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Celebrating Advent - December 5

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Sing: One or two songs of your choice

Reading: Luke 1:8-10
Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense.

Summary: The focus on this passage is the sovereignty of God in choosing Zechariah by lots. The Israelites believed that casting lots allowed God to reveal his will, as opposed to leaving weightier decisions to the wisdom of man who is sinful. What seems like gambling to us was actually faith to them. Amazingly, the odds of Zechariah being chosen was about 1 in 10,000. The fact that he was chosen to go into the temple tells us that God is in control of all things and that nothing can stop his purposes. God was going to bless Zechariah and answer a prayer that he and his wife had been praying all of their lives.

Teaching Tip: To make this lesson fun you can place one piece of brown rice in a giant Costco bag of rice. Imagine you were blindfolded and you had to reach in and pinch one piece of rice and then bring it out of the bag. That piece of brown rice represents Zechariah in the midst of all the other priests who could have been chosen. 

Questions/Responses:

What is a priest? A priest is someone who is set apart by God, to represent God's people to God. 

 What does it mean that Zechariah was able to enter the temple and burn incense? It means he was able to go into the presence of God and offer the prayers of all the people. 

Note: Consider this quote from Dr. Ralph Wilson

"As the officiating priest, it was Zechariah's job to place incense on the heated altar and then prostrate himself in prayer.[7] The incense represented the prayers of the people. Outside, the people were reciting this prayer during the incense offering: "May the merciful God enter the Holy Place and accept with favor the offering of his people."[8]"

Why is it special that Zechariah was chosen? Because there were so many priests to be chosen to go into the temple. It was also special that he was chosen so close to Jesus being born. Since Zechariah was going to be father of John the Baptist we know that it wasn't luck that he was going to enter the temple but it was God's will. 

 Is anything too hard for God? No, nothing is too hard for God.

 How does God show us that he is in control of all things? God shows us that he is in control of all things by selecting Zechariah to go into the temple. (Consider Proverbs 16:33).

What can we take from learning that God is in control of all things? We can take comfort in knowing that we can always trust God with our lives.

 Prayer and Ending

Suggested Prayer: Father in heaven, we are thankful for demonstrating your power in the life of Zechariah, by choosing him to go into the temple right before Jesus was going to be born. Nothing is too hard for you and we can trust you in everything. Please give us the strength to put our faith in you and trust you for everything. In Jesus name, AMEN.

 Sources Quoted:
Jesus Walk Luke's Gospel by Dr. Ralph Wilson. http://www.jesuswalk.com/lessons/1_5-25.htm

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