Christmas is Good News
Thought for the day (6)
Friday 13th December
Adrian Lowe
The Story of Zacharias
Is life a lottery?
Luke Chapter 1:5-25
Do you ever think to yourself why do I live where I live? Or, I never thought I would be doing this job, or this just isn’t how I thought my life would turn out.
When we reflect over the course of our lives perhaps we can be forgiven for thinking or indeed believing that chance plays a part in our destiny that somehow life is a bit of a lottery. Understanding the fine balance of God’s providential love and our choice is a huge challenge for us and is the subject for another day. But this story of Zacharias, Elizabeth and their son John is littered with evidence that points to God’s hand being at work in the finest of details of our lives. This gives us great encouragement that He is always weaving His loving purpose into every part of our lives. Let’s just take a moment to explore some of these. You may recall some of them from the short talk on Sunday.
We know that Zacharias and Elizabeth are old and childless, I am sure they must have felt like the Lord has forgotten them. Given Israel’s occupation and loss of favour they must have wondered if the Lord has forgotten the nation of Israel as well. Has He? Or has He remembered both their affliction and the nation’s affrication? Let’s look at one of the fine details woven into their lives by a loving gracious God. The name Zacharias means ‘The Lord remembers’ and Elizabeth’s name means ‘God’s covenant or promise’ Wow! I wonder if they thought about this before they got married. I doubt it. When joined their names mean ‘The Lord has remembered his covenant! This is exactly what God does in this great story, He remembers his covenant and promises both in the form of their son John a forerunner of Jesus who is, as we know the initiator of a new covenant. Isn’t that just staggering!
One more fine detail! Zacharias was a priest serving in one of the priestly divisions of the tribe of Levi (verse 8). Scholars believe that there were 24 divisions and about 5000 priests in each division. This would mean that he would probably only enter the temple to burn incense once in his lifetime. To select which priest would enter the temple they cast lots (verse9). Well I never!…..Zacharias is chosen by lot to offer incense and just as it happens he has an encounter with the angel Gabriel! Was he just lucky? NO The Lord is sovereign! He weavers His sovereign loving purpose into the fine details of our lives. Proverbs 16:33 say’s ‘The lot is cast into the lap, but it’s every decision is from the Lord.’ He leaves nothing to chance!