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Chapter 10—The Voice in the Wilderness
This chapter is based on
Luke 1:5-23, 57-80
;
3:1-18
;
Matthew
3:1-12
;
Mark 1:1-8
.
From among the faithful in Israel the forerunner of Christ arose.
The aged priest Zacharias and his wife Elisabeth were “both righ-
teous before God,” and in their quiet lives the light of faith shone
out like a star amid the darkness. To this godly pair was given the
promise of a son, who should “go before the face of the Lord to
prepare His ways.”
Zacharias had gone to Jerusalem to minister for one week in the
temple. Standing before the golden altar in the holy place of the
sanctuary, suddenly he became conscious of an angel of the Lord
“standing on the right side of the altar.” For years he had prayed for
the coming of the Redeemer; now these prayers were about to be
answered.
He was greeted with the joyful assurance: “Fear not, Zacharias:
for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son,
and thou shalt call his name John... . 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... . And he shall go before Him
in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to
the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make
ready a people prepared for the Lord. And Zacharias said unto the
angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife
well stricken in years.”
For a moment the aged priest forgot that what God promises,
He is able to perform. What a contrast between his unbelief and
the faith of Mary, whose answer to the angel’s announcement was,
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“Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to
your word.”
Luke 1:38
, RSV.
The birth of a son to Zacharias, like the birth of the child of
Abraham, and that of Mary, was to teach a great truth: that which we
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