Raising the Righteous Standard of Fathering for the Glory of God XIX – John’s Dad Zacharias

“Behold how happy is the man whom God reproves, So do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. For He inflicts pain, and gives relief; He wounds, and His hands also heal.” Job 5:17,18

I’ve been oft challenged by the short but powerful life and ministry of John the Baptist. So that begs the question, What was his father like?  And what can we learn about fathering from Zacharias – John’s dad?

Well not a whole lot since the only passage in which he is discussed is Luke chapter 1. But plenty therein to not skip over him.

 We get introduced to him starting in vs. 5 where we learn he was a priest, being of priestly descent and he was married to a woman named Elizabeth. Both of them we are told were “…righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord” (vs. 6). Which made it all the more confusing and perplexing I’m sure to Zacharias and Elizabeth why God would not give them a child.  Their window for having a child was quickly closing, and their prayers seemed to be being ignored by the only One who could do anything about their dilemma (see vs. 7).

But they of course were not forgotten by God, nor were their prayers ignored. God knew Zacharias’s turn to “…enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense” was coming up and that Zacharias would be a captive audience for His angel Gabriel to declare to him that his prayers were going to be answered (vs. 9).

So he’s in the temple carrying out his priestly responsibilities, and the devout Jews – a multitude of them - knew that while he was doing that they must stand in the gap and intercede outside, which they did (vs. 10).

All of a sudden an angel appears to Zacharias and Zacharias was gripped with fear. “But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John. You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God. It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, TO TURN THE HEARTS OF THE FATHERS BACK TO THE CHILDREN, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (vs. 13-17). Now this was not going to be any old child. God clearly had an amazing and very specific destiny for this one to be called John. But Zacharias was stuck with the glaring obstacle of Elizabeth’s biological clock and his old age and unbelief raised its ugly head.

“Zacharias said to the angel, “How will I know this for certain? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years.” (vs. 18)  Angels are not stupid. They are not unaware of our circumstances. Nor are they positive thinkers or smoozers. If they tell us something, it is exactly what God sent them to say. And if God said He will do something, He will do it – end of discussion.

“The angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.” (vs. 19). Now why would being informed of Gabriel’s name mean anything to Zacharias? Well possibly because it was Gabriel whom God sent to minister to Daniel as seen in Daniel chps. 8 & 9. This was not any old angel. If He is not standing in the presence of God, then He is on assignment from God. His next assignment after this one was to appear to Mary and inform her that she would be the mother of the Messiah/Savior. Good news should never be dimmed or shrouded by our circumstances. So Gabriel continues, “And behold, you shall be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time.” (vs. 20).

Zacharias was “righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord.” God would have never chosen someone less to father John the Baptist. But he was not perfect and in this instance his faith was significantly lacking. And he thus suffered the consequences for nine months and 8 days. God restored his voice eight days after John’s birth when Zacharias and Elizabeth took him to be circumcised. When a bit of an argument arose between Elizabeth and some well meaning relatives about what her son would be named, they asked Zacharias to weigh in and he then wrote on a tablet that his son would be named John. Evidently over those nine months and eight days of not being able to speak, Zacharias gave some serious thought and meditation to every word Gabriel had spoken to him including what this special baby should be named. And that friends is the great value of being disciplined or chastened by God. It removes the dross or unbelief or worldliness or flesh or self initiative or whatever God is displeased with and ready to deal with in our lives.

When it comes to fathering perhaps one of the most important characteristics a father can ever have is that of being willing and wise enough to receive our heavenly Father’s discipline. Frankly the task we have been given to father a child that God gave life and breath to and who has a specific calling and destiny for is beyond any of us. We just do not have the character and wisdom and intimacy with God and purity of heart and mind required to father a child effectively. Therefore God the ultimate Father must step in and very strategically and lovingly and sometimes firmly expose and excise the things in our lives that are hindering our assignment.

The writer of Hebrews, while not speaking specifically about earthly fathering, speaks largely to the process of God disciplining His sons and daughters as follows, “You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD, NOR FAITH WHEN YOU ARQE REPROVED BY HIM; FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.” It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it; afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”

Much could be said about the Father’s disciplining or chastening of His children, but I want to simply point out a few things. First because God’s disciplining of us is often painful, it is crucial that we know deep in our spirits that He does it out of His passionate love for us. It is not a punishment. Rather it is a necessary purifying process of orchestrating and using difficult circumstances in our lives to help us learn what in life is important and what is not, what in life is eternal and enduring and what is not, and what true dependence upon Him looks like in everyday life. As King David testified, “With reproofs You chasten a man for iniquity; You consume as a moth what is precious to him; Surely every man is a mere breath.”

Our ability to father our sons and daughters will hinge on our ability and willingness to submit to our Heavenly Father’s discipline at every point. And our ability and willingness to submit to Him will hinge on whether we truly believe “…He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness” and whether we believe His discipline of us will “yield the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”

Fathers it is the height of hypocrisy to demand your children submit to your compromised/ not so perfect authority while you resist the loving wise and perfect disciplining authority of your Heavenly Father. But the flip side of this is, when you as a lifestyle submit to and welcome the loving, wise, and perfect disciplining and purifying authority of your Heavenly Father, your disciplining of your sons and daughters will have far more authority and effectiveness.

I leave you with one of my favorite Old Testament promises for such, “Blessed is the man whom You chasten, O Lord, And whom You teach out of Your law; That You may grant him relief from the days of adversity, Until a pit is dug for the wicked.” Psalm 94:12

Father, for all the fathers who will ever read this, or those who love and pray for them, I pray that You will reveal Your brilliant and good and necessary process of chastening and disciplining to them. I pray they would gladly submit to it. And I pray you would anoint and fill them as they seek to father their own children for Your glory in Jesus's name. Amen.

Happy Father's Day Fathers!

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