Tick, tick, tock
"Once when Zechariah's division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot..." (Luke 1:8-9a).
"When his time of service was completed, he returned home. After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion...'In these days he has shown his favor..." (Luke 1:23-25).
"In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth... to a virgin..." (Luke 1:26)
"In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree... and everyone went to his own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem of the town of David..." (Luke 2:1, 3-4).
"Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel..It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ" (Luke 2:25-26).
Anna "was very old.... Coming up to them at that very moment" (Luke 2:36, 38).
"Once" is a very casual word. In one of those millions ticks and tocks of the never-ceasing watch, in just one of those, Zechariah happened to serve. He "happened" to be chosen by the "random" thing called lots. Not until Luke has woven together all of the pieces do we see that Zechariah's lots fell on the perfect tick-tock in order for John the Baptist to be born, for a humble peasant girl to see the growing-promise of her no-longer-barren cousin to confirm the angel's announcement to her. It was the perfect tock to line up with the imperial decree of the census and a journey to Micah's awaiting Bethlehem. It was not a tick too late for Simeon, who had long been waiting, nor a tock to tardy for the ancient Anna, who "at that very moment" recognized the long-awaited Savior.
A "random" lot during one of those "onces" in the life--lined up perfectly in God's timing. The details fan out in a universal scope, all pointing to the perfect time when the Lamb, slain before the creation of the world (Rev. 13:8), would go to a cross on a certain Passover day.
"You see, at just the right time... Christ died for the ungodly" (Rom. 5:6).
"But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son" (Gal. 4:4).
Elizabeth helps us put it into perspective: "In these days he has shown his favor." It was after four hundred years of the tick-tock of time echoing into the vast silence of God, hollowing resounding in the waiting of the Jews, seemingly fading into an empty heaven. Now, we see how the tempo aligned itself perfectly; each stroke was not a strike. Each waiting beat was not in vain.
We all know those four hundred years in our own way. We each know the pain, the anxiety, or the deadening despair of waiting-for a word from the doctor, for a phone call from a loved one, for a job opportunity, etc. But each tick and tock falls with the asseveration of God who "in love... in accordance with his pleasure and will--to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves...works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will" (Eph. 1:4, 6, 11). He will finish His story for us, and we will someday say, "Once when...."
"When his time of service was completed, he returned home. After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion...'In these days he has shown his favor..." (Luke 1:23-25).
"In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth... to a virgin..." (Luke 1:26)
"In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree... and everyone went to his own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem of the town of David..." (Luke 2:1, 3-4).
"Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel..It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ" (Luke 2:25-26).
Anna "was very old.... Coming up to them at that very moment" (Luke 2:36, 38).
"Once" is a very casual word. In one of those millions ticks and tocks of the never-ceasing watch, in just one of those, Zechariah happened to serve. He "happened" to be chosen by the "random" thing called lots. Not until Luke has woven together all of the pieces do we see that Zechariah's lots fell on the perfect tick-tock in order for John the Baptist to be born, for a humble peasant girl to see the growing-promise of her no-longer-barren cousin to confirm the angel's announcement to her. It was the perfect tock to line up with the imperial decree of the census and a journey to Micah's awaiting Bethlehem. It was not a tick too late for Simeon, who had long been waiting, nor a tock to tardy for the ancient Anna, who "at that very moment" recognized the long-awaited Savior.
A "random" lot during one of those "onces" in the life--lined up perfectly in God's timing. The details fan out in a universal scope, all pointing to the perfect time when the Lamb, slain before the creation of the world (Rev. 13:8), would go to a cross on a certain Passover day.
"You see, at just the right time... Christ died for the ungodly" (Rom. 5:6).
"But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son" (Gal. 4:4).
Elizabeth helps us put it into perspective: "In these days he has shown his favor." It was after four hundred years of the tick-tock of time echoing into the vast silence of God, hollowing resounding in the waiting of the Jews, seemingly fading into an empty heaven. Now, we see how the tempo aligned itself perfectly; each stroke was not a strike. Each waiting beat was not in vain.
We all know those four hundred years in our own way. We each know the pain, the anxiety, or the deadening despair of waiting-for a word from the doctor, for a phone call from a loved one, for a job opportunity, etc. But each tick and tock falls with the asseveration of God who "in love... in accordance with his pleasure and will--to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves...works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will" (Eph. 1:4, 6, 11). He will finish His story for us, and we will someday say, "Once when...."
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