EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/20/2026
9:48 PM
My
Worship Time
Focus: PT-2 “Zacharias’s Personal
Righteousness”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: Luke
1:5b-7
Message of the verses: “there was a priest named Zacharias,
of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and
her name was Elizabeth. They were both
righteous in the sight of God, walking blameless in all the commandments and
requirements of the Lord. But they had
no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years.”
(NASB)
This evening I continue to look at these verses above
and Lord willing will finish this section this evening.
We are talking about Zacharias and
Elizabeth in this section and as we can see they were a remarkable pair of true
believers well suited to be the parents of the forerunner of the Messiah. I know that in the Jewish people of that day,
and probably today too that if you were childless people began to talk about
why the Lord has not allowed you to have children. This story will be similar to the story of
Abraham and Sarrah who were both old and did not have any children. The child that Sarrah gave to Abraham
continue the process of beginning the Jewish race as their offspring Isaac
would be the father of Jacob, and Essau who both began races of people, but
Jacob would have the twelve children who would father the twelve tribes of
Israel. Zacharias and Elizabeth would
bring the forerunner to the Messiah with their union.
John MacArthur writes “In a bleak period
of hypocrisy, legalism, and defection from the true worship of God, they
were both righteous. And unlike the
self-righteous hypocrites whom Jesus excoriated (cf. Matt. 6:2, 5, 16; 23:13-29;
John 5:44), Zacharias and Elizabeth were righteous not in the sight of men, but
in the sight of God. God justified them the way He
has always justified the redeemed: by faith. As Moses wrote to Abraham, ‘Then he
believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness’ (Gen.
15:6). Zacharias and Elizabeth
believed in the true and living God and the revelation of His Word in the Old
Testament (cf. Acts 24:14).”
(cf. Acts 24:14)
“14 But this I confess to you, that according to
the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing
everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets,”
“They also
believed that God’s law was right and true (cf. Ps. 19:7-8; Rom. 7:12) but knew
that they could not keep it (cf. Acts 15:10; Rom. 3:20; 8:7; Gal. 2:16; 3:11,24). Because Zacharias and Elizabeth realized that
they fell short of the law’s standards of righteousness, they also knew that
they needed to turn in repentance and faith (cf. Hab. 2a:4; Luke 18:13-14) to a
merciful, gracious and loving God.” Now
I will not take the space to copy and paste all of these verses above, but
those verses, at least many of them help us to see the way that God saved
people in the Old Testament as they looked forward to the Messiah to take away
their sins, while we look back at what the Messiah did in order to save New
Testament believers. There will be more
verses referenced as I continue through this section, and please take the time
to look them up on your own, as I will only quote a few of them.
MacArthur goes on to write “He would
then grant them forgiveness (Ps. 130:3-4; Isa. 1:18; Dan. 9:9; Mic. 7:18-19;
Acts 10:43) and not impute their sins to them (Ps. 32:1-2; Rom. 8:33-34; cf.
Rom. 3:25-26; 4:3, 9).” Ok these are
some very important verses for us to look at this evening and even though I
will probably not get through this section this evening I think now that I will
take the time and space to copy and paste these verses.
(Ps. 32:1-2; Rom. 8:33-34; cf. Rom.
3:25-26; 4:3, 9)
“1 ¶ «A Maskil of David.» Blessed is the one whose
transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Blessed is the man against whom the LORD
counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.”
“33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s
elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who
is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who
is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.”
“25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his
blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because
in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the
present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has
faith in Jesus.”
“3 For what does the Scripture? say? “Abraham
believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”
“9 ¶ Is this blessing then only for the
circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted
to Abraham as righteousness.”
“The basis
for that forgiveness was Messiah’s sacrificial death on behalf of all who
believe (Isa. 53:5-6, 10-12).
(Isa. 53:5-6, 10-12)
“5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he
was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us
peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have
turned— every one— to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of
us all.”
“10 ¶ Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall
see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall
prosper in his hand. 11 Out of the
anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the
righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall
bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I
will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the
strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the
transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the
transgressors.”
“Thus God
covers the penitent sinner with His righteousness, as Isaiah wrote centuries earlier: ‘I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, my
soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He
has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness’ (Isa. 61:10; cf. 53:4-6).
(Isaiah 53:4-6)
“4 ¶ Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our
sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he
was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us
peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have
turned— every one— to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of
us all.”
“Zacharias
and Elizabeth were shining examples of the godly remnant of believing Jews in
the midst of an apostate nation. They
were declared righteous by grace through faith according to the new covenant
promise to be ratified in the death of Christ.”
I will stop here and Lord willing I
will finish this section tomorrow evening, as it seemed to me good to quote
these very important verses here.
2/20/2026
10:29 PM
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