But the angel said to him, Fear not, Zacharias, because thy supplication has been heard, and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.
An old priest stands alone in the sanctuary, burning incense while the crowd prays outside. Heaven breaks a long silence and speaks his name. The angel's first words answer a fear; the rest answer a prayer the man had almost given up on.
The angel deals with fear first. Older translations put it "Fear not," and Scripture repeats that word whenever a frail person is called to meet God.
This word is heard above all at those solemn moments when weak, frail human beings of flesh are called to meet God. Even when He reveals Himself only by a mighty angel, a messenger from heaven, the soul He speaks to is deeply troubled. Like Zacharias or Mary, it needs this very comforting word: "Fear not."
Zechariah — the writers below use the older spelling, Zacharias — and his wife carried a sorrow at home. They had taken it to God long before this day.
But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years. They had prayed about it, as we find later. Though Zacharias seems even to have lost sight of his own prayer, God had not... Was it so strange, after all, that this son should be born beyond nature to this godly couple? No one could have expected such a thing. But once it is announced as God's intention, our hearts see how wise and fitting it is.
The answer is not a substitute for what he asked. It is what he asked, and more.
This, we may suppose, was a prayer he had prayed for a long time. The Lord had a better purpose for Zacharias than his own, though this was indeed an answer to that prayer.
Why did God wait so long? The answer to that question came with the news itself.
The answer to his prayer had surely been long in coming. But now the delay was explained, as he learned who his son was to be. God answers prayer at the right time. All may now see the reason for the delay. God's purposes are carried out in His appointed way.
The family does not choose this child's name. Heaven gives it, and it completes what the parents' names already say. In the quote, Jehovah is the older English form of the Lord's name.
"John" means "Favour of Jehovah." It fits beautifully with the names of Zacharias and Elizabeth. Together those two names say, "Jehovah remembers the oath of God," and the blessed result of that remembering is "the Favour of Jehovah." Gabriel — the name means "God is mighty" — announces that Zacharias' prayer had been heard. The answer was now given. The prayers of many years had not been forgotten. God's time for the answer had come.
The angel does not stop at the birth. He tells the father what this son will do.
Zacharias had asked for a son. He got an answer that his son should be the immediate forerunner of the long-expected Messiah... Far beyond the aged priest's desires or ideas God was about to go. The son he asked for would not come to serve in his father's place in the sanctuary at Jerusalem. He would come to bow the hearts of multitudes like reeds before the wind, and to make ready a people for the Lord.
There is a gap between asking God and expecting God to answer. That gap is the warning in this story for everyone who prays.
Unbelief works in such a subtle way. Believers often pray, and pray hard, yet the last thing they seem to expect is that God will grant what they ask! Old Zacharias had prayed that he might have a son; so it appears from Luke 1:13. He had faith to pray, but not faith to believe that God would grant his prayer. When the angel Gabriel tells him that his prayer is heard, and that his wife will bear him a son, he does not rejoice and worship. He asks, "How shall I know this?" But our God is very gracious. For this unbelief He disciplines Zacharias by taking away his speech for a time, yet He still does not withhold the answer to his prayer.
- Heard. The prayer was old and seemed forgotten by the man who prayed it — but not by God, who kept it until the right hour.
- Held. The delay was not refusal. It was timing. God answers prayer at the right time and in His own way.
- Named. John means "the favour of Jehovah" — the answer arrives carrying God's grace in its very name.
- Enlarged. He asked for a child; he received the forerunner of the Lord. God's reply outran the request.
- Exposed. Zechariah had faith to pray but not faith to believe. God disciplined the unbelief and still gave the gift.
And he shall be to thee joy and rejoicing, and many shall rejoice at his birth.
Gabriel comes to Zacharias, an aged priest who had long prayed for a son. The angel promises far more than a child, and that raises a question: why should many people rejoice at one family's answered prayer?
Zacharias had prayed for one thing. The angel's reply goes far past it.
As to Daniel so to Zacharias, Gabriel came in answer to prayer, and both times God let him announce more than had been asked. Daniel was concerned about the end of the captivity. He got an answer that looks on to the future and final deliverance of his people. Zacharias had asked for a son. He got an answer that his son would be the immediate forerunner of the long-expected Messiah. His prayer was heard. His wife would bear a son, bringing joy to the father's heart and causing many to rejoice at his birth. His name was to be John, a reminder of God's graciousness. He was to be great in the sight of the Lord… God was about to go far beyond the aged priest's desires or ideas.
The long wait was not a refusal. One writer points to God's timing:
The answer to his prayer had certainly been long in coming. But the delay was now explained, as he learned who his son was to be. God answers prayer at the right time.
Just before this, the angel tells Zacharias, "Do not be afraid." One writer sees our own reaction in that order:
Yet fear falls upon Zacharias: sadly, this cannot surprise us. We are far too used to His own people misreading His goodness like this. God means us good, and we charge Him with evil. Because we have not fully learned the lesson of His love, the fear that brings torment takes hold of us. How often He has to say to us, "Fear not," when He is about to give us perhaps the very blessing we have long sought.
The joy reaches past the parents because of what the child is sent to do.
This is true at least of Zacharias. The angel has to tell him that his prayer is heard, and that a son will be born to him — a joy not to himself only but to many. For the child comes, filled with the Spirit, to turn many to God in Israel. He goes before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to make ready a people for the Lord.
Luke later records the day the promise came true:
Gabriel had announced that many would rejoice at John's birth, and the historian now records how it came true (1:58)… A wonderful child was born, but a greater had yet to appear.
One writer sets this joy beside the joy announced at another birth:
John's task was "to make ready for the Lord a people prepared" (1:17). If his birth was a matter of joy, the birth of the Lord Himself was a subject of even greater joy: "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy" (2:10). The angel used the word mega: mega-joy!
The joy of this verse is where Luke's account begins. It is also where it ends:
And now the gospel, which began with joy (Luke 1:14), closes with joy. They "returned to Jerusalem with great joy," for the angels had assured them of the Lord's personal return. Nor could that joy be dampened, nor did they hide it, for "they were continually in the temple blessing God."
Another writer gives the reason for so much joy in this Gospel:
Luke has much joy, because much of grace.
- Prayer — Zacharias asked for a son and was given the forerunner of the Messiah. The long delay was not a refusal but God's timing.
- Fear — the joy is announced right after the angel says, "Do not be afraid." We often read God's goodness as a threat, just as the blessing we asked for arrives.
- Grace — Luke's account is full of joy for one reason. It is full of grace.
- Many — the gladness does not stop with the parents. The child comes filled with the Spirit, to turn many in Israel back to God.
- Greater — John's birth brings joy; the Lord's birth is announced as mega-joy. The book that opens with joy closes with disciples blessing God in the temple.
For he shall be great before [the] Lord, and he shall drink no wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with [the] Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.
An angel came to a priest named Zacharias and told him what his son John would be like. Three things mark the boy out: greatness before God, no wine, and the Holy Spirit from the very start of his life.
One writer compares what the angel says about John with what he says about Jesus a few verses later.
The contrast between these two messages is worth noticing. John was to be "great before the Lord." Of Jesus the angel said, "He will be great." All John the Baptist's greatness depended on the Person whose coming he announced. Jesus was great in Himself and of Himself. From where I write, I can see, in the light of the rising sun, the shadow of a chestnut tree stretching out to enormous size. Yet that shadow is not a picture of the size of the tree, but a witness to the sun's rising and splendour.
Why forbid wine? The angel's words point to an old vow of separation.
This is Nazariteship, or at least the first mark of it. John could only be great before the Lord by being a Nazarite. From Numbers 6 we see that to be a Nazarite was "to separate oneself to the Lord." There were three distinct signs. First, the Nazarite kept away from wine and strong drink. Next, he let the hair of his head grow. Finally, he "came near no dead body." He gave up wine — the sign of joy in the heart of the natural man among his equals. His long hair announced that he had given up the dignity and rights of man for subjection to the will of God. And last, he avoided everything that could bring him into contact with sin, whose wages is death. … Seeing him, the world would have said, "He is a sad, gloomy man who hates people." What a mistake! This natural joy is the only joy the world knows. In the prophet's heart, the joy that close fellowship with the Saviour gives took its place. The two cannot exist together. We enjoy the second only as far as we deny ourselves the first.
Luke names only one of those three signs. Still, God set John apart from birth — and unlike another man marked out the same way, he never lost it.
It seems that John the Baptist was under this or a similar vow from birth. In Luke 1:15, abstinence from wine or strong drink is mentioned, but not the other two things. Here we have a contrast. Samson's strength was physical; John's strength was spiritual. The one lost his Nazariteship, the other kept it until he died a martyr's death.
Holding that place is one thing. Living it out is another.
A child can be a Nazarite, but this is the work of God. We have two instances of Nazarites from their birth: one who went on blamelessly, and another who failed sadly — John the Baptist and Samson. Samson served God, and did great things too, but he also sought and did his own will, so that his life ended in his being taken prisoner. So you see it is not everything to be in the place of a Nazarite: there must be self-denial and patient perseverance in the ways of God.
This filling is not what a Christian receives today. The difference lies in what filling is for.
This is said of John the Baptist. Now we know he was not in the Church, but the forerunner of our Lord. He was not sealed with the Spirit nor baptized by the Spirit, but he was filled with the Spirit. Filling has to do with power and service, and John was equipped for his service from earliest childhood.
That equipping was tied to one job that belonged to one man.
It was also God's sovereign ordering that he should be filled with the Holy Spirit from his birth. There was only one John the Baptist: it would be folly for another to aspire to be the same as he (Jer. 1:5). John would be divinely prepared for his unique service of preparing the way of the Lord.
The verse puts the ban on wine and the filling side by side. One writer reads that order as a lesson for every believer.
Here it is as if the special power of the Holy Spirit were connected with Nazariteship. Many Christians imagine that to be filled with the Holy Spirit is a special favour that could only belong to privileged ones among God's people. Not at all. Every believer is a temple of the Holy Spirit, but not every believer is filled by Him. And why? Is it a lack of power on the part of the Holy Spirit? Certainly not. What is lacking, even among Christians who know deliverance, so that they are not filled with the Spirit? The reality of Nazariteship. As Ephesians 5:18 says, "Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit."
- Great — John's greatness was borrowed, not his own. Like a shadow, he was a witness to the One whose coming he announced.
- Separated — the ban on wine is the first mark of a Nazarite: a man set apart to God, who gives up the world's joy, his own dignity, and all contact with death.
- Filled — John was never sealed or baptized with the Spirit, yet he was filled with Him from the womb. Filling is power for service.
- Kept — Samson was a Nazarite from birth and lost it. John kept his to a martyr's death. The place alone is not enough; it takes self-denial and patience.
- Applied — the same order stands for us: real separation first, then fullness of the Spirit.
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And many of the sons of Israel shall he turn to [the] Lord their God.
The angel Gabriel is describing a child who has not yet been born. The promise raises two questions: who is "the Lord their God" the people turn to, and why does the angel say many and not all?
One writer reads this line as the goal of John's whole ministry. He links it to what the angel had just said about the child:
"He will be great before the Lord, and he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb." He was to be a Nazirite, separated to the Lord. That separation was not only outward; it came with inward and special power of God. "And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God." This would be the characteristic aim of his mission — to recall them to God, from whom they had departed.
The same writer marks the limit of that work:
John was now to recall the people in the spirit and power of Elijah. It is repentance. It is not, of course, the great work of God in putting away sin — that could only be done by one, even Jesus the Lord. Nor is it the power of the Holy Spirit poured out on Israel. This also could only be done by Christ.
So what made John great? One writer contrasts his message with that of every prophet before him:
It was said of John that he should be great in the eyes of the Lord, and what made him great would be that he would "turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God." Other prophets had turned the people back to the law they had broken, to the Sabbath they had violated, to the sacrifices they had neglected, or to the Temple they had defiled. But when John the Baptist came, the nation had broken down completely, and that whole era was about to end. So he turns their hearts to the Lord Jesus Christ — the One who was coming.
The title here is not a general word for God. One writer notes what it stands for in this part of Luke:
In verses 6, 9, 11, 15, 16 and 17, "Lord" is the equivalent of the Old Testament "Jehovah," so the coming of the Messiah is to be the coming of Jehovah.
That coming shaped the character of John's message:
Indeed, the angel Gabriel said of John that he should go before the Lord "in the spirit and power of Elijah;" and that is what marked the searching, sifting nature of his testimony. It was preparation for the One who was coming. It said, in fact, that God was coming.
So who were the many? One writer describes the group John's ministry brought to light:
When God worked in many, as He did through John's ministry, He brought to light a company of people who walked in the steps of the men of faith of old. So in practice they formed "the remnant" so often spoken of — the core of God's Israel, over whom Christ was to reign. The beginning of Luke's gospel sets out the moral character of this remnant beautifully. They trusted in God's mercy, felt their need of a Saviour, and learned salvation "in the forgiveness of their sins." They looked for nothing in themselves that could give them any claim to the promised blessings.
One writer reads the word many as a careful limit. The turning John achieved was real, but it did not reach the whole nation:
In the spirit and power of Elijah came Jehovah's messenger, John the Baptist, and he turned many of the sons of Israel to Jehovah their God. The language seems careful to guard against the mistake of thinking this was the predicted mission of Elijah the prophet... So for the time the moral restoration of the Jews was partial. Most of the people did not repent, family bonds were completely broken, and a curse struck the land from that day to this. But it will not always be so. For grace will work in a remnant once more in the last days.
- Turn — the word that defines John. His mission was to recall Israel to the God they had walked away from.
- Turn, not reform — earlier prophets sent people back to law, Sabbath, sacrifice and temple. John came at the end of a broken era, and he turned hearts to the coming Christ.
- Turn to whom — "the Lord their God" carries the Old Testament covenant name. The Messiah's coming is God's own coming, and that is why John's preaching searched and sifted.
- Turned many — the turning was repentance, and it left a remnant: people who trusted God's mercy, felt their need of a Saviour, and claimed nothing in themselves.
- Not yet all — the turning was partial. One writer looks on to a later day, when grace will work in a remnant again.
And *he* shall go before him in [the] spirit and power of Elias, to turn hearts of fathers to children, and disobedient ones to [the] thoughts of just [men], to make ready for [the] Lord a prepared people.
An angel is describing the work of a son not yet born. John will walk ahead of the Lord with Elijah's spirit and power, mend broken family ties, and get a people ready. Two questions follow. In what sense was John "Elijah"? And what makes a people ready for God?
The child would go "before Him." Commentators point out that the "Him" in this passage is not a lesser figure, and that the wording of the whole section says so.
In verses 6, 9, 11, 15, 16 and 17, "Lord" is the equivalent of the Old Testament "Jehovah," so the coming of the Messiah is to be the coming of Jehovah. There were to be people on earth who were prepared to receive Christ when He came.
Why Elijah, of all the prophets? One writer looks at Elijah's own story, then marks where John's work stopped.
Elijah was the prophet who took up the broken obligations of the people. That is why he went to Horeb… Horeb was where God gave the law, and Elijah went back there, feeling how far the people had departed from God. John should now recall the people in the spirit and power of Elijah. It is repentance. It is not, of course, the great work of God in putting away sin — only one could do that, Jesus the Lord. Neither is it the power of the Holy Spirit poured out on Israel.
The angel says "spirit and power," not "Elijah." That small difference answers a question people raised about John himself.
John was not the same person as Elijah. His service before the Lord was "in the spirit and power of Elijah." John's ministry had the same character as Elijah's. It pressed hard on Israel the guilt of their disobedience to the law. The reference here is to Malachi 4:6. Some of the Jews took it to mean Elijah in person, but John denied that reading (John 1:21).
Because John's fulfilment was moral rather than literal, writers hold that Malachi's promise still has a future side to it.
Though Luke 1:17 clearly refers to Malachi 4:5-6, even there it applies only in a moral way, or to faith, not as history. This is how our Lord Himself puts the case in Matthew 11:14: "if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come." Nothing is farther from His mind than to set aside a future action of Elijah before the great and terrible day of Jehovah comes. That description in no way suits His first coming in grace, even though moral judgement goes with that grace.
The identity of the "fathers" is not agreed. Some have read them as ordinary parents whose affection for their children had faded; others read them as the ancestors of the nation.
Plummer points to a fading of parental affection. Augustine's idea, adopted by Calvin, was that the "fathers" means the patriarchs.
The next phrase says more than it seems. One writer shows what the wording leaves out. His translation reads "the thoughts of just men."
Luke 1:17 leaves a word out, and the sense is packed. John was to turn disobedient ones not merely to the thoughts of just men, but so as to remain in them.
The last clause holds two jobs at once.
John was to prepare the way; the people were to prepare their hearts. The holy men of old saw this ahead of time and spoke of it, as the Holy Spirit moved them.
Malachi's book ends on the edge of a curse.
What the last verse of Malachi says may seem unclear, but Luke 1:17 makes its bearing plain. The "disobedient" will be turned to "the wisdom of the just," and so a people prepared for the Lord. In this way there will be a godly remnant. Otherwise a curse would strike the whole earth.
- Coming. John walked ahead of the "Lord" — the Old Testament name of God. The Messiah's arrival is God's own arrival.
- Character. John came in Elijah's spirit and power. Elijah carried the people's broken obligations back to Horeb. So John's call was searching repentance, not the removal of sin or the outpouring of the Spirit.
- Person. John was Elijah in character, not in person. He said so himself. Commentators hold that Malachi's promise still waits for more before the day of the Lord.
- Change. John was to unite hearts and teach the disobedient. They were not just pointed toward the wisdom of the just. They were to settle and stay in it.
- Result. A herald prepares the road; a people prepares its heart. Where that happens, God has a remnant, and the earth escapes the curse.