DECEMBER 7th, 2025 PASTOR DON PIEPER
Luke's Gospel Of Grace Malachi 4:1-6a/Luke 1:5-20
“SETTING THE STAGE”
Last week heard how Paul's traveling buddy, Dr. Luke, had interviewed countless eye witnesses and carefully investigated previously written accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry in order “to also write an accurate account of these events to reassure you of the truth you were taught.’ (Luke 1:4)
But when would you begin such an account, such an amazing story? Mark begins his gospel with John the Baptist preaching, John begins with a theological prologue and Matthew begins with Jesus' genealogy. Luke, on the other hand, decides to begin with Jesus' back story. It reminds me of a certain six-year-old boy who called his dad at work one day...
Dad: Hello?
Calvin: Hi Dad! It's me, Calvin. Will you tell me a story?
Dad: Calvin, I'm at work! I don't have time to tell you a story right now! I'm very busy!
Now get off the phone! I'm expecting an important call.
Calvin: Ok Dad. I'll just stay here quietly growing up at an unbelievable rate, never spending
much special time with my Dad, who's always working.
Dad: Alright! This is the story of the hydraulic pump, the wheel shaft and the evil leaky valve.
Calvin: Sounds pretty boring, Dad. Does this story have a back story?
Dad: (sigh) Yes, it's called, the surprise delivery of parts and labor.
Amazingly enough, Luke also begins with a surprise delivery, involving parts and labor and “a Jewish priest by the name of Zechariah.”(1:5) I don’t know a thing about this guy yet but I already feel sorry for him. In school they always did things in alphabetical order and poor Zechariah, would've always been in the back of the line. At recess he would've been the last one on the playground, at grad-uation waited until the end and got his diploma last and at every potluck, he got what the leftovers.
Poor guy! But apparently his name was the least of his problems. In Jewish culture it was a point of pride and prestige to have a large family, but poor Zechariah - he and his wife Elizabeth, haven’t been able to conceive a single child. “They had no children!” Luke tells us. (Luke 1:7)
Luke tells us they’re very old! (v.7) How old? Very old! The clear implication is that they’re way too old to be having babies. And yet one day poor old Zechariah shuffles into the temple and encounters one of God’s cosmic messengers who tells Zechariah that he’s going to be a daddy. Can you imagine? The shock alone of meeting one of God’s finest must’ve rattled him to the bone!
“Zechariah? What are you doing hiding behind the altar! Don’t be afraid. I’ve got great news. You’re going to have a son! Zechariah? Get up off the floor – I’m talking to you!”
It must've been quite the shock! First their neighbors gossiped about why God was punishing them. (After all they were empty nesters without having a nest in the first place) - and now this?! They were old enough to pay the maternity bills from their social security income! They’re the talk of the town: “What are those old timers trying to prove? Someone should tell them that Geritol and Gerbels baby food don’t mix!” So what’s going on here? What kind of back story is this, any way?
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Three observations for your consideration: One, Luke is intentional about establishing the his-toricity of the events in question. Zechariah and Elizabeth's baby is born during the reign of Herod the Great, who ruled from 37 B.C. to 4 B.C. That places these events in a specific period of time in human history – a fact that any of Luke’s contemporaries could easily have cross-referenced.
Two, Luke shares this back story to show how God was at work setting the stage. More on that in a moment. And three, Luke wants to highlight the flurry of supernatural activity that preceded and foreshadowed the birth of Jesus. This last factor is particularly significant because at this point it had been centuries since the last biblical prophet, angel, or anything supernatural had graced the scene.
Now, as Zechariah enters the temple to do his religious duty, there begins an outburst of supernatural activity. God is suddenly on the move, evident in at least six distinct ways.
First, is this cosmic, angelic visitor, a supernatural being representing and sent by God. It’s the first such angelic guest since, well, since, God sent one of his powerful beings to protect and encourage Daniel’s three friends in the fiery furnace, hundreds of years earlier. There'll be more angels on the way
Second, as noted, the angel brings news of a supernatural pregnancy. The whole town will watch with wonder and amazement as Elizabeth carries this child full term and then delivers a child that even with today’s advanced medicine would be virtually impossible. Not only does the angel’s appearance reveal that God is on the move but so does Elizabeth’s growing tummy. It is a pregnancy that foreshadows an even more amazing one to come!
Third, Zechariah is informed that his son “will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth.” (v. 15) This is also unheard of. Never before has a child been filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother’s womb! Not only that, but this is also the first glimpse of something new on the way. The Holy Spirit is stirring, and filling person after person connected with the birth of Jesus, including Zechariah himself, as Luke reports later: “Everyone who heard about John's birth reflected on these eveents and wondered, 'What will this child turn out to be? Then his father, Zechariah, was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied about the boy...!” (Luke 1:66-67) So it begins!
Fourth, the child is given a name chosen from above. “The angel said...,' you are to name him John.'” (Luke 1:13) When Elizabeth later announces that the child’s name is to be “John”, the people can’t understand it. The Jewish custom is to give the first born the name of either his father or another notable patriarch in the family. ‘There’s no ‘John’ in the family tree! Who chose this name?’ It recalls that old E.F. Hutton comercial: 'When EF Hutton speaks....! Inquiring minds want to know!'
Fifth, the angel tells Zechariah that their son will be a prophet akin to Elijah. To this day, Elijah is considered the greatest of all the prophets of Israel. At every Passover the Jews leave a seat open for him. With this prophetic word the angel Gabriel is connecting this supernatural event with the words of the prophets: “Look, I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great day of the Lord’s arrival. His preaching will turn the hearts of fathers to their children.” (Malachi 4:5-6a/Luke 1:17)
And Sixth, Zechariah’s disbelief leads to his supernaturally losing his voice.(v. 20) How is that supernatural you may ask? Well, when was the last time you met a preacher who had nothing to say? A speechless preacher – unheard of! The way he lost it and regained it will turn people's heads...! “They realized he must've seen a vision...!” And later: “Awe fell upon the whole neighborhood!”
(Luke 1:22, 65)
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It reminds me of the preacher who called a deacon one Sunday morning and asked him to preach for him because he was sick. But instead of lying in bed the preacher grabbed his golf clubs and went out to the golf range. As he played Peter and the Lord watched. That morning he played the game of his life, hitting multiple hole in one shots. Peter couldn’t understand it. After the preacher hit his fourth hole in one Peter couldn’t stand it any longer. “Lord, why are you being so good to him? Shouldn’t he pay for his deception? Where’s the justice in his getting to play so well?”
The Lord answered, “Peter, who’s he going to tell?”
So there's Zechariah – he’s met an angel and lived to - well, not to talk about it. He’s got the scoop – it's the first angel sighting in over 500 years - but he can’t utter a word. When he finally walks out of the temple, and is only able to respond to his friends’ questions by engaging them with a game of chirades....., they know God is on the move!
Luke starts with this back story in order to tell Jesus’ story because all of this supernatural activity is directly related to what is to follow. If Shakespeare was right, and all the world’s a stage, than God’s setting the stage for something out of this world, in this world - the greatest story ever told!
God has been setting the stage for centuries by way of the prophets and now a new day has dawned! God is on the move! Luke’s account, and reference to prophetic fulfillment, points to a God who loves to set in motion in advance our liberation – and to heighten our anticipation of it.
In fact, isn’t that what God is up to even now? In spite of this season of political polarity, God's been tearing down the denominational barriers that have long divided the church. At the community Thanksgiving service folks from seven congregations worshipped together, many of whom expressed their longing to me for more of the same. It recalls similar experiences at Alpha conferences.... Since Alpha hit our shores I’ve also seen and heard testimony after testimony of the powerful transformation of individual lives and entire congregations as hearts and lives are set on fire for the Lord through the Holy Spirit. If ours is to be a biblical faith and God is indeed on the move, leading us forward, then we are being called to boldly go in a direction that can only be realized by supernatural means!
I’ve read in countless publications, and numerous e-mails of the same kind of thing happening all over the globe – of an increasing openness to the work and power of the Holy Spirit – amazing things that God is doing! In India, China and Africa Christians are casting out demons and healing those afflicted from birth. In England, a country virtually spiritually dead, there’s talk of revival. In the Middle East, muslims are coming to faith in Jesus as a result of dreams, visions and miracles!
It's like that magical moment in the Narnia books when the four children are first told of Aslan, the great lion, who represents Jesus in the books. When the kids are told that “Aslan is on the move!” they all began to ask about him at once for “this wonderfully strange feeling had come over them - like the first signs of spring, like some profound good news was in the air!”
“Who's Alsan...? Why he's the king, the Lord of the whole wood, but not often here, never in my time or my father's time. But word has reached us that his arrival has come!” said Mr. Beaver.
(from C.S. Lewis' The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe)
Zechariah and Elizabeth woke up one day to discover to their shock and to their delight that God was up to something new. God was on the move. Zechariah couldn’t believe it and as a result wound up literally speechless. Elizabeth was tickled by that, but mostly she was in awe, her heart aquiver with joy and anticipation: “How kind the Lord is! He has taken away my disgrace!” (Luke 1:25)
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God wants to take away your disgrace as well, whatever that may be. God is up to something new! Like the people of old, you may have been waiting for God to answer your prayers, prayers for healing, for your grief to be abated, for some form of encouragement or another. Like Zechariah you may find yourself wondering to yourself, “How can I be sure this will happen?” (Luke 1:18)
God's cosmic response rings true...: “My words will certainly be fulfilled at the proper time!”
(Luke 1:20)
God is on the move! May that promise help you experience that strange feeling of good news!