And Zacharias said to the angel, How shall I know this, for *I* am an old man, and my wife advanced in years?
Zacharias has just been told that his prayer is heard and that a son will be born to him, and his reply asks for proof. One writer notes how often this happens exactly when God is about to act:
Unbelief works just when God was about to do this remarkable act of mercy. The case is striking, but it is not rare, and we would do well to apply it to our souls. When God means mercy to us, we are too quick to limit the Lord. We doubt Him even when the blessing comes very close to us. We put a difficulty in the way, giving in to the suggestions of the enemy and the unbelief of our own hearts.
The very thing he had prayed for had come, and it caught him off guard. One commentator links the long wait to who the son would be:
Had Zacharias forgotten his prayer? He asked Gabriel, "How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years." Had he stopped praying for a son? Did the good news take him by surprise, so that unbelief wrapped his heart like a dark, heavy cloud? The answer to his prayer had been long in coming. But now he learned who his son was to be, and that explained the delay. God answers prayer at the right time.
He hesitates because of his own age and his wife's. One writer names the choice hidden in that:
The angel's message was so clear and definite that it should have left no doubt at all in the mind of Zacharias. Yet his word was not enough for him. He felt he must have a sign to confirm it. If not, he would take the testimony of his aging circumstances instead of the testimony of God's Word! He is a fitting picture of the unbelief of Israel.
He was no stranger to Scripture. His work as a priest kept him in the holy writings, and God counted him righteous. His question did not come from a lack of knowledge:
The Old Testament Scriptures pointed to the messenger who would go before Jehovah's face. Studying the holy Scriptures had been his constant work, or verse 6 could not have been true of him. His office required it, and God acknowledged both him and his wife as righteous. Still, God's announcement to him revealed not ignorance but real unbelief.
He wanted proof, and the proof he got was his own silence. It worked two ways at once:
This was a measure of chastening for Zacharias — a sign to others, but at the same time a rebuke to himself. His sudden loss of speech would catch the attention of the people. They would see that something extraordinary had happened, and it might set them thinking. On the other hand, God had sent His angel to tell him that these things would be done, and Zacharias showed his unbelief by asking for another sign. So came his chastening. God's words would come true in their season despite his unbelief. Mercy removes the stroke in due season.
Scripture records the doubt, and it records the birth too. The man wavered; the gift still came:
The unbelief of Zacharias reminds us of something we find again and again in Scripture. God does not hide the weakness of the faith of His beloved people. This weakness explains the silence of the aged priest until the day when he sets his seal that God is true. How good it is to see also that God's promises do not depend upon the strength of our faith.
Later in the chapter Mary asks how such a thing can happen, and she is not struck dumb. The difference lies under the words, not in them:
She does not doubt; she asks in confidence. So she is not struck dumb, and there is no sign of unbelief, as there was with Zacharias, who asked, "How shall I know this?" A question may rise in the spirit and need an answer, yet show no lack of faith. Another question may sound much the same, and yet spring from unbelief. God does not judge according to appearance, but the heart.
- Prayer — God gave the son he asked for at His own time. The moment Zacharias learned who the boy would be, the long delay made sense.
- Word — He set the testimony of his aging body against the testimony of God's word, and chose the wrong witness.
- Heart — His problem was not ignorance. He had studied Scripture all his life, yet the message met real unbelief in him.
- Sign — He asked for proof and got it in his own body: silence that rebuked him and made the watching people wonder.
- Fulfilment — God's promise did not rest on the strength of his faith. The word came true in its season, and mercy lifted the stroke.
And the angel answering, said to him, *I* am Gabriel, who stand before God, and I have been sent to speak to thee, and to bring these glad tidings to thee;
Zacharias had just asked for proof that an old couple could have a son. The answer is not an argument but an introduction: the messenger names himself and names the place he came from.
Other books outside the Bible list many angel names. Scripture is far more sparing, and the two it names announce opposite things:
Tobit 12:15 speaks of seven archangels (naming Raphael). The Book of Enoch adds Uriel. In Scripture no more than two archangels are named: Gabriel (Daniel 8, 9), the herald of goodness, and Michael (Daniel 10, 12; Jude 9; Revelation 12:7), the herald of wrath.
The same messenger had appeared before. A reference work lists where:
This angel was sent to Daniel to explain the vision he had seen of the ram and the goat, and to reveal to him the prophecy of the Seventy Weeks. Daniel calls him "the man Gabriel," and one that had "the appearance of a man." He was also sent to Mary the mother of Jesus, and to Zacharias the father of John the Baptist, to foretell the birth of their sons.
Where Gabriel stands explains what he does:
The angels are in ministry. And those who stand nearest the throne are perhaps the ones who serve the most, as well they may be, since they are so near that source of goodness. Gabriel appears in ministry again and again, and because he is so near the throne he could say of himself, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God."
The same writer asks what a messenger fresh from that presence comes out to do:
Look at Gabriel. He stood "in the presence of God." In what character then did he come forth from that presence? As the messenger of glad tidings to the earth.
Standing before God gives Gabriel freedom to walk into the temple, but it never lifts him above his rank. One writer contrasts him with two greater figures:
Gabriel can stand freely in the holy place with the priest, and just as willingly in the poor home of the virgin. Such are the ease and grace of these heavenly visits — happy pledges of days still brighter, still to come! But Gabriel comes as a messenger. He stands at the altar, yet he will not rise in its flame, as the angel of Jehovah once did. He stands in the temple, yet he will not call himself greater than the temple, as Jesus, who is Jehovah, later did. For he fills his place as a servant, and takes no higher.
One writer draws a lesson from Gabriel's calm for anyone who carries a message from God and worries how it will land:
When a man sees himself simply as the messenger of God, he can feel quite at ease about how his message is received. This does not weaken his tender, affectionate concern for the people he speaks to. Quite the opposite. But it keeps him from the excessive worry that only makes a man unfit for calm, steady testimony. When Zacharias said to the angel, "How shall I know this?" was the angel disturbed by the question? Not in the least. His reply was calm and dignified. The angel rises before the doubting mortal, with a keen and exquisite sense of the dignity of his message.
Asking for another sign, after God had already sent His angel, is what drew the chastening:
When God means mercy to us, we are too apt to limit the Lord — to doubt Him even when the blessing comes very close to us. A measure of chastening was put upon Zacharias — a sign to others, but at the same time a rebuke to himself. The very fact that he was struck suddenly dumb would catch the attention of the people. They would see that something extraordinary had happened and might be led to think about it. On the other hand, when God had sent His angel to tell him that these things would be done, Zacharias showed his unbelief by asking for another sign. That is why he was chastened. God's words would be fulfilled in their season despite his unbelief. Mercy removes the stroke in due season.
- Presence. Gabriel's credential is not his power but his position — he stands before God, and speaks from there.
- Sent. Nearness to the throne does not keep him there. Those closest to the source of goodness serve the most.
- Servant. He enters both the temple and a poor home freely, yet never claims the higher place that belongs to God alone.
- Good news. A messenger fresh from God's presence brings glad tidings, and stays calm and dignified when questioned.
- Silence. Asking for a sign after God has spoken brought a sign that exposed the unbelief — and mercy lifted it in due season.
and behold, thou shalt be silent and not able to speak, till the day in which these things shall take place, because thou hast not believed my words, the which shall be fulfilled in their time.
Gabriel's answer to a priest's request for proof is not a further reassurance but a penalty: the man who asked for a sign becomes one. Why this penalty, and why does the promise still stand despite his doubt?
Zacharias wanted proof before he would believe. The proof he got was a discipline the waiting crowd could see.
Zacharias came under a measure of chastening — a sign to others, but at the same time a rebuke to himself. His sudden loss of speech would catch the people's attention. They would see that something extraordinary had happened, and it might set them thinking. On the other hand, when God had sent His angel to tell him that these things would happen, Zacharias showed his unbelief by asking for another sign. So came his chastening. God's words would come true in their season despite his unbelief. Mercy lifts the blow at the right time.
The loss matched the failure exactly.
When told by an angel that his elderly and barren wife would bear a son, he asked for a sign of some kind to support the bare Word of God. In this he proved himself an "unbelieving believer," though very true to type, for "Jews demand signs" (1 Cor. 1:22). God disciplined him for it, since the sign given was the loss of his power of speech. The sign was quite appropriate, however. The Psalmist said, "I believed, and so I spoke." Zacharias did not believe, and therefore he could not speak.
The child had been asked for. The failure came when the answer arrived.
But the faith of Zacharias in God and in His goodness did not rise to the height of his own prayer. Sadly, this is too common a case. The prayer is granted at a moment when only God could step in and do what he wanted. Even then he cannot walk in the steps of an Abraham or a Hannah, and he asks how this thing can now take place.
Mary also asked "how," and she was not silenced. The difference lay deeper than the words.
But Mary said to the angel, "How will this be, since I am a virgin?" She does not doubt, but she asks trustingly. So she is not struck silent. There is no sign of unbelief here, as there was with Zacharias, who asked, "How shall I know this?" A question can rise in the spirit that needs an answer but shows no lack of faith. Another question can sound much the same and yet spring from unbelief. God does not judge by appearance, but judges the heart.
Scripture does not cover up the weak faith of godly people. The delay was in the man, not in God's plan.
The unbelief of Zacharias reminds us of what we constantly find throughout Scripture. God does not hide the weakness of the faith of His beloved people. This weakness explains the silence of the elderly priest until the day when he himself confirms that God is true. How good it is also to see that God's promises do not depend on the strength of our faith.
The picture is larger than one household.
He then gave a sign, though not as pleasant as Zacharias wanted. Zacharias would be deprived of speech until the day this prophecy was fulfilled (vs. 19-20). Again we have here a likeness to Israel's condition at that time. The nation was silent about the things of God. They could not lift their voices in praise and thanksgiving, just because of unbelief, until the day they see their Messiah.
The silence had a limit built into it — "until the day."
But notice the grace of God. Zacharias' unbelief costs him the use of his speech for many months. Yet he does not lose the little son he had been praying for. That little son grew up to be such a man that his Lord (and ours) said of him: "Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist."
- Asked — He wanted a sign to back up God's bare word, and the sign he got was himself.
- Silenced — Faith and speech go together. He did not believe, so he could not speak, and his shut mouth preached to the crowd outside.
- Weighed — Mary asked "how" too, and she was answered, not struck. God judges the heart behind a question, not its form.
- Pictured — A silent priest mirrors a nation that cannot praise, held quiet by unbelief until it sees its Messiah.
- Fulfilled — The word came true "in its time," whatever his doubt. He lost his voice for a season, never the son. The promise never rested on the strength of his faith.