What is the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth?

The first parents to consider in the New Testament are Zacharias and Elisabeth. The Divine record of them runs thus: "There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years." (Luke 1:5-7).

Zacharias and Elisabeth lived in the hill country of Juda; but the lot came for Zacharias to burn incense in the temple at Jerusalem, while all the people waited outside. While burning the incense, the angel Gabriel appeared to him, saying: "Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias … to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." (Luke 1:13-17).

Thus it was with Zacharias and his wife. They looked in faith for the Messiah: hence they were righteous, and walking in the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly. Nevertheless they had a disappointment of heart which answered to the state of things in Israel. "They had no child, because Elisabeth was barren; and they were both advanced in years." They had prayed about it, as we find afterwards. Though Zacharias seems even to have lost sight of his own prayer, yet God had not. And so "it came to pass, as he fulfilled his priestly service before God in the order of his course" — for here he was faithful to the requisition of daily duty — "it fell to him by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter into the temple of the LORD to burn incense. And all the multitude of the people were praying without at the hour of incense." We have thus a full and lively setting forth of what was actually going on then in Israel. "And an angel of [the] LORD appeared to him standing on the right of the altar of incense." In this form such a visit was unknown for a long while. It was a gracious intervention of God (not merely betimes, as we find in another Gospel, for the healing of sicknesses and weaknesses of the people, but) for the more glorious purpose of announcing the forerunner of the Messiah Himself. Was it so strange after all that he was to be born beyond nature of this godly couple? One could not have anticipated such a thing; but once announced as God's intention, how wise and suitable our hearts see it to be! When Zacharias saw the angel he "was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, Fear not, Zacharias, because thy supplication has been heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John" (i.e., the gift of God). "And he shall be to thee joy and rejoicing: and many shall rejoice at his birth."20 It was calculated to strike the eye and heart of any godly Israelite, being manifestly God's gift. The LORD was faithful to His people and His purposes. There were many who at this time were looking for the Messiah. We know even from heathen authors that there was a strong, general, and ancient tradition (no doubt derived from Balaam of old, and Daniel later, and the Septuagint), that at this time a great prince was to be born in Israel, who would lead that nation on to supremacy. Hence they would naturally heed this extraordinary birth, and the singular course of life which John the Baptist ever followed, as well as his preaching when the time for it was come.

Verses 5-17. The history brings us into the midst of Jewish institutions, feelings, and expectations. First, we have a priest of Abia (one of the twenty-four classes: 1 Chr. 24), with his wife who was of the daughters of Aaron. "They were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless." All with them was in accordance with God's law Jewishly; but they did not enjoy the blessing so earnestly desired by every Jew; they were childless. Yet it was according to the ways of God to accomplish His work of blessing while manifesting the weakness of the instrument which He was using. But now this long-prayed-for blessing was to be withheld no longer; and when Zacharias draws near to offer the incense, the angel of Jehovah appears to him. At the sight of so glorious a being Zacharias is troubled; but the angel says to him, "Fear not, thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John," that is, "the favour of Jehovah." And not only should the hearts of many rejoice in him, but he should be great in the sight of the Lord and be filled with the Holy Ghost. "Many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias … to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." The "spirit of Elias" was a firm and ardent zeal for the glory of Jehovah and for the re-establishment, through repentance, of Israel's relations with Him. The heart of John clung to this link of the people with God, and it is in the moral force of his call to repentance that John is here compared to Elias.

To Zacharias, a priest of Aaron's house, and of the course of Abia (1 Chron. 24:10), he suddenly appeared. Low indeed were things in Judah, the fruit of Israel's sin; but God had not forgotten His promise, nor did He delay the fulfilment of it. If He fixes a time, He keeps to it. He fixed with Himself the limit of His forbearance with the old world (Gen. 6:3), at the end of which the flood came. He fixed the date of the Exodus long before Jacob entered Egypt (Gen. 15:16), and it took place (Ex. 12:41). He limited the period of the captivity in Babylon (Jer. 25:11; 27:7; 29:10), after which Cyrus set them free. He announced to Daniel the date from which the heptads of years must run ere Messiah the Prince would be cut off. That moment was near at hand, so Gabriel again visited earth, and appeared in the temple, near the altar of incense.

As to Daniel so to Zacharias, Gabriel came in answer to prayer, and on both occasions was permitted to announce more than had been solicited from God. Daniel was concerned about the termination of the captivity. He got an answer which looks on to the future and final deliverance of his people. Zacharias had asked for a son. He got an answer that his son should be the immediate forerunner of the long-expected Messiah. His prayer was heard. His wife should bear a son, rejoicing the heart of the father, and causing many to rejoice at his birth. Particulars about the child were added. His name was to be John, a reminder of the graciousness of Jehovah. He should be great in the sight of the Lord. Years after we have that confirmed (Luke 7:28). Then in the spirit of a Nazarite, as far as abstention from wine was concerned, he was to live, and he would be filled from the womb with the Holy Ghost. Of his work, too, the angel spoke. He would be a mighty instrument to deal with consciences, turning many to the Lord their God, whose forerunner he was to be in the spirit and power of Elias, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Far beyond the aged priest's desires or conceptions God was about to go. The son asked for should come, not indeed to minister in his father's stead in the sanctuary at Jerusalem, but to bow the hearts of multitudes like bulrushes before the wind, to make ready a people for the Lord. The coming of the Lord was drawing nigh.

Inside the sanctuary Gabriel thus spoke. Had Zacharias forgotten his prayer, that he asked Gabriel, "Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years." Had he ceased to pray for a son that the glad tidings took him by surprise, and unbelief like a dark lowering cloud enwrapped his heart? The answer to his prayer had surely been long of coming, but now that delay was explained as he learnt who his son was to be. God answers prayer at the right time. All may now see the cause of the delay. God's purposes are carried out in His appointed way. Zacharias asked for a sign; a sign he should have. Dumb should he be, until God's promise was fulfilled. He had entered the sanctuary with the power of speech. He left deprived of it, till his son should be born. God gave him a sign, but it witnessed of his unbelief.

First we have, in Luke 1:9, The temple of the Lord, into which Zacharias the priest had gone, in the order of his course and in fulfilment of his office, to burn incense. There appeared to him an angel of the Lord, who informed him that his prayer had been heard, and that his wife Elizabeth should have a son. Long years of prayer for this very favour had passed fruitlessly away. Zacharias was now old, and Elizabeth “well stricken in years.” Nature had well-nigh run its course, and hope had doubtless faded. But these prayers were now to be answered.

The angelic messenger announces the birth of a son, supplies his name, John—“Beloved of Jehovah”—states his character, and shows that he is the forerunner of the Lord.

Thus, then, there were spiritual impediments, not to Daniel's prayer, not to its being heard and granted, but to the answer reaching him. Here there is good encouragement. For we are apt to suppose that our breath in prayer is lost if an answer is not received at once. But exercise of heart in prayer is never fruitless, though the result may be long delayed. "Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God," was said to Cornelius; and we know not how long he had been kept waiting before Peter was sent to him with the answer: it may have been years (Acts 10). As in Daniel's case, so in Cornelius', and so in ours, there is a time as well as a mode of answering, which rests in the wisdom and grace of God. But so subtle is the working of unbelief that saints often pray and pray earnestly, but yet the last thing that they seem to expect is that God will grant their requests! Old Zacharias had prayed that he might have a son; so it appears from Luke 1:13. He had faith to pray, but not to believe that God would grant his prayer; for when the angel Gabriel tells him that his prayer is heard and that his wife should bear him a son, instead of rejoicing and worshipping, he asks, "Whereby shall I know this?" But our God is very gracious; for this unbelief He chastens Zacharias with dumbness for a season, yet does not withdraw compliance with his petition. Prayer is a great reality, and we know not what unseen transactions are taking place over supplications which we suppose to have been unnoticed or unheard; but let us be assured that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us. The case of Zacharias is an instance of what perhaps often occurs — that saints are in their faith and hope not up to the level of their own prayers.

"And the people were awaiting Zacharias, and they wondered at his delaying in the temple. But when he came out he could not speak to them: and they recognised that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he was making signs to them and continued dumb. And it came to pass, when the days of his service were completed, he departed to his house." Each priest had to serve in his course from Sabbath to Sabbath; so when the week was up, he leaves. "Now after these days Elisabeth his wife conceived, and hid herself five months, saying, Thus has the LORD done to me in [these] days in which he looked on me, to take away my reproach among men." The feeling of Elisabeth under the circumstances was just as godly as the unbelief of Zacharias was a striking witness of what is so natural to us all.24

The Expectant Mothers. — To Elisabeth's house Mary forthwith repaired. Doubtless Elisabeth had learnt from her husband Zacharias that her son John was to be the forerunner of Messiah, and the messenger of Jehovah, predicted by Malachi (3:1). But of whom, and when, was Messiah to be born, were questions as yet for her and her husband unsolved. Unexpectedly, and suddenly, it would appear, the narrative gives us to understand these were cleared up. Mary crossed the threshold of her house, saluted her cousin, and the expectant mother of John learnt who was to be the mother of her Lord. In what terms Mary saluted her we know not, but her response to Mary is recorded. It was the utterance of one filled with the Holy Ghost. She lifted up her voice with a loud cry (Luke 1:42-45). She knew both Mary's expectations and Mary's faith. When and how did she learn all this? Mary had not had time to speak of it. No whisper of it carried by human instrumentality had reached the hill country of Judea. Mary evidently, as Matthew teaches us, had not even told Joseph, to whom she was betrothed (Matt. 1:18-19). How did Elisabeth know? She told, as she alone could declare it: "As soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy" (Luke 1:44). The mother of her Lord was there.

Elisabeth having relieved her heart, Mary again spoke, and poured out her song of praise to God, which had Him as her Saviour for its object, His grace to her for its subject, and that in connection with His mercy and sovereignty, as well as His faithfulness to Abraham and their fathers of old (Luke 1:46-55). With the last notes of her song, all that passed between those two for us comes to an end, though for about three months those holy women enjoyed each other's society. Then Mary retraced her steps northward to Nazareth, and Elisabeth's full time drew near for the birth of her son. The child was born, her neighbours and her cousins rejoiced, but Zacharias was still dumb.

Mary then takes a journey to Judea, with haste, to visit her cousin Elizabeth. Let us observe that haste in this case is commendable, for it was based upon the word of God given to her, and the Lord had designed this to strengthen and encourage faith in both of these favored women. As Mary entered the house and spoke, the babe in Elizabeth's womb leaped; and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, broke forth in a short but beautiful prophecy (vs.39-45). Here the living power of the Spirit of God is accompanied by a lowly spirit of humility that finds delight in the blessing of another, recognizing that Mary is to be the mother of the Lord. Elizabeth rejoiced in the blessedness of Mary among women and in the blessedness of the fruit of her womb.

Though Elizabeth was older than Mary, yet she felt herself unworthy to have the mother of her Lord visit her. But she knew that it was for joy that her own child leap #BeginDate format:fEn2m Saturday 25-Jun-2011 11:14 #EndDate genuine delight in Him who was born of the virgin. She also speaks of the blessedness of Mary's faith and the unquestionable fact that what she had believed would certainly take place.

Prophecy begins afresh. — On the eighth day after its birth the father's tongue was loosed, and he spake and praised God, and prophesying through a human channel was now heard again. Silent for ages, it burst forth afresh as Zacharias blessed God, that He had visited and redeemed His people, and had raised up an horn of salvation for them in the house of His servant David. His unbelief had vanished. With God nothing shall be impossible, Gabriel had said, and to that Zacharias added his Amen, as he spoke with no uncertain note about that which was still future: John was born, but the Virgin's Son was not. The forerunner, however, having appeared, the Son of David, he believed, would come. His coming was close at hand. Many should rejoice at John's birth, had been the announcement made by Gabriel, the fulfilment of which the historian now records (1:58), and the effect produced on people in the neighbourhood is related. Fear fell on them, and they laid up in their hearts what was now noised abroad (1:65). A wonderful child was born, but a greater had yet to appear.

Zacharias' prophetic effusion. — Of the kingdom of God, and of the grace of God, the aged priest prophesied. Both these themes, and in this order, are very prominent in the gospel which follows. Fittingly, therefore, do his words find a place in its pages. But, as was natural with one who lived before the first Advent, and in keeping with Old Testament revelation, Zacharias connects the kingdom with Israel's full and everlasting blessing (1:68-75), for as yet the existence of the kingdom in mystery had not been openly taught. But he spoke also, and that beautifully, of grace flowing from the tender mercy of their God, whereby the dayspring from on high should visit them, to give light to (or, to shine upon) them that sit in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide Israel's feet into the way of peace. How far Zacharias understood the full meaning of his words it is not for us to determine; but, with Isa. 42:6 before us, may it not be that the Holy Ghost embraced in His thoughts more than a Jew would naturally have sung of, even grace which would reach Gentiles, as that prophet had foretold? Of Zacharias we hear no more, and further notice of the infancy, childhood, and early manhood of his son is for us compressed into one verse, "The child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing to Israel" (1:80).