The Day the Silence Broke

Let's pray together. Father God, we thank you for this wonderful, glorious day. The opportunity we have to celebrate you. The opportunity we have to see only Jesus Christ our Lord. And we ask that as we continue our study in this glorious Gospel of Luke, that we would be able to see the plan of salvation unfold before our eyes, as you had it all mapped out in eternity past, as to how you would send your son, Jesus Christ, to be the Savior of the world. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Turn with me in your Bible, if you would, to the book of Luke, Luke chapter 1.

Luke chapter 1, and we're going to continue our study on the person and work of Jesus Christ our Lord. There are specifically four accounts in the Bible, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, that tell us about the person and work of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. We are studying Luke's Gospel. If you were with us 11 years ago, we were studying the Gospel of Mark. Now we're studying the Gospel of Luke. Ten years from now, we will study the Gospel of John. Twenty years from now, the Gospel of Matthew. That's our plan.

Hopefully, you'll be with us that long. Maybe not. Maybe you'll go home to be with the Lord, and you won't have to hear me preach on it. You'll know everything anyway. But the bottom line is this. Luke understands that the coming of the Messiah is a supernatural event. A supernatural act of God. And we understand that in Luke's Gospel, there are many accounts of the supernatural acts of God. And with the coming of the Messiah, it's all about how God became flesh. The incarnation of God. The enfleshment of God.

That is the greatest miracle in the history of the world. God becoming man. A virgin giving birth to the Messiah. That is the apex of all miracles. And every other miracle performed by God always points to that one miracle. You need to understand that. You need to grasp the fact that every miracle that God ever did points to the one supreme miracle of the incarnation of God. When we study this Gospel, that will become clearer and clearer to you because that's how it unfolds. Luke records 20 of the 35 miracles that our Lord performed that are recorded.

John tells us in John 20.31 that there were many more miracles that our Lord had performed while he was on earth. And yet these certain ones were recorded that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ. That Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. John says these things happen that you might believe that Jesus is exactly who he said he was. Luke records 20 of those 35 miracles. You must understand that a miracle is a supernatural event. A miracle is God intervening in the life of a man, in the life of a nation, in such a supernatural way that it cannot be explained by natural laws.

It cannot be explained scientifically. There is no human reason as to how and why it happened. That by definition is a miracle. That means that when you go to the mall and you can't find a parking place and you begin to pray that God opens up a parking place and lo and behold there's one right next to the door and you have this tendency to say oh it was a miracle of God that he gave me that parking place right next to the door. It was not a miracle of God. It can be explained in human natural or scientific reason.

It wasn't supernatural. It might be an answer to your prayer but it wasn't a miracle of God. When you study the miracles of God and this is going to be kind of a rude awakening for most of us. When you study the miracles of God in the Bible they all center on Israel and the Jewish people. You must understand that. It'll change the way you view television preachers. You must understand that when you read the account of the Bible there are three periods in history where there have been an outpouring of miracles.

The first was the time of Moses and we've studied the life of Moses and the 10 plagues that came upon the Egyptians and while they came upon the Egyptians they were specifically designed so that Israel will believe that their Redeemer is going to prove himself to them.

And so when they exodus Egypt and they get to the Red Sea and God parts the water again that's a supernatural act of God and they go through as on dry land and when they need water, water gushes out of a rock. When they need food God provides it for them every single day from heaven. All those are supernatural events. They were all designed for the nation of Israel to believe in their Redeemer. That was the first occasion where there was an outpouring of miracles on this earth.

The second time was the time of Elisha and Elisha. They were the only two prophets and there were many prophets in Israel who were able to perform the miraculous. And those two prophets Elisha and Elisha were used by God because Israel had fallen so deeply into apostasy, so deeply into Baal worship that God would once again prove himself, listen, to Israel the Jewish nation that they might understand that their God was the true God and the only God. The third occasion in which God had an outpouring of miracles was of course during the time of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ when he was on this earth.

And the outpouring of miracles at that time was so great that all disease had pretty much been banished from the land of Israel because the Bible says that everybody who came to Jesus he healed.

And so we see and we'll see different accounts throughout the study of Luke on how our Lord actually did that and why he did that. But let me re-emphasize that those three periods in history are the only time that there have been an outpouring of miracles in the world.

And each time that it took place it happened specifically for a group of people that is the nation of Israel. Like it or not everything that happens happens for that little piece of real estate in the Middle East. We are just the peripheral. We are the extras. I know it's a little hard for us as Americans to understand that. The world does not revolve around us. It truly revolves around the land of Israel. The quicker you understand that the better you'll understand your Bible. Now understand this as well.

God outside of those three periods of histories did not perform miracles except on a very rare occasion. Again this is going to be a rude awakening for most people. Very rarely did God ever do a miracle. For example Daniel in the lion's den. Okay? Daniel was not eaten by the lions. Was that a miracle? Probably not. A providential act of God? Yes it was. But you can explain through human reasoning as to why or natural thought processes as to why Daniel wasn't eaten by the lions. But it wasn't a miracle.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego? Now that's a miracle. In the fiery furnace and not being burned up. You see God would transcend the natural laws. He would supersede the natural laws of man. And he would intervene in such a way that he would preserve his people while in the fire when naturally and scientifically they should have been consumed and destroyed. They were not. In fact there was a third person in there.

The angel of the Lord which is the pre-incarnate Christ. And when they came out of that fiery furnace they didn't even smell like smoke. Friends that was a miracle. But again it was a miracle centered on the people of God the Jewish nation and what God was going to do in the life of Israel. So please understand that. It will change your prayer life. It will change the way you see what God does in the lives of people. And as we go through our study in the book of Luke you will see why it is Jesus performed miracles.

Everything points to the one miracle. The incarnation. Every miracle that God performed all comes back to the one miracle. God becoming flesh. And I will say this that there never is a miracle ever performed by God that doesn't ultimately point back to that one miracle. Now having said that Luke understands it. Luke gets it. And we know through history that there hasn't been a supernatural act of God in over 800 years. When Luke writes the gospel story about the coming of the Messiah. We know that there hasn't been a vision of an angel in over 500 years.

And that vision was to the prophet Zachariah. We know that God hasn't spoken in over 400 years. That's where we pick up the story. In Luke chapter 1. God has not done anything supernatural in over 800 years. Miracles are not the norm. Miracles are the exception. Miracles are rare. And miracles are designed specifically for the nation of Israel to believe that their Messiah has come. Or will come. It was designed specifically for the nation of Israel to believe in the coming of that Messiah. Folks we need to do better at reading our Bibles.

We need to do better at understanding the history of the world in light of the plan of Almighty God. We just read our Bibles and come up with these highfalutin ideas as to how we think God operates. But when you read the Bible you know how operate how God operates. You don't have to think or wonder about how he operates. Read our Bible. Study your Bible. And you begin to understand how God acts. And that's what the story of Luke is all about. As he unfolds for us the whole redemptive story from the beginning of the birth of John the Baptist all the way to the very end.

When he goes through the gospel of the end times in his gospel as well as the book of Acts and how the gospel begins to spread to the Roman world. He gives us a great history lesson that we need to grasp and we need to understand. So let's pick up our narrative. Luke chapter 1. Having said all that Luke chapter 1 verse number 8. Now it came about while he that is Zacharias was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division. According to the custom of the priestly office he was chosen by law to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.

And the whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside at the hour of the incense offering. And an angel of the Lord appeared to him standing to the right of the altar of incense. And Zacharias was troubled when he saw him and fear gripped him. But the angel said to him do not be afraid Zacharias for your petition has been heard. And your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son and you will give him the name John. And you will have joy and gladness and many will rejoice at his birth for he will be great in the sight of the Lord.

And he will drink no wine nor liquor and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother's womb. And he will turn back many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God. And it is he who will go as a forerunner before him in the spirit and power of Elijah. To turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous. So as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Today in Luke chapter 1 verse number 8 the silence of God is broken. On this day having been 800 years without a supernatural act, 500 years without a vision of an angel, 400 years without any word from God.

The silence all of a sudden breaks with the appearance of Gabriel at the altar of incense in the temple to a man by the name of Zacharias. Let me look with you this morning at just three very simple points.

The first is the activity before the angel. The second is the appearance of the angel. And the third is the announcement from the angel.

Okay. First of all the activity before the angel. Two things you need to note. First is the place Zacharias was.

And second the purpose as to why Zacharias was in the temple. Remember Zacharias as we saw last week was a certain priest. We told you that there were some 18,000 priests in Israel at this time. And Zacharias was one of the 18,000. It would be easy for us to understand if the Bible said that Zacharias was one of those great priests. He was the best of the 18,000. He was a fabulous man. Everybody liked him. Everybody looked to Zacharias. They knew that he was the best of all the priests. But it doesn't say that.

It just says that he was a certain priest. He was one among the multitude of priests. See we like to think that God works through certain kind of people. That God will work through the popular. And God will look work through those people that are really good for the kingdom of God. The people that that God saves because they were so talented. That's not how God works. God chooses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. In other words the Bible says he chooses the moronic things, the morons of the world to confound the wise.

So the church is full of morons. It's always good to know that isn't it? It's always good to build your self-esteem when you come to church. But that's who we are. We're just the foolish people. And God chooses the foolish things that confound the wise. And this was just a certain priest. He was one among many priests. Was he a righteous man? Yes. We saw that last week. Did he walk blameless before God? Yes he did. But there was a certain stigma that he had. He had no children. We know that he was advanced in years that put him someplace over the age of 80 years of age.

He was an older gentleman having bore the stigma his whole life ever since he was married to Elizabeth. They were without child. And we told you last week how the Jewish rabbis thought about that. That to be without child was to be excommunicated from God. So it wasn't the fact that he was a popular guy. It wasn't the fact that everybody liked the guy. Quite the contrary. They looked at him with disdain because he had no children. And yet this man, Zacharias, was performing his priestly duties. I like what the Bible says when it says, now it came about while he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division according to the custom of the priestly office.

You know it wasn't like he got up that day and said, you know Elizabeth, I'm not going to the temple to do my priestly duty. See he only goes twice a year. Remember we told you 24 divisions. You only go twice a year as the priest to the temple. He had two weeks of service. He could have very easily said, you know what I'm so tired of praying to God and he not answering our prayers. We've been praying for upwards of 60 years. No answer. Never says he doubted God. Never says he questioned God or anything.

He was a righteous man. He walked blamelessly before God and he did his duties faithfully to his God. Isn't it good to know that there is somebody when they pray for something for such a long period of time and receive no answer that they don't get discouraged, they don't quit, but they're faithful to doing what God called them to do. Are you that way? I trust that you are. Zacharias was. And so this place he was at was the temple. Performing his priestly duties, doing those things that priests do in the place that priests do them before God.

He knew his life was before God, but there was something unique that happens on this day that had never happened to him before and would never happen again. Listen to what the Bible says.

It says he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. He was chosen by a lot. Now some priests never had the opportunity to do what Zacharias did. You had to be chosen by a lot. It'd be like taking a whole bunch of pieces of paper and writing your name on them, throw them into a hat or to a hammock and then drawing your name out of there. You know what I'm saying? And saying, well, Zacharias, you're the guy. You have to understand this is a fabulous time for him because you see what he's going to do.

He is going to enter the holy place of the temple. He's never been there before and he will never go there again, but he was chosen by a lot on this day to offer up on the altar of incense that great sacrifice for the people of God. The Bible says that there were a multitude of people out there.

Why? Because in the morning and in the evening the people would go to the temple to pray and they would pray for redemption. They would pray for forgiveness of sins. They would they would pray and offer thanksgiving to God. They would pray for the coming of the Messiah. They would pray for the redemption of Israel. They would pray for the kingdom of God to come to them. They would pray vehemently day in day out. They would come specifically in the morning, specifically at night. And the Bible says in Luke chapter one that there were a multitude of people.

So that would probably mean that it was at the latter part of the day instead of the first part of the day.

Why is that? Well, because that's when most of the confession would take place. I mean, after you wake up, yeah, you kind of go to work. You're not going to necessarily go and confess your sin because, I mean, you were asleep for eight hours, right? Not much sin took place. But when you go through the whole day and there's lots of sin that happens and lots of immoral thoughts, you've got to go to the temple, pray, ask for forgiveness from God, offer thanksgiving for that, that forgiveness and to pray for the Messiah to come and to redeem your soul.

Those things would take place. So there were a multitude of people there, meaning that it was probably at the evening time that Zacharias was chosen to offer the burnt incense. And you must understand what's taking place in the life of this man. This is a one-time event. You're only chosen once in your entire life and some men are never chosen. But it just so happens on this day that Zacharias is chosen. God is orchestrating the events of life to bring about his perfect purposes. God has a perfect plan.

It's always in operation. And so what Zacharias would do is that as the author of incense, it would stand right outside the veil of the holy of holies. And what he would do would take the coals off of the brazen altar, put them in a golden bowl, enter the holy place, having never been there before, knowing that he will never get there again, walk with fear and trepidation and pour those coals onto the altar of incense, pour the incense on the coals, and the smoke would rise. That smoke was very symbolic.

That sweet aroma would rise up to the heavens because it symbolized what the people were doing on the outside of the temple. Their prayers would be going up to God. It was symbolic of their submission to authority, their dependence upon God. And as that incense and that smoke would rise to the heavens, it was symbolic of the people's prayers on the outside going up to God. Zacharias had never done that before. Zacharias had never been there before. And now he goes right outside the veil to the holy of holies.

Remember, only the high priest could go into the holy of holies only once a year, and that was on the day of atonement. Remember that? And so he would go, and that altar of incense was right outside that holy of holies. And inside the holy of holies was, of course, the Ark of the Covenant, which is representative of the presence of God. So from his perspective, this was the closest he was ever going to get to God. I mean, he's walking in there, man. You can imagine him looking around, boy, trying to, man, this is amazing.

And walking with that golden bowl over to the altar of incense, thinking, man, this is great. I can't believe I'm here. Pour those coals out, put the incense on, the smoke goes up. Wow. And with great fear and trepidation. Why? He doesn't want to mess up. He doesn't want to do anything wrong. He doesn't want to have a bad thought. I mean, God forbid you're walking into the holy place, which is right next to the holy of holies, and to have a bad thought. I mean, God might zap you dead right there.

I mean, who knows? And so he wouldn't go in and linger. He wouldn't go in and just stay around and just kind of, take pictures with his new digital camera to make sure he could take him home to his wife Elizabeth. I mean, he was in and he was out for fear that he might do something wrong and God would kill him. That's why when the high priest went in on the day of atonement to offer sacrifices, he had bells on the bottom of his robe. Because if the bells ever stopped dinging, he was probably dead.

Well, nobody could go in to get him because they die. So they had to have this big old long hook that they would just bring it underneath the veil and get ahold of it and just drag him out because he was dead. You couldn't go in there. See? So they had to listen for the bells. The bells weren't ringing for a long period of time. He was probably dead. He thought the wrong thought. He said the wrong thing. He offered the wrong sacrifice. He didn't do it right. And he was dead. God had a prescribed way of doing things.

He had to follow exactly what he said. So Zacharias would go in. He wouldn't linger. He'd do what he needed to do and get out of there. Except on this day, there was the appearance of an angel. That's point number two.

And I want you to notice with me two things, the timing of it and the terror in it. The timing of it. Perfect timing. I told you earlier, God has a perfect plan. It always runs on schedule. God's never late. God's never early. God's always on time. And there was this angel. The Bible says these words, and an angel of the Lord appeared to him standing to the right of the altar of incense.

Perfect timing. He goes in. He puts the coals on the altar of incense. Puts the incense on. The smoke goes up. He looks up and lo and behold, there is an angel. Now listen, there's nobody in there except him. He's not expecting to see anybody else, let alone an angel. So you can imagine how startled he must have been. I mean, there's nobody in there except him. God's presence is in the Holy of Holies. So he just figures he's in there by himself. He does what he's supposed to do. He wants to turn around and get out of there as quickly as possible for fear that he might die for doing something wrong, saying something wrong, thinking the wrong kind of thought.

And all of a sudden, whammo, there is an angel that appears to the right of the altar of incense. Is there a significance that the angel is at the right of the altar, not the left of the altar? I don't think so. There might be, but I don't necessarily think so. I mean, I think Luke's trying to let you know that there was an angel and this is where he was. This is what took place. Perfect timing. But look at the terror in it.

The text says fear gripped him. He was in a panic. He was troubled. He was more than just startled. He feared for his life. And, you know, Luke is really good about this because the same thing happens to Mary a little later on. And then, of course, to the shepherds in the fields. I mean, Mary's in her home and she's not expecting anything to take place in her life. And the shepherds in the fields, they're not expecting anything to take place in their life. I mean, after all, they're just shepherds and they're just doing what shepherds do, tending their flocks by night.

And all of a sudden, the glory of the Lord shines around. There stands this angel. So you can imagine what must have been going through Zacharias' mind. He's trying to get out and all of a sudden there's an angel right before him. And that leads us to point number three.

And that is the announcement from the angel. Two things you need to see. The solace in that announcement and the sun that comes from that announcement. Let's know what it says. But the angel said to him, do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard. Do not be afraid. That's the angel's favorite opening line. Don't be afraid. This is not a judgment. You can imagine what he must have been thinking. Did I do something wrong? Is God going to kill me? Is this angel going to slay me? I mean, after all, this is a perfect holy angel.

The Bible says over in Luke chapter one, verse number 19, and the angel answered and said to him, I am Gabriel who stands in the presence of God.

So here is Gabriel. He's coming from the presence of God. So you know that he's shining with all this glory. He is perfectly holy. He is a sinless angel. And here is a sinful man. And whenever sinful man encounters a sinless being, there is automatic terror, panic, and fear. And so he's probably thinking I did something wrong. He's going to slay me. And the angel says, don't be afraid, Zacharias. It's all right. It's not about judgment. It's about blessing. It's about blessing you and Elizabeth. And what you're going to receive is great joy.

Great joy, not only for you, but for many people at the birth of your son, John. Wow. Can you imagine the scene? His fear turns to disbelief. And we'll see this next time we talk about the disbelief of Zacharias. I mean, he is utterly shocked. Your petition has been heard. Now, what you notice in Luke 11 and Luke 18, Luke's going to speak about persistence in prayer.

In Luke 18, he concludes with the words of our Lord when he says, will the son of man find this kind of faith on the earth? You see, it's about persistence in prayer. Your petition has been heard. Well, it's about time. It's been 60 years. I'm sure glad that the Lord finally heard what I've been saying.

He's not going to say, say anything like that. But the angel says, you've been hurt. And maybe, maybe, maybe when he was offering the incense, maybe he offered up one more prayer. Oh God, can I have a son? Can I have a child? Can Elizabeth conceive? Just, just one more time Lord, let me ask you.

And the angel says, your petition has been heard. It's not like the petition you prayed 30 years ago and you stopped praying for. We're answering now.

No, it lets you know that there has been a continual petitioning of the Lord God for a child. He never gave up. And I read this story and I thought to myself, how many times do we give up when we pray? Because we prayed for it for a week and it didn't happen or a month or a year or two years. We think, well, I guess God's not going to hear my prayer. I guess God's not going to answer it. So I just will move on to something else. These people are praying their whole married life. The answer comes, John, let me tell you about your joy.

At this point, the 400 years of silence has been broken. God is speaking to this angel, Gabriel. This is what's going to happen. This is how it's going to come. He talks about the son you're going to have and you're going to call him John, John. And we'll talk more about this as we talk about Zacharias after he becomes deaf and mute or deaf and dumb. He's unable to speak. He's unable to hear. He can't do anything. That's because of his disbelief. We'll talk about that. We talk about his disbelief about what the angel said.

And for nine months, he can't say a thing. Now, can you imagine waiting your whole life for something to happen? It happens. You can't tell anybody. Can you imagine? Can you imagine going home to your wife and not being able to tell her what took place in the temple? Can you imagine going home to your wife? Honey, how was your day? Honey, how was your day? Sweetie, how was your day? How come you're not talking to me, honey? Are you hiding something? Don't you have anything for me to hear, sweetheart?

What's wrong with you? Speak to me, Zacharias. What's your problem? And Zacharias is given all kinds of... He can't say anything. He can't say anything. And for nine months, in Luke chapter one, when he finally is able to say something, the praise that he offers is absolutely fabulous.

Fabulous. But the angel says, you're going to call his name John. John's going to be his name. Why John? Why that name? John means God is gracious. He's the forerunner to the Messiah. The Messiah's name is Yeshua. Jehovah is salvation. Because of the grace of God, there is salvation of God. And so it's the perfect name for the forerunner to the Messiah. You should call his name John. Now listen, let me tell you something about this son.

The Bible says these words, he will be great in the sight of the Lord. You need to understand something about John. He is going to be a great man. The Bible says in Luke seven and Matthew 11 that he was the greatest man.

Luke seven, ever to be born. Matthew 11, ever to live. John the Baptist, listen carefully, was the greatest man to ever live, according to the words of Jesus. There has been no man who has been born of a woman that is greater than John the Baptist. Greater than Moses, greater than Abraham, greater than David, greater than Isaiah, Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah, Daniel. There has been no greater man born of a woman than John the Baptist. Why? Bear with me. I'll tell you in just a few minutes why he was the greatest.

But Jesus says he will be great in the sight of God, in the sight of the Lord. That phrase in the sight of God is a phrase of divine approval, of divine favor. This tells us about God's justification. It talks to us about God's election. It talks to us about God's choosing. God had chosen this man specifically to be used by God. God chose him from eternity past to be the forerunner to the Messiah. He will be great in the sight of God. Meaning, remember, Zacharias was righteous in the sight of God.

That is, he was declared righteous before God. John the Baptist is going to be great in the sight of God. The only way you can be great in God's sight is to have your sins taken care of. That's the only way. You can't be great in the sight of God and be a sinful man. Your sins must be dealt with. That means that John the Baptist will be a justified man. He will be declared right before God as well. In other words, John the Baptist was a great man, number one, because he was favored by God.

He was graced by God. Remember what Gabriel would say to Mary? Mary, do not be afraid because you have been favored in the sight of God. You've been graced in God's sight. You've been graced by God himself. John the Baptist was not great by worldly standards. He was great by God's standards. And we as people of the Lord today need to realize that we need to be great in God's eyes and forget about trying to be great in the world's eyes. And we need to focus in on what God says.

And John the Baptist was favored by God because he was great in the sight of God. And not only does the angel say that he's great in the sight of God, but that he will drink no wine nor liquor. He will have no great juice nor will he have strong drink. And if you're with us on our study of the book of Proverbs, you know the difference between the two. The point is this, not only was he a favored man, he would be a focused man. There would be no wine. There would be no hard liquor. He would drink none of those things.

Why? Because he is going to be focused and he can't have any distractions in his life. And we know what the Bible says in Leviticus 10 about the priest, that when they went in to serve the Lord in the temple, there was to be no wine to touch their lips.

Proverbs 31 talks about kings and rulers. There was to be no wine to touch their lips. Why? Because they have to pass judgment on the acts of people and they can't have their mental faculties at any time marred by any kind of substance. Therefore, John the Baptist will be a focused man. And if you read the whole study of John the Baptist, I mean, the man grows up, he grows up in the Judean wilderness. The Judean wilderness is a barren, parched piece of land in the land of Israel that is hot and dry and filled with nothing but scorpions, snakes, and lizards, and all kinds of foul beasts.

That's where he grew up. This man was a completely focused man, completely focused on what God called him to do. And when he comes out of the Judean wilderness preaching the gospel, repent and believe in the Messiah, be baptized on the basis of the repentance of your sins, he's like a locomotive coming out of the desert. He just appears on the scene because God now sends him forth to preach the gospel of the forerunner to the Messiah. But he couldn't do that if he wasn't focused. He couldn't do that if he'd be distracted.

He couldn't do that, listen, if he was consumed with the things of the world. See, John the Baptist is in the line of the priesthood, right? He should be in the temple doing what his dad did with the priestly garb. But he doesn't have that. He doesn't wear that. He wears the camel skin. He eats the locusts and the honey in the wilderness. Why? He doesn't want any distractions. He doesn't want to keep have anything that would keep him fulfilling the mission that God had designed for him. He was a focused man.

He was a favored man by God. And thirdly, he was a filled man. The Bible says this, he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother's womb.

In other words, he will be controlled. He will be dominated. That word used by Luke throughout his gospel, also in the book of Acts, talks about something that dominates you that's not your own. And this man, John the Baptist, will be dominated by the Spirit of Almighty God. It'll be the Spirit of God that fuels him. It'll be the Spirit of God that fires him because he is controlled or filled with that Spirit. And that's John the Baptist, a great and mighty man of God. And he will turn back many of the sons of Israel to the Lord, their God.

And it is he who will go as a forerunner before him in the Spirit and the power of Elijah. And all the men in Israel knew about Elijah, how he'd fight against apostasy in Israel, how because of the power of God, he was able to call down fire from heaven, and how he would slay over 400 prophets of Baal there in the Kishon Brook there below Mount Carmel. Those of you going to Israel this week, you'll see that on Friday. You'll be able to look off of Mount Carmel, look down at the Kishon Brook, and say that's exactly where Elijah would slay over 400 Baals, worshippers of Baal, false prophets.

Elijah was a strong man. And the angel Gabriel says, listen, he is going to go in the power and in the Spirit of Elijah. He's going to be able to do a great and mighty work. Why? Because he's going to turn the hearts of people back to the Lord. He's going to turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children. Now that's a prophecy of Elijah in Malachi 4. He would be the one who would turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children. And the angel Gabriel says, because he comes in the Spirit and power of Elijah, he will have the similar kind of ministry as Elijah has.

That's why it's interesting to note over in in Matthew 11, after they come down off the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter, James, and John, and they were up there with the Lord, and of course with Moses and Elijah. Remember that story? Matthew 17, it says in verse number 9, and as they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them saying, tell the vision to no one until the dead. And his disciples asked him saying, why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?

And he answered and said, Elijah is coming and will restore all things. But I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands. Then the disciples understood that he had spoken to them about John the Baptist. Jesus says, Elijah has already come.

Why? Because John the Baptist came in the Spirit and power of Elijah, and he would turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children. He would turn the people back. He would prepare the way of the Lord. Exactly what Malachi 3.1 says, which speaks of the first coming of the Messiah.

And this is why John, listen, was so great. Was he great because he was favored by God? Yeah. Was he great because he was focused on God? You bet. Was he great because he was filled with the Spirit of God? Yes, he was. But the essence of greatness, listen, the reason he was the greatest man ever to be born is simply this. He was the first person to point to the Messiah.

Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He was the first person to point out the person of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

That's why he was the greatest who ever lived up to that point. Abraham couldn't do that. Daniel couldn't do that. Joseph couldn't do that. They all knew the Messiah was coming, but they couldn't identify the Messiah. John could identify the Messiah. Now listen to this. Jesus says, I say to you, among those born of woman, there is no one greater than John.

Yet he who is least in the kingdom of God, listen, is greater than he. Wait a minute. John the Baptist is the greatest man ever born of a woman. Jesus said in Matthew 11, he's the greatest man who ever lived, greater than all the mighty prophets of God, greater than our father Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He was the greatest man ever born. Why? Because he was the one privileged to point out and identify the Messiah. And then Jesus says, listen to this, yet he who is least in the kingdom is greater than that.

Know what that tells you? It tells you the essence of true greatness. Here it is. True greatness is pointing people to Jesus, the Messiah, and the least person in the kingdom can do that. Isn't that good? That is so rich and so true. You see, we think that greatness is all about, you know, our money, our bank account, our education, where we live, how we live. That's all just hogwash. Who needs that? Greatness is about pointing people to Jesus, the Messiah. It's able to be able to say, yes, Jesus Christ is the Messiah.

Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. And to be able to do that, the least in the kingdom of God is able to accomplish that feat. And that makes you just as great or greater than John the Baptist. Because you know what? You've got a lot more information than John the Baptist had. You got a lot more information than John the Baptist had. And that's why we say, do people have to believe that Jesus is the Messiah to be saved? You bet. Absolutely. But you will note that in every gospel presentation known to man, 99.9% of them leave that out.

They leave it out completely. You can't. Because that's the essence of greatness, because that's the essence of everything. The incarnation of God, God becoming flesh, becoming man, the Messiah of the world, the Savior of mankind. Jesus is the Messiah. He's it. And John said, there he goes. There he is. And you know what? John hadn't seen Jesus in 30 years. John and Jesus didn't grow up together, play jacks together, you know, throw stones together, go swimming together in the Jordan River. They didn't do that.

John was down in the Judean wilderness. He was focused, man. He had a mission in life. He had to fulfill the plan of God and nothing was going to thwart that plan. God speaks to him and says, now's the time. John's like a locomotive coming out of the desert. Wham. And they said, there he is right there. The lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. There he is. There he goes. That's why he was so great. When's the last time you said to somebody, Hey, let me tell you about Jesus.

Let me show you Jesus. He's the Messiah. And let me tell you why he's the Messiah. Let me tell you why he's the king of the universe.

Let me tell you why Jesus is God. See that I got seven minutes. This is a little side note. The Messiah came. Every Jew knew that he would be the conquering warrior. He'd be the ruler. He would set up his kingdom. They didn't understand the two comings of Messiah. They didn't get it because you see when Messiah comes, he overthrows the government. He sets up his kingdom and he rules because I know some of you are out there asking, why is it when John was in prison, he would send his disciples to the Lord and ask, are you the Messiah?

Well, wait a minute. If he pointed to the Messiah and said, the lamb of God takes away the sin of the world. Then why is it when he was thrown in prison some six months after his ministry, he had a six month ministry. That all he had. Not very long. Was it six months? That's it pointing to the Messiah before Jesus comes on the scene and does what it is he does. And so there was a little bit of overlap between John the Baptist and the ministry of Christ. Not much, maybe three months. So maybe he had a nine month ministry.

He certainly didn't have a year's long ministry. Didn't last very long at all, but it was in a prison. He would send his men to say, are you the Messiah? Because you see, John knew as all the Jews knew that when Messiah would come, he would, he would, he would overthrow the government. He'd set up his kingdom and rule in the house of David. And if you're the Messiah, aren't you going to do that? Because if you're going to do that, why am I in prison? If you're the King, how come I'm in prison? I'm the forerunner to the King.

And you see, Jesus would answer and explain to John, John's disciples exactly what was happening. But John was the greatest man ever born of a woman. And yet, yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than that. Folks, if that doesn't excite you to explain to people, Jesus, the Messiah, something's wrong. Something's wrong because that's what greatness is all about. Why are you favored by God? Why should you be focused on God? And why should you be filled with the spirit of God? Simply this, so that you can fulfill the plan of God, point people to Jesus, the Messiah.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this great and glorious day. And just the wonderful joy we have as the people of God to study the word of God. Thank you, Lord, for what you have said in your word about John the Baptist. What a day it must have been for Zacharias. What a day it must have been for the nation of Israel when John was born. And what a greater day it was when the Messiah arrived. To be able to say, there he is, there's the lamb of God. What a, what a great privilege. And we had that same privilege, Lord, to point people to Jesus Christ, our Lord.

May we never stop doing that. May we be motivated to do it even more. So others will know truly who Jesus Christ is. It would be able to worship you in spirit and in truth. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.