You never can tell what may happen while you worship.
Zechariah, priest in the division of Abijah, found that casted lots chose him to burn incense before the Lord in the temple. Of all a priest’s duties, offering incense stood out as one of the most reverent practices of daily worship.
Going in and out of the temple wasn’t like walking into your church’s sanctuary each morning, the easy access a familiar routine. Far from it, a priest selected to enter the temple was a momentous occasion. As Zechariah took the censor at the appointed hour, a gathering of his countrymen prayed outside the temple.
Then someone showed up, interrupting the ritual.
The angel Gabriel, who stands in the presence of the Lord, possessed a message of congratulations. If you yearn to have a child, there’s no worthier messenger than ol’ Gabe. Be forewarned, he will ruin the gender reveal party thanks to the prophetic nature of the news.
Case in point:
“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’ ” (Luke 1:13-17).
The news would steal Zechariah’s speech and put his vocal chords on sabbatical.
Closer to old salt than young buck, Zechariah was well into his “AARP” years. His wife Elizabeth’s childbearing years also overshot their expiration date. Still, Zechariah prayed for a child. Luke doesn’t tell us how many times he prayed, but it’s safe say Zechariah sent a high volume.
For all those years, the couple remained childless, enduring the double-edged gossip among their Judean community.
Bless their heart, they’ve tried for so many years. What a shame.
I wonder what sin they committed to suffer such a curse?
What kind of man can’t fulfill his obligations to his wife?
I knew there was always something about her. What use is a homemaker without children?
Who’s going to take care of them into their old age?
Zechariah and Elizabeth may have asked similar questions, either in private or embedded in the confines of their minds.
What’s wrong with me?
What’s wrong with you?
What’s wrong with us?
No slouches in their commitment to God, the couple received a commendation from Luke:
“And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord” (Luke 1:6).
By the time Gabriel translated the amazing news at the altar, Zachariah had buried the possibility of a child. Gabriel knew it, too. The unbelief he smelled registered in his nostrils far more than the incense.
Time consumes hope. Zechariah had prayed and hoped, dreamed then prayed some more. Year after year, no answers comforted him. The onrush of fulfillment proved too much to handle.
“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’ “ (Luke 1:18-20).
Of all the unbelieving fellows you might dredge up in the Bible, Zechariah appears to be one of the more relatable ones. To armor himself against another letdown, he could not recognize the day of visitation.
Think about it. Gabriel came to him first. He laid out the entire deal about who John would become, a legendary figure in Biblical history, the prophet proclaiming the Messiah’s identity.
Confronted with an ironclad guarantee encased in hand-delivered prophecy, Zechariah questioned the logistics. How is this going to happen, again? In his eyes, decades of intimacy with Elizabeth had produced zero children and a whole lot of questions. What would be different about this time?
His consequence was muteness. The miraculous dad-to-be would never speak the news about Elizabeth’s pregnancy to anyone, although he would communicate via writing tablets.
Upon John’s birth, Zachariah’s laid down the law about baby names. Everyone expected the boy to take the name Zachariah, after his father. Pops knew better. Young junior would be named John.
After writing that on a tablet, his tongue untwined, and the speechless priest prophesied:
“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel
For he has visited and redeemed his people
And has raised up a horn of salvation for us
In the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old
That we should be saved from our enemies
And from the hand of all who hate us; to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant
The oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
That we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies
Might serve him without fear
In holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
For you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways
To give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins
Because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death
To guide our feet into the way of peace” (Luke 1:67-79).
Not bad, dad.
The priest’s son would take his preeminent place among all prophets.
“And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel” (Luke 1:80).
Watch out for men who come from the wilderness. They’re bound to make their mark. John in the wilderness. David tending sheep. Moses, too.
That’s where Zechariah’s story ends and John’s emerges.
It’s easy to miss the significance of Luke 1:80. The miracle child that Zechariah and Elizabeth longed for was committed to the wilderness.
I wonder what Zechariah’s relationship was like with his son. Did they have a special meetup place in the wilderness? Maybe they found a high ridge somewhere in the Judean hills where they ate together from time to time and talked about the things to come.
The largest of the looming questions is Zechariah’s death. Did he live long enough to see John minister? My gut says no, since that would have been about thirty years later.
Imagine that scene. The priest watching his prophet son baptize Jesus Christ, Immanuel, the Messiah.
Either way, I’m grateful for Zechariah, the speechless priest and Elizabeth, the faithful wife.
Because of their prayers, John would one day declare the words of Isaiah in full confidence:
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.
Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall become straight,
and the rough places shall become level ways,
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God’ ” (Luke 3:4-6).
Elizabeth’s infertile womb had been the talk of the town. So had Zechariah’s sterility.
Decades later, there stood their son, leaving everyone speechless as he pointed to his cousin, Jesus.
Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
Enjoyed this story from start to finish?
Get bonus stories once a month when you subscribe to my complimentary newsletter, Supply Line. Sign up here.
Kevin Cochrane is the creator of Replenish, the site to resupply your faith with overlooked insights from Scripture-based stories. Share your thoughts by commenting below or dropping a line to kevin@replenishstories.com.
replenishstories.com 