Luke 1:18-20 Zechariah asked the angel, "How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years."
The angel answered, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time."
Zachariah was a priest, and he was descended from Aaron the first High Priest of Israel, as was his wife, Elizabeth. That’s pedigree. And, furthermore, Luke says they were upright, even in God’s sight, and followed all the rules precisely. They never said, O, that’s good enough; they never cut a corner. They’d grown old together in the service of the Lord, and yet the one thing that she needed most, a baby, was denied, as was the thing he needed most, a happy wife.
In those days there were lots of priests, so many that the very special jobs were distributed by lot. And Zachariah won the lottery. The prize was burning incense in the temple and, though it might not seem like much to you and me, it was a very big deal. But when Zachariah’s big day came something happened for which he was completely unprepared. An angel came and told him that Elizabeth had won a lottery of her own. God had decided that it was her turn for a miracle and, even in her old age, she would have a baby.
Zachariah was surprised, to say the least, and must have lost his head for a minute, because he wondered right out loud if all this could be true. And, even worse, he asked the angel for a sign, a token of good faith. If he had held his tongue signs would have come in time, and in the natural way, but hindsight’s 20/20. Zachariah got his sign, nine months of speech impediment. Nine months to ponder what had happened and to wonder what this child might be. He also got a happy wife, and Elizabeth got a baby.
The big lesson in all of this cannot be understood until we see this baby as a man. He will be John the Baptist, God’s wild-man, offending both the people and the king, pointing the way to Jesus, and beheaded for his pains. What a daunting and bewildering task, to raise a child like this. And so the lesson: when, to your amazement, you find that you are upright in the sight of God, meticulous in obedience, and able to pray unanswered prayers for years and not give up, perhaps it isn’t really you at all. Perhaps it’s just that God is doing something in you, preparing you to do a work for him.
There is also, of course, a little lesson that is immediately apparent and for sure. If an angel comes and says your prayers are answered, prove it!, is definitely not the best response. Best to just say, thank you very much.
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