Luke 1:5-24
In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.
Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”
And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.” And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And the kept making signs to them and remained mute. And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home.
After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived…
The story of Zachariah is a tragic account of the God-fearer not living up to the standards to which he is called, and although Zachariah’s story is more miraculous than any of ours, in many ways it’s really the same.
Zachariah was a “good” man; he and his wife “were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.” He was a faithful priest that would have taught the people in his local area to follow all the commandments of the Lord. He was a righteous man, and not only that, he was at the pinnacle of his priestly ministry; he had been chosen to go and offer incense to the Lord in the temple. But while on in this high lofty meadow of his spiritual life, the even more unbelievable happened! An angel of the Lord appeared to him and gave him good news; news of a son. And as if this event weren’t already amazing enough, let’s look at some facts that would have made it even more amazing for Zachariah:
One of the chief reasons that this event was so miraculous and awe striking was that when in Zachariah’s time, there had been a silence from Heaven for hundreds of years. There had been no direct contact between God and man, supernatural communication had ceased; no angels, no prophets, no messages from God. So you can imagine that when an angel appears to a person when nothing like this had happened in so long, how shocked he would have been. I mean, even when angel appearances were “common,” people’s natural reaction is fear, so how much more when this angel is breaking the silence from Heaven! Zachariah was the first one to receive a direct message from the Lord in centuries; this moment would have really shocked him. It would have been much like if you were to meet an angel today; after so many, many years of no such thing, it would be a huge deal! Indeed, this was no ordinary moment, but a truly defining event in the life of Zachariah.
If the chance to offer incense and witness the break in the silence from heaven wasn’t enough to make this moment in Zachariah’s life the top of his spiritual experiences, there’s more:
Being barren was a very lowly state in Israel during this time. Thanks to society’s way of thinking, aided by misinterpretations of the Scriptures, most of the people in this time considered someone a disgrace if he couldn’t provide a continued lineage for his family line. This means that both Elizabeth and Zachariah would have been greatly shamed, but even more than that, they had reached an age in which childbearing was no longer an option, and their fate of shame seemed to be sealed perpetually. But years later, out of the blue, here comes this angel that tells Zachariah that his prayer has been answered and that he’s going to have a son! Amazing! Zachariah had surely stopped praying for a son long ago, and yet this angel now says that his prayer will be answered! All the shame would soon be washed away with this blessing from the Lord. But the significance and marvel of the angel’s message doesn’t even end at the declaration of a miraculous birth, it continues into something even more amazing.
Malachi 4:5-6
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”
This is a verse from the Old Testament that Zachariah as a priest would have known well; a verse that promises the coming of the prophet Elijah to change the heart of the people. When the angel appeared to him, this prophecy was starting to be fulfilled; Zachariah’s son would be the Elijah to come. Let’s read again how the angel described the life of this soon-to-be child.
Luke 1:14-17
“And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”
See the parallel? The correlation between the prophecy of Jeremiah’s return in Malachi and prophecy of John’s birth from the angel? They are almost completely identical. This certainly wouldn’t have passed by Zachariah unnoticed; he would have realized instantly that his son-to-be would be the fulfillment of this prophecy. Now, not only was he going to have a son born miraculously in his old age, but that son would be the fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy of Jeremiah’s return! This was the beginning of the redemption story for the people of God, and Zachariah was chosen to be a part of it! (Now, I feel like I need to clarify as a note that John was not a reincarnation of Elijah, he was “in the spirit and power of Elijah.”) For further information on this topic, read Matthew 11:11-15
This should have been the peak of Zachariah’s life, the culmination of all his joy! The silence from Heaven was broken, his reproach would vanish because of his son, he would be the father of the one to fulfill the prophecy of Elijah’s return and he would see the beginning of the redemption for the people of God! What and amazing moment! He should have been swept up in joy and awe about what God was about to do, reservations questioning God’s capability to do all this should have been the very last thought in his mind, and yet, even in this moment of spiritual ecstasy, he doubted the angel of the Lord.
And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.”
When we doubt God or His messengers, it is a very grave offence, and when God’s angel was faced with a doubting man, he answered with equal gravity. The angel first sets Zachariah into his place: “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.” In other words, he’s saying, “Excuse me!? Do you know who you’re speaking with!? I’m an angel from the Lord, and a special one at that! Do you get to stand in God’s presence!? Do you get to carry God’s messages for Him!? I came here to herald good news, and you dare to doubt the message!?” What an astounding rebuke! He set Zachariah’s prideful heart back into its humble place. And as if the verbal rebuke wasn’t enough, Gabriel then cursed him with the inability to speak until the child was born. The joy that Zachariah had in all these amazing things taking place was being drowned in the retribution for his doubtful heart.
Doubting God not only displeases Him, it also robs us of our joy that God has ready to lavish on us. If Zachariah would have trusted the words of the Lord, he would have been overflowing with intense satisfaction and contentment from all that the Lord had done for him, but instead, his joy was muffled because of the curse laid on him by the messenger of the Lord. Now, instead of singing God’s praise, he had to remain mute; instead of shouting for joy, he had to contain himself; instead of spreading this wonderful news, he had to write down his every word. Yes, doubt not only displeases God, but it robs us of the freedom that comes from being sure in God’s promises.
Now, it would be easy to look at Zachariah’s story and ridicule him for his lack of trust in the presence of all the amazing things that were happening, but do we really have any more reason to be unsure of God’s promises? Why would we doubt even for a second that God is capable of doing anything He wants? Sure, we might not be in the middle of a conversation with one of His angels, but look at all the other amazing things that have happened to give us reason to believe: He created the entire universe just by speaking; he created every single atom in existence from nothingness in six days. Again and again He proves Himself true, and completes every single word that has proceeds from His mouth. This amazing God, has absolutely no limitation to His power and authority; no hindrances in His path. Not only did He create everything in existence, but were it not for His active sustenance of it, it would all collapse and cease to exist in an instant. When has He ever failed? When has He left our side? When has He been unable to accomplish what He wants? Never! It is a great and powerful God that we serve. So then, why should we doubt that God could make an old man and an old woman past the age of child-bearing capable of bearing a child? Is that too big for Him? Absolutely not! He created Adam from the dirt! How much more easily could He make an old woman capable of bearing a child!? We have absolutely NO reason to doubt any of His words. It is utterly irrational on every ground for us to even consider doubting this omnipotent Sovereign, because when we doubt God, we are really saying, “I don’t think you’re powerful enough, big enough, strong enough. God does not take such a claim lightly.
The punishment that Zachariah received truly was merciful and minor in nature for such a serious offence; let’s not push God’s limits and see if He’ll be equally patient with us – He just might not be. So let us not doubt any of His words, but trust that no matter how impossible they might seem to be, they are never so difficult that God is not capable. In everything from His promise to never leave our side, to making an old woman able to give birth, the God that created the entire universe can and will fulfill all of His promises; on this we can be sure.
In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.
Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”
And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.” And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And the kept making signs to them and remained mute. And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home.
After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived…
The story of Zachariah is a tragic account of the God-fearer not living up to the standards to which he is called, and although Zachariah’s story is more miraculous than any of ours, in many ways it’s really the same.
Zachariah was a “good” man; he and his wife “were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.” He was a faithful priest that would have taught the people in his local area to follow all the commandments of the Lord. He was a righteous man, and not only that, he was at the pinnacle of his priestly ministry; he had been chosen to go and offer incense to the Lord in the temple. But while on in this high lofty meadow of his spiritual life, the even more unbelievable happened! An angel of the Lord appeared to him and gave him good news; news of a son. And as if this event weren’t already amazing enough, let’s look at some facts that would have made it even more amazing for Zachariah:
One of the chief reasons that this event was so miraculous and awe striking was that when in Zachariah’s time, there had been a silence from Heaven for hundreds of years. There had been no direct contact between God and man, supernatural communication had ceased; no angels, no prophets, no messages from God. So you can imagine that when an angel appears to a person when nothing like this had happened in so long, how shocked he would have been. I mean, even when angel appearances were “common,” people’s natural reaction is fear, so how much more when this angel is breaking the silence from Heaven! Zachariah was the first one to receive a direct message from the Lord in centuries; this moment would have really shocked him. It would have been much like if you were to meet an angel today; after so many, many years of no such thing, it would be a huge deal! Indeed, this was no ordinary moment, but a truly defining event in the life of Zachariah.
If the chance to offer incense and witness the break in the silence from heaven wasn’t enough to make this moment in Zachariah’s life the top of his spiritual experiences, there’s more:
Being barren was a very lowly state in Israel during this time. Thanks to society’s way of thinking, aided by misinterpretations of the Scriptures, most of the people in this time considered someone a disgrace if he couldn’t provide a continued lineage for his family line. This means that both Elizabeth and Zachariah would have been greatly shamed, but even more than that, they had reached an age in which childbearing was no longer an option, and their fate of shame seemed to be sealed perpetually. But years later, out of the blue, here comes this angel that tells Zachariah that his prayer has been answered and that he’s going to have a son! Amazing! Zachariah had surely stopped praying for a son long ago, and yet this angel now says that his prayer will be answered! All the shame would soon be washed away with this blessing from the Lord. But the significance and marvel of the angel’s message doesn’t even end at the declaration of a miraculous birth, it continues into something even more amazing.
Malachi 4:5-6
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”
This is a verse from the Old Testament that Zachariah as a priest would have known well; a verse that promises the coming of the prophet Elijah to change the heart of the people. When the angel appeared to him, this prophecy was starting to be fulfilled; Zachariah’s son would be the Elijah to come. Let’s read again how the angel described the life of this soon-to-be child.
Luke 1:14-17
“And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”
See the parallel? The correlation between the prophecy of Jeremiah’s return in Malachi and prophecy of John’s birth from the angel? They are almost completely identical. This certainly wouldn’t have passed by Zachariah unnoticed; he would have realized instantly that his son-to-be would be the fulfillment of this prophecy. Now, not only was he going to have a son born miraculously in his old age, but that son would be the fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy of Jeremiah’s return! This was the beginning of the redemption story for the people of God, and Zachariah was chosen to be a part of it! (Now, I feel like I need to clarify as a note that John was not a reincarnation of Elijah, he was “in the spirit and power of Elijah.”) For further information on this topic, read Matthew 11:11-15
This should have been the peak of Zachariah’s life, the culmination of all his joy! The silence from Heaven was broken, his reproach would vanish because of his son, he would be the father of the one to fulfill the prophecy of Elijah’s return and he would see the beginning of the redemption for the people of God! What and amazing moment! He should have been swept up in joy and awe about what God was about to do, reservations questioning God’s capability to do all this should have been the very last thought in his mind, and yet, even in this moment of spiritual ecstasy, he doubted the angel of the Lord.
And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.”
When we doubt God or His messengers, it is a very grave offence, and when God’s angel was faced with a doubting man, he answered with equal gravity. The angel first sets Zachariah into his place: “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.” In other words, he’s saying, “Excuse me!? Do you know who you’re speaking with!? I’m an angel from the Lord, and a special one at that! Do you get to stand in God’s presence!? Do you get to carry God’s messages for Him!? I came here to herald good news, and you dare to doubt the message!?” What an astounding rebuke! He set Zachariah’s prideful heart back into its humble place. And as if the verbal rebuke wasn’t enough, Gabriel then cursed him with the inability to speak until the child was born. The joy that Zachariah had in all these amazing things taking place was being drowned in the retribution for his doubtful heart.
Doubting God not only displeases Him, it also robs us of our joy that God has ready to lavish on us. If Zachariah would have trusted the words of the Lord, he would have been overflowing with intense satisfaction and contentment from all that the Lord had done for him, but instead, his joy was muffled because of the curse laid on him by the messenger of the Lord. Now, instead of singing God’s praise, he had to remain mute; instead of shouting for joy, he had to contain himself; instead of spreading this wonderful news, he had to write down his every word. Yes, doubt not only displeases God, but it robs us of the freedom that comes from being sure in God’s promises.
Now, it would be easy to look at Zachariah’s story and ridicule him for his lack of trust in the presence of all the amazing things that were happening, but do we really have any more reason to be unsure of God’s promises? Why would we doubt even for a second that God is capable of doing anything He wants? Sure, we might not be in the middle of a conversation with one of His angels, but look at all the other amazing things that have happened to give us reason to believe: He created the entire universe just by speaking; he created every single atom in existence from nothingness in six days. Again and again He proves Himself true, and completes every single word that has proceeds from His mouth. This amazing God, has absolutely no limitation to His power and authority; no hindrances in His path. Not only did He create everything in existence, but were it not for His active sustenance of it, it would all collapse and cease to exist in an instant. When has He ever failed? When has He left our side? When has He been unable to accomplish what He wants? Never! It is a great and powerful God that we serve. So then, why should we doubt that God could make an old man and an old woman past the age of child-bearing capable of bearing a child? Is that too big for Him? Absolutely not! He created Adam from the dirt! How much more easily could He make an old woman capable of bearing a child!? We have absolutely NO reason to doubt any of His words. It is utterly irrational on every ground for us to even consider doubting this omnipotent Sovereign, because when we doubt God, we are really saying, “I don’t think you’re powerful enough, big enough, strong enough. God does not take such a claim lightly.
The punishment that Zachariah received truly was merciful and minor in nature for such a serious offence; let’s not push God’s limits and see if He’ll be equally patient with us – He just might not be. So let us not doubt any of His words, but trust that no matter how impossible they might seem to be, they are never so difficult that God is not capable. In everything from His promise to never leave our side, to making an old woman able to give birth, the God that created the entire universe can and will fulfill all of His promises; on this we can be sure.