THE BIRTH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST FORETOLD

 In the days of King Herod of Judaea, there lived a priest called Zechariah. He belonged to the Abijah section of the priesthood. (1 Chronicles 24:10) He had a wife, Elizabeth by name, who was a descendant of Aaron. Both were upright in the sight of God and impeccably carried out all the commandments and observances of the Lord. However, they were childless; Elizabeth was barren and they were both advanced in years. (Genesis 18:11) (Judges 13:2-5) (1 Samuel 1:5-6) Now, it happened that it was the turn of his section to serve, and he was exorcising his priestly office before God when it fell to him by lot, as the priestly custom was, to enter the Lord’s sanctuary and burn incense there. (Exodus 30:7) At the hour of incense, all the people were outside, praying. Then there appeared to him the angel of the Lord, standing on the right of the altar of incense. [Exodus 30:1-10] The sight disturbed Zechariah and he was overcome with fear. However, the angel said to him, “Zechariah, do not be afraid, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife, Elizabeth is to bare you a son and you shall name him John. He will be your joy and delight and many will rejoice at his birth. He will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must drink no wine, no strong drink. (Numbers 6:1-21) (Judges 13:4) (1 Samuel 1:11) Even from his mother’s womb he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, and he will bring back many of the Israelites to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah, he will go before him to reconcile parents to their children (Malachi 3:23-24) (Ecclesiasticus / Sirach 48:10)  and the disobedient to the good sense of the upright, preparing for the Lord a people fit for him.”  Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I know this? (Genesis 15:8) I am an old man and my wife is getting on in years.” The angel replied, “I am Gabriel, who stands in God’s presence, and I have been sent to speak to you and bring you this good news. Look! Since you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time, you will be silenced and have no power of speech until this has happened.” (Daniel 8:16; 9:21) Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah. They were surprised that he stayed in the sanctuary so long. When he came out he could not speak to them, and they realize that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. However, he could only make signs to them and remained dumb. When his time of service came to and end he returned home. Some time later his wife Elizabeth conceived and for five months she kept to herself, saying, “The Lord has done this for me, now that it has pleased him to take away the humiliation I suffered in public.”

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