Zacharias and Elizabeth – A Very Godly Couple.
As this is the Christmas period, I thought I would write about a very godly husband and wife, and their connection with Mary, the mother of Jesus.
All that we are told of Zacharias and Elizabeth we owe to Luke and what he has written in his Gospel. However, Luke, in very few words, tells us much about this godly couple.
Zacharias and Elizabeth lived during the reign of King Herod the Great, but we also know that at this time the days of his life were numbered, and within a few years of Jesus’ birth Herod died. We also learn that Zacharias was a priest and Elizabeth was a direct descendant from Aaron. Israelites were commanded to marry within their tribe, but priests were given the option to take a wife and marry from any of the tribes, but she had to be of pure Jewish descent. Zacharias was doubly blessed with Elizabeth, for not only was she born of the priestly line, but because of her upbringing she was also a woman of piety, strong faith, and spiritual gifts. Luke tells us that “they were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the Commandments and requirements of the Lord,” Luke 1:6.
Zacharias was a priest of the division of Abijah. King David, with Zadok’s help, divided the priesthood up into twenty-four divisions, (1 Chronicles 24:10). Each division would serve for two weeks attending to the offerings, the incense, the showbread and any other duty in the worship of God. At the festivals of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles they were so busy that all the priests helped in every way they could. At the return from the Exile only four divisions returned, so Nehemiah divided these up into twenty-four divisions and gave each one its original name. Each division was then on duty twice a year, for a week on each occasion, (Nehemiah 12:22-26).
There were so many priests in each division, that the choice as to who would serve in the Temple was decided by lot. This meant that the privilege of serving might only fall on an individual once in a lifetime. It was therefore a very great honour to be chosen. At the time we are considering, the lot to attend to the incense had fallen upon Zacharias. Zacharias, belonging to the order of Abijah, which was the eighth division, and would have been serving in the Temple about late June or early July.
The Jewish people kept two calendars. A civil calendar which was the Official Calendar of kings, childbirth, and contracts; and a Sacred Calendar from which Festivals were computed. Jewish months were alternately thirty and twenty-nine long, and this resulted in a year of 354 days, so every three years they would add a twenty-nine day month to correct things. Their Civil year commenced during our September/October, while their Sacred Calendar commenced March/April. This is how we know the time when Zacharias was serving in the Temple. You might ask, “Does it really matter?” Only that it gives us an approximate time of the actual conception and birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So then, as Zacharias was within the Holy Place of the Temple attending to the Altar of Incense, he was staggered to see an angel standing by the Altar. To help him recover, the angel spoke to calm him and allay his fears. Then came the most amazing message that he had ever heard. Gabriel explained that Elizabeth would conceive and bare a son, who would be filled by the Holy Spirit before his birth and be the forerunner of the coming Messiah.
The longer Gabriel spoke, the more problematic and impossible it all sounded. The main problem for Zacharias was the fact that both he and Elizabeth were now elderly and his wife was past childbearing age. Beside this, they had prayed much during their married years for a child, but their prayers had gone unanswered. In that society, to be childless was considered by some to be a curse. But despite this they had both kept faith with God. Glory to God! Their prayers were now about to be answered in a way that they could never have believed.
Through the experience of Zacharias and Elizabeth we are taught a very valid lesson on prayer. For how long had this loving couple prayed and pleaded with God for a child? A possible estimate would be anything from thirty to forty years, depending on when they were married. They had arrived past the point where Elizabeth’s natural ability of childbearing could happen, and was now virtually impossible. But NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD! God had heard their first prayer so many years earlier. Yet, unknown to them, Mary of Nazareth had not yet been born. The birth and preparation of Mary to conceive the Lord Jesus was like the last piece of a jig-saw puzzle which makes the whole picture complete. But, at the time of their marriage, Mary existed only in the mind and plan of God.
Zacharias, having been struck dumb for his initial disbelief at Gabriel’s news, came to the end of his service and went home in somewhat of a daze. A short time after, Elizabeth conceived their child. The lesson we should learn from their experience is this. When God first prompts us to pray for something or someone, the answer may come quickly. However, if it doesn’t, it could be that the answer cannot come until God has put things into place, which we know nothing of. It may take days, months, or even years for Him to arrange the answer, but the time element should not cause us to give up and stop praying. Unless, of course, God prompts us to stop. We do not see what is going on in the unseen world of other’s lives, so we must trust God until the answer comes, or He says, “Stop praying.”
Six months into Elizabeth’s pregnancy would be about the month of December. At this time Elizabeth received a visit from Mary of Nazareth to whom the angel had told Mary of Elizabeth’s condition. As Mary, who was now also pregnant with Jesus, entered Elizabeth’s house a remarkable thing happened. “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And she cried out with a loud voice and said, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy,’” Luke 1:41-44.
We can therefore surmise from Luke that if Mary was pregnant in December, the Lord Jesus could have been conceived early December and born the following September/October; hereby fulfilling the Feast of Passover in His death, Pentecost by giving the Holy Spirit to the Church, and Tabernacles by His birth or even His Second Coming to the world. However, to celebrate this, the most momentous event in the history of the world on December 25th is as good a date as any. And we do need to celebrate the event.
In conclusion, Elizabeth gave birth to her son, and at his dedication his father insisted his son be named John. At this point Zacharias’ tongue was released to speak again.
And the rest, they say, is history.
God bless you
John