What it takes to prepare for God’s coming (Luke 1:5-25)

In my twenties I was involved in a Christian mission reaching out to international students in the UK. I was to live with a host family that year who had a room with a separate phone line and sink in a more secluded corner of the house. However, a friend of the family was still staying there when I arrived and it was uncertain how much longer he would remain, so the couple hosting me crammed me into a room that used to belong to their daughter. It was an uncomfortable arrangement as the wardrobe was full of her clothes, the desk drawers stuffed with her stationery and other odds and ends, with little room to accommodate me. It was a makeshift solution that was not expected to last long, but six months later when an alternative was found for me in another house, the family friend was still occupying the room originally meant for me.

Seeking God’s presence despite losing hope

Such an experience is a contrast to the careful preparations God made for the coming of His Son. Luke’s account starts where it will end, in the temple where God’s presence dwelt (Luke 1:8; 24:52-53), involving a priestly couple who were faithful in their walk with God despite their personal tragedy of childlessness (Luke 1:6-7). In that culture, barrenness was a sign of God’s disfavour, so that public shame was added to private heartache (cf. Luke 1:25). As so often, the Lord used in His service people who clung to Him despite the odds, and He brought hope where seemingly there was little hope left. In this, the couple’s story reflects the larger story of Israel’s barren existence. They were back from exile, serving God in the land with a rebuilt temple but struggled under foreign domination and waited for restoration while slowly losing hope.

God answers prayer

The scene opens with Zechariah fulfilling his priestly duties (Luke 1:9). At this time, priests were grouped into twenty-four divisions, each of these serving in the temple twice a year for a week. The tasks to be performed were allocated by lot and, given the large number of priests (one scholar estimated this to be around 8,000),[1] offering incense in the sanctuary was a rare privilege that came perhaps once in a lifetime. The presence of the crowds praying outside indicates the time of the evening offering, around 3pm (Luke 1:10; Acts 3:1).

Once the incense was offered involving several priests, the chief officiant would have been left briefly alone to offer up a prayer before he joined the others to speak a blessing over the people and conclude the ceremony.[2] It is at this point that the angel appeared with the joyful message (Luke 1:11). The right side indicates honour as well as a favourable message, so the angel’s position and his words were to reassure Zechariah (Luke 1:13). God’s answer to prayer (Zechariah’s and the people’s; v.13, Luke 1:10) was the son this aging couple longed for who would also prepare the way for the Lord, the One the people longed for. Appropriately, the child’s name would be John (meaning ‘God is gracious’; v.13).

God’s preparations and ours

God’s forerunner was to be full of the Holy Spirit working powerfully like the great prophet of the Old Testament, Elijah, to ensure that people’s heart was cleared of the clutter of sin, of ungodly allegiances and inclinations and plans that left no room for the Saviour (Luke 1:15-17).[3] God would not come and stay in cramped corners as an optional extra. Even a godly man like Zechariah was not entirely prepared for God’s great act meeting the announcement with disbelief (Luke 1:20), while Elizabeth responded with humble acceptance (Luke 1:25). The couple’s twofold reaction foreshadows Jesus’ later reception by Israel, and the sign of muteness likewise indicates both judgment for disbelief and God’s grace in providing a sign to reassure of the truth. As we go through Advent, may it encourage us that God made such careful preparations for His coming and may we in turn renew our commitments to Him as we prepare to remember and re-live the story of Christmas.

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[1] Joachim Jeremias, Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1969), 200, cited in John Nolland, Luke 1-9:20, WBC 35A (Dallas: Word, 1989), 27.

[2] The Mishnah (part of the Jewish collection of laws and legal interpretations known as the Oral Torah) describes the details of the whole burnt offering (tamid) sacrificed twice daily in the morning and evening along with the incense, the latter offered at the incense altar in the sanctuary, in front of the Holy of Holies. The moment when the officiating priest was left alone is described as ‘When all were gone away he offered the incense and prostrated himself and came away’ (trans. Herbert Danby). M. Tamid 6:3.

[3] The reference in Luke 1:15 that John would drink no alcohol suggests that he may have been a lifelong Nazirite strengthened by a later reference (Luke 7:33). The Nazirite vow involved not drinking alcohol and not cutting one’s beard or hair, as well as some other regulations (Num 6:1-8). It was a form of special dedication to God generally for a period of time but there are a few who were lifelong Nazirites (e.g. Samson, Judg 13:5, and possibly Samuel, 1 Sam 1:11).

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