Word for 2015

The Word of the Lord 2015:
By Jackson Ambe Ndecheck

The Man Zechariah: Luke 1

Brought up by a faithful priestly father who obviously taught him from the richness of their ancestral line, Zechariah was not just a priest like others, but one from the family lines of Abijah, the son of Samuel the Prophet. The implication of this family line reveals the power and privileges a priest like Zechariah would have among his pears on duty.
At his age (during the time of the angelic visitation) Zechariah probably had mentored a great number of other young priests. His experience in the service as a priest, his rich heritage of being brought up well and a great grandfather whose name stands at his defense at all times, his faithfulness in the community by the lifestyle he and Elizabeth exemplified altogether gives him some authority to advise and counsel others about the ways of God.
Having a child was something culturally important and women who could not give birth risked being shamed by the family of her husband, the village community or in other cases by the second wife (Sarah & Hagar Genesis 15,16 and Hannah & Peninah I Samuel 1). Zechariahs’ commitment to serve the Lord daily as a priest did not change. And in God’s faithfulness Zechariah was visited at his place of work, not in his search for solutions.

If you would ask Elizabeth how life was before the conception of John, she would certainly have a lot to say including her own emotional life. They both probably had days in their lives in which God was being judged for everything that had gone wrong in their lives. Zechariahs’ response to the Angel was either that of unbelief because of his numerous experiences and limited understanding of God’s ways or out of a genuine expression of surprise and shock of being told that at his age, he will have a child, just like Abraham.
Was he saying “I don’t deserve such a privilege and honor?” Was he scared of making mistakes in raising this child of promise?
If the first response holds any good insight into God’s character and nature, then Gabriel was probably very disappointed with Zechariah for allowing his many experiences to blind him from seeing the Glory of the Lord even as close as he was with Zechariah in the same Temple. But if the second opinion holds, then Gabriel probably was just doing his job trying to help the old man from going into a panic mode by the time he would leave the temple. Was he trying to save Zechariah from talking faster than his brain, was he saving him from the pressure of all the explaining he would have to do to both the High Priest in charge and to all of their relatives and neighbors. Was Gabriel in a sense saying: Zechariah finger across your mouth; you don’t need to explain yourself I will save you the time.

The more time I spend on this encounter, the more I have become aware of the reality that Zechariah and the Angel Gabriel actually had no discontent experience as it might have seemed. The fact that Zechariah was left silent for 9 months by the Angel seems to rather create a misrepresentation than a better understanding of who God our Father is. It could almost seem that God our loving father suddenly had no regard for all of Zechariah’s faithful service and obedience to Him and the people. Or perhaps God’s Angel was having a very bad day at work. Probably from being given several assignments to earth.
Only that his later response six months after this encounter appeared to be very kind and reasonable. Or better still, we have paid too much attention on the response and not the person of God to Zechariah and Mary.
If Elizabeth had been visited by the Angel her 5 months silence and public avoidance would have taken another interpretation than just being worried and overwhelmed with awe and the surprise of being found pregnant at her age. It’s obvious to think that Zechariah, a priest from the line of Samuel’s son needed no one to remind him of God’s acts of miracles in the life of Abraham and Sarah, Hannah and Elkanah, but perhaps a glimpse into his age will do us justice.
If Zechariah was as old as Abraham, that is about 90 years or anything between 70-90 years. He upon hearing that his own wife will become pregnant should definitely get worried about several different things in his life. Angel Gabriel was certainly not talking about him having a grandchild.
As a father of two with the third on the way, I cannot imagine my excitement at 50 to think about having a child- going through countless hours of sleepless nights over and again. But as for grand children at that age, sign me up please.

So if Zechariah was more concerned with the “how” as his question suggested, it appears that the Man Zechariah was an absolute brilliant Bible student and scholar. Some (like myself) would jump out of the meeting with the angel and start sharing the vision of this miracle and its ability to be the latest miracle of all time, but with no idea of the next step. And this is equally good at times, but not always.
Before I got married, I often thought that going to buy dresses for a baby a couple believed God for would reveal more faith on their part than waiting until the wife was pregnant.
Great insight that probably works for others, but not necessarily a Biblical Principle for having Children,
And though Mary in her own case was allowed to continue using her mouth and voice to speak, we are told twice that she sealed up things in her heart, reflecting over them. That seems to be easily done by Elizabeth, so it might have been easy for Mary to hold back her words than it would be for Mr Zechariah. They each have their areas of strength in how they express their shock, surprise and joyful emotions, which in my opinion, Zechariah was all overwhelmed with.

As we cross over from 2014-2015 I find the life of Zechariah to be the best way to explain how 2014 has been both to me personally and perhaps for the body of Christ. The feeling that you have put in almost all of the determination you have; your trust, your faithfulness and commitment but the result still seems a long distance away from reaching you. You have gone through difficult steps and stages of personal challenges that seem to be the last one just before the long awaited miracle only to realize that was just the first of a series. You came as close to giving up as the Word itself but somehow you found strength in the Lord at the last hour. You can count how many times you almost walk away as the only solution to your indescribable menace, but suddenly found a reason to keep going.
Tears and sleepless nights became your best of friends in this past year, pushing you to the last limit of your faith and perseverance. You felt weak and broken, you felt alone in the midst of a friendly and loving group. Several times this year you felt like you had something very, very important to say, but like Zechariah your mouth could not open at the occasion, so you left, beating yourself up and wondering what is going on with your life. Every word the Lord gave you regarding 2014 seems questionable and you might have even regretted telling people all that the Lord promised you for the year since nothing are forthcoming.
For if no one was aware, you thought to yourself that would have helped to make things easier in the rise of people so called good heart; in almost integrating you about everything going on in your life and family. In fact, you got tired of explaining and wish you had a situation or good enough reason to be silent for everyone to just leave you alone for a while.
Sounds like the very thing Gabriel was trying to prevent the old man Mr. Zechariah by leaving him mute and unable to speak.

LOOKING BACK

In 2014 dear friends you have run the race, you have fought a good fight, now there is for you in 2015 a crown of honor from the Lord because of your faithfulness in persevering till the end. The Lord will show you great favor and you will see the goodness of the Lord in the Land of the living.
And while this is the Word of the Lord for me and my family and I believe for the body of Christ the details of the application are as important as the result and fruit of this Message.
Let me explain: The goodness and favor of the Lord for Zechariah and Elizabeth was pregnancy and as we are told by Elizabeth that the favor of the Lord took away her shame and disgrace from among people which will also include the husband I hope. The shame of not having Children in this culture was something very extremely difficult, especially for women (ask Hannah about her experiences with Penninah before the birth of Samuel; 1 Samuel).
And while many today might be tempted to jump and shout a loud Hallelujah without looking at the practical application in Elizabeth’s situation, for her however, it might have been a time of great confusion. Should I be happy or sad she would ask herself, celebrate or wait first, should I announce it now or later, is this really happening to me, should I laugh back at those who have ridiculed me in the past? Maybe I should pay a surprise visit to those of my relatives who considered me a good for nothing person wife, a dry tree of no use to the Family. Or perhaps I should keep myself a little longer until I am very certain without any reasonable doubt that this is happening for sure. All these and many more would be the thought process of Elizabeth. And the fact that she was hidden from public view for about five (5) months could hypothetically point to her fears of any possible miscarriage or other early pregnancy related challenge. For example, Elizabeth may have been pregnant at age 60- or older.
And celebrating with singing and dancing for Elizabeth does not in any way eliminate the reality of pregnancy morning sickness. And if she is of the category who practically throws out everything in their stomach (except for the baby of course), then she might be tempted to consider the favor of the Lord a much more challenging present (gift) than earlier fantasy of how having a Child would be .The fantasies of being pregnant with a smile on your face from the first day and waking up on the following day with the Baby already born and lying right next to your bed all wrapped up well and sound asleep. I promise you, this kind of pregnancy experience can ONLY be possible in our minds or via the movie theater, not your life experience of real Human emotions in expression.

Ask me, a father of two, with the third on the way and I will certainly tell you a fantastic story about having a child or Children in my case. Not that I was the one being pregnant or that we took turns, but technically we were both pregnant even as we are right now. Just ask my wife for the rest of the details.
If Elizabeth’s morning sickness got worse and made Zechariah panic, oh, never mind, he can’t hear anything probably because the Angel knew Zechariah could not handle the drama of Elizabeth’s worries every night. And please don’t get me wrong, the truth is, if she is the person that tries to share by processing together, this time around, she will learn how to talk to the Lord or work very hard in developing her sign language ability that she might just consider saving her strength of sign language to try and dramatize only the most important news.

Furthermore, if Zechariah is a person who loves to solve every problem shared by the wife, being silent in the most crucial time of his wife’s life might just be the best kind of training he needed to learn how to pray about everything and trust the Lord to take care of both him and his wife and baby in the womb. But perhaps Zechariah would need several times of trying to help through sign language and only make matters worse for his wife who can hardly understand a thing of what he is trying to say with his fingers and almost an angry face. What have I done to this man, Elizabeth might say? I just need someone to listen to me and tell me it’s ok and that everything will be just fine. Not confusing fingers with a disappointed and angry face. While Zechariah is thinking within himself, I’m so sorry I can’t hear anything you are saying at this very precious time of our lives and I’m just so frustrated with myself and hope you do not misunderstand my frustration . These two fingers I’m raising up are a sign that I love you so much and I’m so proud of you.
So let me explain how I see 2015 from the Word of the Lord; it’s a year of increase, a year of favor and God’s grace, also its going to be the year of delivery.
To some people, the wave of morning sickness has just passed and the trimester of strength and energy is here, preps for the coming of the Baby are a thriving time of unspeakable excitement. But the pains of delivery are very real dear friends and as you get there, PUSH through in Hope, knowing that the Lord is faithful. He who began the good work is faithful to complete in Christ Jesus during this year 2015, as you welcome this year, Abide in the Word and be attentive to His Voice and Obey the Lord in Everything. And you will see and experience the Glory of the Lord and his goodness in this 2015.
Happy New Year