| Luke 1: 57-66 |
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The Birth of John the Baptist
57 Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. 58 And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. 59 And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father, 60 but his mother answered, “No; he shall be called John.” 61 And they said to her, “None of your relatives is called by this name.” 62 And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. 63 And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And they all wondered. 64 And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. 65 And fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea, 66 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. |
The joy brought by the Suffering Servant
In Isaiah 53, the prophet looks forward to the role of the Lord's Suffering Servant in bringing salvation. And in the next chapter, he compares the joy that this salvation will bring to the joy felt by a childless woman in being given children, or of a widowed or abandoned woman rescued from her pitiful or shameful state.
In Luke 1:57-66, the arrival of Jesus, the Suffering Servant Himself, was preceded by the joy of a literally childless woman, Elizabeth, to whom God gives a son - John the Baptist. Her joy echoes that of the childless woman in Isaiah 54. And there are other similarities too. Isaiah 54 speaks of it being God Himself who rescues the woman from her widowhood and abandonment:
"You will no longer remember the shame of your youth
and the sorrows of widowhood.
For your creator will be your husband;
the Lord of Heaven's armies is His name!
He is your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel,
the God of all the earth." (Isaiah 54v4b-5)
And He is our Redeemer too! May the same joy spill out from our hearts and into our lives.
Tim