Luke 1:8–10

But we find ourselves at once in a Jewish setting. The Jewish ordinances of the Old Testament, and the thoughts and hopes tied to them, are the frame around this great and solemn event. Herod, king of Judea, gives us the date. The first person we meet on the way is a priest, righteous and blameless, who belongs to one of the twenty-four groups.

It was the "heads of their fathers' houses" (1 Chronicles 24:4) who served in these priestly courses by turn. They were elders who represented the priesthood, because there were too many priests for all of them to serve in the temple. The work of Zacharias was to burn incense in the temple, where only priests could enter. So he acted as a go-between: the people prayed while he made intercession. This was God's order in Israel, very different from the order now in the Church of God.

Ezra restored the courses of the priests and Levites when the people came back from captivity (Ezra 6:18), and we find them still working in the New Testament. Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, belonged to the course of Abia. This almost certainly means Abijah, the eighth name listed in 1 Chronicles 24:10. When his service ended he went home (Luke 1:5, 23). Each turn of service lasted a week, starting from the Sabbath (2 Chronicles 23:8).

So here at the start we find a distinctly Jewish scene. Zacharias is a priest in one of the courses (the eighth) set up by King David... The godliness of Zacharias and his wife Elisabeth, the seriousness of the priestly service he was carrying out, and the waiting people standing outside — all of this gives a glimpse of the reality that was still left inside a system full of empty formality. The phrase "in the days of Herod the king" points to that: times of lawless indulgence in sin, covered over with an outward show of careful ceremony.

Luke 1 confirms it. The priesthood had been kept up, and we see a priest serving "before God in the order of his course".

They had prayed about it, as we find later on. Zacharias seems even to have lost sight of his own prayer, but God had not. And so "it came to pass, as he fulfilled his priestly service before God in the order of his course" — for here he was faithful to the demand of daily duty — "it fell to him by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter into the temple of the LORD to burn incense."

The morning breaks, the heavens open, and the dreary wastelands of Israel are visited again. All of this happens in an instant. There are no messengers sent ahead, no wonderful signs of the coming change. The priest is at the usual altar, the people are in their usual places, and life is running its ordinary daily course.

Luke begins by speaking of the priesthood in Israel in the days of Herod. But he passes over the high priest and the other prominent men. He singles out Zacharias, an otherwise very ordinary priest, and his wife Elizabeth. Both came from the priestly line of Aaron, and both were comparatively righteous before God and blameless as far as the law went (v.6). Zacharias means "God has remembered." Elizabeth means "God has sworn." The names fit exactly, because God was about to keep His great promise about the Messiah.

"It came to pass, as he fulfilled his priestly service before God in the order of his course" — for here he was faithful to the requisition of daily duty — "it fell to him by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter into the temple of the LORD to burn incense."

David set up the twenty-four courses of the priesthood, as 1 Chronicles 24 records. The course of Abia (or Abijah) was the eighth of them. In the times of the Gospels each course served as priests in the temple of the Lord for one week at a time... On any given day, at both the morning and the evening sacrifice, the priests cast four lots. The lots decided who would prepare the altar, who would kill the sacrifice, who would offer the incense, and who would burn the sacrifice on the altar. The third lot, to offer the incense, was the most coveted and could fall to any priest only once in his lifetime.

So Zacharias comes into the temple in the order of his course, and the lot falls to him to burn incense when he goes in. The lot is the expression of the sovereign will of God, which in man's extremity has ever been his resource.

Incense is the fragrance of Christ to God — perhaps not the fragrance of atonement, but of Christ Himself. And that is what is in view here. Later it becomes clear that atonement must be by His blood... yet in fact, when He did come, the need for His death was kept well in the background... the incense came before the blood, just as it did on the day of atonement.

How appropriate that he should be offering incense in the temple at the very time when God announces to him, through an angel, the beginning of the fulfilment of His purposes. The true Priest would appear in the true sanctuary. There He would offer up what will be an eternal fragrance before God — the excellence of His own person.

Is there not something significant about the place where God sent this message to Zacharias? He stood in the holy place as the priestly remnant, though fruitless as far as Jewish hopes went. This was not like a prophecy announced to the world by an inspired man. "Entering into the temple of the Lord," i.e., the holy place... everything else, even the area holding the altar of burnt sacrifice, is called "outside."

The work of Zacharias was to burn incense in the temple where only priests could enter. So he acted as a go-between: the people prayed while he prayed for them inside. This was God's order in Israel, and it is very different from God's order now in the Church.

When the temple system began, the lot fell to other priests to burn incense, as we see in Luke 1:9... Our privilege, as priests of God, is not only to enter the holy place. We may go right into the holiest of all, through the blood of Jesus, and there we worship before the face of God.

Is there not something significant in the place where this message came to Zacharias? He stood as the priestly remnant, but fruitless according to Jewish hopes, in the holy place. It was not like a prophecy sent out by an inspired man to the world. "Entering into the temple of the Lord" means the holy place. It matches "the house" in Solomon's temple proper. The rest, where even the altar of burnt sacrifice stood, is called "without." Taking the circumstances into account, the wording is clear and telling.

To Israel belonged the service of God, but it was a worship of relative nearness to God. The high priest was nearest, and the priests came next. These were inside worshippers. The Levites came after them, attendants on the priests, employed about the tabernacle. Then came the people, who were outside worshippers. As Scripture says, "the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense" (Luke 1:10). But even there, even in the outer court, no Gentile could approach.

A temple speaks of distance between God and the worshipper, whatever privileges of access and worship go with it. That was the case in the temple of the kingdom. The Lord did indeed dwell in it, between the cherubim over the mercy seat. But the worshippers stayed outside while the priest burned incense in the holy place (see Luke 1:10). So we read that there is no temple in the heavenly Jerusalem. Instead, the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. We understand at once that all distance is gone.

The work of Zacharias was to burn incense in the temple, where only priests could enter. He was therefore an intermediary: the people prayed while he made intercession. This was God's order in Israel, so different from what exists now in the Church of God.

What was done at this golden altar also pictures some of the great privileges of believers, the "holy priesthood" of this present age. The wonderful incense pictured the incomparable excellencies of the person and work of our Lord. Prayer and the offering of incense are closely connected (see Psalm 141:2, Luke 1:10, Revelation 8:3). So we are reminded that acceptable prayer and praise must always be in His name and fragrant with Him.

The incense burnt on the golden altar at the time of prayer (Luke 1:10) symbolised the perfect acceptance of Christ giving power to the people's petitions... from this golden altar of incense the prayers of the remnant for deliverance and judgment rise to God, perfumed with all the fragrance of Christ, and draw down a swift answer.

All that is best in Judaism comes out here. The godliness of Zacharias and his wife Elisabeth, the seriousness of the priestly service he was doing, the attitude of the waiting people outside — all give a glimpse of the reality still left in the middle of what was full of formalism and emptiness. The phrase "in the days of Herod the king" suggests as much: times of lawless indulgence in sin with an outward show of ceremonial correctness.

They had prayed about it, as we find later. Though Zacharias seems even to have lost sight of his own prayer, yet God had not... "And all the multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense." We have here a full and vivid picture of what was going on then in Israel.

When the priest Zacharias went into the temple, the whole crowd acknowledged the power of his entrance there. They were outside, praying at the time of incense... So here the risen Son of Man enters within the cloud, as within the veil of the true temple. The people outside acknowledge the power of His ascension there. They look after Him again, and worship.