Luke Ch 1 v5
This verse is equally masculine and feminine, therefore, it concerns the image of God.
This narrative concerns the image of God. It is the start of a New Testament gospel, and is written by the same author through whom the Holy Spirit inspired to narrate the birthing of the Church; the corporate expression of the life of the Son, the image of God both Male and Female.
In the days of Herod, King of Judea! In the days of this king, a king who ruled not through the imparted grace of God, else he would indeed have come to worship. But a king willing to indiscriminately kill infants so that his reign was not contested.
In these days, days were men in positions of power are known to be ruthless concerning any attempt to elevate humility as the true stature of a leader.
In these days, God had structured into the system of worship a message to mankind.
The world may be fallen, and governed by minds captive to deceit. But God as Sovereign had woven structure into the system of Judea for men to be lead to worship.
Zechariah was a priest of the division of Abijah and Elizabeth his wife was a daughter descended from Aaron.
That which had been shown and demonstrated to Adam and Eve to cover their trespasses, had been faithfully interwoven into the act of worship. Abraham the father of the faith, having grasped the inception from the beginning, and proclaimed by faith, ‘that God would provide the sacrifice’. From the beginning it had been God who ‘Finished it’ the works, even the pleasing scent of worship!
To cease from your own works, is worship. The finished work is an act of worship.
Worship, can only be sourced in God.
And therefore as God is a Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty, Worship must be sourced to freedom.
Worship is more than dependency.
Worship is love from another source enabling you to respond to the purpose of living.
Worship is an act of equality, and equilibrium. That does not make the persons worshipping equal to that they worship, nor does it mean that worship is not expansive and creative. But as truth is implicit to worship, the act of worship is receiving a love that has shared all things, even that which has proceeded from the worshipped most intimate depths. And that is why the redemptive & covering seed had to be from God and not from fallen man.
Luke Ch 1 v6
They were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statues of the Lord.
And yet they were childless.
Gods first commandment to man and women was that they should bear fruit. The blessing of God was interwoven with fruitfulness.
If ever a couple scripturally ought to have been fruitful concerning children it was Zechariah and Elizabeth. Scripture attributes to them both an unprecedented union concerning walking with God.
Elizabeth was barren and they were both now advanced in years.
This couple who, in the days of Herod, were walking before God and of the very seed of Abraham and part of the ordinance of the worship of God, were childless.
God had a divine purpose in this. It concerned his covenant and his image.
According to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.
Gods sovereignty well able to accommodate this custom.
And once inside the Holy of Holies an Angel appeared to Zechariah and informed him that he would have a special son and that there would be joy and gladness and rejoicing at his birth.
And the divine purpose was this, the Prophet of the Lamb.
The divine purpose was so that they might know that life/birth proceeds from God. And that it comes from the Holy One – that God indeed is Holy. But that Joy & Laughter are not separated from his Holy character.
The divine purpose was according to prophecy. A priest who fathered the prophet of the Lamb.
Divine purpose was part and parcel of John’s calling. John’s joy and gladness was the voice of the bridegroom.
The balance of masculine and feminine and the wait for this son was part and parcel of why John responded with Joy and Gladness at the bridegrooms voice: He knew it signaled new birth and the marriage super of the lamb.
In verse 17 we have Moses and Elijah, the narrative of the mount of transformation. Moses, in respect that the Archangel is not facing stone, but is speaking to Zechariah, a type of the new covenant which had always been concealed in the old. Dead letter rolled away by the organic hand of the resurrected gardener.
All the people were outside praying. No one cared in authority about this. But it began to change once John’s ministry started. Repentance; return to the Holy beginning: One man and One women, faithful to God and Joy and Gladness came!!!
This week I attended my second body pump gym class. For years I have attended gyms on and of. But attending a class has made me realize that I have not in fact been going to the gymn, rather the sauna room.
The teacher performs the same exercises, so one only has to follow them to complete what transpires to be a comprehensive work out. The classes have been quite full and music accompanies them.
During these classes I have found myself thinking how surreal they are. So modern and part of a technology driven age. Busy lives jamming their exercise in for the perfect figures that magazines promote.
But what has struck me in these classes is the individualism of them! A corporate absence of fellowship and relationship. You arrive, body pump for 50 mins and then leave!
The whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. ‘And many will rejoice at his birth’.
Their is a void of Joy and Gladness in the world, due to the absence of the Holy One, who is inseparable from these liberators.
When Zechariah entered the Holy of Holies, I gather that he would have had a cord tied to his ankle, lest he died due to the holiness of God.
Given that which scripture says concerning his life, and marriage, perhaps we understand why the Angel spoke such words to him. But alas, they are words spoken to him, a man scripture declares as having walked blamelessly.
The multitude were outside, prohibited from entering.
The priest was to sprinkle the blood of a lamb upon the covenant, as an atonement for sin. In this instance, the priest is informed that his first born son will be the prophet who heralds the lamb.
Jesus the lamb of God, was not sacrificed inside the veil where the priest alone could go, but outside. Making the way into the Holy of Holies free and without money or charge. Joy and Gladness for all the people outside. All the people longing for new birth and a life of purity with Joy and fun interwoven. A holy and happy life.
Their wait, Zechariah and Elizabeth, was so that Gods desire to make all the people outside holy and happy was made clear. This child was given to them, all going out to be baptized of him.
The divine purpose was that John heralded the new covenant man. The man who removed the veil, (Holy) blameless, and then found the bride; Come see a man, children followed.
In the days of Herod, of planned parenthood plc and lifestyle gymns!
Joy and Gladness! For those who have walked as Zechariah and Elizabeth only! NO, this joy and gladness is proclaimed by a multitude of angels to be unto all people. And to add weight to it, Jesus said that the Angels rejoice over one sinner who repents more than over the 99 who are righteous.
In Gabriel’s word to Zechariah and Mary, the context has the fulfillment of scripture, history and time; Daniels vision and the fourth empire, Isaiah and the virgin giving birth, 42 generations from Abraham to Jesus – the covenant of colors (every nation) and light of his baptism into water.
The birth of Jesus is surrounded by the absolute sovereignty of God.
‘You have not chosen me but I have chosen you’. The focus isn’t on standards, or fear of compromise. The focus is on God and his revelation to us. What he shows and teaches us. What we can learn from him.
The transition from old to new is in this. Jesus loved his Father, and loved to obey Him, as he knew the truth concerning his Fathers heart: ‘For this my son was dead’.
This ministry of Malachi, of Moses and Elijah, of Zechariah and Elizabeth is in this principle.
John, never rebelled against the Word of God.
That which was spoken by Gabriel, concerning John, was authoritative and without consultation with John. Akin to Stephen doing the task that others had chosen him for.
That John had free will, and that he never rebelled, is worth much meditation. But it does speak to us of the promises given to those who fear the Lord, and their children.
It is also worth noting that Zechariah in his silence, was not silent!! No he was giving thanks inwardly. As he saw the babe growing inside his wife Elizabeth, he was not disjointed or offended to have been silenced! And in this he is an example of how to endure chastisement. Because, afterwards it works the peaceful fruit of righteousness. So let the fruit of your lips be a sacrifice of praise. And we know this due to the Joy and Gladness he burst forth with, when once his lips and heart were released by faith in the enduring Word that had been spoken.
Acts Ch 9
But Saul, still breathing threats and murder! Scripture states murder. Herod had murdered infants. Cain had murdered his brother Abel. And he had done this because he had not understood from the heart, the offering of the lamb, that God had covered and given all of himself. Cain built a metropolis, the first cog of the industrial and technological age because he was trying to fill the void of worship.
Saul went to the high priest and asked for letters, dead letters to stop the spread of life.
Saul wanted to bring them captive to Jerusalem, the very place Zechariah had gone beyond the veil.
But light is not partial, especially at night it guides all nations to the coming day. The spread of good news is a Mandate of Heaven.
No Archangel heralds Saul’s redemption, as he was included with the ‘all’ who were outside. Jesus, is the only new covenant man. But God does follow a similar pattern, using the vessel Ananias to affirm him.
‘For I will show him how much he must suffer for the purpose of revealing my nature’
‘You will be told what you are to do’? Did he rebel when light shone into his prison.
To Gentiles, Kings and the children of Israel.
Grace the Sovereign gift of God.
To Herod’s! You are to take the message of ‘But rise and enter the structure laid before the foundation of this world, of unconditional grace from the Father through the sacrifice of his Son’.
Verse 11. His Lordship is very different to the Prince who reigns over the disobedient.
His Grace and Lordship was greater than Ananias had realized. Gods way never alters, Corinthians Ch 13 is an exposition on the nature of God.
eternalrays 