There was a priest named Zechariah … 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. Luke 1:5-7 ESV1
Read Luke 1:5-25 & 57-80
Zechariah was a priest. He had spent his life serving God. He was from a family of priests who had served the LORD for generations. His wife, Elizabeth, also came from a family of priests who honored God and ministered to His people. They “were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But (emphasis mine) they had no child” (Luke 1:6-7a). Though they were doing everything right, something was not right in their lives. Their prayers for the thing they wanted most weren’t being answered.
To make things worse, in their time, there was quite a stigma for those who were childless. That same attitude of reproach hung also over those who were disabled (see John 9:1-3). The general idea of the time was, if something wasn’t right in a person’s life, he or she must not be right with God. Zechariah and Elizabeth lived under the judgment and reproach (see Luke 1:25) of those around them.
But God was watching and He was listening. He had heard Zechariah and Elizabeth’s prayers, He had seen their righteous lives, and He intervened. “While [Zechariah] 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” (Luke 1:8-9). When God was ready to act, He used His mighty power to influence that lot. Zechariah wasn’t chosen by accident. Something special was waiting for Zechariah. “There appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense … the angel said to … Zechariah … your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear and have a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before for the Lord’” (Luke 1:11-15a).
But the angel didn’t stop there. When God answered this prayer, He went above and beyond anything Zechariah and Elizabeth had thought to ask! The angel continued, “’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 the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, [and] make ready for the Lord a people prepared’” (Luke 1:15c-16, & 17b).
Maybe Zechariah was in shock. Maybe he was weary from all those years of seemingly unanswered prayer. Maybe he was focusing on his own inadequacies. Or perhaps, Zechariah had just lost hope. When they were young, every month had brought the possibility that their prayers would be answered, but now they were too old to have children. So, Zechariah didn’t respond with rejoicing. Instead, he responded with doubt. “And Zechariah said to the angel, ‘How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years’” (Luke 1:18)? That may seem like an honest question to a human, but the angel was somewhat shocked by such a faithless response.
The angel, Gabriel, worked in God’s throne room. He knew firsthand of God’s power and truthfulness. Gabriel knew that God was going to do what He said He would do! “The angel answered [Zechariah], I am Gabriel, who stands 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 until the day that these things take place because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their time” (Luke 1:19-20). Zechariah was stricken with muteness because of his unbelief! But this was not a punishment; it was discipline. The root word of discipline is disciple. God used this time of forced quietness to give Zechariah time to listen and refocus.
Outside the temple, a “whole multitude of people was praying” (Luke 1:10). I guess they weren’t really expecting God to show up either, because “they were wondering at his delay in the temple. And when [Zechariah] came out he was unable to speak to them, and they realized he had seen a vision in the temple” (Luke 1:21b-22a). Zechariah couldn’t tell them what he saw; “he kept making signs to them and remained mute” (Luke 1:22b).
“When his time of service was over, [Zechariah] went home. After these days, his wife, Elizabeth, conceived” (Luke 1:23-24a). When “the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her” (Luke 1:57-58). Just like Gabriel had said they would. “And they would have called him Zechariah after his father, but his mother answered, ‘No; he shall be called John.’ And they said to her, ‘None of your relatives is called by this name.’ And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called” (Luke 1:59b-63). I find it interesting that the townspeople used signs to communicate with Zechariah. He was mute, I don’t think he was deaf, too! This, and their ignoring of Elizabeth, may show a level of disrespect for the couple.
Yet, Zachariah “asked for a writing tablet and wrote, ‘His name is John’… And immediately [Zechariah’s] mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God” (Luke 1:63a, 64). (Read Zechariah’s Spirit-filled praise in Luke 1:66-79). Then “fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea, and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, ‘What then will this child be?’ For the hand of the Lord was with him” (Luke 1:65-66). Finally, Zechariah and Elizabeth were vindicated.
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). Their child became John the Baptist! He fulfilled all that the angel, Gabriel said he would. Jesus said of him, “’Truly, I say to you, among those born of woman there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist’” (Matthew 11:11a). How about that for an epitaph?
We tend to get tunnel vision when going through circumstances that are difficult or seem unfair. We forget God promises “that for those who love [Him] all things work together for good” (Romans 8:28). The experiences of Zechariah and Elizabeth remind us that the Lord knows the plans He has for us, and those plans are for our welfare and not for evil. They are to give us hope and a future (see Jeremiah 29:11).
God’s abilities are so multifaceted that He can use all of our inadequacies and doubts, our disobedience and our fears, our waitings and wonderings, and all of our circumstances, good and bad, to accomplish His good, pleasing and perfect will. He is big enough to use anything because He sees and controls everything from a timeless perspective. We are not powerful enough or weak enough to mess up His plans. When you are going through something that you don’t understand, look up. Ask God to open your eyes to see the bigger picture. I promise you He is working for your good and His glory even when circumstances seem to indicate otherwise.
1Scripture quotations marked with ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001, by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All Scripture quotations are taken from the ESV unless otherwise noted. To aid in understanding, I have capitalized references to God.