Thinking Christian about Christmas: The Announcement of John and Jesus

The world is becoming increasingly proficient at telling stories that deny God. As such, we need thinking Christian to become as natural as breathing. Welcome to the Thinking Christian podcast. I'm Dr. James Spencer. Through calm, thoughtful, theological discussions, Thinking Christian highlights the ways God is working in the world and questions the underlying social, cultural, and political assumptions that hinder Christians from becoming more like Christ. Now, on to today's episode of Thinking Christian. Hey, everyone. Welcome to this episode of Thinking Christian. You know, as we come to the end of the year, we're going to do a couple of things a little differently on Thinking Christian. And so the first one is that throughout the month of December, we're going to be going through various biblical passages that are related to Christmas. We'll touch on some passages in Philippians. We'll look at Matthew's virgin birth. We'll look at the, probably look at some of the things that Herod does in Matthew. But today, we're going to start looking at the Gospel of Luke. And unlike the other Gospels, unlike Matthew, Mark, and John, Luke begins his work with the birth of John the Baptist, or more accurately, the foretelling of John's birth. And so Luke describes Elizabeth and her husband, Zechariah, as being advanced in years and as being righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and the statutes of the Lord. And so this couple, as we find, is actually a really, they're good folks. They've been anticipating the coming of the King. They've been anticipating the Messiah. They've been living faithfully before the Lord, but they don't have any children. And so as we look at this in verses 5 through 25 of the first chapter of Luke, what we're going to see is the birth of John the Baptist foretold. And that's immediately followed by the birth of Jesus foretold. And so what we find here is two things. Number one, we see that Zechariah and Elizabeth are going to have a child in their old age. And that's a fairly common motif in the Scriptures. So we can think back to the Old Testament, Abraham and Sarah is a prime example. We also have different difficulties when giving birth. Hannah is a great example in the book of Samuel. And we see this throughout the various Old Testament stories, that there's something about giving birth that is difficult. This is not a given for anyone in society. And so Elizabeth and Zechariah have had no children, even into this old age that they are. And so what we find is that they're kind of wanting children. And so in verses 8 through 17, I'll just read certain portions of these, but what we find is that Zechariah is going in. He's sort of in the position that he's going to go in and do the duties and the sacrifices and burn the incense before the temple of the Lord. And so we see in verse 8, it says, Now while he was serving as priest before God, when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. And then an angel appears to him. This is verse 11. The angel of the Lord appears to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And so Zechariah is afraid. He's troubled when he sees him. This is verse 12. And he falls down in fear. But the angel says, Listen, Zechariah, don't be afraid. Your prayer has been heard and you and your wife will bear a son and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness and many will rejoice at his birth for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink strong wine or strong drink. That's probably a reference to a Nazarite vow. That's the potential there. But ultimately, what the angel is talking about is he'll be dedicated to the Lord even from the moment he's in his mother's womb. And then in verse 16, what we read, verse 16 and 17, we read, And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go before him in the spirit of power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready for the Lord a people prepared. Okay, so this is good news. Zechariah's response to the angel originally is sort of one of fear. And what we find is that, you know, he's going to get what he wants. He's going to get what he's been praying for. He and his wife Elizabeth are going to have a child. And this is great. And in verse 18, what we see is Zechariah's really his first response to the angel's message. So we see him fall down in fear earlier in this chapter. But now we're going to see him actually verbalize his concern. He says this, How shall I know this? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years. So he's almost questioning the veracity of what the angel is saying. How do I know this to be true? What does this really look like? Because, you know, there's no physical reality. There's no, this doesn't make any sense from a physical perspective. You know, Elizabeth and I are both very old. We're well past childbearing years. And I just, I don't know how I'm supposed to trust this, essentially, is Zechariah's question. Let me ask you a serious question. If something triggered a major market drop in the coming months, would your retirement be ready or exposed? With inflation, market volatility, and ongoing global uncertainty, more families are taking a closer look at whether their retirement plan is truly built to hold up. And many are finding that adding a layer of protection makes a lot of sense. Sanctuary Metals is a Christian-owned company that helps families strengthen their retirement savings with physical gold and silver through a gold IRA. During uncertain times, many people look to precious metals as a way to add stability when other assets may be under pressure. If you'd like to explore whether a gold IRA is a good fit for your situation, Sanctuary Metals makes it easy to get started. Text GUIDE to 94878 to receive your free retirement defense guide or call 888-958-6579 to speak with one of their knowledgeable team members. Again, text GUIDE to 94878 or call 888-958-6579. Now, we see that Zechariah's response to the angel is similar to those found in a variety of different passages. We see it in Exodus 15-16. We see it in Judges 6, 22-23. Daniel 8, 16-17. And Gabriel is also going to appear in Daniel 8, 15-16. And there are these number of, those aren't all birth announcements, but there are a number of birth announcements in which someone is told that a barren woman will have a child, including a number of instances in Genesis. So, if you look at when Abraham is told that Sarah will have a child in Genesis 17, 15-21 and then Sarah being told in 18-10-15. You know, we see also Isaac and Rebekah have a similar challenge with barrenness as narrated in Genesis 25-23. And so, Zechariah's question really has this interesting Old Testament background. For example, when God tells Abraham that he and Sarah will have a child, he, like Zechariah, questions God's decision due to his age. He's questioning, how is this supposed to happen? You know, I've got Ishmael. At that point, he and Hagar have already had relations and they have Ishmael. Ishmael has been growing up and doing fine. And Abraham is fully thinking that Ishmael is the heir to the covenant promises. God comes in and says, well, Abraham, I know I told you that it was going to come from your seed, but what I meant was that it will be you and Sarah. And so Sarah is also going to have a son. And so Abraham, at that point, in Genesis 17-17, it says, Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, Shall a child be born to a man who is 100 years old? Shall Sarah, who is 90 years old, bear a child? And we see Sarah make a similar comment in Genesis 18-12, noting, So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, After I am worn out and my Lord is old, shall I have pleasure? And so whereas Abraham and Sarah do not seem to suffer any specific consequences for their doubt in this case, Zechariah's question in Luke 1-18 is viewed as a moment of disbelief, of distrust, this sort of questioning of how could this possibly be. And so Gabriel, who brings the good news, now delivers a sign of sorts to Zechariah. And the sign is that Zechariah will be unable to speak until the day that John is born. So the consequence of Zechariah's question, this distrust, this unbelief, really serves as a palpable sign to those who were waiting for Zechariah to emerge from the temple where he had been chosen to burn incense. And when he exits the temple, he's unable to give any of the customary blessing. He's unable to communicate, really, in any way verbally. And Luke 1-22 makes clear, they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. So as he emerges from the temple, he's unable to speak. He is unable to tell anybody anything, really. He can't communicate verbally. And everybody recognizes this as, oh my gosh, something happened while he was in the temple. He's seen this vision. And now he's coming out, and this is what's happened to him

How? How will any of this actually work? I don't really see how God is going to make this happen. What I really find very interesting, though, is when we go down to the announcement that Jesus is going to be born, there are similar elements. Gabriel appears to Mary, who is described as a virgin, and in contrast to Elizabeth, who is barren, Mary is not conceived due to a lack of sexual activity. But either way, we see this sort of physical oddity. Elizabeth is old. She hasn't had children her entire life despite having sex. And now God is going to make her have a child. Mary, on the other hand, has not conceived because she's never had sex before and God is going to give her a child. And so God is going to overcome both of these obstacles, the barrenness and the virginity. And so we have that commonality in the two announcements. Now, God is not only able to produce life in spite of barrenness, but can also produce life in someone who has never had sex. So like Zechariah, Mary is also afraid when Gabriel appears and asks a question about Gabriel. After Gabriel tells her that she will conceive and bear a son. And so Gabriel comes. This is in verses 26 through 38. Gabriel is going to come. He's going to give Mary this message and he says, Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you. This is verse 28. But she was greatly troubled at the saying and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the most high. And the Lord God will give him, give to him the throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom will be no end. And then in verse 34, Mary asks a question. So we're seeing these sort of kind of these parallels, right? We see that an angel is coming to deliver a message. We see a response to that angel initially of, you know, sort of confusion or fear and trouble. We're seeing that you have Elizabeth, who is barren. You have Mary who has not conceived for other reasons, but you have this sort of physical obstacle, this biological obstacle that God is ultimately going to overcome. And then you have this question. And so unlike Zechariah, though, Mary's question does not result in any sort of consequence. There's no sense in which Mary's question is viewed in a negative manner. She just asked in verse 34, Mary says to the angel, How will this be since I am a virgin? Let me ask you a serious question. If something triggered a major market drop in the coming months, would your retirement be ready or exposed? With inflation, market volatility and ongoing global uncertainty, more families are taking a closer look at whether their retirement plan is truly built to hold up. And many are finding that adding a layer of protection makes a lot of sense. Sanctuary Metals is a Christian-owned company that helps families strengthen their retirement savings with physical gold and silver through a gold IRA. During uncertain times, many people look to precious metals as a way to add stability when other assets may be under pressure. If you'd like to explore whether a gold IRA is a good fit for your situation, Sanctuary Metals makes it easy to get started. Text GUIDE to 94878 to receive your free retirement defense guide or call 888-958-6579 to speak with one of their knowledgeable team members. Again, text GUIDE to 94878 or call 888-958-6579. Now, it's not immediately obvious why Zechariah's question is problematic and why Mary's question is not problematic, but it may have to do with Zechariah's quasi-request for a sign, how will I know, which differs from Mary's more mechanical question, how will this be since I am a virgin? In other words, Zechariah is really looking for assurance and it seems like Mary may be just wanting clarification. In other words, if you just read it on the face of it, Zechariah isn't asking, listen, I know how the act of sex works. I understand that you're telling me that it's both me and Elizabeth, so I've got clarity on that. I just don't see how God is even going to do it. We're such advanced age, it doesn't make any sense to me how God is going to be able to do this. I can't have any surety in what you're telling me because of that physical, biological, advanced in age sort of state. Whereas Mary, what she seems to be saying is, okay, gotcha, I'm going to bear a son. It's going to be Jesus. There's going to be something going on here. I trust that. Now, what do I need to do? She's about to be married to Joseph. We've seen that. Verse 27 says she was a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, Joseph of the house of David. And so we know that she was about to get married. It seems to me that it's logical that she's asking the question, not, you know, how can I possibly trust this, but so are you saying that I should have sex with Joseph and that my union with Joseph will result in having this child, Jesus? Is that the mechanism we're talking about here? Is that how this is supposed to happen? So I'm supposed to have sexual relationships with my husband. I'm supposed to get married. I'm supposed to have sex with my husband. And then I'm going to have a child and we're going to name him Jesus. Is that the sequence of events here? And I think it's suggested that that sort of reading is suggested by what the angel says to her next. He says the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, the son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son. And this is the sixth month with her who is called barren for nothing will be impossible with God. And Mary said, behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her. And so what we're, what we're seeing in these birth annunciations, I think, they both point to God's actions among these people, that both children are born through miraculous circumstances and announced by Gabriel highlight that these are special children brought about as part of God's acts on behalf of his people. It seems likely that various Old Testament texts are alluded to in Gabriel's message to Zechariah. For example, the reference to Elijah is likely an allusion to Malachi 4 or 5, which reads, Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. Isaiah 43 may also be in mind. John is to make ready for the Lord a people prepared. And Isaiah 43 tells of a voice crying in the wilderness, prepare the way for the Lord. We see that later on in Luke in Luke 1 80. John is described as living in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance in Israel. So there are other connections between that verse and John. So I think overall, what we're seeing in these announcements is the beginning of the fulfillment of God's promises in John and Jesus. God is at work. Those who are looking for God will recognize what he's doing as we see later on in the prophecy of Zechariah and the blessing of Simeon. So how these tie together, I think is just fascinating because if, if we kind of see what's going on, we have this miraculous birth of John that's then referenced again to Mary. It's, it's used as a sign to Mary that look, this is the way it's going to happen. You're asking, how am I supposed to go about this? Should I go ahead and have sex with my, my soon to be husband, Joseph? And we're going to bear this child. And the angel says, no, the most high is going to overshadow you. And look as proof, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived. And so he's pointed to Elizabeth and he's saying, look, God is active in the world. And this is a sign, the evidence, the demonstration that nothing is impossible with God. And so as we think about the Christmas story and we think about the virgin birth, we, we normally stop there. We usually stop the virgin birth. And I think as we get into Matthew and the, the quotation of Isaiah seven and the fulfillment of that prophecy, you know, a lot of times our, our minds are sort of drawn into that, the prophecy fulfillment aspect of who Jesus is. And that's an important aspect. But I also think that in this Lucan narrative, what we're really seeing is this sort of amazing story where God is going to begin working more powerfully and more directly within his people to bring about deliverance. And so with John, he's going to bears forth John, you know, with Elizabeth and Zechariah, John is going to be the forerunner to Jesus. He's going to prepare the way of the Lord. He's going to prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah. And we see him doing that later on in the gospels as he preaches the repentance and does the baptism for repentance. And then Jesus comes along and John sort of steps aside and lets Jesus's ministry grow. But then what we're also seeing in this virgin birth is that, you know, God is completely and totally active amongst his people. He is doing this. He is moving. He is not going to allow his people to, to be under the thumb of Rome forever. He's going to bring his kingdom.

to fruition. He has not abandoned Israel. He's bringing them back in. And so as we as we look further into this chapter in the next episode into verses 39 through the end of the chapter and possibly even into Zechariah's prophecy, what we're gonna start seeing is we're gonna start seeing all these different allusions to Old Testament promises. And so while Matthew makes these very direct connections, you know, he's telling us that this, you know, this was done so that it could be fulfilled. He's got that little formula that he repeats throughout his gospel. The way Luke is framing this in his first chapter is no less profound from that sort of patterning across the Old Testament and into the new. It's clear that he understands that all of these different lines of thought and promise and hope from the Old Testament are being drawn together in Jesus. The difference is the way he narrates it. And so this initial narration where where Mary is given this message that she is going to bear Jesus is a demonstration that we should have hope because nothing is impossible with God. God can make these things happen even when we're not expecting them, even from lowly circumstances, and there is nothing that is impossible for him. Let me ask you a serious question. If something triggered a major market drop in the coming months, would your retirement be ready or exposed? With inflation, market volatility, and ongoing global uncertainty, more families are taking a closer look at whether their retirement plan is truly built to hold up. And many are finding that adding a layer of protection makes a lot of sense. Sanctuary Metals is a Christian-owned company that helps families strengthen their retirement savings with physical gold and silver through a gold IRA. During uncertain times, many people look to precious metals as a way to add stability when other assets may be under pressure. If you'd like to explore whether a gold IRA is a good fit for your situation, Sanctuary Metals makes it easy to get started. Text GUIDE to 94878 to receive your free retirement defense guide or call 888-958-6579 to speak with one of their knowledgeable team members. Again, text GUIDE to 94878 or call 888-958-6579. And I think that should give us hope as we move into the Christmas season. The Jews were really waiting a very long time for God to do something, to act on their behalf in a very powerful way. And they weren't really sure what he was going to do. They knew what they hoped he was going to do, but they weren't really sure what he was going to do. And so when Jesus comes on the scene, there are various Jewish rulers who simply don't see Jesus as the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies. But as the New Testament helps us understand, Jesus was a powerful fulfillment of these prophecies. He is the hope of Israel. He is the one who is coming. This is the way that God is going to fulfill all the promises that he made to the ancient Israelites. This is the way that God is going to usher in the renewal of the covenant so that as the Gentiles flow into the nation of Israel and they have their hearts circumcised through faith, that they can also follow and obey and live underneath Christ's authority as we see in the Great Commission. And so there's a lot of different aspects to this that we can come through, but I really love the symmetry of these two narratives and the way that we see the God overcoming the biological challenges that we face with Elizabeth and Mary. And then the way that the questions have this interesting symmetry of how the two people who are given messages by the angel then respond in a question and have that question answered. And so as we just start our Christmas season, I think it's important to have these stories in our minds and our hearts, really thinking about them and remembering that Christmas is about more than, certainly more than about Santa and reindeer. That's sort of a secondary thought for Christians. For Christians, this is the moment of the incarnation. This is the moment when God became man and dwelt among us. This is the moment when Jesus, you know, through his decision to become man, sets aside the voluntary use of his attributes, his divine attributes, sees the equality with God as not something to be used for his own advantage, but surrenders that for us and comes to earth to have a ministry and ultimately to be crucified and resurrected and glorified, but to suffer for our sins and to give atonement for our sins so that those of us who believe in him might have eternal life. And so this is a profound season for Christians and it all starts with these two prophecies, one to one of John the Baptist and one given to Mary about the way Jesus is going to come into the world. So hopefully this gives you a little bit of clarity, a good start to the Christmas season. And as you listen through the month of December, we're going to be doing a series of these episodes where we're going to talk through different passages and just talk about these various aspects of the Christmas story that sometimes we leave forgotten. And so as we go through these, I'm looking forward to going through some of them. I've had a lot of fun studying for this and so I'm hoping that it will be an encouragement to you all as well. If you have been encouraged by Thinking Christian either through this episode or through any of the others you've listened to, and we really do appreciate everybody listening. We've had a fantastic year. We just came off of sort of our one-year anniversary where we really kicked off and we've done, we've had a great year and so we really appreciate everybody listening. We appreciate you downloading the episodes. We appreciate you subscribing. But if you've been blessed by Thinking Christian, I just encourage you to think about supporting our ministry here at Thinking Christian and there's a link in the description of this episode that you can click on and go and give a gift and there's a free download attached and all that kind of good stuff. But if you've been encouraged by this ministry, we just ask you to think about that, prayerfully think about that. Also prayerfully think about subscribing if you haven't subscribed yet or leaving a positive review on Apple or Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts. We really appreciate you all. We really can't do this without you. There would be no point in doing it without you. And so hopefully as we go through the month of December, this will be a blessing to you as it's been a blessing to me to just study these things and to think about how to communicate them. So thanks very much for listening and we will see you on the next episode of Thinking Christian. I just want to take a second to thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership with us on the Thinking Christian podcast. If you go to lifeaudio.com, you'll find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts in their network. They've got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more. This is my skyship, Dreamer. My cargo is stories, and our destination, dreams. With Abide Sleep Stories for Kids, you can help your children fall asleep fast and learn about God. To find these kids' bedtime stories, go to lifeaudio.com or search your favorite podcast app for Abide Stories for Kids. You can also download the Abide app for more biblical meditations at abide.com.