Word of Salvation – Vol. 22 No. 07 – November 1975

 

You Shall Call His Name John

 

Sermon by Rev. R.O. Zorn, B.A., B.D., M.Th. on Luke 1:13

(Advent Sermon)

Scripture Reading: Luke 1:1-17

Psalter Hymnal: 287, 389:1,2 (Law), 389: 3 (Assurance), 333, 331

361:4

 

Beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ,

The name John means, "God is gracious.”

It is not a name that is only to be found in the New Testament.

Already in the Old Testament we find it several times.  In 1Chronicles 3: 24 a certain Johanan is listed as one of David's descendants.  In 2Chronicles 28:12 we are told that a head from the tribe of Ephraim was called Johanan.  And in 2Kings 25:23 we learn that a captain of Judah at the time of the Babylonian captivity was named Johanan.

Moreover, besides these references to the name Johanan, we find the variation Hananiah (which means the same thing) in a number of places in the Old Testament as well.

John, which is the English equivalent of the Greek Johannes, was a popular name by the time of the New Testament period.

At least four different people are mentioned in the New Testament who bore this name.  There was John the Baptist, John the Apostle, John Mark who wrote the second Gospel, and a relative of the high priest who also was named John.

And the popularity of the name John has not diminished from that day to this.

What makes the name John so significant as it is mentioned in our text?  It was the name which the angel gave the aged parents of the son who was shortly to be born of them.  And that son was destined to become known as John the Baptist.

John's parents were Zechariah and Elizabeth.  But John was named by God Himself.  For John, like his name, was to be a sign to God's people that God is indeed gracious.

It is a name, therefore, that shows heaven's interest and involvement with earth in preparation for the first Christmas and the coming of Christ into the world.

On this Advent Sunday it is well for us to reflect upon the name God gave to the herald of His Son's coming into the world.  For in this name John, we see God's own preparation for Christmas.

Since the name John means, "God is gracious", we are prompted to ask in the first place:

IS GOD INDEED GRACIOUS?

After all, how long had the people of God waited for the fulfilment of od's promises of redemption as they centred in the coming of His Son?  The aged priest Zechariah and his heretofore barren wife Elizabeth were only two of that righteous remnant yet awaiting the fulfilment of God's promises.

To be sure, those promises were bound up with a glorious past history for God's people.  In fact that history could be traced back all the way to the Garden of Eden.  For God's promise of deliverance from Satan's bondage and sin's penalty was as ancient as that (cf. Genesis 3:15).

The story of Abraham's call and the promises given to him by God made thrilling reading in Holy Scripture.  Ultimately, in consequence of God's faithfulness, the child of promise, Isaac, had been given to the aged parents, Abraham and his wife Sarah, with the future of God's promises being thereby assured in Isaac.

Israel's miraculous deliverance from Egypt's cruel bondage was also a thrilling story of God's power and preservation.

So also were the glorious reigns of King David and King Solomon.  In fact they were a tale of Israel's unparalleled prosperity and blessing under the good hand of God.

Later, in the dark days of national apostasy with the imminent threat of divine judgment looming on the horizon, the encouraging prophecies of better days to come with the advent of the Messiah gave the continuing righteous remnant an abiding hope to which to cling.

But now in these latter days in which Zechariah and Elizabeth lived, the divine promises seemed to have foundered upon a long dead past and a hopeless present.

For had not the light or prophecy now for a long time ceased?  Malachi had been the last of God's messengers to His people.  He had plainly spoken of the promised Messiah's coming.  But that had been more than 400 years ago.  More than twice as long as Australia's history as a nation!  An amount of time in the history of the world that would take us back to the Reformation period.  Yes, a lot of history can be crammed into a period of 400 years!

Moreover, the Jews were again a conquered people.  Imperial Rome was now the world's master and its occupation armies, enforcing the ‘pax romana’, could be found in Palestine as everywhere else.  And instead of the Messiah, the bloodthirsty Edomite, Herod, occupied the throne of David as the willing vassal of Rome.

Yes, hadn't all the promises of God foundered in the sea of all of these human events?  Could God still be alive in the face of all these disasters?

But now, to bring it down to the personal level of Zechariah and Elizabeth, how long had they waited for an answer to their prayers?  They belonged to the godly remnant, still hopefully awaiting the advent of the Messiah as the consolation of Israel.  Both were descendants of Aaron; and Zechariah, though aged, was still active in the priesthood.

Scripture's testimony is that they were both righteous before God.  In other words, they loved the Lord, believed His Word despite the facts to the contrary, and served Him from the heart.  In the eyes of their fellow-men their walk before the Lord was blameless.

It is also true that in many ways they could be regarded as having been blessed by God.  For in the first place Elizabeth was married to a priest.  A current saying of the day for a young girl of promise was, "She deserves to be married to a priest."  (Would the same apply to a girl's marrying a minister today?)

In the second place Zechariah still exercised the office of a priest in God's temple in Jerusalem when it was his order's turn to do so.  And now though old he had had the incredible good fortune of having the recent lot fall to him which gave him the privilege of burning incense before the Lord – a once-in-a-lifetime blessing, if ever!

However, Zechariah and Elizabeth had lived with cruel disappointment all of their married lives.  Despite all their piety and prayers, they had remained childless.  And what a curse this could be considered to be!  For this meant that they would have no descendants to take part in Israel's future glory under the Messiah.  Now old and withered like dead branches they were about to be cut out of the tree of Abraham forever.

Oh, they had hoped and prayed and waited but all in vain!  In Elizabeth's house all remained spic and span, with no toys to step upon and stumble over; no disorder or mess to clean up; no child to cuddle or tuck in at night.  What a heart-break!

Did Elizabeth sometimes have to endure the inconsiderate attitude of some who wondered – sometimes tactlessly out loud why they had no children?  Yes, people can be cruel at times.

But why hadn't God answered their prayers?  Was He powerless?  Was He indifferent?  Was He indeed gracious?

Have you felt this way at times?  When tragedy unexpectedly strikes.  When unconverted loved ones for whom continual prayer is made still heedlessly go on their wilful, unrepentant way.  When years of frustration and disappointment create an increasing temptation to bitterness.

Then you know how these two old people must have felt.

This, then brings us to our second point in which we must see that:

GOD IS INDEED GRACIOUS.

For, unbeknown to Zechariah and Elizabeth, all was nevertheless being fulfilled according to His prophetically revealed plan and purpose.

Was it indeed true that the present plight of God's people could be considered hopeless?  No!  Rather, God was using mighty Rome's very imperialism as a stepping stone ultimately to reach his people in all the world.  For Rome's universal sway would serve to break down nationalistic barriers and prepare the way for the easy spread of the Gospel.  And a common language would increase the easy world-wide spread of the Gospel.

Should this not teach us to view world events in this light?  We have seen the communists take over Russia, then China, and now Vietnam.  Does this mean that the Church's day in these countries is done?  We might be tempted to feel this way in the face of communism's official, militant atheism.  But after fifty years of communism, the Church is far from dead in Russia, though forced in large measure to exist in an underground fashion there.  And who knows what is presently going on in China?  Is God perhaps by means of communism removing ancient traditions that have heretofore checked the effective progress of the Gospel, so that at some future day the way will have been prepared for a mighty growth of His Church among that great people?

In the meantime should we not be praying and working for the increasing success of the Church's mission in Indonesia, Taiwan, Ethiopia, Africa, South America and elsewhere?  Who knows the extent that God wishes to use us to this end?  At any rate, the open doors of opportunity beckoning the people of God to renewed effort in missions and evangelism should effectively quell discouraging thoughts that the Church's day is over.

Moreover, were indeed the prayers of Zechariah and Elizabeth unanswered?

Had their lives been lived in vain?

They might well have thought so.  And in their old age they had no doubt given up praying for the birth of a child.  After all, God doesn't give children to old people, does He?  True, He had given Isaac to aged Abraham and Sarah.  But this could be regarded as an unrepeatable exception.  And so, instead of expecting life, they were now simply waiting for death.

How unsearchable are the ways of God!  For the angel appears to Zechariah and tells him that his prayer has been heard.  What prayer?  Surely not the long given up one for a child!  Undoubtedly the angel must be referring to the priestly prayer Zechariah had just been offering for Israel's messianic redemption.  A prayer such as we find in Isaiah 64:1-2:

"O that Thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at Thy presence – as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil – to make Thy name known to Thy adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at Thy presence!"

But now God in His infinite grace grants Zechariah even more than he asked for.  For the angel tells him, "Your prayer is heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John”

Why didn't Zechariah believe?  Is anything too hard for God?

Why didn't the Church praying for Peter's release from prison believe when God answered their prayer and Peter stood outside the door knocking to get in?  (Acts 12:15).

O that we might pray and not lose heart, not only in asking great things from God but in expecting great things from God!  Are we prepared to see God answer our prayers?  Are we even praying?

Should we not be reminded once again of the truths we sometimes sing in a hymn from our Psalter Hymnal?

"Blind unbelief is sure to err
 And scan His work in vain;
 God is His own Interpreter
 And He will make it plain.
 Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
 The clouds ye so much dread
 Are big with mercy and shall break
 In blessings on your head."          (Number 461)

Yes, God fulfils His divine purposes just as He has promised.  And John was to be His herald raised up to prepare the way for the coming into the world of God's own Son.

John's ministry, therefore, would be in fulfilment of prophecy.

Both Isaiah and Malachi had spoken gloriously of the prophet who would come in the spirit and power of Elijah, and whose mighty ministry would bring repentance from sin and spiritual renewal to God's people.  Through his ministry a people would be made ready for the coming of the Lord.

How did John eventually do this?  Simply by fearlessly preaching the prophetic Word, the whole counsel of God which included the divine judgment to come.

This is still the kind of preaching the Lord blesses and uses today.  And only as we are willing to hear and heed it will we too be a people prepared for the Lord's coming, this time not in humble simplicity as was true for Him in His first advent but on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.  Then every knee will bow and confess that He is Lord.  But only those who willingly do so now will enter with Him into the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world. (Matthew 25:34).

In John, the Lord once again showed that He is gracious.

The Old Testament prophecy had ended on the threatening note of Divine judgment and curse (cf. Malachi 4:6).  Because that is all a deliberately sinful people can expect from God.

But God sent John "to turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers" that through his ministry a people might be prepared for the Christmas event in the coming of Christ.

Instead of smiting the earth with a curse, the Son of God was coming "to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found."

Yes, God is indeed gracious.  But, in the third place we must consider:

WHO ARE PARTAKERS OF GOD'S GRACE?

Obviously it is people who are ready for the Lord, a people prepared. (Luke 1:17).

Who were they in Israel?  Were they the thoughtless multitudes who heard John's preaching and came for baptism because they had Abraham as their forefather?

No, to them John said, "You brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Bear fruits that befit repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.  Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." (Luke 3:7-9).

You see, it is not enough to trust in one's ancestry, or the Covenant of Grace, or whatever else, if our hearts have not been changed by repentance and faith

A people prepared would be those who repented of their sins and believed the Gospel.  Many were despised tax-collectors.  Some were even soldiers.  But all alike saw their need and looked to the Lord for deliverance.

And therefore they brought forth in their renewed hearts and lives fruits worthy of repentance.

Why does God show such people His mercy and saving grace?

Because those who think they are whole will not accept the healing medicine of Christ, the Great Physician.  And pride and self-righteousness all too often are the particular sins of covenant people!

But when repentant sinners recognise that God has forgiven them their sins which are many, they will also love Him much.

Are we a people prepared?

It's Christmas time once again.

Time to think of and celebrate the wonderful works of God of which we're reminded at this season.  For God prepared the time and His people for the coming of the Babe of Bethlehem.

And the historical reality is in the sacred record as an everlasting comfort to us that God saves His people from their sins and gives them the peace and joy of Christmas.

So it's time again to look at ourselves in the light of God's graciousness.  What is our Christmas attitude?

A big day for ourselves and our family?

"Except you repent, you will surely perish.”

Are we taking Christmas for granted?

After all, it's based on history 2,000 years old.  And what does such ancient history have to do with my life?

If this is your attitude, then the saving grace of God in Christ is not yet a reality in your life.

Of John the Baptist, John the Apostle in the first chapter of his Gospel writes, "There was a man sent from God whose name was John.  He came to bear witness of the Light that all men through Him might believe and have eternal life." (cf. John 1:6-7).

May God's grace conquer our unbelief, overcome our doubts and fears, and make us truly a people for His own possession.

"O come, O come, Emmanuel,
 And ransom captive Israel,
 That mourns in lonely exile here,
 Until the Son of God appear
 Rejoice!  Rejoice!  Emmanuel
 Shall come to thee, O Israel '   (Psalter Hymnal 333,1).

Amen