LUKE 1:18\u201325<\/b><\/p>\n
Zechariah asked the angel, \u201cHow can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
(Luke 1:18)<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Zechariah had been faithful all his life, blameless in his walk with the Lord. Now, when God\u2019s angel finally appeared to him with a promise, Zechariah\u2019s faith faltered just a little bit. He forgot all the barren wombs God had opened in the Old Testament, and the aged women who gave birth to children, and he said, \u201cHow can this be? We\u2019re too old.\u201d<\/p>\n
We read that the angel replied, \u201cI am Gabriel.\u201d A simple statement, a statement of authority. Gabriel<\/i> means \u201cMan of God.\u201d What Gabriel is saying is that he knows all about Zechariah and Elizabeth, and how old they are, but that he is bringing a message from God Himself. \u201cI stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news\u201d (v. 19). Because Zechariah did not receive the speaking of the angel, he was judged to \u201cbe silent and not be able to speak until the day this happens\u201d (v. 20).<\/p>\n
Meanwhile the people were growing restless because Zechariah was taking so long. Why was he staying in the Temple? Had something happened? Finally Zechariah came out, but he could not speak. Yet \u201cthey realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak\u201d (v. 22). How did they know he had seen a vision? Perhaps they figured it out eventually from the signs he was making.<\/p>\n
Yet the text implies that they realized it immediately. I think that the minute they saw his face, they knew that this man had been in the presence of God. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai after speaking with God, the reflected glory that shown from his face was so brilliant that the people could not bear to look at him. Just so, I think Zechariah brought the light of God\u2019s glory with him when he came out of the Temple.<\/p>\n
CORAM DEO<\/b><\/p>\n
Genesis 12\u201314<\/p>\n
Matthew 5:1\u201326<\/p>\n
WEEKEND<\/b><\/p>\n
Genesis 15\u201319<\/p>\n
Matthew 5:27\u20136:34<\/p>\n
God is faithful to keep His promises. Does your faith falter at times when it comes to God\u2019s promises? Select one promise today (perhaps Romans 4:20\u201322) and meditate on it this weekend. Observe the comfort His promises bring to daily living.<\/p>\n
For further study: Genesis 18:1\u201315; 25:19\u201321; 30:1\u201324; 1 Samuel 1:1\u201320; Romans 4:18\u201325<\/i><\/p>\n
WEEKEND<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LUKE 1:18\u201325 Zechariah asked the angel, \u201cHow can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years\u201d (Luke 1:18). Zechariah had been faithful all his life, blameless in his walk with the Lord. Now, when God\u2019s angel finally appeared to him with a promise, Zechariah\u2019s faith … Continue reading “THE GOD OF MIRACLES”<\/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-11092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11092","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=11092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11092\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}