SUNDAY December 4, 2022

The Silence of God

There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years.
Luke 1:5-7

King Herod was a very unrighteous, evil person who was appointed as a puppet ruler by the Romans. Elizabeth and Zacharias were found to be righteous before God. They belonged to priestly tribes. Priests usually retired at the age of 50, but Zacharias was still serving in the priesthood. Sadly, Elizabeth was barren; she had no children. Interestingly, the name Zacharias means “Jehovah has remembered,” and the name Elizabeth means “God is my joy.”

Once in a lifetime, an opportunity came for a priest to be chosen to go into the Temple, to enter the Holy Place and present incense to the Lord. As there were such a large number of priests serving, most would never get the chance to be chosen for such an honor. A priest was chosen by lots from among his division. At this particular time, by God’s providence, Zacharias was chosen. Nothing is by coincidence. Luke 1:8-9 tells us:

…while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.

At this particular time in history, the voice of the Lord had not been heard. From the last book of the Old Testament––Malachi, to the first book of the New Testament––Matthew, in-between those two books that bridged the gap between the Old Testament and the New Testament, there was silence for a period of 400 years.

God had not spoken to man, the Word of God had not been heard, and there had been no visions, dreams or angels sent with a message to His people. Yet this was about to change––something miraculous was about to happen.

I believe in the sun even when it is not shining. I believe in love even when I cannot feel it. I believe in God even when He is silent.
~Jewish Prisoner, written on the wall in a concentration camp~

For more from Raul Ries, please visit SomebodyLovesYou.com!