EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/23/2026
8:48 PM
My
Worship Time Focus:
“Zacharias’s
Response to Prophetic Revelation”
Bible
Reading & Meditation
Reference: Luke 1:11-14
Message of the verses: “And an angel of the Lord appeared to
him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. Zacharias was troubled when he saw the angel,
and fear gripped him. But the angel said
to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and
your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name
John. You will have joy and gladness,
and many will rejoice at his birth.”
Now remember that there had not been any revelation
from the Lord for 400 years and now we see an angel coming to Zacharias while
in the temple of the Lord. Now even
though there had not been any communication from the Lord there were still people
living in Israel that had a relationship with the Lord and Zacharias and Elizabeth
were two who did.
Luke truly begins at the beginning as
he begins his gospel message as he records the startling truth than an angel
of the Lord appeared to him. This
really was not expected, but I do have to say that there were some in Israel
who really did expect the Messiah to come very soon, and the reason for that
was that because of the wonderful prophecy in the ninth chapter of Daniel,
something I have gone over in different Spiritual Diaries. Let me just say that
from the time that Luke begins his gospel that there would be around 33 years
for the first part of Daniel’s prophecy in the ninth chapter of his book would
take place, in fact the ending of this first part can be seen in the 19th
chapter of Luke.
There was another Zechariah who saw
the angel in a series of visions earlier (Zechariah 1:9; 2:3; 4:1; cf. Daniel
7:15-16), this Zacharias actually saw this angel with his own eyes. That the heavenly
messenger was visible standing to the right of the altar of incense, shows
that he was really there; he was not some vague apparition or figment of
Zacharias’s imagination.”
(Zechariah 1:9; 2:3; 4:1; cf. Daniel
7:15-16)
9 Then I said, ‘What are these, my lord?’ The
angel who talked with me said to me, ‘I will show you what they are.’”
“3 And behold, the angel who talked with me came
forward, and another angel came forward to meet him.”
“1 ¶ And the angel who talked with me came again
and woke me, like a man who is awakened out of his sleep.”
“15 ¶ "As for me, Daniel, my spirit within me
was anxious, and the visions of my head alarmed me. 16 I approached one of those who stood there and
asked him the truth concerning all this. So he told me and made known to me the
interpretation of the things.”
We can see that Zachariah’s first response to seeing
this angel was understandable: [he]
was troubled…and fear gripped him. MacArthur
states “Troubled translates a form of the verb tarasso, which
literally means, ‘shaken,’ or ‘stirred up’ (John 5:7); figuratively, it means, ‘terrified’
(Matt. 14:26), ‘troubled’ (Matt. 2:3), or ‘agitated’ (Acts 17:8). Zacharias’s fearful reaction was typical of
this visited by angels (cf. Judges 6:22-23; 13:15-22; Daniel 8:15; Revelation
19:10; 22:8-9); the presence of such perfectly holy beings made people acutely
aware of their sin and God’s judgment of it (Gen. 2:17; 6:5-7; 19:24; Exodus
20:5; Numbers 11:1; 32:23; Deuteronomy 29:20; Psalm 98:9; Isaiah 13:11;
Jeremiah 32:19; Ezekiel 18:4). In light
of his obvious terror the angel replied comfortingly, ‘Do not be afraid, Zacharias’
(cf. Daniel 10:12, 19; Luke 1:30; 2:10).”
Now I have just listed very many verses that MacArthur put in this
paragraph and I will not be quoting all of them, but will pick some having the
reference posted above the verses.
(Daniel 8:15; Revelation 19:10; 22:8-9)
“15 ¶ When I, Daniel, had seen the vision, I sought
to understand it. And behold, there stood before me one having the appearance
of a man.”
“10 Then I fell down at his feet to worship him,
but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and
your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the
testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
“8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these
things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of
the angel who showed them to me, 9 but
he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your
brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship
God.’”
(Deuteronomy 29:20; Psalm 98:9; Isaiah
13:11; Jeremiah 32:19; Ezekiel 18:4).
“29 The LORD will not be willing to forgive him,
but rather the anger of the LORD and his jealousy will smoke against that man,
and the curses written in this book will settle upon him, and the LORD will
blot out his name from under heaven.”
“9 before the LORD, for he comes to judge the
earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.”
“11 I will punish the world for its evil, and the
wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant, and
lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.”
“19 great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose
eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, rewarding each one
according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds.”
“4 Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the
father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.”
(cf. Daniel 10:12, 19; Luke 1:30; 2:10)
“12 Then he said to me, "Fear not, Daniel,
for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled
yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because
of your words.”
“19 And he said, "O man greatly loved, fear
not, peace be with you; be strong and of good courage." And as he spoke to
me, I was strengthened and said, "Let my lord speak, for you have
strengthened me.’”
“30 And the angel said to her, "Do not be
afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.”
“10 And the angel said to them, "Fear not,
for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”
I have read over this passage many,
many times and there were times when I really did not understand why Gabriel
was hard on him, but perhaps the reason was that by Zachriah not being able to
speak made the vision more believable to those around him. This message was not a message of judgment
but a message of blessing to him for he and his wife have been wanting a child
for many, many years and I’m sure had given up by this time of having a
child. Even so the angels said “Your
petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son. The
petition that God would grant them a child was undoubtedly one
that Zacharias and Elizabeth had made through the years as mentioned. However now at last when all hope, humanly
speaking, was gone, God in accord with His divine purpose, graciously granted
their request, so Zacharias’s wife would bear him a son, and
they would give him the name John. MacArthur
adds that John “is the Greek form of the Hebrew name ‘Johanan” (God is gracious’).
The choice of that name for the Messiah’s forerunner symbolized the turning
point in redemptive history. God was
about to pour out His grace through the gift of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
The news that they were to have a
son naturally brought great joy and gladness to this older, past child-bearing
couple. However many others would
share in their joy and rejoice at his birth, because John would “turn
many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God’ (Luke 1:16) in
preparation for Messiah’s imminent arrival.”
In the same way that this couple and
others in Israel were looking forward to Christ’s first coming, I and many
other believers are looking for His second coming at the rapture of the Church.
2/23/2026
9:40 PM
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