Read The Bible The Book Of Luke Part 2 by Rev. Christie Bature: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Fear Not

Luke 1:12-13

Continuing a verse-by-verse reading through Luke, this session picked up where the previous one stopped, with Zechariah troubled and afraid at the sight of an angel in the temple. The angel's first word to him was, "Fear not."

Fear is addressed by name over 365 times across scripture, one for each day of the year, because God knows there will be occasions to fear even though He does not want His people living afraid. The world teaches saving in order to become rich; God teaches giving in order to become rich. In the same reversal, the devil says be afraid, and God says fear not. Choosing to exercise faith is hard, but it is far less painful than choosing fear, because fear leads into trouble.

The angel spoke Zechariah's own name directly into his fear, not a generic reassurance. That same specificity applies personally: whatever a person's situation, the word "fear not" is spoken directly over it, by name.

Great in the Sight of the Lord

Luke 1:14-17

The angel told Zechariah that his prayer had been heard, that Elizabeth would bear a son to be named John, that many would rejoice at his birth, and that he would be great in the sight of the Lord, filled with the Holy Ghost even from the womb.

This is an opportunity to shape a child while still in the womb. A word spoken over a child before birth, or over a child already born and struggling, is not wishful thinking; it is scripture appropriated and made personal. This is how scripture is brought to life: taking a promise already written and speaking it, by name, over one's own children, spouse, and household, rather than waiting for a prophet to arrive and speak it audibly. Whatever a person is believing God for, whether a child, healing, or provision, if it can be found written in scripture, it can be stood on as prophecy already spoken. That is one reason for reading through scripture like this together: so it stops being read as an old story and starts being received as a living word.

The angel added that John would go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, making ready a people prepared for the Lord. Elijah called down fire from heaven with his mouth and declared there would be no rain until he said so; there was no rain until he spoke again. Elisha, who took Elijah's mantle, struck the river and it opened, and even after his own death, a dead body thrown into his grave came back to life on contact with his bones. A child deployed in that same spirit and power is not a small thing, no matter how far that child has currently strayed.

Jesus is coming soon, and the signs, physical, spiritual, celestial, governmental, and scriptural, are converging together.

Two Responses to the Same Angel

Luke 1:18-20

Zechariah asked the angel, "How shall I know this? I am an old man, and my wife is well along in years." The same angel, Gabriel, who stood in the presence of God, later gave Mary a similarly impossible message, and she also asked a question: "How shall this be, since I know no man?" Yet only Zechariah was made unable to speak until the day these things would be fulfilled, because he did not believe.

The difference was not the question asked, but the intent of the heart behind it. Mary's question was followed by surrendered belief: "Be it unto me according to your word." Zechariah's question carried unbelief underneath it. God sees the intent of the heart, not only the words spoken.

Being made silent was, in fact, mercy. God could simply have chosen someone else to deliver John the Baptist, but instead chose to shut Zechariah's mouth so that his own doubting words would not scatter the miracle already decided for him. A tongue can talk a person out of the very miracle God has already set in motion.

He Stayed to Finish

Luke 1:21-23

The high priest entering the Holy of Holies wore a special garment with bells attached, and a rope tied around the waist, so that if he died inside, having entered unworthily, his body could be pulled out without anyone else needing to enter. The people waiting outside for Zechariah, who stayed unusually long, began to wonder whether something like that had happened to him. Some situations that stretch on so long they look finished are not endings but encounters still unfolding; the request worth making is not for the suffering to simply stop, but for it to become the encounter it was always meant to be.

When Zechariah finally came out, he could not speak, and could only signal with his hands, yet the people perceived immediately that he had seen a vision. A genuine encounter is perceivable even without a single word spoken to explain it, and those who had been running their mouths about someone's situation will see it too, without needing to be told.

Even after being struck silent, Zechariah did not use it as an excuse to abandon his post. His days of ministration were not yet finished, and though it must have been extremely difficult to remain there, unable to explain himself to anyone, he stayed until his service was complete before going home. Difficulty and inconvenience are not permission to leave unfinished what one has been given to do.

There is also wisdom in recognizing that some people are not meant to hear every part of a process while it is unfolding. Not everyone should be told the details of what is happening; some should be kept at a distance until the appointed time, and that discernment should be asked of God directly.

Times, Seasons, and the Levels of a Blessing

Not every blessing arrives all at once, and not every blessing arrives before the difficulty ends; some are introduced only once the trial is nearly over, and others are only received after coming completely out of the fire.

An extended illustration was given using three traditional Nigerian soups, each cooked differently. One is ruined if its ingredients are poured in all at once rather than gradually, in patience, over time. A second requires certain fragrant ingredients to be added only right at the very end, just before the fire is put out, because added too early they lose their aroma entirely. A third requires the cooked base to be removed from the fire and allowed to cool before raw palm oil is stirred in, turning the color from black to bright orange, a value only unlocked once the direct heat is gone. In the same way, God does not release every blessing on the same timeline: some come step by step, some only just before the trial ends, and some only after it has fully ended. It is unwise to measure an entire promise using the timing that belongs to a different stage of the process.

Job said his times and his seasons were in God's hand. If that is genuinely believed, there is no reason to throw away confidence simply because the current stage does not yet look like the promised outcome. Zechariah's unbelief was ultimately impatience: he had waited long, considered himself too old, and could not believe good news was still possible. Staying in a place of faith until the word of God performs itself is what the whole account, and the pattern behind it, keeps pointing back to.