1 00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:13,100 Hi everyone. Welcome back to daily gospel. 2 00:00:13,100 --> 00:00:16,400 Alexa juices. As always, our goal is to help 3 00:00:16,400 --> 00:00:20,800 you understand the text from a Catholic academic rigorous 4 00:00:20,900 --> 00:00:22,900 perspective. And we do a verse by verse 5 00:00:22,900 --> 00:00:26,800 exegesis of the Gospel. Text from today's mass, we have 6 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:29,300 a longer text today. So let's get straight into it 7 00:00:29,600 --> 00:00:33,300 Luke. Luke chapter 1 verses 5 to 25. 8 00:00:34,500 --> 00:00:38,000 In the days of King Herod of Judea, there lived a priest 9 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:41,800 called Zechariah, who belonged to the abijah section of the 10 00:00:41,800 --> 00:00:45,000 priesthood. And he had a wife Elizabeth by 11 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:47,800 name who was a descendant of Aaron. 12 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:52,700 Both were worthy in the sight of God and scrupulously observed, 13 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:55,800 all the Commandments and observances of the Lord. 14 00:00:56,800 --> 00:01:00,000 But they were childless, Elizabeth was Barren, and they 15 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:04,300 were both getting on in years. Now it was the turn of 16 00:01:04,300 --> 00:01:08,300 zechariah's section to serve and he was exercising, his Priestly 17 00:01:08,300 --> 00:01:11,600 office before. God, when it fell to him by lat, 18 00:01:11,900 --> 00:01:16,100 as the ritual custom was to enter the Lord's sanctuary and 19 00:01:16,100 --> 00:01:20,200 burn incense there. And at the hour of incense, the 20 00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:22,800 whole congregation was outside praying. 21 00:01:24,300 --> 00:01:27,600 Then there appeared to him, the angel of the Lord standing on 22 00:01:27,600 --> 00:01:31,500 the right of the altar of incense the site Disturbed 23 00:01:31,600 --> 00:01:34,000 Zakaria and he was overcome with fear. 24 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:39,200 But the angel said to him Zechariah do not be afraid. 25 00:01:39,300 --> 00:01:42,900 Your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth is to Bear 26 00:01:42,900 --> 00:01:46,000 you a son and you must name him John. 27 00:01:46,700 --> 00:01:50,200 He will be your joy and delight and many Will Rejoice at his 28 00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:53,300 birth for. He will be great in the sight of 29 00:01:53,300 --> 00:01:56,500 the Lord. He must drink, no wine, no 30 00:01:56,500 --> 00:02:00,200 strong drink. Even from his mother's womb, he 31 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:03,500 will be filled with the Holy Spirit and he will bring back 32 00:02:03,500 --> 00:02:05,600 many of the sons of Israel to the Lord. 33 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:09,300 Their god with the spirit and power of Elijah. 34 00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:12,600 He will go before him to turn the hearts of fathers towards 35 00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:16,300 their children and the disobedient back to the wisdom 36 00:02:16,300 --> 00:02:20,800 that The Virtuous have preparing for the Lord, a people fit for 37 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:25,400 him. Zechariah said to the angel, how 38 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:28,600 can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is 39 00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:33,800 getting on in years. The angel replied, I am Gabriel 40 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:38,300 who stands in God's presence and I have been sent to speak to you 41 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:40,300 and bring you this. Good news. 42 00:02:41,100 --> 00:02:44,900 Listen, since you have not believe my words, which will 43 00:02:44,900 --> 00:02:48,600 come true at their appointed time, you will be silenced and 44 00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:52,100 have no power of speech until this has happened. 45 00:02:53,600 --> 00:02:56,600 Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and were 46 00:02:56,600 --> 00:03:01,000 surprised that he stayed in the sanctuary for so long when he 47 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:04,800 came out, he could not speak to them and they realized that he 48 00:03:04,800 --> 00:03:07,500 had received a vision in the sanctuary. 49 00:03:08,900 --> 00:03:12,600 But he could only make signs to them and remained dumb. 50 00:03:14,300 --> 00:03:17,400 When his time of service came to an end, he returned home, 51 00:03:18,300 --> 00:03:22,400 sometime later, his wife, Elizabeth conceived, and for 52 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:24,700 five months, she kept to herself. 53 00:03:25,700 --> 00:03:29,400 The Lord has done this for me. She said, now that it has 54 00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:31,700 pleased him to take away the humiliation. 55 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:37,900 I suffered among men So that's how long text today. 56 00:03:37,900 --> 00:03:41,300 Let's jump straight into it. What's the context? 57 00:03:41,300 --> 00:03:44,000 Well, we're right at the start of Luke's gospel ring, Luke 58 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:48,500 chapter 1, verse 5. So just prior to this in verses 59 00:03:48,500 --> 00:03:51,500 1 to 4, Luke has explained to his audience. 60 00:03:51,500 --> 00:03:55,100 Why he's writing. Now, he begins his infancy 61 00:03:55,100 --> 00:03:58,400 narrative, which stretches across chapters 1 and 2, 62 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:01,800 basically, and these chapters Scholars, have pointed out a 63 00:04:01,808 --> 00:04:04,700 written in quite a different way, compared to the rest of his 64 00:04:04,700 --> 00:04:08,200 gospel. Chapters 1 and 2 of Luke, use a 65 00:04:08,200 --> 00:04:10,100 different stylistic way of writing. 66 00:04:10,100 --> 00:04:13,100 It seems that Luke has deliberately sat down and 67 00:04:13,100 --> 00:04:15,600 written chapter 1 and 2. In a different kind of style 68 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:18,500 than the rest of his gospel. Why is he done that? 69 00:04:18,500 --> 00:04:22,400 While it appears that the style he chooses here, when writing 70 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:25,600 chapter 1 and 2 is, he's deliberately setting it up. 71 00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:28,600 So it's a similar to the style of the Greek Old Testament, the 72 00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:32,400 Septuagint, and this, the explanation that most Scholars 73 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:36,600 give us to why he does that go something like this for The Old 74 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:40,100 Testament is an unfinished book which has not yet been fulfilled 75 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:45,100 but the concluding notes of the Old Testament resonate with some 76 00:04:45,100 --> 00:04:49,300 expectation for the people. But with unfulfilled promises so 77 00:04:49,300 --> 00:04:52,800 Luke when he's writing chapter 1 and 2 here deliberately weaves 78 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:58,100 in numerous allusions to the Old Testament and he's implying as 79 00:04:58,100 --> 00:05:01,100 he tells chapters one and two his suggesting to his readers. 80 00:05:01,600 --> 00:05:04,700 That the story he's telling is a continuation of the Old 81 00:05:04,700 --> 00:05:07,200 Testament. In fact, it's the Fulfillment, 82 00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:11,400 the climax of everything, the Jews have been waiting for in 83 00:05:11,400 --> 00:05:15,300 their unfulfilled Old Testament. So he's really writing this in a 84 00:05:15,300 --> 00:05:17,700 way that's going to make his readers, think about the Old 85 00:05:17,700 --> 00:05:20,600 Testament, and to clearly point out the way it's being 86 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:22,800 fulfilled. He does this differently from 87 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:25,600 Matthew though, where is Matthew is much more overt? 88 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:28,700 Matthew says, as he's going, Matthew says, he's the Old 89 00:05:28,700 --> 00:05:32,200 Testament prophecy and he quotes it and then he clearly tells his 90 00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:34,500 readers. This is being fulfilled, Luke 91 00:05:34,500 --> 00:05:36,800 doesn't do that. He doesn't He quite a whole lot 92 00:05:36,800 --> 00:05:40,600 from the Old Testament. He more just waves in themes and 93 00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:43,300 waves in allusions to the Old Testament and hopes. 94 00:05:43,300 --> 00:05:45,600 It is audience will pick up on the Fulfillment. 95 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:50,500 So let's start at verse 5, it says in the days of King Herod 96 00:05:50,500 --> 00:05:53,200 of Judea. So who's Herod? 97 00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:57,300 This would be Herod the Great. He was the king over Israel in 98 00:05:57,300 --> 00:05:59,600 the time period. When Jesus was born, he reigned 99 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:04,000 approximately 37 BC up till about to BC and he's kind of 100 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:06,900 like a vessel King. The Romans are really the ones 101 00:06:06,900 --> 00:06:10,200 in power but they allowed King Herod to rule over this part of 102 00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:13,500 Israel. Luke has lots of dates in this 103 00:06:13,500 --> 00:06:16,000 early part of his gospel. Luke is deliberately trying to 104 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:18,600 be a good historian here. In fact, some people who've 105 00:06:18,600 --> 00:06:21,000 looked at the Gospel of Luke have concluded that he's one of 106 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:23,500 the best historians ever in history. 107 00:06:23,500 --> 00:06:26,700 He is very accurate and he's very clear in terms of the way 108 00:06:26,700 --> 00:06:30,400 he references dates. And people Luke is writing to 109 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:34,200 Gentiles mostly so his probably deliberately situating his 110 00:06:34,200 --> 00:06:39,100 narrative in the Of world history of events that people 111 00:06:39,100 --> 00:06:42,800 all over the known world would understand. 112 00:06:43,500 --> 00:06:46,200 So Luke is very clear in these first couple of chapters of when 113 00:06:46,200 --> 00:06:49,800 each event happens, who's in power, where it happens, and 114 00:06:49,800 --> 00:06:52,800 those sorts of things, and he says, in the days of King Herod 115 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:57,400 of Judea, there lived a priest. Now, in the days of Jesus, there 116 00:06:57,400 --> 00:07:00,300 were many priests not priests in the Christian, or the Catholic 117 00:07:00,300 --> 00:07:04,100 context, priests in the Jewish context, these are ironic 118 00:07:04,100 --> 00:07:07,300 priests and their job. It was to work in the temple and 119 00:07:07,300 --> 00:07:11,800 to offer sacrifices and there's a priest here that we introduced 120 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:14,500 through called Zechariah or that can be translated. 121 00:07:14,500 --> 00:07:18,700 Zacharias and that name, basically means Yahweh has 122 00:07:18,700 --> 00:07:21,600 remembered. So Zechariah means Yahweh has 123 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:24,100 remembered. So there's a priest in this 124 00:07:24,100 --> 00:07:27,000 time. Period called Zechariah and he 125 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:30,300 belongs to the abijah section of the priesthood. 126 00:07:31,300 --> 00:07:34,300 What does this mean to say that he's from the abijah section of 127 00:07:34,300 --> 00:07:37,800 the priesthood? The levitical priesthood. 128 00:07:37,800 --> 00:07:41,500 So that would include all men who are descended from Aaron, it 129 00:07:41,500 --> 00:07:44,400 was divided up into 20 four divisions of priests. 130 00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:47,200 So from the total pool of priests that exists. 131 00:07:47,200 --> 00:07:51,000 At this time, the divided into 24 groups or divisions and we 132 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:54,900 can see this clearly in 1 Chronicles chapter 24. 133 00:07:54,900 --> 00:07:57,900 If you look at that, it actually tells you the twenty four 134 00:07:57,900 --> 00:08:00,000 divisions. Each of the twenty four 135 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:04,000 divisions, At the temple two different weeks each year. 136 00:08:05,200 --> 00:08:10,200 So if you were in Division Seven For example you would serve in 137 00:08:10,200 --> 00:08:13,100 one week early in the year and then in another week later in 138 00:08:13,100 --> 00:08:15,100 the year. So they served twice a year. 139 00:08:15,700 --> 00:08:18,800 This practice was continuing in Jesus time for any man who is 140 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:21,100 descended from Erin. They were part of the priesthood 141 00:08:21,100 --> 00:08:24,600 and they will be roasted on depending on what division there 142 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:26,200 in. And it says, here, that the 143 00:08:26,200 --> 00:08:29,700 Sakura is part of the abijah section, which was the eighth 144 00:08:29,700 --> 00:08:33,799 group, Now from this is some people have tried to determine 145 00:08:33,799 --> 00:08:36,299 the date that all this happened and particularly they want to 146 00:08:36,308 --> 00:08:37,900 work out. What's the date of Jesus? 147 00:08:37,900 --> 00:08:40,700 Birth day. They figure something like this. 148 00:08:40,700 --> 00:08:45,100 They figure that if we know that Zechariah service, he's in the 149 00:08:45,100 --> 00:08:48,000 abijah section, we know the approximate dates that the 150 00:08:48,100 --> 00:08:51,500 obligor section would have been serving in the in the temple in 151 00:08:51,500 --> 00:08:56,000 this particular year and given that while he's a priest there 152 00:08:56,000 --> 00:08:59,600 he he learns that his wife is going to be pregnant and this is 153 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:02,200 how some people reason they say. Based on that we can work out 154 00:09:02,200 --> 00:09:05,000 the date. That Elizabeth conceived from 155 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:07,300 that we can work out the date that John, the Baptist was born 156 00:09:07,300 --> 00:09:10,000 and then we factor in some other dates and we can work out 157 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:12,300 exactly when Jesus himself was born. 158 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:15,400 Some people have tried to do that based purely on the fact 159 00:09:15,400 --> 00:09:19,700 that we know that Zachariah is part of the abide, you section 160 00:09:19,700 --> 00:09:22,700 of the priesthood. And it's true that this is an 161 00:09:22,700 --> 00:09:24,700 actual date. The Luke is trying to give a 162 00:09:24,708 --> 00:09:27,300 States here. The problem is though we can't 163 00:09:27,300 --> 00:09:30,000 from this, we still can't work out exactly when Elizabeth 164 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:33,200 conceived because Cuz as you'll see later in the text, it says 165 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:38,200 that some time passed between the Annunciation by the angel to 166 00:09:38,200 --> 00:09:42,500 Zechariah and the conception of John, the Baptist we don't know 167 00:09:42,500 --> 00:09:45,000 how much time passed. So it's not the best way of 168 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:47,000 working out, the birth date of Jesus. 169 00:09:48,300 --> 00:09:51,800 So look here says, the Zechariah had a wife Elizabeth by name who 170 00:09:51,800 --> 00:09:55,400 was a descendant of Aaron. So the word Elizabeth means my 171 00:09:55,400 --> 00:09:58,700 God's oath. Luke goes out of his way here to 172 00:09:58,700 --> 00:10:00,700 point out. That Elizabeth is a descendant 173 00:10:00,700 --> 00:10:04,400 of And so both is Zechariah and Elizabeth are descendants of 174 00:10:04,400 --> 00:10:08,600 Aaron there from the levitical. Priests Lee tribe, think about 175 00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:09,800 it. If both of them are from the 176 00:10:09,800 --> 00:10:12,700 levitical priests Lee tribe will then their son. 177 00:10:12,700 --> 00:10:16,300 John, the Baptist is truly a priest in the truest sense. 178 00:10:16,300 --> 00:10:18,600 So Luke is wanting his readers to notice that. 179 00:10:18,600 --> 00:10:21,600 John, the Baptist is a priest in a very, real sense. 180 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:25,800 Now we later, learn that Zechariah and Elizabeth, they 181 00:10:25,800 --> 00:10:29,000 live in a part of the world called the Hill Country of 182 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:30,800 Judea. It doesn't give us a toy. 183 00:10:30,900 --> 00:10:32,900 On name. But most scholars believe that 184 00:10:32,900 --> 00:10:35,500 they're leaving the village of Ein Karem which is now been 185 00:10:35,500 --> 00:10:38,000 discovered, and it's about five miles from Jerusalem. 186 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:40,100 So that would certainly be an appropriate spot for them to 187 00:10:40,100 --> 00:10:42,500 live. Given that Zechariah Works in 188 00:10:42,500 --> 00:10:45,000 Jerusalem so he could just walk to Jerusalem on the days that 189 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:47,100 he's working. And you can actually go to this 190 00:10:47,100 --> 00:10:50,400 Village today of Ein, Karem, and go to the house that apparently 191 00:10:50,400 --> 00:10:52,800 they lived in and there's some quite beautiful churches there 192 00:10:52,800 --> 00:10:55,400 in that part of Israel even today, which is well worth 193 00:10:55,700 --> 00:10:58,900 visiting verse six. Both were worthy in the sight of 194 00:10:58,900 --> 00:11:00,800 God. A better translation. 195 00:11:01,000 --> 00:11:03,900 They would be both were righteous before God. 196 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:06,900 This is quite profound. Luke tells us that Elizabeth and 197 00:11:06,900 --> 00:11:09,600 Zachariah are righteous before God much. 198 00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:12,900 Like many of the Old Testament figures and he goes even 199 00:11:12,900 --> 00:11:16,200 further, he says that they scrupulously observed, all the 200 00:11:16,200 --> 00:11:20,700 Commandments and observances of the Lord are more literal 201 00:11:20,700 --> 00:11:23,800 translation here is, they walked in all the Commandments and 202 00:11:23,900 --> 00:11:27,400 ordinances of the Lord, blamelessly, that's quite 203 00:11:27,400 --> 00:11:29,400 remarkable. These two people are blameless 204 00:11:29,400 --> 00:11:31,100 before. God, these are two very Very 205 00:11:31,100 --> 00:11:34,200 holy individuals who took God and his promises. 206 00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:38,200 Seriously, they were very faithful Jews, verse 7, but they 207 00:11:38,200 --> 00:11:40,400 were childless. Elizabeth was Barren. 208 00:11:41,300 --> 00:11:44,800 And of course, in that culture was quite shameful for a woman 209 00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:47,500 to be Barren. Many women in the Old Testament, 210 00:11:47,500 --> 00:11:50,000 suffered similar in a similar position, if you look 211 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:52,400 particularly in the early chapters of Genesis, but all 212 00:11:52,400 --> 00:11:55,300 through the Old Testament, there's women who are Barren and 213 00:11:55,300 --> 00:11:59,300 God gives them children miraculously and Luke. 214 00:11:59,300 --> 00:12:00,700 Here says, they were both getting on. 215 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:04,400 He is now we don't know exactly how old they are but they're 216 00:12:04,400 --> 00:12:06,600 getting on in years. So it seems likely that their 217 00:12:06,600 --> 00:12:10,100 past childbearing age. Perhaps, they're both past the 218 00:12:10,100 --> 00:12:13,500 age of 50 for this reason. Then if you think about it, if 219 00:12:13,500 --> 00:12:15,900 they're both kind of older people and they have they give 220 00:12:15,900 --> 00:12:17,800 birth to John the Baptist probably. 221 00:12:17,800 --> 00:12:21,500 By the time, John the Baptist is an adult and perhaps, even by 222 00:12:21,500 --> 00:12:25,100 the time he's a teenager, both of his parents would have died. 223 00:12:25,400 --> 00:12:29,200 And that would that makes sense. If we factor in that it appears 224 00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:30,800 John, the Baptist spent a lot of his life. 225 00:12:30,900 --> 00:12:33,800 Life out in the wilderness, even from a young age. 226 00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:37,300 So it's possible that Zechariah and Elizabeth died fairly early 227 00:12:37,300 --> 00:12:40,600 on and when they did die maybe that's when John the Baptist 228 00:12:40,600 --> 00:12:43,800 went out into the Wilderness perhaps he even went to qumran 229 00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:47,200 and lived with the essence. That's just a theory but we need 230 00:12:47,200 --> 00:12:50,200 to keep in mind that these are quite elderly people Zechariah 231 00:12:50,200 --> 00:12:54,700 and Elizabeth verse 8. Now it was the turn of Zechariah 232 00:12:54,700 --> 00:12:58,200 section to serve and he was exercising, his Priestly office 233 00:12:58,200 --> 00:13:00,800 before God. So Zechariah is on. 234 00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:04,400 He's doing his biannual Duty in the temple, he's serving as a 235 00:13:04,400 --> 00:13:09,100 priest, it fell to him by lat. As the ritual custom was to 236 00:13:09,100 --> 00:13:11,900 enter the Lord's sanctuary and burn incense there. 237 00:13:12,800 --> 00:13:16,100 So what's going on here? Well, I'm, um, all the priests 238 00:13:16,100 --> 00:13:19,400 that were serving in that week, they were all assigned different 239 00:13:19,400 --> 00:13:21,800 tasks that were determined by casting. 240 00:13:21,800 --> 00:13:26,500 Lots Zechariah, is allocated tasks on this occasion is to 241 00:13:26,500 --> 00:13:29,800 enter the Lord's sanctuary and burn incense there. 242 00:13:30,900 --> 00:13:34,000 That particular task could only be done once in a priest's life. 243 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:35,700 It was probably one of the top jobs. 244 00:13:35,700 --> 00:13:38,800 You could get. So through Providence, perhaps 245 00:13:38,800 --> 00:13:42,700 Zechariah ends up with the job of burning incense, and this 246 00:13:42,700 --> 00:13:44,900 will be the crowning moment of Zacharias Ministry. 247 00:13:44,900 --> 00:13:48,400 He gets to burn the incense in the Lord's, the sanctuary. 248 00:13:48,400 --> 00:13:51,700 So he's going into the holy place where there's an altar to 249 00:13:51,700 --> 00:13:55,800 burn incense has, and to do sacrifices verse 10 at the hour 250 00:13:55,800 --> 00:13:58,100 of incense, the whole congregation was outside, 251 00:13:58,100 --> 00:14:03,300 praying, So Zechariah is doing his job, he's in the Holy place 252 00:14:03,900 --> 00:14:06,200 at the our, it says the hour of incense here. 253 00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:08,400 This is also known as The Hour of Prayer. 254 00:14:09,300 --> 00:14:13,600 This was done twice daily, The Hour of Prayer, and there was 255 00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:16,000 one in the morning, one in the evening and it was typically 256 00:14:16,000 --> 00:14:19,400 done at the same time as the morning and evening offerings in 257 00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:21,600 the temple. If you want details of how this 258 00:14:21,600 --> 00:14:24,400 ritual looked, you can look at Exodus chapter 29 and 30. 259 00:14:25,200 --> 00:14:27,200 This particular one that we're looking at here, this is 260 00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:29,500 probably the later one in the day so we're probably Talking 261 00:14:29,500 --> 00:14:35,000 about 3 p.m. here, Zacharias in the Holy place, he's making a 262 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:39,400 sacrifice and doing the incense. There's people outside the holy 263 00:14:39,400 --> 00:14:41,700 place, waiting for him, so here's how it works. 264 00:14:41,700 --> 00:14:44,400 The priest would go into the holy place where the altar was 265 00:14:44,700 --> 00:14:47,700 and he'd offer prayer and incense, while the priest did 266 00:14:47,700 --> 00:14:51,300 that the people, the faithful Jews would pray outside the room 267 00:14:51,600 --> 00:14:54,300 and they would wait for the priest to return and then give 268 00:14:54,300 --> 00:14:56,200 them a blessing. So, they're praying and waiting 269 00:14:56,200 --> 00:14:59,200 for Zechariah to come back out verse 11, there. 270 00:14:59,300 --> 00:15:03,000 Appeared to him, the angel of the Lord standing on the right 271 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:06,800 of the altar of incense. Now, the fact that it mentions 272 00:15:06,800 --> 00:15:08,500 here, the right of the altar of incense. 273 00:15:08,500 --> 00:15:11,300 This really does suggest that Luke got this information from 274 00:15:11,300 --> 00:15:13,900 an eyewitness. Someone has told him someone who 275 00:15:13,900 --> 00:15:17,200 was there at probably Zechariah has told him that the angel was 276 00:15:17,200 --> 00:15:20,200 on the right side of the altar or perhaps. 277 00:15:20,200 --> 00:15:22,000 Luke got this information from Mary. 278 00:15:22,300 --> 00:15:25,300 Many scholars believe that Luke conducted extensive interviews 279 00:15:25,300 --> 00:15:28,500 with Mary to get his information about those early, chapters 280 00:15:29,100 --> 00:15:32,400 verse 12, the site, Disturbed Zechariah and he was overcome 281 00:15:32,400 --> 00:15:36,300 with fear, which makes sense because he's just His duty in 282 00:15:36,300 --> 00:15:38,900 the Holy place and all of a sudden and Angel appears and 283 00:15:38,900 --> 00:15:43,300 he's overcome with fear or more, literally fear fell upon him. 284 00:15:43,600 --> 00:15:46,100 This is actually a common response to the appearance of 285 00:15:46,100 --> 00:15:49,500 angels all throughout the Bible whenever an angel shows up, 286 00:15:49,600 --> 00:15:53,200 people are afraid and that shows that there's probably something 287 00:15:53,200 --> 00:15:55,700 quite Fierce about angels. There's something about their 288 00:15:55,700 --> 00:15:57,800 appearance that really scares people. 289 00:15:57,800 --> 00:16:01,200 They're not these nice fat babies floating around with 290 00:16:01,200 --> 00:16:02,800 wings. They're quite scary. 291 00:16:03,600 --> 00:16:07,100 Big Fierce creatures. It would seem the only person 292 00:16:07,100 --> 00:16:08,900 who doesn't show it a media shocked. 293 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:14,800 When an angel appears is Mary. Mary is disturbed about what the 294 00:16:14,808 --> 00:16:17,500 angel says to her, but she doesn't show shocked when the 295 00:16:17,508 --> 00:16:20,500 angel First shows up and we'll see that later in the chapter. 296 00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:25,800 This is what the angel says to him Zechariah do not be afraid. 297 00:16:25,800 --> 00:16:30,200 Your prayer has been heard so apparently Zechariah has been 298 00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:32,800 praying for some time that his wife would conceive. 299 00:16:32,800 --> 00:16:35,800 This is nothing. He desperately wants the angel 300 00:16:35,800 --> 00:16:38,200 here confirms that God has heard his prayer. 301 00:16:38,700 --> 00:16:41,300 And perhaps the reason his prayer is heard is because 302 00:16:41,300 --> 00:16:44,900 Zechariah is a righteous man. God has heard his prayer because 303 00:16:44,900 --> 00:16:46,900 he is righteous and he wants to Grant it. 304 00:16:47,600 --> 00:16:51,500 Your wife Elizabeth is to Bear you a son and you must name him. 305 00:16:51,500 --> 00:16:55,200 John now notice this is a command. 306 00:16:55,300 --> 00:16:58,000 You must name him. John, the word. 307 00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:02,200 John means the Lord is merciful or you can translate that Yahweh 308 00:17:02,200 --> 00:17:05,900 has shown Ava, both of those are good translations of the name. 309 00:17:05,900 --> 00:17:10,300 John this phrase here your wife, Elizabeth is to be your son and 310 00:17:10,300 --> 00:17:14,000 you must name him John. This is very similar to Genesis 311 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:19,400 17 19 where God says to Abraham, your wife Sarah shall bear a son 312 00:17:19,700 --> 00:17:22,800 and you shall name him Isaac. So again you hear these Old 313 00:17:22,800 --> 00:17:25,599 Testament Echoes. God works in patterns. 314 00:17:26,700 --> 00:17:30,600 Verse 14, he will be your joy and delight and many Will 315 00:17:30,600 --> 00:17:35,000 Rejoice at his birth. So the angel says that not only 316 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:38,200 will you rejoice Zechariah, but many people will rejoice when 317 00:17:38,200 --> 00:17:41,000 he's born. While the angel is going to 318 00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:44,500 explain for, he will be great in the sight of the Lord. 319 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:48,800 So what does this mean to say that John will be great in the 320 00:17:48,800 --> 00:17:50,400 sight of the lord? Well, it could mean, lots of 321 00:17:50,400 --> 00:17:52,300 different things. But perhaps, the best 322 00:17:52,300 --> 00:17:55,400 understanding of this is that God will approve of John. 323 00:17:55,400 --> 00:17:57,500 The Baptist's. Actions, he will be a great 324 00:17:57,500 --> 00:18:01,000 servant of the Lord who will bring many people to God for 325 00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:03,200 that reason. Many people will rejoice when 326 00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:06,000 he's born, he's going to be a very holy man, that will lead 327 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:09,100 people to God. Then the angel ads in this 328 00:18:09,100 --> 00:18:12,000 interesting command to Zechariah, he must drink. 329 00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:15,900 No wine, no strong drink. Why does the angel say this? 330 00:18:15,900 --> 00:18:19,800 Well it appears to be because he expects John the Baptist when 331 00:18:19,800 --> 00:18:25,500 he's born to take a Nazarite vow and Nazarite vow. 332 00:18:26,100 --> 00:18:28,500 What is That well in the Old Testament there's various 333 00:18:28,500 --> 00:18:30,700 figures which take this Nazarite vow. 334 00:18:30,700 --> 00:18:34,200 The Vow itself is described in Numbers, chapter 6, verse three, 335 00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:38,100 people like Samson, and Samuel in the Old Testament who are 336 00:18:38,100 --> 00:18:41,500 both leaders of God's people. They take the Nazarite vow and 337 00:18:41,500 --> 00:18:44,700 the vowel included drinking. No alcohol. 338 00:18:44,900 --> 00:18:48,100 You weren't allowed to cut your hair and also they weren't 339 00:18:48,100 --> 00:18:50,100 allowed to have contact with the dead. 340 00:18:50,300 --> 00:18:52,500 So to take a Nazarite vow basically, means you were 341 00:18:52,500 --> 00:18:55,800 consecrating yourself to God. In a specific way, it was an act 342 00:18:55,800 --> 00:18:58,500 of sacrifice. Vice and Devotion to God, it was 343 00:18:58,500 --> 00:19:02,500 entirely optional. So priests could do this if they 344 00:19:02,500 --> 00:19:03,700 wanted to. But they didn't have to and 345 00:19:03,700 --> 00:19:06,700 also, some lay people could take a Nazarite vow. 346 00:19:06,700 --> 00:19:10,500 So, in this sense, people who chose to take the Nazarite vow, 347 00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:15,500 a kind of forerunners of monks and nuns in the New Covenant and 348 00:19:15,500 --> 00:19:18,200 the very similar to The Essence. If you know about the SAS, who 349 00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:20,900 lived out at the Dead Sea and they wrote The Dead Sea Scrolls. 350 00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:24,700 They seem to live a very similar life to those that took the 351 00:19:24,700 --> 00:19:29,100 Nazarite vow But it was entirely voluntary except for John the 352 00:19:29,100 --> 00:19:31,200 Baptist. It's not Zechariah are, the 353 00:19:31,200 --> 00:19:34,800 angel says the Zechariah. He must not drink alcohol. 354 00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:36,600 And the implication is that John? 355 00:19:36,600 --> 00:19:39,100 The Baptist needs to take a Nazarite vow. 356 00:19:39,100 --> 00:19:42,200 He's going to be specifically dedicated to God in a very 357 00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:45,300 Priestly way. John's whole life and his whole 358 00:19:45,300 --> 00:19:48,600 Ministry would be a minimalist one, which includes not drinking 359 00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:51,400 alcohol. And the point of it in this case 360 00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:54,300 is to point people towards God, people should look at John the 361 00:19:54,300 --> 00:19:56,300 Baptist see the way he lives his life differently. 362 00:19:56,400 --> 00:19:58,800 Lately. And that should Point people 363 00:19:58,800 --> 00:20:02,700 towards God, the angel continues, even from his 364 00:20:02,700 --> 00:20:06,200 mother's womb, he will be filled with the Holy Spirit that's 365 00:20:06,200 --> 00:20:08,700 quite a statement. Even from his mother's womb 366 00:20:08,700 --> 00:20:12,400 here, we filled with the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit was 367 00:20:12,400 --> 00:20:14,300 mentioned, briefly in the Old Testament. 368 00:20:14,300 --> 00:20:17,300 It is a concept that's found in the Old Testament and 369 00:20:17,300 --> 00:20:21,800 occasionally it rests on people, but it very rarely rests on 370 00:20:21,800 --> 00:20:26,300 individuals permanently or from or from the womb a couple. 371 00:20:26,500 --> 00:20:29,600 Exceptions would be Isaiah and Jeremiah both of those profits 372 00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:32,500 are said to have the Holy Spirit in a permanent way. 373 00:20:33,100 --> 00:20:37,300 In fact, if you look at Jeremiah 1:5 it says that Jeremiah is 374 00:20:37,300 --> 00:20:40,000 said to be consecrated by the holy spirit in his mother's 375 00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:42,700 womb. So John the Baptist is sort of 376 00:20:42,708 --> 00:20:45,300 following in Isaiah and Jeremiah is footsteps. 377 00:20:45,300 --> 00:20:47,400 He is consecrated from his mother's womb. 378 00:20:47,400 --> 00:20:49,400 So this is highlighting the John. 379 00:20:49,400 --> 00:20:52,600 The Baptist is the latest and greatest Prophet. 380 00:20:52,600 --> 00:20:55,700 Here's the last in the long line of prophets getting people ready 381 00:20:55,700 --> 00:20:57,700 for the Messiah. Shh and this has brought out 382 00:20:57,700 --> 00:21:00,200 later. Jesus himself will describe John 383 00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:01,900 the Baptist as the greatest Prophet. 384 00:21:03,100 --> 00:21:05,500 If you think about it, John, Jesus. 385 00:21:05,500 --> 00:21:07,500 And Mary. All three of those people are 386 00:21:07,500 --> 00:21:10,400 Sanctified by by the holy spirit before they're born. 387 00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:15,400 John is Sanctified as soon as he's in the womb. 388 00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:19,700 Apparently Jesus is Sanctified even before he exists, he could 389 00:21:19,700 --> 00:21:22,100 say. And Mary is Sanctified at the 390 00:21:22,108 --> 00:21:25,000 moment of her conception. The holy spirit is involved in 391 00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:29,200 the conception of all three. Of these people verse 16, he 392 00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:32,100 will bring back many of the sons of Israel to the Lord, their 393 00:21:32,100 --> 00:21:34,700 God. Now we know from later that 394 00:21:34,700 --> 00:21:37,800 John's Ministry does produce a lot of good fruit and it causes 395 00:21:37,800 --> 00:21:40,800 many people to repent. In fact, that's the whole point 396 00:21:40,800 --> 00:21:43,500 of John's Ministry, he's getting people ready for the Messiah, he 397 00:21:43,500 --> 00:21:46,500 wants them to repent, to make sure they're ready for when the 398 00:21:46,500 --> 00:21:51,200 Messiah arrives. And then the angel says this, he 399 00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:54,100 will come in the spirit and power of Elijah. 400 00:21:55,100 --> 00:21:57,700 So John the Baptist takes up the mantle and the ministry of 401 00:21:57,700 --> 00:22:00,700 Elijah and he's there's a lot of similarities between the two 402 00:22:01,700 --> 00:22:03,000 John. The Baptist wears the same 403 00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:06,000 clothes as Elijah he ministers in the same area, he has the 404 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:11,500 same basic message as Elijah. In fact, based on the catechism 405 00:22:11,500 --> 00:22:14,200 and we'll see this when we look at the catechism passage it 406 00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:17,200 looks like Elijah's actual Spiritual Authority was 407 00:22:17,200 --> 00:22:19,500 literally passed on. To John, we know that when 408 00:22:19,500 --> 00:22:22,800 Elijah finished his ministry his authority past to Alicia 409 00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:25,500 apparently that same Authority is in the hour passed on to 410 00:22:25,500 --> 00:22:29,800 John, John is literally comes in the authority of Elijah, he's 411 00:22:29,800 --> 00:22:32,500 got Elijah's Spiritual Authority. 412 00:22:34,100 --> 00:22:38,100 And then the angel says this, he will go before him now who's the 413 00:22:38,100 --> 00:22:39,900 him here. Well, Jesus hasn't been 414 00:22:39,900 --> 00:22:42,700 mentioned when we think of John the Baptist, we often think of 415 00:22:42,700 --> 00:22:44,700 he's going to prepare the way for Jesus. 416 00:22:44,700 --> 00:22:47,000 He's going before Jesus and that's true. 417 00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:50,500 But Is not mentioned here by the angel at all. 418 00:22:51,100 --> 00:22:55,000 So, when that, when the angel here says he will go before him 419 00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:57,200 given that, he's just been talking about the Lord, their 420 00:22:57,200 --> 00:22:59,100 god. What the angel is saying, here 421 00:22:59,100 --> 00:23:03,600 is that John will go before God? So here we have a subtle hint 422 00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:06,100 that Jesus himself is gone. That's an interesting 423 00:23:06,100 --> 00:23:09,300 connection, isn't it? He will go before God, meaning, 424 00:23:09,300 --> 00:23:13,100 Jesus, he will turn the hearts of fathers towards their 425 00:23:13,100 --> 00:23:15,400 children. This is an interesting phrase. 426 00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:18,300 So if you look at Malachi chapter 3 and chapter 4, or 427 00:23:18,300 --> 00:23:20,700 there's some interesting prophecies in the Old Testament 428 00:23:20,700 --> 00:23:25,100 Book of Malachi, which predicts that one day Elijah will return 429 00:23:25,100 --> 00:23:28,400 before the coming of the kingdom and particularly Malachi chapter 430 00:23:28,400 --> 00:23:34,300 3 verse 23 says this, I am sending you Elijah to turn the 431 00:23:34,300 --> 00:23:39,700 hearts of fathers to their sons. And so in that context, there, 432 00:23:39,700 --> 00:23:42,800 Malachi predicts, the before the day of the Lord, and messenger, 433 00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:45,900 like Elijah would appear and he's going to preach repentance. 434 00:23:45,900 --> 00:23:50,000 He's going to restore the tribes of And he's going to heal broken 435 00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:53,800 families. So Malachi inspired by the holy 436 00:23:53,800 --> 00:23:55,800 spirit foresees. That one day. 437 00:23:55,800 --> 00:23:59,400 This elijah-like figure will do all these things, and that's 438 00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:03,000 brought out more in sirach. Chapter 48 as well here. 439 00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:04,600 What is the Angel say about John? 440 00:24:04,800 --> 00:24:07,900 The angel says he will turn the hearts of fathers towards their 441 00:24:07,900 --> 00:24:11,400 children. So Gabriel Here confirms that 442 00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:15,400 John is the Fulfillment of these prophecies in Malachi about 443 00:24:15,400 --> 00:24:18,600 Elijah's return. This is the Fulfillment of of 444 00:24:18,600 --> 00:24:21,700 the predicted return of Elijah. To this day, the Jews are still 445 00:24:21,700 --> 00:24:24,700 expecting Elijah to return as Christians. 446 00:24:24,700 --> 00:24:27,700 We believe that he literally did return in the person of John the 447 00:24:27,700 --> 00:24:29,700 Baptist. And in fact Jesus specifically 448 00:24:29,700 --> 00:24:34,400 says that later, that John, the Baptist is the Elijah that was 449 00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:39,000 predicted to return as a result of John's Ministry Menace. 450 00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:42,100 Many sinful men would repent. Now, that's literally what the 451 00:24:42,100 --> 00:24:46,200 word turn means sinful men would repent and they would begin to 452 00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:48,100 follow the teachings of God in their lives. 453 00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:51,200 And their families. So John, the Baptist's Ministry 454 00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:55,200 did bring about much repentance and many people turning to God, 455 00:24:55,600 --> 00:24:57,500 Jesus later. Discusses the importance of 456 00:24:57,500 --> 00:25:01,400 John, the Baptist and he specifically focuses on how John 457 00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:04,600 the Baptist was successful in. Bringing people to repentance 458 00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:07,700 the angel continues. He says he will turn the 459 00:25:07,700 --> 00:25:10,600 disobedient to back to the wisdom that The Virtuous have. 460 00:25:11,100 --> 00:25:12,700 It's not a very good translation there. 461 00:25:12,700 --> 00:25:16,000 What it actually says is who will turn the disobedient back 462 00:25:16,500 --> 00:25:20,200 to the wisdom of the just Just what's the wisdom of the? 463 00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:24,000 Just, it basically means a bang the law and wisdom of God. 464 00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:27,400 And thus, o hear the angel predicts that many people who 465 00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:30,700 were disobeying, God would return to obeying God and the 466 00:25:30,708 --> 00:25:33,000 law. As a result of hearing John 467 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:35,500 preaching, it's quite a remarkable power that John, the 468 00:25:35,508 --> 00:25:40,800 Baptist has The angel says, he will prepare the Lord a people 469 00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:43,800 fit for him, or you can translate that he will make 470 00:25:43,800 --> 00:25:46,400 ready for the Lord a people prepared. 471 00:25:47,500 --> 00:25:49,300 That's the whole point of John's Ministry. 472 00:25:49,700 --> 00:25:52,800 John's Ministry is not to promote himself, John's 473 00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:55,100 Ministry. It's a, it's a necessary 474 00:25:55,100 --> 00:25:59,100 preparation for the next stage of Salvation history, which is 475 00:25:59,100 --> 00:26:01,900 the coming of the Lord himself in the person of Jesus. 476 00:26:02,700 --> 00:26:07,300 So even here, we see that God's plan, even before Jesus is born 477 00:26:07,300 --> 00:26:11,700 God, Plan is for John, the Baptist to play the role of 478 00:26:11,700 --> 00:26:13,400 Preparing People for the Messiah. 479 00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:16,300 John, the Baptist is actually an incredibly important person in 480 00:26:16,300 --> 00:26:19,600 Salvation history and in the gospels, if John the Baptist 481 00:26:19,600 --> 00:26:23,100 didn't do his ministry, probably Jesus ministry, would have never 482 00:26:23,100 --> 00:26:25,400 gotten off the ground. And so, we should spend more 483 00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:28,500 time thinking about and reflecting on the work of John, 484 00:26:28,500 --> 00:26:32,900 the Baptist. Verse 18 Zechariah said to the 485 00:26:32,900 --> 00:26:35,200 angel, how can I be sure of this? 486 00:26:35,300 --> 00:26:38,500 I am an old man and my wife is getting on in years. 487 00:26:39,900 --> 00:26:44,000 So here although Zechariah is a holy man, he doubts whether it's 488 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:46,800 true, he dealt whether it is true that his wife can be 489 00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:49,000 pregnant. Now, he doesn't seem to think 490 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:51,800 it's impossible. He just isn't convinced that 491 00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:55,100 it's going to happen. He's doubting this is similar to 492 00:26:55,100 --> 00:26:58,000 Abraham's doubt. In Genesis 17, when he's told 493 00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:01,400 the same thing about his wife conceiving, Abraham basically 494 00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:03,300 says, it's she's too old, it can't happen. 495 00:27:04,100 --> 00:27:06,000 So Zechariah, probably should have known that. 496 00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:08,700 It's possible because if he knows his old testament, which 497 00:27:08,700 --> 00:27:12,300 he does He should have remembered that God did exactly 498 00:27:12,300 --> 00:27:15,300 this favor ham and his wife and for many others in the Old 499 00:27:15,300 --> 00:27:18,200 Testament. But here, for whatever reason, 500 00:27:18,300 --> 00:27:21,200 he doubts, he doubts, whether really can happen to him. 501 00:27:22,200 --> 00:27:26,200 So, the angel replies, I am Gabriel who stands in God's 502 00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:28,600 presence. So, up to an hour, we didn't 503 00:27:28,600 --> 00:27:31,000 know the identity of this, Angel of the Lord. 504 00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:35,600 In fact, the texture says, the angel of the Lord and hear. 505 00:27:35,700 --> 00:27:39,100 The angel says, I am Gabriel who stands in God's presence. 506 00:27:39,700 --> 00:27:42,900 Here we have a very interesting insight about how Angels work or 507 00:27:42,900 --> 00:27:46,400 at least this Angel Gabriel stands in God. 508 00:27:46,400 --> 00:27:49,200 God's presence. This language of standing In 509 00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:54,400 God's Presence, you could be a reference to tobert 12:15 where 510 00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:58,000 it says that seven angels minister in the presence of God. 511 00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:01,900 Now they could be symbolic, but some Scholars have taken it to 512 00:28:01,900 --> 00:28:06,200 mean that there really is 7 and only seven angels who minister 513 00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:08,700 in the presence of God and they're called archangels. 514 00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:13,400 And this Lighter highlighted in Revelation chapter 8 verse 2. 515 00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:17,000 So in any case, we have here Gabriel, who is one of the 516 00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:21,000 Angels who stands in God's presence and the word Gabriel 517 00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:24,600 means, God is mighty. Gabriel has actually appeared 518 00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:27,200 before in the Bible. He's appeared in the Book of 519 00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:30,800 Daniel and there he appeared to Daniel in chapter 8 and 9 of the 520 00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:34,500 Book of Daniel with a message about the coming Messiah. 521 00:28:34,500 --> 00:28:39,500 So way back in about 600 BC, Gabriel appears to Daniel and he 522 00:28:39,600 --> 00:28:43,900 Dick's the exact timing of when the Messiah is going to arrive. 523 00:28:43,900 --> 00:28:46,700 It's quite a fascinating text. If you look at Daniel chapter 9, 524 00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:52,900 the angel, lays out, basically a specific date or specific period 525 00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:57,200 of when the Messiah is going to arrive in relation to the rest 526 00:28:57,200 --> 00:29:02,500 of Israel's history between Daniel and the gospels, so 527 00:29:02,900 --> 00:29:05,400 Gabriel does not show up for the first time here in Luke. 528 00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:08,300 He is already showed up in the Book of Daniel and there he was 529 00:29:08,300 --> 00:29:09,900 delivering a message about them. Hi. 530 00:29:09,900 --> 00:29:12,800 I'm, what's he doing here? He's basically delivering a 531 00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:16,200 similar message. He's telling Zechariah that his 532 00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:19,000 son is going to prepare the way for the Lord prepare the way for 533 00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:22,300 the Messiah. So some Scholars would say that 534 00:29:22,900 --> 00:29:26,000 angels have specific missions and if you think about it, the 535 00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:29,700 Archangel Michael, his specific mission is to defend Israel. 536 00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:33,600 He's like the guardian angel of Israel Gabriel's Mission 537 00:29:33,800 --> 00:29:37,000 whenever he appears, he always seems to be doing something in 538 00:29:37,008 --> 00:29:39,900 relation to giving people information about the They are, 539 00:29:39,900 --> 00:29:42,500 so that's interesting. And of course, Gabriel is going 540 00:29:42,500 --> 00:29:43,700 to show up again. Later. 541 00:29:43,700 --> 00:29:46,400 In Luke, chapter 12 appear to marry. 542 00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:49,200 And what does he do there? He announces the arrival of the 543 00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:52,800 Messiah. And here's what he says. 544 00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:56,100 He says, I have been sent to speak to you and bring you this 545 00:29:56,100 --> 00:29:59,300 good news. This seems to be the answer to 546 00:29:59,300 --> 00:30:02,000 Zacharias question. Remember Zechariah said to him, 547 00:30:02,300 --> 00:30:05,500 how can I be sure of this? Well, here's the Angels answer. 548 00:30:05,900 --> 00:30:08,800 I have been sent to speak to you and bring you this good news. 549 00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:13,400 So the answer the angel gives is basically I'm Gabriel the fact 550 00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:16,300 that I'm here with this message. Should have been enough for you 551 00:30:16,900 --> 00:30:19,600 and notice the Gabriel specifically uses the word, good 552 00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:21,400 news, I have come to bring you this. 553 00:30:21,600 --> 00:30:24,400 Good news. The word there is a van July, so 554 00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:28,000 in Greek, throughout the gospels, whenever the good news 555 00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:30,800 is preached, whenever the gospel is preached, the appropriate 556 00:30:30,800 --> 00:30:34,800 response is to believe it, but Zechariah does not believe the 557 00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:39,100 good news here. Verse 20 Gabriel says, listen 558 00:30:39,200 --> 00:30:42,600 since you have not believe my words which will come true at 559 00:30:42,608 --> 00:30:45,800 their appointed time. So here we learn the John, the 560 00:30:45,800 --> 00:30:48,100 Baptist is going to be born and it's going to be at a 561 00:30:48,100 --> 00:30:52,500 predetermined time you'll be silenced and Have no power of 562 00:30:52,500 --> 00:30:56,600 speech until this has happened. So here, God, deals out, a 563 00:30:56,600 --> 00:31:00,300 temporary punishment on Zechariah for his unbelief. 564 00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:04,500 You'll be silenced and have no power of speech until this has 565 00:31:04,500 --> 00:31:06,400 happened. So until John, the Baptist is 566 00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:09,200 born, Zechariah will not be able to speak. 567 00:31:09,300 --> 00:31:11,900 This appears to be kind of a remedial punishment. 568 00:31:11,900 --> 00:31:14,800 It's supposed to bring Zechariah to a greater understanding of 569 00:31:14,800 --> 00:31:17,100 what's going on. God imposes. 570 00:31:17,100 --> 00:31:20,500 Silence on him, to reflect on all the events as they take 571 00:31:20,500 --> 00:31:23,800 place. Verse 21. 572 00:31:23,800 --> 00:31:26,800 Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and were 573 00:31:26,800 --> 00:31:29,400 surprised that he stayed in the sanctuary for so long. 574 00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:33,300 So, the people are still waiting outside the holy place, and 575 00:31:33,300 --> 00:31:35,200 they're wondering why he hasn't come out yet. 576 00:31:35,800 --> 00:31:39,000 When he came out, he could not speak to them and they perceived 577 00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:41,100 that he had seen a vision in the temple. 578 00:31:42,600 --> 00:31:45,400 So, since Zechariah is now dumb, he can't speak. 579 00:31:45,400 --> 00:31:47,200 Well then, he can't Bless the people either. 580 00:31:48,100 --> 00:31:50,800 So here we have a group of faithful Jews who were outside 581 00:31:50,800 --> 00:31:53,900 the holy place. And they see that Zechariah 582 00:31:53,900 --> 00:31:57,000 can't speak to them, so they perceive that he's seen a vision 583 00:31:57,000 --> 00:31:59,400 in the temple. So these are faithful Jews who 584 00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:02,700 believe the miraculous things like Visions can actually occur 585 00:32:02,700 --> 00:32:05,700 in the temple. In fact, the temple itself was 586 00:32:05,700 --> 00:32:08,800 carved with angels, they believed it was sort of a place 587 00:32:08,800 --> 00:32:12,600 where Heaven and Earth met. In fact, priests themselves were 588 00:32:12,608 --> 00:32:16,800 seen as messengers of God on Earth much like how angels are 589 00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:19,600 the messengers of God in heaven. So this is a group of people who 590 00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:25,400 believe the Zechariah has seen. Thing in the Holy place but he 591 00:32:25,400 --> 00:32:28,300 could only make signs in them and he remained dumb. 592 00:32:28,800 --> 00:32:32,200 So Zechariah, can't speak to the crowd, he has to use sign 593 00:32:32,200 --> 00:32:35,900 language of some sort to communicate to them verse 23. 594 00:32:35,900 --> 00:32:38,900 When his time of service came to an end, he returned home. 595 00:32:39,500 --> 00:32:41,100 Notice that Zechariah didn't stop. 596 00:32:41,100 --> 00:32:43,300 He service early. Even though he was struck dumb. 597 00:32:43,600 --> 00:32:46,600 He continued with his service until it came to an end. 598 00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:50,700 That reveals that Zechariah does have a deep true Faith. 599 00:32:50,700 --> 00:32:53,900 Even though he faltered here, When he doubted the Angels news, 600 00:32:54,500 --> 00:32:57,500 he still continues his service, he's a faithful Jew. 601 00:32:58,800 --> 00:33:02,100 Verse 24 sometime later. That's what our lectionary. 602 00:33:02,100 --> 00:33:04,700 Translation says other translations have this. 603 00:33:04,700 --> 00:33:08,300 As after these days we don't know how many days so this could 604 00:33:08,300 --> 00:33:11,800 have been quite a long time. It says his wife, Elizabeth 605 00:33:11,800 --> 00:33:14,700 conceived. So at some point after Zechariah 606 00:33:14,700 --> 00:33:19,000 receives the news, Elizabeth conceives but we don't know 607 00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:23,200 exactly when And then it says, for five months, she kept 608 00:33:23,200 --> 00:33:26,400 herself or more? Literally she hit herself 609 00:33:26,800 --> 00:33:28,600 Scholars. Are not sure what this means 610 00:33:28,600 --> 00:33:30,500 exactly. Why is she hiding herself? 611 00:33:30,900 --> 00:33:33,800 Maybe she wants to be sure that she's pregnant. 612 00:33:33,900 --> 00:33:35,700 Maybe. She's afraid of losing the baby 613 00:33:35,700 --> 00:33:37,600 in the first five months. And she doesn't want to tell 614 00:33:37,600 --> 00:33:40,500 people unless she gets to the five month Mark there's all 615 00:33:40,500 --> 00:33:44,100 sorts of different theories here but apparently she doesn't have 616 00:33:44,100 --> 00:33:47,800 a whole lot of visitors in these first five months until Mary 617 00:33:47,800 --> 00:33:51,800 comes in the sixth month. But this is what Elizabeth says, 618 00:33:51,800 --> 00:33:53,400 when she finds out she's that she's pregnant. 619 00:33:53,900 --> 00:33:57,600 The Lord has done this for me. She said, so Elizabeth 620 00:33:57,600 --> 00:34:00,400 interprets. Her pregnancy as an act of God's 621 00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:04,400 goodness to her much, like many women in the Old Testament, and 622 00:34:04,400 --> 00:34:08,500 he or she says, now that it has pleased him to take away the 623 00:34:08,500 --> 00:34:11,600 humiliation. I suffered among men, so 624 00:34:11,600 --> 00:34:14,199 Elizabeth, glorifies God. She knows if she's no longer 625 00:34:14,199 --> 00:34:17,199 Barren and she knows that she's no longer going to be looked 626 00:34:17,199 --> 00:34:19,800 down upon Society. The Lord has done this for me. 627 00:34:19,800 --> 00:34:22,300 Me, he will take away the humiliation. 628 00:34:22,300 --> 00:34:25,900 I have suffered among men. This is the same as what Rachel 629 00:34:25,900 --> 00:34:30,699 says, in Genesis 30 verse 23, When Rachel conceives after 630 00:34:30,699 --> 00:34:34,500 being Barren for many years. So Elizabeth here is kind of 631 00:34:34,500 --> 00:34:38,699 presented as this new Rachel or the Fulfillment of many women in 632 00:34:38,699 --> 00:34:40,000 the Old Testament, who were barren. 633 00:34:41,600 --> 00:34:43,600 So that's the end of todays. Long text. 634 00:34:43,600 --> 00:34:44,900 I hope you learned something new. 635 00:34:45,500 --> 00:34:47,000 Now, the Zacharias and Elizabeth. 636 00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:50,300 They both reappear later in the chapter and we'll look at their 637 00:34:50,300 --> 00:34:53,699 stories in the coming days as we go on the next section. 638 00:34:53,699 --> 00:34:56,699 Verses 26 to 38 is the Annunciation. 639 00:34:57,000 --> 00:34:59,000 That's when the angel Gabriel appears to marry. 640 00:34:59,400 --> 00:35:02,200 That's read, all sorts of times in the liturgical year. 641 00:35:02,200 --> 00:35:05,300 So it's probably one of the most well-known readings, and we'll 642 00:35:05,300 --> 00:35:07,200 look at that in tomorrow's episode. 643 00:35:08,100 --> 00:35:11,000 Let's now turn to the catechism to see what we can learn from 644 00:35:11,800 --> 00:35:14,700 from the story of the Angel appearing to Zechariah. 645 00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:17,100 There's all sorts of really interesting places in the 646 00:35:17,100 --> 00:35:19,200 catechism where it gets discussed will just talk about a 647 00:35:19,207 --> 00:35:22,700 couple of them. So paragraph 33 to talks about 648 00:35:22,900 --> 00:35:26,100 Christ's role with the angels and also paragraph seven one, 649 00:35:26,100 --> 00:35:30,100 seven and seven one eight. They talk about John's role as 650 00:35:30,100 --> 00:35:33,800 the final fulfillment of Elijah and will include these in the 651 00:35:33,800 --> 00:35:36,400 show notes as well. So, whatever platform you're 652 00:35:36,400 --> 00:35:39,700 listening on, you should just be Able to click on the episode 653 00:35:39,700 --> 00:35:42,200 that's currently playing and it should bring up the entire 654 00:35:42,200 --> 00:35:45,200 episode description and in that description is all these 655 00:35:45,200 --> 00:35:47,300 catechism references that were talking about. 656 00:35:47,900 --> 00:35:50,600 There's also some interesting references about symbols of the 657 00:35:50,600 --> 00:35:55,500 Holy Spirit and it talks about how Elijah himself was empowered 658 00:35:55,500 --> 00:35:58,700 by the Holy Spirit. Let's look at paragraph 2684. 659 00:35:59,500 --> 00:36:02,100 This is about the cloud of witnesses. 660 00:36:02,900 --> 00:36:07,100 In the communion of saints, many and varied spiritualities have 661 00:36:07,100 --> 00:36:10,400 been developed throughout the history of the church, has the 662 00:36:10,400 --> 00:36:13,500 personal kharazim of some witnesses to God's love, for 663 00:36:13,500 --> 00:36:16,700 men, that has been handed on, like the spirit of Elijah to 664 00:36:16,700 --> 00:36:20,400 Alicia and John the Baptist so that their followers may have a 665 00:36:20,400 --> 00:36:23,500 share in this spirit. This is a really interesting 666 00:36:23,500 --> 00:36:25,200 Catholic teaching that not many people know. 667 00:36:25,200 --> 00:36:27,500 It's one of the most interesting paragraphs in the catechism. 668 00:36:27,500 --> 00:36:31,200 It says the person or carries them of some witnesses that 669 00:36:31,200 --> 00:36:35,200 God's love for men has been Don't like the spirit of elite 670 00:36:35,200 --> 00:36:37,700 of Elijah to Alicia and John the Baptist. 671 00:36:38,200 --> 00:36:41,300 So, the teaching here is that just as Elijah Spirit past 672 00:36:41,400 --> 00:36:44,300 eventually to John the Baptist. There have been other times in 673 00:36:44,300 --> 00:36:47,300 church history, When people's personal kharazim, their 674 00:36:47,300 --> 00:36:50,900 personal spiritual power has been passed on to other people, 675 00:36:51,200 --> 00:36:54,000 so that their followers may have a share in this spirit. 676 00:36:54,300 --> 00:36:56,900 It's a really interesting aspect of Catholic theology that 677 00:36:57,600 --> 00:37:01,900 particularly holy men and holy women, their individual carries 678 00:37:01,900 --> 00:37:04,000 them in their spirit. Can be passed on to their 679 00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:09,000 followers paragraph. 1070, this is in the section about what 680 00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:12,400 does the word liturgy mean? It says in the New Testament, 681 00:37:12,400 --> 00:37:15,300 the word liturgy refers, not only to the celebration of 682 00:37:15,300 --> 00:37:19,600 divine worship but also to the proclamation of the gospel and 683 00:37:19,600 --> 00:37:22,700 to active charity. So that's interesting. 684 00:37:22,700 --> 00:37:26,100 The word liturgy has multiple uses in Theology. 685 00:37:26,100 --> 00:37:28,900 And one of those uses is the proclamation of the Gospel, 686 00:37:28,900 --> 00:37:32,400 which is what we see the angel doing to Zechariah today. 687 00:37:33,600 --> 00:37:35,900 Thanks for listening to today's longer episode. 688 00:37:35,900 --> 00:37:38,700 Please share this around with other people and will continue 689 00:37:38,700 --> 00:37:40,900 to look at Luke chapter 1 in the coming days.