Listen to the Sermon
Sermon Details
- Pastor Name: Jonathan Cornell
- Date & Time: December 7, 2014 | 10:00am
SERMON SERIES:
Singing Through Advent
Download the sermon audio HERE. (Simply right-click on the following page and select Save As to save it to your computer.)
I can tell you my story now—in fact, you can hardly shut me up now, but it’s been a rocky road getting here.
I’m not looking for sympathy, but put yourself in my sandals—a priest without children. I could see it in people’s eyes: wondering if there were some secret sin for which the Lord had made me and my wife barren. I could almost hear them saying, “And he is considered a spiritual leader?” Not sure if it was just my insecurity talking there, but it plagued me.
Gabriel said that God heard my prayers? Let me tell you about those prayers. I prayed the psalms of vindication: Psalm 35, verses 17-26, and Psalm 43, verses 1-4. I had stopped praying for a child, and my prayers had become focused on wanting the respect of the community. These were prayers of unrest; I did not know what it meant to rest in the Lord. Can you feel the irony here? I sensed that people didn’t think I was spiritually strong enough to be a priest, and I let these feelings get to me. Of course that undermined my walk with God.
And then—and then I was vindicated! The lot fell to me and I was chosen to go to into the holy of holies. The lot was God’s voice, saying, “You are my chosen one; you will represent me in this special way.” What a delight, what a privilege! And do you want to know what the real highlight was? It was my moment of vindication, my moment of showing the world that I deserved to be priest—coming out afterward and pronouncing the blessing. I, who had been as close to the face of God as one can be on this earth, would come out of the holy of holies into the courtyard. My face would be glowing, and I would raise my hands, slowly and with dignity, and pronounce those wonderful words of blessing: “The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” I would look into the people’s eyes as I pronounced those words of benediction, and I would see my vindication.
I was picturing the benediction scene in my mind when suddenly an angel was there with me. This was not in the game plan! There I was, in the holy of holies, basking in the presence of God, and the angel said, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God. . . .”
Download the entire transcript here: Luke 1 67-79 Zechariah’s Story
Download this week’s Advent devotional here: Advent Devotional 2014 Week 2
