The Messiahs Secret – Zechariah and Elizabeth 

Isaiah 40: 1-11. Luke 1: 1-25.

Lord Jesus you are the living word and your word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path, in Jesus’ name.

Zechariah heard from the Archangel Gabriel that his prayer from years before had been answered Elizabeth would bare him a son. In verse 18 he said, “How can I be sure,” he wanted assurance as they were now both too old to have children. 

We may have prayers that we prayed for years ago that are about to be answered, especially were we have laboured in prayer for members of our family.  


Zechariah questioned Gabriel’s word, as a result he lost his speech which meant that he was not able to express his meeting with Gabriel and further more he could not bless the people and that would have had the effect of being chastening by God.                                         

Israel had been chastened by God in their exile into Babylon, now God was comforting his people on their return to Jerusalem. During the journey they had been looked after by Israel’s shepherd, God himself. “He will feed his flock like a shepherd: He will gather the lambs in his arms, he will carry them in his bosom and gently lead those who are with young.”                                                                                                          

The prophecy in Isaiah 40 that was not fulfilled at that time. 

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness, preparing the way of the Lord making his path straight.”  

Hundreds of years afterwards it was fulfilled when Archangel Gabriel announced the good news to Zechariah that his son would be the one preparing the way for the coming of the Messiah.                                   

A preparation for the coming kingdom of God: repentance by immersion in water for the forgiveness of sins and to bear good fruit by sharing clothing and food. Luke 3: 3, 4, 9.

John the Baptist spoke of Jesus being the Lamb of God. The Lamb that bore the sins of the people.   Jesus the ‘Passover Lamb’ that laid down his life for his sheep. When Jesus sent out his disciples with the kingdom message it was to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 

Naomi our church organist keeps sheep on their smallholding, at our Ladies fellowship meeting she told us that when a sheep strays away from the rest of the sheep it is usually because it is hurting in some way, they don’t normally go off on their own.    

The shepherd Jesus, gathered the injured sheep.

 Isaiah 61: 1-4 "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because he has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound."

Jesus during his ministry brought healing and restoration to the people of Israel and when he died on the cross they did not realise that the Messiah had to suffer and die and be resurrected from the dead.   

The Messiah's Secret Revealed

The chief priest Caiaphas was given a prophecy that one man would die so that the nation would not perish. If only the leaders like Caiaphas had the realisation of these words in the knowledge that Jesus had redeemed and saved Israel through his death and resurrection. John 11: 49 – 53.

Jesus brought healing and reconciliation between God and all humanity: Jew and Gentile. Through faith in him we pass over from sin and death to forgiveness and eternal life.

Jesus gave us a greater promise than just being a shepherd to us, he said, "I and the Father are one and we will come and make our home within you." John 14: 23.                                                                                                                           

 Visual Aid

It is like putting a white cloth into water with dye in it. The white cloth absorbs the colour. So we absorb Jesus, the Father and the Holy Spirit. 

                                                                                       

Jesus calls us to his ministry of reconciliation with the indwelling ministry of the Trinity. Paul’s prayer in his letter to the Ephesians 3: 14 -21 “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with the might, through his Spirit in the inner man, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that, you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have the power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, length, height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Paul’s prayer that embraced this message that 'God indwells his people.' He prayed that we would understand what it means to be rooted and grounded in the love of God. Jesus did a complete work on the cross: 

                                the breath, the length, 

the height and depth of the cross

of his victory over principalities and powers, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, surpassing love that is as vast as the universe, its magnitude contained in our being.  “Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations for ever. Amen”   

In our walk in Christ we often go where someone else has prepared the ground, where seeds have already been sown and we take the water and by the action of the Holy Spirit, the seed germinates and starts to grow.

A man came to Chatterton Hey House at Edenfield from Langley House Trust’s ‘Tekoa House’ at Rochdale to join our Alpha Course. Andrew had just recently had a God experience saving him from ending his life. In this man’s life, the seed of faith had just germinated and he needed the water of the word, he was so thirsty for the words about Jesus.          

The Alpha Course enables a person to find out about Jesus from the Bible.  He was taking the first steps of putting his faith in Jesus. Where this man never trusted anyone before, he is learning to trust in the word and promises of the Lord our God to him.

As Isaiah 40: 8 stated; “The word of our God will stand for ever.”

The refreshing water of the word of God that brings forth an abundance of life.