Advent: December 8th
Mary visits with Elizabeth for 3 months. She is there for Elizabeth’s last trimester. By the end of this time, Mary, herself, would have been three months pregnant and may have started to show. She likely headed home before John’s birth because there would have been many visitors in the house in anticipation of the child and she still desperately needed to have a very important conversation with her fiancé.
So the time came for John the Baptist to be born. On the 8th day after his birth, came the time when all Jewish boys would be circumcised and named. The friends and family of Zechariah and Elizabeth gathered to celebrate and hear what the baby would be called.
They naturally expected the child to have his father’s namesake, and seem to be quite pushy that the boy’s name ought to be Zechariah but Elizabeth is persistent. “No. His name shall be John.” They even argue with her stating that there are no known relatives named John. So to settle the matter, Zechariah is consulted as He would have the final say in the matter anyway, and since he is still mute he confirms the child’s name in writing, “His name is John.” Immediately, Zechariah is able to speak again and not just, for he begins to use his speech in praise to God and prophecy.
Mary and Zechariah have both seen the angel Gabriel and have both received incredible news. Mary and Elizabeth have both been amazed when the Holy Spirit has come upon them in power and joy. This whole bunch has seen and heard and felt miracle, after miracle in a very short amount of time. Now it is time for Zechariah to speak in the power of the Spirit, and his prophecy goes public.
This proclamation, due to the witnesses present, his rank as a priest, and the extraordinary circumstances surrounding his ability to speak again would be propelled throughout the hill-country where they lived. Many would hear of it and be keeping an eye on this little boy, John, to see what amazing things the Lord would be working through him.
Interestingly, the last prophecy in the Old Testament was given in Malachi 4:5 and says, “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes.” This was the last of the prophets and prophecies for 400 years. What a sobering thing for God to be silent in Israel.
It would be hundreds of years through history as the faithful held their breath in anticipation. It is not unusual then, that Zechariah would doubt. Yet, he knew God and was a faithful student of the Torah. He would have known the stories of Abraham and Issac, and Jacob and be aware of the struggles of Sarah, Rebecca, and Rachel, to conceive. How things must have seemed different when they were happening to HIM…
The Prophet of whom Malachi speaks is Zechariah’s son, John. As his tongue is loosed and the baby’s name given the Holy Spirit comes this time to rid Zechariah of his silence, and in praise to the Lord He prophesied for the first time in 400 years! Though the years had been long for Israel the Lord was still working out His good plan! He had not forgotten them!
“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” Luke 1:68-79
God was getting ready to do the very thing He had promised from the beginning and the baby John would be the prophet who would come before!
Perhaps you have experienced a season of silence from the Lord or had years of waiting for the fulfillment of some promise? Take comfort in knowing that God is reliable, always right on time, and working for your benefit. Let His Spirit assure you in the hard moments of waiting and move forward in faith.
