5 In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. 6 Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. 7 But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.
8 Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, 9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.
11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. 13 But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. 14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. 16 He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
18 Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”
19 The angel said to him, “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. 20 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 appointed time.”
21 Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. 22 When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.
23 When his time of service was completed, he returned home. 24 After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. 25 “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”
Read Luke 1:5-25 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!
In the events surrounding the birth of John the Baptist, as Luke is setting the stage for what happened, he shares an interesting set of verses that we might miss if we are not paying close enough attention.
After setting the stage with a time period, and introducing Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth, Luke briefly describes the couple, “Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.” (v. 6-7)
In these two verses are some important pieces of information. While we might be quick to focus on Elizabeth’s inability to conceive and their elderly age, we should not skip over the earlier details that Luke shares. This couple was “righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly.” (v. 6)
For their entire lives, Zechariah and Elizabeth had faithfully followed God as best they could, but even with their righteousness and blamelessness, God never answered their prayers for a child. For decades of their lives, this couple must have prayed and wondered if God really cared about them personally. It would have seemed all that time that God was silent.
Too many of us try to barter with God. We might try to make a deal with Him that says we will be obedient to Him after He gives us something, or after He does something for us. While sometimes God accepts deals like this, there is no guarantee He will do so. If God waited patiently to answer the prayers of a righteous and blameless couple, who are we to think that He would answer our prayers when we are not even close to being righteous or blameless.
But the thing that stands out is Zechariah and Elizabeth’s character. While Zechariah displayed doubts when the angel appeared to Him, the many years of life and the majority of it facing God’s silence to his one big prayer had not turned Zechariah away from trusting God. Zechariah still obeyed even though it felt like God was ignoring his request.
However, God did answer Zechariah and Elizabeth’s prayer, but it was on His terms and in His timing. Nothing we can do or say can change God from answering our prayers in the best way possible for us. God waited because the time wasn’t right 20 years earlier, when Zechariah and his wife were younger, and perhaps when God is silent to our prayers, it is because the time isn’t right for us. Hopefully, we won’t have to wait 20 years for an answer, but whenever the answer does come, we can trust that the timing is better when it finally arrived than had it been when we first made the request.
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
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