Advent-ure Day 8: Zechariah and Elizabeth

Throughout the pages of the Scriptures, we see a narrative of our Heavenly Father, greatly desiring to reconcile fallen humanity to Himself, announcing His methodology throughout the Old Testament, and sending His Son, our Savior and Messiah, who fulfilled hundreds of prophecies written about Him, perfectly performing the plan of redemption.   In Romans 8, we can read:

15For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father."16The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,17and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

We belong to God - he has created us in His image, and given us the capacity for relationship with Himself.  But, we can only realize that through a relationship with His own Son, given for us so that we may come into His new life.  Jesus is the expression of the Father's love for us - we were once separated by sin, but now brought into His family.  The story of Christmas is the story of the love of our heavenly Father, and the love of His Son, who came down from heaven at Christmas, to live and die and live again, so that we might experience His life.

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Before there was period of silence from the prophets, which has been estimated at around 400 years, the prophet Malachi pointed to the coming of Elijah.  In chapter 4, we read:

5Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.6And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse."
And, that was all from the prophets...and then we have the beginning of the New Testament - the Scripture documents supernatural activity of God in Luke 1. We see that an angel appeared to a priest named Zacharias, or as some texts say, Zechariah.  Here's the message:11Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense.12And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.13But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.14And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.15For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.16And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.17He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, 'to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,' and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

Now compare these passages with those last 2 verses of Malachi - John the Baptist, this son who would be born would come, according to the angel, "in the spirit and power of Elijah," and he goes on to say, "to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children."

Isn't that interesting?  The son of Zechariah, would come to preach in a manner consistent with Elijah, and to build family unity, turning the hearts of fathers to their children.  By the way, Zechariah was rendered mute because he did not believe the words of the angel.  He spoke again when the time came to name the child.

That passage of Scripture: Malachi 4:6, about turning the hearts of fathers to their children, is so significant, I think, on two levels - first of all, it reminds us of the responsibility that we have as Christian fathers to turn our hearts toward our children and to demonstrate how we love Christ by the way that we love them.

I also think this can remind us about how God the Father regarded humanity and how, in order to reconcile us to Himself, He had to pay a heavy price, sending His Son to be our perfect sacrifice. God, our Father, reached out to us to redeem and reunite us with Himself.  His coming in human form can remind us how much He wants to be with us.   He identifies with us in our experiences and wants us to come into a saving knowledge of Himself through Jesus Christ.

This week on The Meeting House, I will have more coverage from the Fatherhood CoMission Leaders' Summit last week. I was blessed to hear from speakers and ministries who are involved in turning the hearts of fathers back to their children, integrating the principles of Scripture in building strong relationships.   The heart of God, our Heavenly Father, can be expressed in our lives.  

At the Summit  last week, the closing session featured Dr. Ken Canfield, who for many years was involved in the National Center for Fathering.  He presented an acronym for describing "father" in a Biblical framework. These 5 components spell out the word: HEART...

HONOR: respect and revere

ENCOURAGE: comfort and show compassion

AFFIRM: bless and don't exasperate

RESTRAIN: disciple and guide

TEACH: train and instruct.

These are 5 aspects of the Biblical role of the father, and are reflected by God our Heavenly Father, the One who wanted so much to redeem us to Himself and to build a relationship with us that He made a way possible through sending His Son and bringing us into His family.