Even righteous people occasionally doubt God’s Word. Zecharias was such a man, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. (Lk. 1:6b NKJV)
Then one day, as he fulfilled priestly duties in the temple, an angel appeared to Zecharias, telling him, your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. (v. 13b)Furthermore, the child would be unusual, set apart by God for a special purpose.
But both Zecharias and Elizabeth were old—too old to have a baby—and Elizabeth had been barren their entire marriage. Zecharias questioned the message. That was when the angel pronounced a hard saying: you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe . . . . (v. 20a)
Perhaps it was all part of the master plan. People understood that something unusual had happened when Zecharias could not talk—that he might have seen a vision. When Zacharias received his voice again—and immediately prophesied about his son and about the coming Messiah—they knew God was at work.
Originally published December 15, 1989.
Picture: Wild flowers, Minnesota Lake Country, 2009. Photo by Solveig.
