December 11 - Zacharias

Luke 1:5-25 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years. So it was, that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense. hen an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is 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 in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also 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. He will also 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 a people prepared for the Lord." And Zacharias said to the angel, "How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years." And the angel answered and said to him, "I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time." And the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he lingered so long in the temple. But when he came out, he could not speak to them; and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned to them and remained speechless. And so it was, as soon as the days of his service were completed, that he departed to his own house. Now after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived; and she hid herself five months, saying, "Thus the Lord has dealt with me, in the days when He looked on me, to take away my reproach among people."

God chose to break 400 years of silence by letting Zacharias know that his barren wife was going to have a son. That son would would grow up to be John the Baptist who would prepare the way for the Messiah. For some reason, God seems to have a thing for miraculous births - Isaac, Samuel and Samson also come time mind. I guess a birth is one of those things in life that has to be from Him and those births were precursors of the truly miraculous birth to come. I love this story because I see so much of myself in Zacharias. The angel gives him this wonderful news and instead of taking it and running home to his dear wife, he asks the angel how he can know this for sure. "Hello? - the dude is an angel and you're asking him for proof?!?" is our twenty first century reaction, but how many of us wouldn't just blurt our something similarly inane like: "Get out of town" or "Am I being punked?!?" And when you look at the situation, Zacharias is blessed that all that happened was he lost his voice for a little while. Thank God, he doesn't do that much when we doubt Him.

So how does this tie in with the advent? I see it two ways - first and most obvious, John the Baptist was sent to herald the coming of the Messiah. Second, the story of Zacharias shows us that in spite of Israel's doubt, God still sent His Son at His chosen time. One final thing to consider - for those looking to "experience God" or for some "new anointing from God", please keep Zacharias in mind. God had not spoken to His people for over four hundred years and the first guy that encountered Him was struck dumb.