Gripped by Fear: Zechariah’s Divine Encounter

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Introduction to the Fear Series SPEAKER_00 2:03

We are so blessed. Welcome back to this chapter. We are in chapter eight. A really interesting little bit of uh scripture we're going to read out in just a few months, but thank you for listening to these podcasts. This series of fear that we're just dabbling in, we're just looking at at this moment in time. You know, fear is is such a strong emotion, and we've uh tried to explore a little bit of that through the opening series of what we've been doing here, and we're in chapter eight, and you might be sitting back, you might be reading this chapter as we as we just let this unfold at this moment in time, or you're listening to this podcast, or you're hearing it through radio ministry. But wherever you are, we want to thank you so much for your support, and uh we just want to let you know that God is with you wherever you are. We're gonna jump straight into this now. We're in this this series of fears, a very interesting series that we're doing here, and we're gonna look at a really uh obscured character, I believe. You know, he he doesn't jump around the text too much, but you find him in the Gospel of Luke, and it's chapter one, and we're gonna pick up his story in verse 11. And what I love about the word of God, it is so authentic, it is so real, it is so alive. It is the Bible says the word of God is sharper than a double-edged sword, and it explains things so beautifully and so sweet. You know, it's it's so lovely to read the word of God, and and what I mean by that, yes, the Lord feeds us and strengthens us through the reading of the word, but it's really good to read about characters that had real life experiences, not like these characters you see in in certain areas of church and the religious settings that are just you know just talking a load of load of old obligy stuff sort of language. You know what I'm saying, you know what I mean by that. It's it's it's great to hear, you know, it's great to hear, it's great to read this this stuff that we're in at this moment in time. These podcasts are they're not edited in any way, they're just straight off the bat, you know. So you're hearing all the bells, all the whistles, it's in the raw studio here. But we want to welcome you, and we're gonna look at this character. This character is nestled in the Gospel of Luke, chapter one, and he's named Zachariah. We've looked at a few characters through this podcast series, I'm fear, and uh, it's lovely to know, it's lovely to know that these characters, it really is, it warms my heart and it makes me smile a little bit to know that these characters actually are real human beings, that they're not super preachers, they're they're not super human beings, that there are normal people living normal lives, having real life experiences on the journey of life, and and they was woven together with their families and their friends and their workspace and everything like that. And it's it's really encouraging for me to read and to listen to these characters that have experienced fear. We looked at Joseph, we looked at Jesus, we've also had a a look at what Mary's situation was, and I've mentioned Joseph from the Old Testament a few times, and I just mentioned Joseph as well from the New Testament. But the characters that we look at, they all have times in their lives where they experienced the real powerful, the strength of fear itself, and that really brings calmness, that brings hope to me. So the title that we're in, this chapter that we're in a moment, is about Zachariah, and it's it's titled Gripped by Fear. Chapter 8, titled Grip by Fear. When you read the scripture, and I want to give you the reference before we go any further, and the title that I've uh given this is simply because it's from the it's from a biblical reference and it's nestled up in verse 12. So the title of this podcast is Gripped with Fear. Luke chapter 1,

Zachariah: A Righteous Man Gripped by Fear SPEAKER_00 5:33

verse 11. This is what the scripture says. Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense, and it says there when Zechariah saw him, he was startled and he was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him, Do not be afraid, Zachariah. Your prayers have heard up into heaven. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John. This is really, really interesting. I'm not gonna go any I'm not gonna go any further, we're not going into the theological depth on that. I'm not a theologian whatsoever. You know, but when you look at Zachariah's story, it's quite an interesting story because he was chosen, he was a priest, he was in the temple, he he was brought up in from good stock, and when you look at his life and his upbringing, he was a man who was Zachariah. Zachariah was an interesting priest, he was a member of this really profound division, and he was married to Elizabeth, and she came from really interesting lineage as well, descendant of Aaron. Both of them making up really, really interesting characters, a really interesting family makeup, but their faith was so strong, their faith was so strong. You got Zachariah and you got Elizabeth, and you can read in the text very, very clearly that Zachariah really was gripped with fear. Now, this is fascinating to me that this character had been chosen, had been picked, had been carved out the tapestry of the word of God. This this gentleman, this dad, dad to be, I should rather say, Zechariah. He wanted the child, Elizabeth, they wanted a child, they wasn't able to have a child, but God honoured their prayers, and the messenger came down. The messenger came down and gave this message to Zachariah and Elizabeth, and we know the rest of the story because we know that their son was given birth to, and his name was John, John the Baptiser. Now, John the Baptiser, not John the Baptist, we've got to be careful. The Baptist is a movement, so it's John the Baptizer. Now, Zechariah's son, John, he had a real pivotal role in the history and salvation. When you think about this, this is really, really interesting. That the the father of the son that was very instrumental in salvation. John was a forerunner. John was chosen to pave the way for Jesus Christ. So when you look at Zachariah, he was very educated, he was in a very honorable place, he was in a in a headship, he was in uh at the priesthood. There was everything going in his life. He was a very devout follower, he was a very devout man, he he knew everything. He was a he was a Jewish priest, so he was right up the tree. But what I find absolutely adorable and fascinating about this character is that everyone that you read about in the Bible, you find that they do have experiences of fear. And it doesn't matter of their calling. You know, this character was chosen by God, his son was pivotal to salvation. Not saying that his son was the saviour. We know John wasn't the saviour, but John was pivotal because he paved the way, he prepared the way for Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Now they was linked, they was cousins, they was they was joint by DNA, they was joint by blood. So when you look at all this stuff that's going on, you know, Jesus and John, they they had a close relationship, and I find that profound as well, very fascinating. But Zachariah, you know, John's dad, John's father, he was a priest. He had a very powerful position within the Jewish priesthood. He was a man that was carrying authority, he was a man that had good stature behind. He came from good priestly lineage. He he he was he was filled with with God. He he was a good man. And when you look at this here, God had chosen him. He was considered to be righteous in the sight of God, living in obedience and under the commandments of God. So everything, all the bells and whistles were ringing for Zachariah as a real godly priest. He was a priest and he was godly and his life was good and and everything was going well. He he was in a very strong and a very powerful position. But what I love is about what I'm gonna say. The Bible says when he had that visitation, he was gripped by fear. So you can have a calling, you can be righteous in God's sight, you can be pivotal in the creation and the story of God's story, so to speak. You you you know, you you know what I'm getting at there. When you when you really look at this, you know, Zachariah, Mary, Joseph of the New Testament, Jesus' stepfather, and Joseph that I mentioned, you know, uh with the coat of many colours and others, and even Jesus, these characters, these powerful characters, I will use the word powerful, not powerful in their own strength, but powerful in the calling that they was called to. Each and every one of them, you know, had to be strengthened by an angel. Even we find that this happened to Jesus Christ. So fear, has fear ever grabbed you, has it has ever grabbed you, has it ever got hold of you, has it gripped you, has it frozen you? Uh previously in the podcast before this, in this series that we're in, you know, in the fear series, we we just touched and had a quick chat about the different types of fear out there, the fear of money, the fear of loss, the different types of fear within the concept of fear itself. And we had a little chat and a little discussion about how fear can actually get you to freeze, to be still, to hold you down. You know, when something comes your way, something is so powerful, it is so scary, it really puts you in that fight and flight mode and it makes you like freeze. You're like dead, you can't move, you don't know what to do, your thinking has gone, your mind has gone. So imagine what this was like for Zachariah. And I just want to go over the character first of Zachariah again, because the church wouldn't preach this sort of stuff, the church wouldn't say this sort of stuff at this particular moment in time because we've got some crazy things happening within the church, and it's been there forever

Divine Encounters and Human Reactions SPEAKER_00 12:08

and a day. But what we're seeing now through the power of social media and through the power of visualization through preaching and all that, we got some crazy things coming out of many different denominations, and there are many preachers that will tell you that you shouldn't have an ounce of fear, but the Bible is extremely clear, it mentions fear 365 times. Now, if you have a Bible and you just check this out for a quick reference, if you have a Bible, go to 1 John, 1 John chapter 4, and you read about the love of God. But what you do find is it says perfect love, you know, drives out all fear. Perfect love drives out all fear, you know. God is always driving that fear out because fear is a very real, a very powerful, a natural emotion. Without going into the science of it and without going into the depth of where fear is and where it comes from, we know that it's in the makeup that we have. We know it's part of humanity. You know that we experience it at different times of our lives. And what I love about this this series that we're doing, these 10 podcasts and these 10 chapters in this book, you know, the f the fear series at this moment. We are looking at characters and what happened to them. You know, the ones that we looked at are very significant in in the power of the word of God, and you're very significant. Have you got a calling? Are you called? Are you are you called to to righteousness? Certainly, that's true. Are you called to ministry? There must be someone out there at this moment in time that's making me smile because I know there's many, many, many out there that have been called to ministry, but we're frightened to to step out, to step out, you know. But what we find in this text that we have here is it's not about being frightened to step out, but it's about being frightened of the divine, of suddenly seeing this spiritual world opening up and coming down into this priesthood, this gentleman, this this really righteous person known as Zachariah, you know, who was married to Elizabeth, and they gave birth to a child, and his name was John, and John was very instrumental in paving the way in the Lord Jesus' Christ's ministry and all that sort of stuff, you know. Zachariah and Elizabeth, they were childless, and this happened for many years, and they was advanced in years, so there's a there's a load of things that is happening here, yet this miraculous turn of events, the angel Gabriel appeared to Zachariah. Now, this is frightening within itself. How would you be? How would you feel if suddenly later on in your life, after all the prayers that you have been praying, suddenly the angel of the Lord comes down and he appears to Zachariah and he announces that Elizabeth, your wife, you're gonna have a son and you're gonna call him the name John, later known as John the Baptist. It's an incredible, it's an incredible role that John the Baptist had, very significant, who was preparing the way, he was paving the way for the Messiah. So if you just line the dots up with this at a moment, you think the plan of God is so powerful that God used Elizabeth that was older in years, God used Zachariah, that was older in years, to bring John the Baptist, John the Baptizer, John the one that that paved the way, John who was pivotal in the role of salvation's history, and you've only got to look at John, you know, when he lived in the wilderness, you know, eating uh wild honey and everything that went along with that, you know, he was a very, very interesting character, a very obscured character, you could say. But his dad, his his his father, Zachariah, was very instrumental in the plan of salvation. And I I love this because we are talking about fear. We are talking about the core of this is fear and how fear can distort your vision. But what I love about the God that we serve, and this is uh applicable to myself and to every one of you, is that God knows that when he reveals his calling and his announcement to us, fear will take over. We see this very strongly in Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. We see this amongst his mum, Mary. When Mary was given the call to do what she had to do, to carry child, the Bible says that she was afraid. And the Bible tells us that the angel, the messenger, said, Don't be afraid. And then when she relayed all this stuff back to Joseph, they was going to get married, and obviously they got married, and Joseph had a bit of a wobble and everything that went on with that. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and he said, Don't be afraid. And then when you look at the scripture that we're in at this moment in time, the angel of the Lord appears to him and he says in verse 13, Do not be afraid, Zachariah. Do not be afraid. I just want to emphasize this at this moment in time. In this chapter eight, in this podcast number eight, in this series of fear, sister and brother, whoever you are across the world, I want to encourage you now to allow God into your heart like never before, because perfect love, according to 1 John chapter 4, the scripture tells us perfect love drives out all fear. The love of God will drive out fear. But what we have in our lives, fear is very real. And it's not that I'm giving fear any airplay over this podcast or through this chapter or through this book series that we are doing. But it's really, really important that we understand fear is a very real and a very powerful emotion. You know, when you look back through and you read the history of the word of God, you will find many characters that God used, and as God used them, they hit points of extreme fear in their life. And I want that to encourage you. I want that to encourage me and you wherever you are today, because fear is not gonna stop the plan of God. That is completely correct and biblical fact. You know, Zechariah, the Bible says Zachariah, when he saw and he had before him the heavenly host deliver a message to him, he was frozen, he was gripped with fear, he could not move. That brings peace to me to know that this this messenger from heaven came down the staircase, stepped into the world of this this world in which we live, this world of perception, this world of of tangibility, this world of of visualization, that this this heavenly host stepped through the bubble. He came out of the spiritual realms and he stepped into Zachariah's life. And as he stepped into Zachariah's life, the human being known as Zachariah looked at the heavenly host and he was stopped and he was stopped in his tracks because fear grabbed him and and wrestled him and fear. Have you ever ever had fear wrestle you and hold you tight? Have you ever had fear get a hold of you? Have you ever had fear where you can't move and it's put you in a in almost a paralyzed position? Your mind has frozen, your body has frozen, and for a split second, it feels like an eternity. The world just slows down and everything on the provincials and on the outside just disappears, and the visualization and the reality that this situation is real, and everything else around you melts away, and everything else disappears into the fabric of time, and then all of a sudden, all of a sudden, you're locked into this position of fear, you're locked into this zone, you're locked into this place, and you can feel your body just about to be supercharged with this explosion of adrenaline and fear and doubt when all the chemicals in your body are about to explode, and this is what happened to this godly man known as Zechariah, who was instrumental with his wife Elizabeth in the plan of salvation. And what I love is that God chose Zechariah and Elizabeth in their older years. Another quick thing: don't allow age to fool you, don't allow age to stop you living for what God has within you. You know, God used Zachariah and Elizabeth very powerfully in a very interesting, instrumental way in the gospel of salvation, you know, because their son, their son John, John the Baptizer, he came into their lives when they was along in life, you know, and it's really interesting that Zachariah's calling, Zachariah's calling, let's just take a couple of moments, you know. We don't have the time, these are quick five, thirty minutes. Zachariah's calling as a priest was to serve in the temple of the Lord. He was offering incense and prayers and everything that went along with that, but he encountered this supernatural, angelic host, and this was significant, this was a miraculous encounter, what was happening

Where Faith Meets Fear SPEAKER_00 21:33

to him as well. We we think it was purely and just for John, but the angel brought a message to him, a direct message about his work and about the love of God and everything, because he was a righteous man and he was steadfast and he'd done everything and correct, and God's calling over his life, and he wasn't expecting anything, but Zachariah's calling was to serve God. And I want to just tell anybody out. There, right now, you keep serving God because there is a miracle coming your way. But be prepared when the miracle steps through the fabric of this dimension in which we live in, this extra dimension, this spiritual world that is on the other side of the skin that we see, on the other side of this world where we can't see into the supernatural realms where the supernatural realms see into us and they see everything going on, but we can't see beyond our natural capabilities. But the spiritual world sees into everything that we are doing here. It's very, very interesting. If you take this world and everything we see as just a small tennis ball, and then if you draw a massive circle around the outside of that, the tennis ball is obviously us, and we can't see outside of the tennis ball arena whatsoever. But there is a world outside of that that is so large, so powerful, his kingdom will never end. His kingdom is always everywhere because Jesus is omnipresent, omnipotent. He's in all, he's about all. He is space, time, and matter. So there are two worlds. There are two worlds. We we live in this very fleshly, this very brutal world. We live in a world that is tangible by perception, by smell, by the basic senses of a human being. We live in a world that is that we perceive everything. You know, everything around me in this studio is here because I can see it, but then there's uh there's an outside world outside of this studio. There's an outside realm above the heavens and the earth, and it's that supernatural world. So when you think about Zachariah's calling and and how righteous and how godly he was, and then all of a sudden the supernatural world stepped into his physical world, the the reaction, the reaction that he had was a fear reaction. Now I find this really comforting to be honest with you. Faith and fear. Fear and faith, whatever way you want to look at it, Zachariah's reaction to the angel. So the angel appears to Zachariah in the temple, and he was gripped with fear. And it tells us that in the Gospel of Luke, chapter one, verse twelve. And the fear comes upon him and it it made him freeze. He was struck down by the power of the divine presence of glory. It was a very powerful time in his life that this holy presence shook him to the core. Now this man, let's recap, this man is a human being, but this man is a righteous man, this man is a godly man, this man has been called and chosen. He is of the Jewish priesthood, he knows the law, the Torah. He you could look at him and and and just draw a parallel with our friend Nicodemus when you look at all that sort of stuff, you know, as Jesus said to Nicodemus, you must be born again. You know, Zachariah was an educated chap, but suddenly this realm of divinity steps right into his world, and he was struck down by the presence of the divine, and the magnitude and the holiness shook him to the very core. I find that I get comfort from that. Zachariah's fear.

Where Faith Meets Fear SPEAKER_00 26:01

Just wasn't from everyday situations and the threats of being a human being and the lack of, but it was profound because he was in awe because he was in the presence of the divine. But I want to just let you know, fear is fear. Whether it's in the world worldly viewpoint or it's in the biblical context, fear is fear. But Zachariah was gripped. You know, he was gripped, he was frozen by fear. He's the awe-inspiring presence of the outside world coming to visit him and saying, Your prayers have been answered, they've been heard. You know, Zachariah's fear was a response to the overwhelming holiness of God and the angel. This is the typical type of fear that sometimes we encounter on our day-to-day life, you know, and God reveals Himself more times than we can actually imagine. I want to let you know it's okay to have fear. But what's not okay is when the fear overtakes my faith on a continuum. You know, I've got to make sure, I've got to make sure that I'm very aware, I'm very aware that I understand the power of fear, but actually I understand that fear will break at true worship and true reverency, at the promises and the trust of God. That's what I've got to come to realize that myself, just like Zechariah, you, just like Zechariah, a believer, a believer in Yahweh, a believer in the Old Testament, a believer in the scripture. Zechariah, Zechariah was gripped by fear. That brings comfort to the bones in the skin that I walk in. The true fear of God, this true fear, any fear, whether it's from the world or whether it's from the divinity, from the divine, you know, it led Zechariah. It will lead us. Fear leads us to a place, it takes us to worship, it takes us to the promises of God. Fear is instrumental in keeping us close to Jesus. You know, that's a bit bit of a brutal sort of statement to say. But fear keeps us sharp to Christ. You know, it transforms us. You know, when fear comes along, there's every possibility that us as Bible-believing believers, we look and we analyze this fear stuff and we say to ourselves, Where is God? But what we don't actually realize is that is that God is within that fear. God is within that situation. And what breaks that fear in that situation is worshiping the divine God. You know, Zachariah in the Gospel of Luke, he was gripped and he was frozen by fear. This is John the Baptist's dad. John was instrumental in the work of salvation. Now, I'm not saying salvation came from John, but what I am saying is John was in the plan and the plan of Christ and the redemption plan. John was the forerunner, John paved the way. However, you want to unpack John and however you want to label him, what we have to get to grips with ourselves is Zachariah was called and chosen and a priest. He was a godly man, but fear gripped him. He and his wife brought into the world someone that was instrumental in the gospels of Jesus Christ. Now this is great because what it tells us is that God works in all things, in all human beings. So you might be on the other side of this mic now, you might be capturing this, you might be reading this, you might be sitting down in a coffee shop, you might be reading it in a church, you might be listening it to me at this moment in time on RB Christian Radio. You might be hearing us on another Christian radio station across the world. It might be a podcast, you might be reading it, however, you're listening and however you're capturing my words at this moment in time. What's really, really important for me at this moment, and I believe for everyone that is reading and listening to this podcast, is that fear will grab us at some point in our ministry, in our lives, in situations. Maybe there's been lots of times, maybe we live a massive percentage of our lives in fear, but one thing is extremely clear. God works in and through the fear. So the takeaway from this, the takeaway as we come to the close of this chapter of this book and this this podcast here on number eight in this series is that God still works in us and through us. God is not gonna reject us just because suddenly

Worship Through Your Fear SPEAKER_00 31:00

we have a moment of fear and doubt. You know, Zachariah was chosen, the angel of the Lord appeared to him. It says that he was gripped by fear, by the divine holy presence, and the angel said to him, Don't be afraid. And that's how we're gonna finish this chapter and this podcast. I want to tell you right now, don't be afraid. You might be gripped with fear, fear might be in your bones. You might be so scared of life, of your calling, of the uncertainty of life. There might be fear wrapped around you, you might be anxious and doubtful. I want to encourage you now to worship. I want to encourage you to worship. If you go to Psalm 23, if you go to Psalm 23, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I want to tell you now, in this chapter eight of this book and in podcast eight, you're walking through the valley. And when you walk through the valley, God is with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. So fear is very real, but faith is greater than fear. Wherever you are at this moment in time, keep singing, keep praising, get that psalm open at Psalm 23, and get the Lord is my shepherd in my spirit. You start worshiping the God of Israel, you start worshiping the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Because remember what I said just midway through this podcast and through this chapter and this book, you know, in John, in 1 John chapter 4, it mentions that perfect love drives out all fear. Get yourself in Christ, get yourself in the word, get yourself in worship, just worship through the fear, worship through the doubt, worship through the pain, lift up the name of Jesus. Jesus Christ is King. Jesus Christ is coming back. You know, this world is being prepared for the second coming of Jesus. Now that line alone could bring fear to us. So just have a quick recap. Zachariah was a godly man, he was the father of John the Baptizer, and John the Baptizer was instrumental in the forerunning, in the foreering of Christ. He paved the way for Jesus Christ. So God still used Zechariah, old in age, and Elizabeth, John's mum. They he God used them. Age is irrelevant, so don't be fearful of your age. You know, God is in full charge of time, life, heartbeats, everything. You know, just very, very quickly, are you worried about your health? Do you have health anxiety? Are you worried about having a heart attack? Are you worried about dying of cancer? Are you worried about different health issues in your life? I want to encourage you now to worship God through the doubt, through the fear, through the pain. If you're in pain right now, just worship Jesus Christ. Zechariah, this godly man, this great man of this Jewish priesthood, experienced fear that made him freeze. He was called, he was chosen, he was instrumental in the working and the power of the scriptures of Jesus Christ, and God used him. God showed him through fear that God is in full charge. So through your fear and your pain and your anguish, I want to encourage you now. God is working. You might be gripped by fear, but God will not let you go. Because the Bible says nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. We're out of here. That is chapter eight, that is podcast eight in the fear series. You know, you're called and you are blessed. But you might be gripped with fear, but don't give up because faith is pushing through. Wherever you are across this world, hold on to the word of God. God loves you and worship your way to freedom. Worship your way to freedom in Jesus' name. Amen.

Closing Thoughts and Encouragement

Thank you for listening to us today on Reverend Ben Cooper's Podcast. We hope you found inspiration and guidance in today's audio. Remember, the journey of faith is a continuous one, and your questions and thoughts are important. You can send us a text or an email, and we will get back to you. So wherever you are around the world, thank you for listening to our podcasts and radio ministry. For more information about our ministry, please find us on pastorbencooper.co.uk. Please support us with prayer. Also, you can sow a financial seed into this ministry. You can also leave us a legacy to support and continue the work of this radio ministry. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and share it with others who might benefit. Until next time, stay blessed.