LUKE 1:5<\/b><\/p>\n
In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron<\/i><\/p>\n
(Luke 1:5)<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Herod the Great was one of the most horrible rulers Israel ever had. He was not a Jew but a descendant of Esau. The Romans ruled Palestine at this time, and Herod of Idumea (or Edom, Esau) was their puppet ruler. Herod was called \u201cgreat\u201d because of his great public building projects, but he was a degenerate man who mingled the blood of the people with their sacrifices. His reign was like that of Pharaoh, and so the birth of Jesus was in some ways like the birth of a new Moses, a new deliverer.<\/p>\n
Luke does not start out right away with the birth of this new Savior, however, but with the birth of His cousin John. John\u2019s parents were of the priestly family. His father\u2019s name was Zechariah, a name that means \u201cThe Lord Remembers.\u201d The people of Israel had forgotten God\u2019s promises, though a handful of people remembered. Most important of all, however, God remembered.<\/p>\n
John\u2019s mother\u2019s name was Elizabeth, which means \u201cMy God Is an Oath.\u201d God had sworn a covenant oath with His people, and they were relying on it. In these names we see the faith of Israel preserved. The God who had sworn an oath to redeem sinful humanity would not forget His people. The parents of Zechariah and Elizabeth believed this, and they believed it as well. Zechariah and Elizabeth are described in Scripture this way: \u201cBoth of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord\u2019s commandments and regulations blamelessly\u201d (Luke 1:6). In an age of infidelity, they were faithful. What a fantastic honor to have this said about you. How would you like to have this verse inscribed on your tombstone? Others had forsaken the Lord, but they were loyal to Him and to His covenant.<\/p>\n
CORAM DEO<\/b><\/p>\n
Genesis 3\u20135<\/p>\n
Matthew 2<\/p>\n
Luke 1:6 does not mean that Zechariah and Elizabeth lived completely sinless lives. Rather, it means that they kept God\u2019s ordinances after they sinned. They confessed their sin, asked forgiveness, made apologies and restitution as necessary. We see from this that an \u201cupright and blameless life\u201d is not impossible. Ask the Lord to help you live faithfully, as did Zechariah and Elizabeth.<\/p>\n
For further study: Psalms 37:18\u201340; 101; Philippians 2:12\u201316<\/i><\/p>\n
wednesday<\/p>\n
january<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LUKE 1:5 In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron (Luke 1:5). Herod the Great was one of the most horrible rulers Israel ever had. He was not a Jew but a … Continue reading “FAITHFUL AND BLAMELESS”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11089\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}