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SUBJECT: 02 LUK 1:20 The Judgment Upon Zacharias
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The Judgment Upon Zacharias
by
C. H. SPURGEON
(1834-1892)
"Thou shalt be dumb and not able to speak until the day that these things
shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be
fulfilled in their season."- Luk_1:20.
Unbelief is everywhere a great sin, and a grievous mistake. Unbelief has
proved the ruin of those countless multitudes who, having heard the gospel,
rejected it, died in their sins, have been consigned to the place of torment,
and await the fiercer judgment of the last day. I might ask the question
concerning this innumerable host, "Who slew all these?" The answer would be,
"Unbelief." And when unbelief comes into the Christian's heart, as it does at
times-for the truest believer has his times of doubt; even Abraham, the
father of the faithful, sometimes had his misgivings-that unbelief does not
assail his thoughts without withering his joys, and impairing his energies.
There is nothing in the world that costs a saint so dear as doubt. If he
disbelieve his God, he most assuredly robs himself of comfort, deprives
himself of strength, and does himself a real injury. The case of Zacharias
may be a, lesson to the Lord's people. It is to them I am going to speak:
Zacharias is a striking example of the ills a good man may have to suffer as
the result of his unbelief. In reviewing these, we mark:-
I. THE CHARACTER AND POSITION OF ZACHARIAS.
Here we cannot fail to discover some profitable lesson. He was undoubtedly a
believer. He is said, in the sixth verse, to have been righteous before God.
No man ever obtained such a reputation except by faith. "The just shall live
by faith." No other righteousness than that which is faith is of any esteem
in God's account. Such was the righteousness of Abraham, and such was the
righteousness of all the saints before the advent of our Redeemer. Such, too,
has been the standard ever since. Zacharias evidently was a real believer.
Yet for all that, when the angel appeared to him, and God gave him the
promise of a son, he was amazed, bewildered, incredulous, and could not
credit, but only question the announcement. "How shall I know that these
things shall be?"
Nor was he merely a genuine believer; he was well instructed and greatly
enlightened, for he was a priest, and, as a priest considered, he was
righteous before God, and blameless, walking in all the commandments and
ordinances of the Lord. That he was well instructed in the Word of God is
undeniable. He could not otherwise have discharged his duty, for the priest's
lips must keep knowledge, and he must teach men. Being proficient in the one,
and competent for the other, ignorance offered him no excuse. Moreover, as a
man of years, he was probably to be classed among the experienced saints of
his time. He had borne the burden and heat of the day, and received proof
upon proof of the abundant mercy of God. Now mark this. For any of us to
doubt, who have been justified by faith is a shameful delinquency. For those
to doubt who have, in addition to their first convictions, a thousand
confirmations of the truth they have embraced, who are acquainted with the
covenant and its rich inventory of promises, who are deeply taught in the
things of God-for such to doubt involves a higher degree of guilt. I do not
think that had Zacharias been a mere babe in grace, or an inexperienced
stripling, his unbelief would have met with so stern a rebuke. It eras
because he was a venerable priest, one thoroughly schooled in sacred truth, a
man who for many years instructed the people of Israel in the oracles of God,
that it became a crying evil for him to say, "Whereby shall I know this? "
when the angel told him of his prayer being heard, and of the manner of
answer the Lord would vouchsafe him.
The high office that Zacharias held as a priest caused him to be looked up
to. Hence his conduct was more narrowly watched, and his example had a wider
influence. On a similar account we have need, all of us in our several
spheres, to consider the effect of our actions upon others. The higher a
man's position, the greater his responsibility; and in the event of any
delinquency, the graver his offense. For you to disbelieve, my dear brother,
who are at the head of a household, is worse than a personal infirmity; it is
a violation of duty to your family. And you, dear friend, who preach the
gospel, for you to disbelieve, who are looked upon by many as an advanced
Christian, as a mature saint whose example may be safely followed by those
who listen to your counsels-this is a great and a crying evil, whereby you
disonour the Lord. I pray God that your conscience may be tenderly sensitive,
and that you may be aroused to a sense of the dishonour you bring to him by
your faithlessness.
How peculiarly favoured Zacharias was! An angel of the Lord appeared unto
him. Not to any of the other priests, when they were offering incense, did
such a heavenly visitor come. And what welcome tidings he brought! It was a
wonderful message that he was to be the father of a child great in the sight
of the Lord, one who should minister in the spirit and power of Elias, and
become the forerunner of the Messiah. This surely was a signal instance of
Divine favour. And mark this, beloved, our God is very jealous of those whom
he highly favours. You cannot have privileged communications from the Lord,
or be admitted into close communion with him, without finding that he is a
jealous God. The nearer we draw to him, the more hallowed our sense of his
presence will be. But to doubt his Word, or question the fulfillment of his
promise when he speaks kindly to us, must incur his censure. I speak after
the manner of men; we do not expect from a stranger the esteem which we ought
to merit from our servants. But our friends, who know us better than
servants, ought to trust us more implicitly. And yet beyond common friendship
in the near relation and tender attachment of a wife to her husband, the most
unqualified confidence should be reposed. Even so, my brethren, if you and I
have ever been permitted to lean our heads on Jesus' bosom; if we have sat
down at his banquets, and his banner over us has been love; if we have been
separated from the world by peculiar fellowship with Christ, and have had
choice promises given us, we cannot, like Zacharias, ask, "Whereby shall I
know" without grieving the Holy Spirit of God, and bringing upon ourselves
some sad chastisement as the result.
What soothing comfort had just been administered to Zacharias by the angel of
the Lord! Was not the manner of the salutation fitted to allay terror, and
inspire him with trust? The troubled thoughts that perplexed him, and the
fear that fell upon him when the angel appeared standing at the right hand of
the altar, met with no rebuke. If it was natural that so unwonted a vision
should startle him, there was a gentle sympathising tenderness in the angel's
address that might well hays stilled the throbbings of his heart. "Fear not,
Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard." And so is it with us when the
consolations of God have been neither few nor small, and when his good will
towards us has been pointedly expressed, does it not make doubt and
questioning more inexcusable? Do we not thereby aggravate the sin? Some of us
have lived in the very bosom of comfort. Precious promises have been brought
home to our souls; we have eaten of the marrow and the fatness; we have drunk
the wines on the lees well refined. We are no strangers to the blessing of
his eternal and unchanging love, or to the light of his countenance, which
they prove who find grace in his eyes. Oh! if we begin to doubt after these
discriminating love tokens, what apology can we offer? How can we hope to
escape from the chastening rod?
Moreover, the misgivings that Zacharias betrayed relate to the very subject
on which his supplications were offered. It was in response to his own
petition that the angel said to him, "Thy prayer is heard." I marvel at his
faith that he should persevere in prayer for a boon which seemed, at his own
and his wife's age, to have been out of the course of nature, and beyond the
domain of hope, but I marvel a great deal more that, when the answer came to
that very prayer, Zacharias could not believe it. So full often is it with
us; nothing would surprise some of us more than to receive an answer to some
of our prayers. Though we believe in the efficacy of prayer, at times we
believe so feebly that when the answer comes, as come it does, we are
astounded and filled with amazement. We can scarcely think of it as a purpose
of God, it seems rather to us like a happy coincidence. Surely this adds
greatly to the sin of unbelief. If we have been asking for mercy without
expecting it, and pleading promises while harbouring mistrust, every prayer
we have offered has been only a repetition of our secret unbelief; and it is
God's faithfulness that brings our inconsistency to light.
One other reflection is suggested by the narrative. Zacharias appears to have
staggered at a promise which others, whom we might well imagine to have been
weaker in faith then himself, implicitly believed. The veteran falters where
a babe in grace might have taken courage. And is it not always a scandal if
any of us who have been conspicuously favoured of God are ready to halt,
while our feebler brethren and sisters are animated and encouraged? No
dubious thought seems to have crossed the mind of Elizabeth, no incredulous
expression fell from her lips. She said, "Thus hath the Lord dealt with me."
This case was the very opposite of that of Abraham and Sarah. There Abraham
believed, but Sarah doubted; here the wife believes in the face of her
husband's scruples. In like manner, Mary, that humble village maiden, accepts
with simple faith the high and holy salutation with which she was greeted.
She just basks a natural question, and that being answered, she replies, "Be
it unto me, according to thy Word." Her surprise was soon exchanged for joy,
and by-and-by she begins to sing with a loud voice, "My soul doth magnify the
Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour." Not a little remarkable
is this opening chapter of the Gospel according to Luke. Woman, who had been
in the background through long preceding generations, seems suddenly to take
a foremost place. Zacharias and Joseph stand in doubt, while Elizabeth and
Mary exultingly believe. And who knows but I may be addressing some poor
woman here who, in the depth of affliction, bodily suffering, and poverty,
nevertheless rejoices in God with all her heart? But without a doubt, I am
now speaking to many a man who is vexed with trifling cares, murmurs bitterly
because of petty annoyances, and distrusts his God when clouds come over the
sky so that ho sees not his way. Shame on our unbelief. Think shame of
yourselves because of it, I pray you. Never does it disgrace us more than
when the weaklings of the Lord's family put us to the blush by the simplicity
and sincerity of their faith. The character and position of Zacharias may
furnish a striking moral, but I do urgently entreat each Christian to point
the keen edge of criticism at himself, and consider how much he is personally
to blame for his own unbelief. Let us now proceed to investigate:-
II. THE FAULT OF ZACHARIAS.
Whence this perilous wavering at that privileged hour His fault was that he
looked at the difficulty. "I am an old man," said he, "and my wife is well
stricken in years." And while he looked at the difficulty he would fain
suggest a remedy; he wanted a sign. "Whereby shall I know this?" It was not
enough for him that God had said so; he wanted some collateral evidence to
guarantee the truth of the word of the Lord. This is a very common fault
among really good people. They look for a sign. I have often trembled in my
own soul when I have felt an inclination thus to tempt the Lord by looking
for some minute circumstance to verify a magnificent promise. When I have
thought, "Hereby shall I know whether he does hear prayer or not," a cold
shiver has passed over me, the shudder has gone through my soul that ever I
should think of challenging the truth of God's word, when the fact is so
certain. To us who have full often cried unto the Lord in our distresses and
been delivered out of our troubles, to raise such a question is indeed
ungrateful. For a child of God who habitually prays to his Father in heaven
to look upon his faithfulness as a matter of uncertainty is to degrade
himself, and to dishonour his Lord. Yet there is no denying the tendency and
disposition among us to want a sign. As we read a prophecy of the future, we
crave a token in the present. If the Lord were pleased to give us a sign, or
if he told us to ask for a sign, we should be quite right in attaching a high
importance thereto, but for us to doubt a plain promise, and, therefore, ask
a sign, is to sin against the Lord. Sometimes we have wanted signs in
spiritual things. Meet and proper is it for us to rejoice in the true
delights of fellowship with Christ, but it ill becomes us to make our
feelings a kind of test of our acceptance, or to say, "I will not believe God
if he does not indulge me with certain manifestations of grace; unless he
gives me the sweetmeats I crave, I will be sulky and sullen, and refuse to
eat the children's bread." Why, such conduct is wilful and wicked; it is
weak, and utterly inexcusable. Yet how many of us have been guilty of this
folly? Now, as Zacharias stood upon the threshold of the gospel dispensation,
and he was the first among those who heard the glad tidings to express
unbelief, it was necessary that he should be made an example of.
God would show at the very outset, even before John the Baptist was born,
that unbelief could not be tolerated nor should it go unchastened. Therefore,
his servant, Zacharias, must, as soon as he had asked for a sign, have such a
sign as would make him suffer for months to come, constrain him to be sorry
that he had ever dared to proffer the request. Oh! beloved, is our faith
still so weak, and our experience still so contracted, that we cannot yet
trust our God? Twenty years have we known him. Has he been a wilderness to
us? Have his mercy and truth ever failed us in time of need? Shall all his
tender dealings with us count for nothing? Do ye think so lightly of the gift
of his Son, the gift of the Holy Ghost, of the dally providence which has
guarded you, and of the hourly benediction which has been vouchsafed to you,
that ye would fain put aside these unfailing benefits from your grateful
remembrance, while you indulge in some paltry whim, and tempt the Lord your
God by your mistrust? That be far from any of us! We would rather take up the
position of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who, when arraigned before
Nebuchadnezzar, and adjudged to be thrown into the furnace of fire, said,
"Our God is able to deliver us; but," they added, "if not (though he should
do nothing of the kind), nevertheless be it known unto thee, O king, we will
not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."
That is the spirit in which we ought to walk before God-"Though he slay me,
yet will I trust in him." What if he does not spare my mothers precious life?
What if he does not preserve my child from the ravages of the fatal epidemic?
What if he take away the desire of mine eyes with a stroke? What if my
business should cease to thrive? What if my health fail and my strength
decay? What if I be dishonoured by the scandal of my neighbours? Shall I,
therefore, cast off my allegiance to God, or betray my trust in him? Am I to
engage in rebellion like this? Not flood nor flame could quench or extinguish
his love to me. Shall anxiety or tribulation, disappointment or disaster
sever my heart from devotion to him? Nay, God give me grace to see my cattle
destroyed, and my goods swept away, and my children cut off in their prime,
and to hear cruel taunts from the wife of my bosom; to be covered with sore
boils, and to sit on a dunghill and scrape myself with a potsherd and find my
best friends miserable comforters, and yet, in the midst of accumulated
distresses, to be able to say, "I know that my Redeemer liveth; he has not
failed to deliver me hitherto, and though, after my skin, worms destroy this
body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. Though the fig-tree should not
blossom, though the flocks and herds be cut off, yet will I trust in the
Lord, and glory in the God of my salvation." If true to our high profession,
the Christian's faith should not borrow its hue from the circumstances by
which he is surrounded. To hanker after signs that a promise shall be
fulfilled is obviously to show distrust of the prosmiser. "Now the God of
hope fill you with all joy and peace, in believing, that ye may abound in
hope through the power of the Holy Ghost." So shall you be restrained from
asking for a petty sign to justify you in relying on his princely bounty. The
Lord keep you from this great transgression! We pass on to observe:-
III. THE PENALTY ZACHARIAS INCURRED.
His morbid propensity was followed by a mortifying punishment. He had
doubted, and he became dumb, and as the narrative clearly shows us, he was
deaf likewise. Such was his chastisement, and it was sent not in anger, but
in God's own covenant love. What a salutary medicine! Although bitter to the
taste, how effective it was! Read his song, and you will see the evidence. He
had been for months silent, quiet, shut out from all sound, and unable to
make any. But well he had occupied his months of seclusion. He had searched
the prophets-do you see that? He had been musing much upon the coming one-do
you see that? Deep humility had taken the place of arrogant presumption. He
was bowed down before the majesty of God, yet at the same time full of peace
and blissful hope. Thus he looked into the glorious future. Oh! dear
brethren, if you are prone to doubt, this sickness of the mind will require a
strong corrective. Very likely God will give you some sharp medicine, but it
shall work for your good. As his child, he will not chasten you so as to
injure you, but he will chasten you so as to benefit you. I do not think
children generally court the rod, however beneficial it may be, and yet I am
quite sure there is no wise child of God who would not shrink from the graver
ills which render such discipline essential to his soul's health.
See how judgment was tempered with mercy. The punishment sent to Zacharias
was not so severe as it might have been. Instead of being struck deaf and
dumb, he might have been struck dead. As I read this passage, I wondered that
God had not struck me deaf and dumb when I have spoken unbelieving words-when
I have been depressed in spirit, and spoken unadvisedly with my lips. Oh! had
the Lord been wroth with me, and said, "If that is your witness about me, you
shall never speak again." That would have been most just, and I might have
been a mournful instance of his indignation against his unbelieving servants;
he has not dealt so with me; glory be to his name!
And this chastisement did not invalidate the promise. The Lord did not say,
"Well, Zacharias, as you don't believe it, your wife, Elizabeth, shall not
have a son. There shall be a John born, but he shall not come to your house."
Oh! no; that is a grand passage-"If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful;
he cannot deny himself." The promise still stands. God does not take
advantage of our unbelief to cry off and say, "I will give thee no blessings
because thou doubtest me"-no, but having said it, he does it and his Word
does not return unto him void. Even the trembling, doubting children, though
they get the rod, get the blessing too; and the promise is fulfilled, though
the father is dumb when the blessing comes. Very painful, indeed, was his
chastisement. One would not like to be deaf and dumb for a day; but to be
deaf and dumb for the space of nine months must have been a very painful
trial to this man. Moreover, he could not bless the people; he could not
speak a word; he could not instruct the people; he was useless for that part
of the priest's work; and when the song went up within the hallowed walls of
the temple, he could not hear it. He might know by signs that they were
singing a hallelujah, yet his ears could not catch its grateful strains. That
poor tongue of his was silent. He could not add a note to the volume of
praise that went up to the God he loved. It must have been mournful to him to
have no prayer in the family which he could hear, and in which he could join,
and to be as good as dead for all practical purposes. Now I am afraid thence
are many believers who have had to suffer something like this, for many days,
on account of their unbelief. I think I can point out some who are unable to
hear the gospel as once they did many years ago, a friend said that he could
not hear me preach. I said to him, "Buy a horn." "No," he said, "it is not
your voice; I can hear that, but I don't enjoy it." My reply was, "Perhaps
that is my fault, but I am far from sure that it is not your own." I fear, in
such cases, it is quite as often the hearer's fault as the preacher's fault.
At any rate, when others profit, and our judgment approves, though our hearts
find no refreshment, there is reason to suspect that in the dullness of our
senses we are compelled to bear chastisement for our unbelief. You go where
others go, and find no solace. You hear what edifies and comforts them, but
there is no cheer for you. You are deaf; your ears are closed to what the
Lord says. Very often it has happened, I fear, to some here, that, for want
of faith, they have lost their speech. Time was when they could tell of the
Lord's goodness, but they seem silent now. They could sing once, but their
harps are hung on the willows now. As they get with their companions, they
seem as if they have lost all their pleasant conversation. If they try the
old accustomed strings of the time-worn harp, the ancient skill is gone. They
cannot praise God as once they did; and all because on one occasion, when the
promise was clear before their eyes, they would challenge and mistrust it.
They could not rely upon their God. Little do we know how many Fatherly
chastisements come upon us as the result of our unbelief.
The lessons I gather, and with which I conclude, are these-First, if any of
you, beloved, are weak in faith, do not be satisfied about it. Cry to God.
Our God deserves better homage of us than a weak, attenuated faith can render
him. He deserves to be trusted with such confidence as a child gives his
parent. Ask him to increase your faith. And you who have faith, oh! keep it
jealously, exercise it habitually; pray to the Lord to preserve it. Never
begin to walk according to the sight of the eyes. Confer not with flesh and
blood. Don't come down from that blessed height of simple confidence in God,
but ask that you may abide there, and no longer doubt. The Church wants
believers to believe for her, and to pray for her. "He that wavereth is like
a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed. Let not that man think that
he shall receive anything of the Lord." Art thou strong in faith, be thou
stronger still; art thou weak in faith, be thou strong.
But let the unbeliever, the utter unbeliever, tremble. If a good man, a saved
man, a noble and a blameless man was nevertheless for months struck dumb for
unbelief, what will become of you who have no faith at all? He that believeth
not is condemned already, because he hath not believed on the Son of God. To
you, unbeliever, no angel Gabriel will appear, but the destroying angel
awaits you. What shall be your fearful chastisement? You will be silent; it
will be eternal. Oh! you shall stand silent at the judgment-seat of Christ,
unable to offer any excuse for your rebellion and unbelief. Unbelief will
destroy the best of us: faith will save the worst of us. He that believeth on
the Lord Jesus Christ hath eternal life-he that believeth not (whatever else
his apparent excellences will assuredly perish. Faith, faith! this is the
priceless saving thing to every one of us. The gift be yours to believe. The
grace be yours to inherit the righteousness of faith. The joy be yours to
believe in Jesus Christ with all your hearts. The triumph be yours to believe
now to the saving of your souls. Amen.
Provided by:
Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
Box 314
Columbus, NJ, USA 08022
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