Prayer Of The Faithful

Believing is Seeing (Luke 1:5-20, 57-58) Do you have to be perfect for God to hear your prayers? Zechariah and Elizabeth obeyed the Law of Moses. For years upon years they had remained faithful to God. They had placed their trust and confidence in the God and prepared for the ministry that God had called them to do. Zechariah and Elizabeth were called righteous & blameless (Luke 1:6) this does not = perfect, but of solid character, faithful and upright Prayer of the “faithful” and “upright” is heard by God (Luke 1:13) God responds to faithful prayer (Heb. 11:1, Mark 11:24) God responds to whole-souled prayer (Jer. 29:13) Prayer demonstrates faith in the existence, power, faithfulness and mercy of God (Heb. 11:6) Does God care about our desires as well as our needs? How long are you willing to wait upon the Lord, remaining faithful? (Luke 18:8) God answers prayer in “the fullness of time” (Gk. Chronos) according to his plan (Gal. 4:4) Nothing is impossible for God (Jer. 32:17, Mark 9:22-24) Both Zechariah and Elizabeth were old, she well beyond what was understood to be child-bearing age (Luke 1:7, see also Heb. 11:11, Sarah) Zechariah (Zacharias) means “God remembers” - Gabriel’s words to Zechariah were perhaps His first contact of this sort in 400 years. Elizabeth means “The Promise/Oath/Faithfulness of God” God responds to persistent prayer (Col. 4:2) Zechariah was blessed/chosen to serve in the temple despite long odds King David divided the Levites into 24 courses for the performance of their duties as priests of Israel in the maintenance and operations of the Temple and its observance of every ordinance of God. Each course, in its turn, would serve in the Temple for only 1 week. The course of Abia, the course that Zechariah was a part of, would have been the 8th course in the order of their service. Jewish history and tradition tell us that there were approximately 18,000 priests of the tribe of Levi who were assigned to perform the duties of the temple at any given time. If we divide 18,000 by 24 we will find that there were 750 priests in each course and it would be impossible to use each priest in a week’s time, therefore many of these priests would only get 1 chance, or maybe never get a chance at all to serve in the Temple and do the job that they committed their entire lives to learn to perform. Due to the huge number of priests, it was determined by drawing lots which of the priests would be privileged to perform his duty that he had been trained to do. On the week when the course of Abia was to serve, one representative

priest would step forward and each man would draw lots. Those whose lots were chosen would get to serve and everyone else would have to wait for another 2 years minimum before another chance would come. In this drawing Zechariah was blessed and chosen to perform the duty that he had trained for all of his life, to burn incense before the Altar of Incense on behalf of the Children of Israel. Incense was burned 2 times daily, once in the morning and once in the evening as a sign of the morning and evening offerings and oblation. While he performed his duties, burning incense upon the Altar of Incense, representing the prayer and worship of Israel unto God, the people of Israel stood outside in prayer and worship until Zechariah would emerge from behind the veil. The priest and the people went before God “hand-in-hand”. What was being done in symbolism inside the Temple was being done in reality outside the Temple. Are we such creatures of religious habit that our belief in and awareness of “the Heavenly realm” has become almost extinct? Despite his years of faithfulness, Zechariah was terrified at the sight of the angel Gabriel and questioned the message that He brought from God. Zechariah was going about his “religious duties” but he never envisioned actually meeting God. People often have trouble accepting what they don’t expect (see John 1:11) Compare Mary’s response (Luke 1:34-38) Do you believe that “the Heavenly realm” joins us in worship? A few years ago that there was young boy who had brought his portable tape player to church to tape the worship service and the preaching for that day. The church was very small and there was only an out-of-tune piano and a rhythm guitar for music but the few people who attended worshipped God and sang praise unto Him. After the service the tape was played back and, in the background, behind the song leader and piano and guitar, you could hear the sounds of a huge choir singing. There was no choir in the church but it was on the tape nonetheless. After sending the tape into a university for examination it was determined that there really were voices in the background but that the range of high notes that the choir was singing were impossible for the voice of any human being. John means “God is merciful and has shown favor” (To whom?, His parents? Himself? Others? see Luke 1:16) The giving of this name broke with Jewish naming traditions, much like John’s life and message did so. It was when Zechariah acknowledged this name that his ability to speak was returned (Luke 1:64)