Bethany Bullet - December 4, 2012

Luke 1:5-25 records the events surrounding the silence that struck Zechariah priest of Israel.  This rebuke was not only for his personal correction it was also for our communal instruction.

Clearly Zechariah was struck silent because he didn’t immediately embrace or accept Gabriel’s message.  That is without question, verse 20 tells us that much.  This personal correction, in the form of a physical rebuke, is never-the-less judgment filled with grace.  Zechariah continued to minister in the temple (vs. 23).  He was blessed to be in the house of the Lord without being able to speak a word. Though silenced by God, God wasn’t silent with Zechariah. He still served, finished out his assigned period of duty, listened and watched, as well as touched and smelled that which was occurring in the temple of the Lord.

It was after this season silence that Zechariah was able to hear God’s word and then affirm and confirm it with his own words.  Read Luke 1:57ff.    

While we often think of Zechariah and Elizabeth, Mary and Simeon, the babes and shepherds, the stars and angels as the characters of Advent and I suppose rightly so another Character of Advent is SILENCE.   ADVENT is a time of recognizing the Lord’s presence and preparing to welcome Him and His message with open arms.  WONDER, as in awe, is the response of the heart that watches the Lord’s work and listens to the Lord’s words; where wonder, as in a question, is the response of the lips that speak before God has fully spoken. Wonder is exchanged for WONDER when God is given voice even if it means His people must silence theirs.

-Pastor Kevin Kritzer