| Luke 1: 5-25 |
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Birth of John the Baptist Foretold
5 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. 6 And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. 7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years. 8 Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, 9 according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. 11 And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 12 And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. 13 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. 14 And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 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. 16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, 17 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.” 18 And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” 19 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. 20 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.” 21 And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. 22 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 he kept making signs to them and remained mute. 23 And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home. 24 After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, 25 “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.” |
In the right place at the right time
This passage explains the circumstances around the lead up to John the Baptist’s birth. John’s parents were Zechariah and Elizabeth. Zechariah was a priest, part of the tribe of Levi. It sounds grand but in actual fact there were so many priests that the tribe was divided into 24 divisions, and each division did their priestly duties for 2 weeks a year. The rest of the time most of the priests had secular employment. In verse 9 we see Zechariah is chosen by ‘lots’ to burn incense in the Lord’s presence at the Temple. No priest was allowed the honour of doing this more than once in his life, and many never got the chance at all. And so it was there and then, in that once in a lifetime moment for Zechariah, that God sent an angel to tell him how he and Elizabeth had been chosen to be part of God’s amazing salvation plan.
What a coincidence….or not. Verse 6 tells us that Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous in God’s eyes. They were people who lived day-to-day following God, obeying His teachings. They did this for the other 50 weeks of the year when Zechariah wasn’t at the Temple. Verse 8 describes how Zechariah was essentially ‘on duty’. He was taking his turn, meeting his responsibilities. In the right place at the right time, you could say. Indeed, he was. There are many people in the Bible who were ‘in the right place at the right time’. People who lived faithfully, trusting God, being prepared for a job which He had planned for them.
I hope this passage is an encouragement to us all to follow Jesus every day, in the ordinary responsibilities of life. It is here that God will prepare us and use us as part of His wonderful story.
Pamela