Last updated on August 18, 2022
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.”
Luke 1:5-25 (ESV)
The first week of Advent typically starts off with a focus on the prophecies of the book of Isaiah looking ahead to the coming of the promised Messiah. The second week of Advent turns to John the Baptist, as the first true prophet among the Jews in nearly four centuries. He is the “herald” chosen by God to prepare the people for Jesus’ birth through a ministry of baptism and, what I think might best be called asceticism. But this passage specifically concerns the annunciation of his birth to Zechariah and Elizabeth.
There’s a lot to unpack here, but I found especially interesting the following observation by J. Vernon McGee in Volume IV of his Thru the Bible commentary (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1983): “John’s parents were Zacharias and Elisabeth. Zacharias means ‘God remembers,’ [in Greek] and Elisabeth means “His oath.” Together, their names mean, ‘God remembers His oath.’ When did God take an oath? The answer is, quite a few times, but consider Psalm 89:34-37…” (244) which reads:
34 I will not violate my covenant
or alter the word that went forth from my lips.
35 Once for all I have sworn by my holiness;
I will not lie to David.
36 His offspring shall endure forever,
his throne as long as the sun before me.
37 Like the moon it shall be established forever,
a faithful witness in the skies.” Selah
Psalm 89:34-37 (ESV)
Indeed, as we’ll see throughout the Gospel of Luke, one of the most important themes here is that God keeps his promises. They do not grow old and they are never forgotten. God had long promised to deliver his people, and to establish, through the line of David a forever King who would make the sacrifice that no one else could ever make. In this way, the Gospel of Luke shows how Jesus is exactly who the entire Old Testament was always pointing to. This was a key point of the Apostle Paul’s message as well.
What else do we read about here?
Elizabeth had not had any children which, according to several sources I looked at, was particularly “disgraceful” for the time. It was seen, in some cases, as evidence of God’s disfavor (a view that was clearly not true), despite the fact that both Zechariah and Elizabeth were recognized for their piety (v 6). But God had a plan for the couple, which was revealed when Zechariah was called to burn incense as part of his priestly duty (v 9). One thing I learned about this instance is that, at the time, there were so many priests, that such an honor was a once-in-a-lifetime ordeal. Because of parallels between this story and Daniel 9, we think that Zechariah’s vision was in the evening (don’t worry about the details for now) and there, in the Holy Place (not the “most holy place” of the Temple) he encounters Gabriel.
Gabriel, you’ll notice is mentioned as standing to the right of the altar (v 11). That’s a very specific description. According to Grant R. Osborne, “The angel stands ‘at the right side of the altar of incense’ between it and the menorah, or golden candlestick. The right side signifies God’s favor, and it is fitting that God’s temple is the place where the events are set in motion that will end with the births of the messianic forerunner and the Messiah himself.” (Grant R. Osborne, Luke Verse by Verse. Lexham Press, 2018) God’s attention to details like this never ceases to amaze me. There is nothing trivial in the Bible.
Now, understandably, the Angel’s presence freaks Zechariah out. While we’d all like to believe that we would respond with reverence and faith, an honest reading here requires otherwise. For what Gabriel says next is quite astonishing; namely, that Zechariah and Elizabeth will have a child in their old age. God will do what nature seemingly prohibited in order to accomplish his plan. Furthermore, this child will be set apart and help return the hearts and minds of Israel back to God. It’s more than just a kind of revival. It’s a virtual transformation of these communities in order to prepare for the coming Messiah through repentance, reconciliation, and spiritual renewal. Indeed, John’s ministry is one of preparation in much the same way Advent is a time of preparation. It is his example that we are called to follow this time of year, in a way. No, we need not live in the dessert with absurd clothes and eat bugs covered in honey, but Christians are called to repentance, reconciliation, and renewal. But we get so distracted by everything else while we prepare for Christmas. I’m not suggesting that buying presents, for example, is bad in itself, but it should not be the center of our preparation. The focus must be on Christ, on what He has done, what he is doing, and what He will do.
Zechariah hears this wonderful, astonishing prophecy brought to him by the angel Gabriel, whose authority isn’t exactly in question. But Zechariah, unlike Mary later in the Gospel, doubts. He struggles to believe and reverts back to a merely human reason that would naturally find all of this to be ridiculous. But this is God we’re talking about. Who would ever doubt the Word of God….oh wait.
Zechariah, who has literally just had an angel show up while he was praying and who says, “for your prayer has been heard,” is still like, “Yeah, but do you know how hard that is, Gabe? I mean, my wife and I are really old.” But we ought not scoff at Zechariah’s doubt, for we are all guilty of it as some point. The truth of the Gospel is overwhelming at times and God’s love just seems too good to be true. When rightly understood, the gift of God’s grace and the promise of heaven contrasts so sharply with everything we seemingly “know” and experience. We doubt God could ever redeem all of…this; ourselves included.
But that is a lie that goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. So we need God’s help. We need His grace and mercy to grow in faith and to become like Mary, who doesn’t seem to have doubted God’s plan at all. And we may need to act in faith rather than just talk about it – a challenge Zechariah was going to learn the hard way.
Zechariah is struck “dumb,” or mute as a result of his doubt. Some translators even say the words can mean that he was mute and deaf. It’s not a permanent punishment, thankfully, and his speech will be restored once he officially names his son (1:64)
It’s hard not to think of Zechariah’s punishment here as a kind of metaphor, but a metaphor for what? Perhaps, it is a warning that those who lack faith ought to be silent or that those who lack faith might as well be speaking nothing; just empty words. I offer that question up for discussion. Why this punishment, specifically? Surely, Zechariah believed once he left the temple, or did he? Perhaps it was not until John was actually born that his faith was sufficiently strengthened. Perhaps Zechariah’s ordeal parallels that of the Jewish people for the 400 years leading up to the birth of Jesus. I’ll allow comments for a time in case anyone wants to share their thoughts on this.
Next week, we turn to the introduction of Mary and the announcement of Jesus’ imminent birth in Luke 1:26-56.
Bibliography
**I’ll add to this as I go, but these are some of the sources I use, in addition to the ESV and NIV study bible notes.
- James R. Edwards. The Gospel According to Luke. The Pillar New Testament Commentary. (Eerdmans, 2015)
- Scott M. Manetsch, Timothy George, and Beth Kreitzer. Luke. Reformation Commentary on Scripture. (IVP Academic, 2015)
- J. Vernon McGee. Thru the Bible. Vol. IV: Matthew – Romans. (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1983)
- Grant R. Osborne. Luke Verse by Verse. Osborne New Testament Commentaries. (Lexham Press, 2018)
- Thomas R. Schreiner. Luke in The Baker Illustrated Bible Commentary, eBook Short Series. (Baker Books, 2012)