is the grace of God. "Fear not, Mary," says Luke 1:30, "for thou hast found favor or grace with God."

If you live by grace, through faith, then you're going to have surrender and singing. Now, in one sense Mary's experience is unique. It's not going to happen again. God is not going to come to any other girl and have his Son born through her surrender. But in another sense, Mary is a good example for us to follow.

You see, Mary received the grace of God. "Thou who art highly favored, the Lord is with thee." She just received the grace of God. Have you received the grace of God? The grace of God that brings salvation? Have you trusted Christ as your Savior and received the grace of God? Fear not, God is gracious. Would you remember that? If you know Jesus as your Savior, then it's because of grace.

This little phrase, "thou who art highly favored," in Luke 1:28 is found also in Ephesians 1:6, where we're told that we have been blessed, we have been graced through the Lord Jesus Christ. Fear not, God is gracious. Fear not, he's working out his plan. Fear not, thou hast found favor with God.