For the past ten or so years, there has been a new holiday trend that has literally turned the traditional Christmas celebration upside down. Hammacher Schlemmer, a retail company based in New York, has pioneered a unique yuletide decoration: the Upside-Down Christmas Tree.
Standing at 7-feet tall and pre-lit with over 800 commercial grade lights, this technological marvel can be yours for the low price of $599.95. But why would anyone want an upside-down Christmas tree? According to Hammacher Schlemmer: “The inverted shape makes it easier to see ornaments, which hang below the dense needles,” while “allowing more room for the accumulation of presents underneath.”
Other retail outlets are following suit, including ChristmasTreeForMe.com, which offers 5-to-7.5-foot bizarro trees from $280–$504. Even Target is getting in on the action, with upside-down trees ranging from $299 to $499.
Does anyone have an up-side-down tree this year? Go ahead; don’t be afraid to admit it! Well, even if you don’t have an up-side-down tree, most of us have begun some kind of preparations for Christmas; whether it is buying reading an Advent book, decorating the house, or listening to Christmas music on the radio.
In the midst of all of your preparations, have you ever wondered how God prepares for Christmas? Or maybe the better question is how does God prepare his people for Christmas?
In this morning’s text, Luke gives us a glimpse of how God prepared his people for the very first Christmas. Before Mary and Joseph, the manger, or the shepherds, the story begins with some unlikely people: an elderly couple named Zechariah and Elizabeth.
Narrative
The story is set in the days when Herod was the King of Judea and Israel was occupied and ruled by the cruel Roman Empire. Not only was it a time of military conflict and political peril, but it was also a time of spiritual desolation. It had been 400 years since God had spoken to his people. Without any prophets preaching the oracles of God, the Israelites persisted in a state of spiritual complacency, just going through the religious motions. They offered sacrifices to God at the Temple and apathetically waiting for the Messiah to come and deliver them. Little did the people know, but God was about to break his long silence.
Zechariah and Elizabeth’s Inability to Have Children (5-7)
Zechariah and Elizabeth both descended from priestly families and lived holy lives unto the Lord. Luke actually says that they were “upright in the sight of God and they observed all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly.” Their whole lives had been dedicated to the service of the Lord.
But even though they were religious people, Zechariah and Elizabeth lacked the one thing they desired most in this life; they didn’t have any children. This not only caused them profound personal pain, but it was also a source of social disgrace. In their culture, married couples were expected to have children and populate the earth, and if a woman’s womb was barren, it was usually thought that God’s blessing was not on them. They had endured this disgrace for many years, and since they were now elderly, all of their hopes of being removed from their shameful situation had been dashed.
This just doesn’t seem fair, does it? Do you ever feel like Zechariah and Elizabeth? Do you ever wonder why when you try so hard to live a life that is pleasing to God yet it seems like his blessing is nowhere to be found? Why is it that people who go to church regularly still get cancer? Why do people who pray faithfully still have family conflicts? Why is it that many couples who honor the Lord with their lives can’t have children while so many unfit parents can have as many babies as they want? Why do the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper? Well, as the story continues to unfold, I believe we will find our answer!
Zechariah’s Visit from Gabriel (8-20)
Since Zechariah was a priest, he left his home and went to the Temple in Jerusalem five times a year. Three of these were during the major festivals (Passover, Weeks, and Tabernacles) as pilgrims swelled Jerusalem’s population and all priestly divisions served the masses at the Temple. Each division had two other weeks a year when they carried out the daily sacrifices and rituals.
With approximately 18,000 priests in Judea, special duties were assigned by lot. Lots were sacred objects of unknown shape that would give a yes or no answer to questions; they probably resembled modern dice. A priest could only be chosen to enter the holy place and offer incense to the Lord once in a lifetime, but even after all of these years of faithful service, Zechariah had never been chosen. But little did he know that his good run of bad luck was about to come to an end. His lot finally came up.
While Zechariah entered the holy place to perform his duty, pious Jewish worshippers and priests joined together in prayer outside. As he burned the incense inside, he had the most shocking experience of his life: through the hazy smoke, he saw an angel standing on the other side of the altar.
Zechariah responded to the angel just as we would—with pulse-stopping fear and hair-raising terror, but the heavenly messenger gave the usual angelic greeting “Do not be afraid!” Then the angel told him that his prayer had been answered. But which prayer was he talking about? Throughout his life, he had prayed thousands of prayers.
God was now answering his most precious personal prayer; the one that he and Elizabeth had uttered for years; the one that he thought had passed him by. The angel told him that he was going to be a father and that he was to name his son John, and he would not be any ordinary son. This son would bring him great joy and many people would delight in his birth. This son would be filled with the Holy Spirit and would reunite families and bring many people back to the Lord. This son would be the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy that Elijah would return and prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah.
Wow! How could Zechariah handle all of this at once? As you can imagine, he was blown away by what the angel said and struggled to understand how this could be possible. In his confusion, he spoke words of doubt and disbelief. He was focused on the natural rather than the supernatural. So, the angel finally identifies himself as Gabriel and he told Zechariah that he would not be able to speak until the baby was born because he did not believe Gabriel’s words. God struck him with nine months of silence. (Most women would love for God to strike their husbands with silence during their nine months of pregnancy! They wouldn’t be able to say anything dumb!)
Zechariah and Elizabeth’s Response to the Vision (21-25)
While all of this was going on inside the Temple, the crowd outside began worrying. “Where is he? What could have happened to him? It never takes this long! Should we send someone in to rescue him?”
Finally, Zechariah appeared, but something was strange. He was supposed to raise his hands and announce the benediction, but he could not speak! He kept making signs, nodding his head, and gesturing with his hands, trying to make them understand that he had received a vision from the Lord.
Well, after Zechariah’s priestly duty was accomplished, he couldn’t wait to get home to share the good news with his wife, even if he had to write it out by hand. Can you imagine this old man telling his old barren wife, “Hey honey, guess what, you are going to have a baby?”
Gabriel’s word came true. Elizabeth did in fact become pregnant. What a surprise this would be for all of her family and friends and townspeople! But she did not let anyone know for five months she remained in seclusion. (I suppose if you got pregnant in your seventies or eighties, you might want to remain in seclusion too!) She waited until God was ready to make his plans known. Apparently, she gave up an expectant mothers’ joy of sharing her news—to wait for God’s timing.
This old peasant couple, who had been denied God’s blessing for most of their lives, was destined to be a part of God’s great plan of salvation history. In the end they realized that God’s favor was on them all along. They were prohibited from having a baby when they were younger because God had a different plan for their lives; a better plan. They would become the parents of John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah!
So, how does God prepare his people for Christmas? He uses this story of Zechariah and Elizabeth to reminds us that his plan is perfect even when we don’t understand it, that we should trust our supernatural God over natural processes, and that sometimes we need to be silent to hear God speaking!
1.) God’s plan is perfect, even when we don’t understand it! (7)
When bad things happen to us, it is easy to get discouraged and doubt God’s plan. We ask questions like, “Why do people who try to live holy lives and do the right things still have so many problems? Why does it so often seem like God is not blessing us?” The answer to this question lies in God’s sovereignty. God’s plan for each of our lives is absolutely perfect. So often we think we know what is best. God uses problems and difficulties in our lives to accomplish his greater purpose.
This is exactly the way it happened with Zechariah and Elizabeth. It wasn’t an accident that Elizabeth was barren or that Zechariah hadn’t got chosen to burn incense in the temple earlier in his life. God did not allow them to experience these blessings earlier because he had a different plan for them—a better plan. They had the honor and joy of giving birth to the forerunner to the Messiah! Do you think they would have traded this blessing to have children earlier or for Zechariah to burn incense earlier? I don’t think so!
This advent season: Remember that God is sovereign over all of your problems! And when things don’t work out the way you want or expect them to, remember that God just has a different plan for you—a better one!
2.) Trust in the supernatural God over natural processes! (18)
Now Zechariah may not have been a gynecologist, but he knew that women who had gone through menopause could not bear children. But when God told him that his wife was going to have a son in her old age, he doubted and did not believe. He trusted in natural processes instead of the supernatural God.
Many of us think the same way! We only trust what we can see, hear, and feel. Let us remember that God is not bound by natural processes; he is the creator of them. Let’s keep our eyes and hearts open to experience the supernatural!
3.) Sometimes we need to be silent to hear God speaking! (19-20)
God had been silent for 400 years, but when he chose to speak through his angel, Zechariah wasn’t listening. He was too busy talking. Since he couldn’t be silent on his own, God gave him 9 months of silence. If Zechariah would have been quiet, he would have realized that this was God speaking to him, and he wouldn’t have doubted.
Do you ever wonder why God doesn’t speak to you? But the better question is “Why aren’t we listening?” I would like to challenge us to spend some quiet time with God this advent season. Slow down, sit down, relax, read the first two chapters of Luke, and pray silently to God. And listen God speaking to you!