20  But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time.” 63 And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, saying, “His name is John.” So they all marveled. 64 Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, praising God

Heaven has a calendar with a ‘set time’ to every purpose under heaven Eccl 3:1, and appointed seasons common to every man in the volume of book written of them Heb 10:7. Zachariah’s experience offers useful insights into the righteous man’s journey of manifestation.

3 Key Lessons from Zachariah’s experience:

Lesson 1: There are ‘set times’ for every purpose under heaven.

  • In punishing Zachariah the Angel Gabriel could not go beyond ‘the set time’ because Zachariah the prophet and father of John The Baptist was appointed to Prophesy into the life of John the Baptist and send the word ahead of him into Israel.
    So he constrained Zachariah’s season of silence until the set time.
  • Jesus is the patterned man and from studying His life we see that He was extremely conscious of divine timing in His actions. He only broke pattern once at the insistence of His mother to change water to wine in John 2:4
    “Woman, why does this concern us?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”
    (more examples: )
  • Jesus also drew a distinction between carnal men and spiritual men in John 7:4-6. The world promotes haste in all things and to carnal men everything must be ‘now’ but a Godly man grows to understand divine timing and align his expectations to it.
4 For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” 5 For not even his brothers believed in him. 6 Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. John 7:4-6 ESV

Lesson 2: At the Set Time Everything required aligns Sequentially and flows Effortlessly!.

One of the most powerful verses that must give us hope in our waiting is in Luke 1:64. As it was with Zachariah so shall it be with us because when the set time came, 4 significant things immediately happened in sequential succession:

  1. His mouth was opened
  2. His tongue was loosed
  3. He began to speak
  4. He praised God.
  • At the set time where there had been limited capacity, unlimited capacity will be activated.
    Zacharias went from fruitless beckoning’s in vs 22 to an overflow of the Spirit in prophecy and song in 64-88
  • At the set time obstacles and barriers that had previously hindered full performance would be removed.
  • At the set time all environmental, physiological, sociological factors will collaborate to favor your manifestation.
  • At the set time all eyes will be set on you. The glory of God will make you a wonder and one wondered at Lk 4:20-22 even as the divine purpose of God pertaining to your life is laid bare for all to see.

Lesson 3: Managing Frustration in waiting for the set time

21 And the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he lingered so long in the temple. 22But when he came out, he could not speak to them; and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned to them and remained speechless.
  • We are called to ‘show forth His praise’ 1Pe2:9 which involves some kind of value added whether to our fathers house, our kindred, our nation, or our generation. But this does not happen overnight! Between the time of our calling and our ‘showing forth’ there are trials and dealings designed to fashion us more perfectly into the image of Christ.
  • We are often very eager to do this and meet the eager expectation of those awaiting us outside. Yet majority of the time we attempt to do this in our zeal/strength. The bulk of our efforts will be misunderstood and yield only marginal results. There will be a lot of beckoning (activities), but our lives will in a manner remain speechless!!
    Meaning for a season our ministry/marriages/careers/families may not be able to give full expression to the glory of God – nevertheless we will get there!
  • God’s ways and our ways are very different, and so also His timing and our expectations very often tend to be at odds. Unless we understand His divine timing and ordained seasons as it relates to His purpose in our lives, frustration will be our regular diet!
    When we become frustrated we begin to seek for shortcuts and sometimes even make compromises in our desperation.
  • Joseph waited over 13 years before his set time came! He grew frustrated toward the end and tried to take a shortcut!
    Moses waited 40 years after he tried to overtake God in delivering Israel
    Jesus waited 30 years until the time of His showing forth.
    David waited 15 years to be king over Judah and an additional 5 years to be King over Israel.
    We also have various degrees of waiting to do in the ‘silent years’ before our set time.
63And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, saying, “His name is John.
  • Our posture in the silent years of our life before our set time matters to God a great deal.
  • Zachariah’s request of the writing tablet speaks to a season of learning, mediation and service.
  • Even though He was incapacitated and not fully where he desired to be, yet he learnt of God and served in the little capacity that he could. Moses. David, Joseph, Esther, Mordecai all served faithfully before their set time fully matured.
  • If you are feeling very frustrated take heart, for “No temptation[a] has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted[b] beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted,[c] he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.“
  • Whatever your situation, understand that if you keep waiting on Him faithfully, He will bring your set time to pass and Christ exalting testimonies will fill your mouth.

We conclude our class with this question:

Is it possible to miss your set time? what can you do biblically if you find yourself in this position?